Mark Antony’s Persian Campaign

Antony was still in Rome when good news came from the East. Ventidius had massed 11 legions, and in 39 bc he challenged Labienus to a fight for control of Asia Minor. The Romans had been brooding over their defeat at the hands of the Parthians ever since Crassus lost his army almost 15 years before. Much thought had gone into how to defeat those formidable horse-archers with their armor-penetrating arrows.

The first step was to strengthen the standard Roman shield, made of wood, which Parthian arrows had so easily pierced. Second, more attention was paid to archery. Auxiliary archers who could use the powerful reflex-composite bow of the Parthians were hired or conscripted to augment every Roman unit.

Another weapon added to the Roman arsenal was the sling. An ancient weapon that predated the biblical tale of David and Goliath, it was nothing more than a leather strap that allowed the slinger to hurl a rock farther and faster than it could be thrown. As young David had demonstrated, an accomplished slinger could kill an opponent with a well-aimed shot, but that was rare. The slinger’s value lay in being used en masse to discomfit enemy bowmen and their mounts. A shower of rocks unsettled horses and spoiled the accurate aim of an unprotected archer. The Romans also turned to a defensive tactic called the testudo, or tortoise. When Parthian archers threatened a Roman line, the Romans bunched together and overlapped their shields to form a protective formation against armor-piercing arrows.

Ventidius assembled his army in Cilicia and immediately sent his cavalry to the mountain passes that bordered Asia Minor. If he could take the passes, he would cut Labienus’ Parthians off from their Eastern home. Unlike the glory-obsessed Crassus, who had let his enemy make that decision, Ventidius — thanks to his speed and keen eye — would choose the ground for the coming battle. He knew that flat ground favored the swifter cavalry of the Parthians over his largely infantry army. Hilly terrain, on the other hand, neutralized that advantage.

Ventidius situated himself on top of a steep, sloping hillside overlooking the mountain pass through which the Parthians would have to ride to return home. The approaching horsemen would need to charge uphill over rising and broken ground to get at him.

Labienus came up with his forces, surveyed the situation and decided on a dawn attack. The Parthian archers, sure of victory, charged upward out of the early morning mists into a Roman wall of massed slingers and bowmen. The charge slowed as each rider negotiated the rocky hillside. While guiding their horses over the unsure ground, they could not fire their arrows effectively.

The Romans held their fire until the horsemen had committed themselves to the uphill climb. At a signal came a volley of stones, arrows and spears. The attacking horse-archers had no shields to fend off the missiles. Their hapless animals bolted at the shock and pain of the hail of innumerable stones and arrows. The Parthians countered by sending in their heavy shock cavalry, called cataphracts. While those heavily armored lancers and horses were good at breaking a Roman line on level ground, they were much less effective struggling uphill against a swarm of eager opponents. Hundreds of Parthians fell, and Ventidius gained a great victory. During the night, Labienus disguised himself and fled. He was later caught and executed.

Having defeated the Parthian threat in Asia Minor, Ventidius learned that Crown Prince Pacorus was leading a new force from Parthia to invade Syria. To gain time, he sent spies to Pacorus to suggest that the Parthians cross the Euphrates River at their usual ford. Pacorus, suspecting a trick, crossed the river much farther downstream. But that was, in fact, exactly what Ventidius wanted him to do. The southern crossing of the river added some days to the Parthians’ march and gained precious time for the Romans to bring up their forces.

Ventidius did not oppose the Parthian crossing to the west bank of the Euphrates. The extra time it took the enemy to get into Syria allowed him to get his army into a position of his own choosing. When the Parthians found no opposition at the riverbank, they advanced confidently to the walled town of Gindarus, which sat upon a small hill. The Parthians could see no activity in the town and, thinking it deserted, approached confidently. When they were within range, the gates were flung open and the Romans came streaming out and charged downhill at them. At that point the Parthians were not using their light horse-archers but were relying on the shock value of the armored cataphracts. The heavily encumbered horses could not maneuver on the hilly slope. The Roman infantry overwhelmed the Parthians and threw them back across the river with heavy losses including Crown Prince Pacorus, who was killed. It was June 9, 38 bc — 15 years to the day of the Roman debacle at Carrhae. Crassus had been avenged. To announce his victories to the doubting East, Ventidius sent Pacorus’ severed head on a tour of Syrian towns to convince the people that they were at last safe from the rampaging enemy.

When news of that victory reached Rome, there was great rejoicing except in the home of Mark Antony. It would not do for his subordinate to gain all the victories and the glory — Antony must be present to claim the prize. He immediately departed for the East.

Ventidius did not pursue the retreating Parthians, possibly on the orders of a jealous Antony. Instead he settled some old scores with desert tribes that had supported the enemy. He was laying siege to the city of Samosata on the upper Euphrates when Antony at last came up. It was rumored that Ventidius had taken a large bribe from the people of Samosata to leave their city unmolested. True or false, the accusation was believed in Rome and tarnished Ventidius’ reputation.

Antony arrived too late to taste the glory of the Roman victories, but he quickly took charge of his army and the siege of Samosata. He showered Ventidius with faint praise and packed him off to Rome, where the happy Senate voted him a well-

deserved triumph, the first ever against the Parthians. Settling into a hero’s retirement, Ventidius soon disappeared from history.