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Surena (84 - 52 BCE) was a Parthian general, twice victorious over Roman armies.
The name
Surena, also spelled Sorena and Sourena, is the most common appellation for Iran Spahbod Rustaham Suren-Pahlav, son of Arakhsh (Arash, pers.) and Massis.
The Great General
Surena commanded the Parthian army under Orodes II, at the dynastic succession battle of Seleucia in 54 BC, soundly trouncing a mixed army bolstered by Roman legions for the unsuccessful Mithridates III, claimant to the throne of Parthia, supported by Aulus Gabinius, Roman governor of Syria.
The next year the Romans under the command of Marcus Licinius Crassus, in a hopeless attempt in 53 BC, attacked western Iranian provinces. The result was the Battle of Carrhae at Harrân. The parthian army under the command of General Surena, although inferior in number, took advantage of their heavy cavalry (Cataphract) and their distinguished parthian shot tactic in nearly destroying the entire Roman forces; twenty thousand Romans were killed, ten thousand were captured, and deported to distant northern provinces of Margiana for hard labour and slavery. Crassus was captured by General Surena and was later executed. This was one of the worst defeats suffered by the Romans in their entire history.
Plutarch in his Life of Crassus (21) describes Surena as:
Surena was an extremely distinguished man. In wealth, birth, and in the honor paid to him, he ranked next after the king; in courage and ability he was the foremost Parthian of his time; and in stature and personal beauty he had no equal. When he travelled about the country on his own affairs, he was always accompanied by a baggage train of 1,000 dromedaries; 200 wagons carried his harem; 1,000 armored cavalry and still more light armed cavalry acted as his escort. The total number of his cavalry, his vassals, and his slaves came to at least 100,000 men. He had, as an ancient privilege of his family, the right to be the first to set the crown on the head of the king of Parthia at the coronation.
References
- E. E. Herzfeld, Iran in the Ancient East New York (1988), p310-311., ISBN 0-87817-308-0
- Jona Lendering, Surena, (LINK); accessed February 27, 2007.
Sources
- S., Suren-Pahlav, General Surena, The Hero of Carrhae, LINK
- 'A. Reza'i, Tarikh-e Dah-Hezar Saleh Iran, Vol. 1. SH/1376.
- Fred B. Shore, Parthian Coins and History: Ten Dragons Against Rome, Quarryville, PA: CNG, 1993.
- M. J. Mashkur and M. Rajab-Nia, Tarikh-e Siyasi va 'Ejtema'i Ashkanian, SH/1374.
- Jona Lendering, Surena, (LINK); accessed February 27, 2007.
- Plutarch, Crassus, Translated by John Dryden (LINK)