Publius Licinius Crassus (son of triumvir)

Publius Crassus
Death of Publius Licinius Crassus at the hands of the Parthians ("Avarice Punished"). Publius is depicted as receiving an arrow to the chest while a soldier grabs the reins of his horse. Reverse of a medal created in 1740-1750 by Jean Dassier & sons.
Bornc. 84 BC
Died53 BC (aged c. 31)
AllegianceRome
Years of service58 - 53 BC
Battles / warsBattle of Carrhae
Spouse(s)Cornelia Metella

Publius Licinius Crassus (86 or 82 – 53 BC) was one of two sons of Marcus Licinius Crassus, the so-called "triumvir",[1] and Tertulla, daughter of Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus.[2] He belonged to the last generation of Roman nobiles who came of age and began a political career before the collapse of the Republic. His peers included Marcus Antonius, Marcus Junius Brutus, Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus, the poet Gaius Valerius Catullus, and the historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus.

Publius Crassus served under Julius Caesar in Gaul from 58 to 56 BC. Too young to receive a formal commission from the senate, Publius distinguished himself as a commanding officer in campaigns among the Armorican nations (Brittany) and in Aquitania. He was highly regarded by Caesar and also by Cicero, who praised his speaking ability and good character. Upon his return to Rome, Publius married Cornelia Metella, the intellectually gifted daughter of Metellus Scipio, and began his active political career as a triumvir monetalis and by providing a security force during his father's campaign for a second consulship.

Publius's promising career was cut short when he died along with his father in an ill-conceived[3] war against the Parthian Empire. Cornelia, with whom he probably had no children, then married the much older Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great").

  1. ^ Triumvir was a formal designation in ancient Rome; the political alliance among Crassus, Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great") and Julius Caesar has been nicknamed the "First Triumvirate" by modern scholars, but unlike the legally recognized triumvirate during the transition from the Roman Republic to the Roman Empire, the three were not in Roman terms triumviri.
  2. ^ Smith, William (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 2., p.831
  3. ^ Elizabeth Rawson, "Crassorum funera," Latomus 41 (1982) 540–549.