20. Catastrophe at Carrhae
The Parthians feigned retreat, Crassus’ son rashly pursued, and was slaughtered with all his men. The Parthians rode back to the Roman army, and taunted Crassus with his son’s head mounted on a spear. Shaken, Crassus retreated to Carrhae, abandoning thousands of Roman wounded. The Parthians invited him to negotiate, offering to let his army go in exchange for territorial concessions. Crassus was reluctant to meet the Parthians, but his men threatened to mutiny if he did not. Things did not go well: violence broke out at the meeting, and Crassus and his generals were killed. Mocking his avarice, the Parthians poured molten gold down Crassus’ throat. The surviving Romans fled, but most were hunted down and killed or captured. Out of Crassus’ 50,000 men, only 10,000 made it back to Roman territory.
