Mark Antony’s Parthian Campaign in Atropatene, 36 BC

Antony’s Parthian Disaster: The Atropatene Campaign of 36 BC

Cleopatra: Part 19

In 36 BC, Mark Antony launched his own invasion of Parthia. It was an ambitious undertaking, but one that would end in humiliation and heavy losses.

The campaign came after a turbulent period in Antony’s personal and political life. Having left Cleopatra for Greece in 40 BC, he sought to repair relations with Octavian by marrying Octavian’s sister, Octavia. Conveniently for Antony, his wife Fulvia had died, making the political marriage possible. Yet the alliance proved temporary. Before long, Antony returned to Cleopatra.

There were practical reasons for his return. As before, he needed men, money, and supplies. He also presumably wished to see the twins he and Cleopatra had together. With Egyptian support secured, Antony prepared for what he hoped would succeed where Crassus had failed: the conquest of Parthia.

For the Romans, campaigns against Parthia were something like the early attempts to conquer Everest. They had a habit of destroying almost everyone who tried them.

The problem for historians is that the surviving accounts of Antony’s expedition, known as the Atropatene Campaign, disagree on nearly every detail except the most basic facts. Even so, a rough outline can be reconstructed.

Gathering the Greatest Army of the Age

Antony assembled a formidable force. His sixteen Roman legions amounted to roughly 80,000 men. These were joined by troops from Rome’s client kingdoms, including Galatia, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Armenia, contributing around 7,000 infantry and 6,000 heavy cavalry.

Altogether, Antony commanded between 90,000 and 100,000 men. His army was accompanied by an enormous siege train consisting of around 300 wagons, stretching for nearly five miles, and including a massive eighty-foot battering ram.

Cleopatra accompanied Antony as far as Zeugma on the Euphrates, where the army was concentrated before the advance eastward.

Rather than take the direct route through Mesopotamia, where Parthian forces were concentrated, Antony chose a northern approach through Armenia and into Atropatene, a kingdom allied with Parthia. The decision initially appeared sound. The main army advanced along a well-established caravan route, while the baggage train followed a different and longer path.

This separation would prove catastrophic.

The Destruction of the Baggage Train

The supply convoy was protected by two legions under the command of Oppius Statianus and accompanied by King Artavasdes II of Armenia.

Somewhere inside Atropatene, the convoy was attacked by Parthian cavalry, possibly commanded by the nobleman Monaeses or perhaps by King Phraates IV himself. Whatever the exact circumstances, the result was devastating.

Statianus and approximately 10,000 legionaries were killed. The Romans lost their siege engines, supplies, and much of the equipment required to continue the campaign. Polemon I of Pontus was captured, while Artavasdes and his cavalry withdrew without fully engaging the enemy.

In Antony’s camp, this retreat was later portrayed as treachery. Ancient writers such as Strabo and Plutarch blamed the Armenian king for the disaster. However, modern historians note that these accounts relied heavily on the writings of Quintus Dellius, one of Antony’s associates, who had strong reasons to shift responsibility away from Antony himself. It is therefore possible that poor planning and command decisions played a much larger role than Armenian betrayal.

The Siege That Could Not Succeed

Despite the destruction of his siege train, Antony pressed on.

He laid siege to the heavily fortified capital of Atropatene, known as Phraata or Praaspa, generally identified with modern Maragheh, though other locations have been proposed.

Without proper siege equipment and under constant harassment by Parthian and Atropatenian cavalry, the operation was doomed from the start. Eventually Antony was forced to abandon the siege and admit defeat.

What followed was even worse.

The Long Retreat

Antony’s army began a gruelling withdrawal toward Armenia through mountainous terrain. For twenty-seven days the Romans struggled through hostile territory while Parthian cavalry continually attacked them.

The retreat tested Roman discipline to the limit. Unlike Crassus at Carrhae, Antony avoided complete destruction, but only just.

