Why did Marcus Licinius Crassus, the wealthiest man of Rome, died, and why did he spill the gold from his throat?

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Why did Marcus Licinius Crassus, the wealthiest man of Rome, died, and why did he spill the gold from his throat?

What is the reason behind this event that has aroused curiosity and interest throughout history?

Who, why did this kind of end for Crassus?

Let’s start with Crassus’s history.

Marcus Licinius Crassus, who was born in Rome in 115 BC, came from a noble family. His father was a consul in 97 BC and a statesman who served as a session in 89 BC.

Because of Marius and Cinna’s political pressure, his family had difficulty, and Crassus had to flee to Spain at a young age. Crassus, who returned to Rome with Sulla’s seizing power, began to build his reserve again.

How strong was it?

One of the most striking procedures in Crassus’ accumulation of reserves was to turn the fires in Rome into an opportunity. In that period, there were frequent fires in Rome and there was no fire brigade in the city.

Crassus was quickly reached instead of fire by establishing a firefighter union for 500 people, but before intervening, he offered the owners of the property at low prices.

If the owners agreed to sell, he would extinguish the fire, otherwise he would allow the building to burn. With this strategy, he bought a large part of Rome at low cost and rebuilt and made big profits.

In addition, in the process of selling the goods of those who were executed during Sulla’s prosperiations with auction, Crassus further increased his reserve by buying these properties cheaply.

Crassus, who has investments in areas of slave trade and silver mining, became the most powerful person of the era.

Political profession and first triumvirlik

Crassus was chosen as a consul with Pompey in 70 BC, using his reserve in the political arena, but there was always a competition with Pompey in the middle.

With the first Triumvirlik, including Julius Caesar, this trio formed a great focus of power in Roman politics. Crassus was uncomfortable with staying in the shadow of Pompey and Caesar’s military successes and desired his own military victory.

Parthia Expedition and Carrhae disaster

This quest directed him to the wealthy Parthia Empire in the east. In 53 BC, an army of about 43,000 people went on a campaign on Parthia.

He was unprepared for Parthia’s light cavalry archers and heavy armored catafraks. He was severely defeated by Parthia General Surena at the Carrhae Battle. His son Publius died in this war.

Following the war, when Crassus went to meet the Parthia for peace talks, he was trapped and killed. Although there are different rumors about the form of the mevt, the Parthia, compared to the most well -known story, poured Melted Gold in his throat to ridicule Crassus’ ambition of his life.

This symbolic movement is interpreted as a reference to its greed, but the accuracy of the story is not certain and it is paid by some historians as a legend.

Is it real or a legend?

Historian Plutarkhos says that after the death of Crassus, his head was cut and sent to Parthia ruler Orodes II.

Compared to another rumor, Crassus’s head was used as a stage material on a scene of Euripides’s “Bacchae”.

The melted gold story is probably a legend that was later added to emphasize Crassus’ ambition of deck.

As a result, Marcus Licinius Crassus’ life is ended with a tragic end, even though he was full of great deyors and ambitions. The melted gold story described about his death has survived to the present day as one of the lessons of human history in greed and ambition.

Sources: Bad Ancient, Smithsonian Magazine, thoughtco

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