The Arsacids vs. Rome (First to Third Centuries CE): Observations on Parthian Tactics and Warfare

What is it about?

The period of appeasement between Rome and Parthia inaugurated by Augustus did not last long after the death of the princeps. Soon the Great Kings became involved in a series of minor military operations for the control of Armenia or against Arsacid pretenders, who enjoyed Rome’s support. These led to an open war under Nero for the control of the strategic kingdom of Armenia. In the second century AD with the rise to power of Trajan, Rome inaugurated a phase of military attacks on Arsacid Mesopotamia that forced the Parthians on the defence. Aim of this chapter is to illustrate the military history of the Arsacid Empire taking into consideration the military operations and the strategies the ruling Great Kings employed against Rome, other enemies and rival pretenders to the throne as described in the literary sources. The data concerning Arsacid tactics and fighting methods will be put in comparison with the well know bowmen/cataphracts strategy employed against Crassus and often considered the typical Parthian fighting style in order to establish whether these two units’ synergy was a una tantum phenomenon or a consolidated fighting style adopted until the fall of the empire.

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