When the survivors finally reached the borders of Armenia Major, a count of the troops revealed the scale of the disaster. Approximately 24,000 men had been lost.

The campaign had failed. Antony had gained nothing and sacrificed thousands of soldiers, vast quantities of equipment, and a great deal of prestige.

A Brief Episode in Cleopatra’s Story

In my forthcoming novel, Cleopatra’s attendants discuss the unwelcome fact that Antony has once again returned to Cleopatra’s life. The Atropatene Campaign receives only a brief treatment.

There are several reasons for this.

The novel follows Cleopatra from her youth to her death, requiring the story to cover an extraordinary cast of historical figures and events. Most historical lives allow a novelist room to breathe between major developments. Cleopatra’s does not.

Her story intersects with Julius Caesar, one of the most famous men who ever lived, and with Mark Antony, whose name remains synonymous with one of history’s greatest love affairs. Around them swirl figures such as Cicero, Pompey, Crassus, Octavian, and members of Cleopatra’s own ambitious and turbulent family.

The political landscape of the late Roman Republic was immense, bewilderingly complex, and constantly changing. Battles, betrayals, alliances, assassinations, and power struggles followed one another at a relentless pace.

As a result, Antony’s disastrous adventure in Atropatene must necessarily be told briefly.

After all, this is Cleopatra’s story.

Historical Resources

Cassius Dio, Roman History
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/home.html

Festus, Breviarium of Roman History
https://www.attalus.org/translate/festus.html

Eutropius, Breviarium Historiae Romanae (Abridgement of Roman History)
https://www.forumromanum.org/literature/eutropius/trans1.html

Frontinus, Strategemata (Stratagems)
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Frontinus/Strategemata/home.html

Orosius, The Seven Books of History Against the Pagans
https://www.attalus.org/info/orosius.html

Strabo, Periochae (Fragments and Summaries)
https://topostext.org/work/171

Strabo, Geographica (Geography)
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/home.html

Velleius Paterculus, Roman History
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Velleius_Paterculus/home.html

(These ancient sources, which are by no means exhaustive, provide important evidence for Mark Antony’s Parthian campaign of 36 BC, although many survive only in fragments or later summaries and often disagree on key details.)

Recommended Non-Fiction Books

• Adrian Goldsworthy, Antony and Cleopatra
• Duane W. Roller, Cleopatra: A Biography
• Stacy Schiff, Cleopatra: A Life
• Diana E. E. Kleiner, Cleopatra and Rome
• Richard A. Billows, Before and After Cleopatra: The Ancient World in Transition
• Gareth C. Sampson, The Defeat of Rome: Crassus, Carrhae and the Invasion of the East
• Gareth C. Sampson, Rome’s Great Eastern War: Lucullus, Pompey and the Conquest of the East
• Barry Strauss, The War That Made the Roman Empire: Antony, Cleopatra, and Octavian at Actium
• Plutarch, The Fall of the Roman Republic (Penguin Classics)
• Pat Southern, Mark Antony: A Life

Recommended Historical Fiction

• Colleen McCullough, The October Horse
• Colleen McCullough, Antony and Cleopatra
• Margaret George, The Memoirs of Cleopatra
• Michelle Moran, Cleopatra’s Daughter
• Stephanie Dray, Lily of the Nile
• Margaret Mitchell, Lost Laysen
• Alexander Masters, A Life Discarded (for those interested in biographical narrative style rather than direct Roman fiction)
• Allan Massie, Antony
• Mika Waltari, The Egyptian
• Conn Iggulden, The Gods of War and The Blood of Gods (covering Caesar’s heirs and the civil wars)

For readers specifically interested in Antony’s Parthian campaign and Cleopatra’s role in the late Roman world, I’d place Goldsworthy’s Antony and Cleopatra and Roller’s Cleopatra: A Biography at the top of the non-fiction list, and McCullough’s Antony and Cleopatra and George’s The Memoirs of Cleopatra at the top of the fiction list.

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