The Roman–Parthian War of 161–166 (also called the Parthian War of Lucius VerusE.g. Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 160.) was fought between the Roman and Parthian Empires over Armenia and Upper Mesopotamia. It concluded in 166 after the Romans made successful campaigns into Lower Mesopotamia and Media and sacked Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital.
Origins to Lucius' dispatch, 161–162 On his deathbed in the spring of 161, Emperor Antoninus Pius had spoken of nothing but the state and the foreign kings who had wronged him.HA Pius 12.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 114, 121. One of those kings, Vologases IV of Parthia, made his move in late summer or early autumn 161.Event: HA Marcus 8.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121. Date: Jaap-Jan Flinterman, "The Date of Lucian's Visit to Abonuteichos," Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 119 (1997): 281. Vologases entered the Kingdom of Armenia (then a Roman client state), expelled its king and installed his own—Pacorus, an Arsacid like himself.HA Marcus 8.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121. At the time of the invasion, the governor of Syria was Lucius Attidius Cornelianus. Attidius had been retained as governor even though his term had ended in 161, presumably to avoid giving the Parthians the chance to wrong-foot his replacement. The governor of Cappadocia, the front-line in all Armenian conflicts, was Marcus Sedatius Severianus, a Gaul with much experience in military matters. But living in the east had a deleterious effect on his character.Lucian, Alexander 27; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121.
Alexander of Abonutichus, a prophet who carried a snake named Glycon around with him, had enraptured Severianus, as he had many others.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121. On Alexander, see: Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 241–50. Father-in-law to the respected senator Publius Mummius Sisenna Rutilianus, then-proconsul of Asia, Alexander was friends with many members of the east Roman elite.Lucian, Alexander 30; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121. Alexander convinced Severianus that he could defeat the Parthians easily, and win glory for himself.Lucian, Alexander 27; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121–22. Severianus led a legion (perhaps the IX HispanaBirley, Marcus Aurelius, 278 n.19.) into Armenia, but was trapped by the great Parthian general Chosrhoes at Elegeia, a town just beyond the Cappadocian frontiers, past the headwaters of the Euphrates. Severianus made some attempt to fight Chosrhoes, but soon realized the futility of his campaign, and committed suicide. His legion was massacred, with around 5,000–6,000 Romans killed.Guerre partiche : "Elegeia (161 d.C.): un'intera legione romana distrutta (per quell'epoca una cifra compresa tra i 5000 e i 6000 uomini)." The campaign had only lasted three days.Dio 71.2.1; Lucian, Historia Quomodo Conscribenda 21, 24, 25; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 121–22.
There was threat of war on other frontiers as well—in Britain, and in Raetia and Upper Germany, where the Chatti of the Taunus mountains had recently crossed over the limes.HA Marcus 8.7; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 122. Marcus Aurelius, who had become emperor on Pius' death on 7 March 161, was unprepared. Pius seems to have given him no military experience; the Historia Augusta states that Marcus spent the whole of Pius' twenty-three-year reign at the emperor's side, and not in the provinces where most previous emperors had spent their early careers.HA Pius 7.11; Marcus 7.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 103–4, 122. Marcus sent Marcus Statius Priscus to replace Severianus as governor of Cappadocia,Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123, citing A.R. Birley, The Fasti of Roman Britain (1981), 123ff. while Sextus Calpurnius Agricola took Priscus' place as governor of Britain.HA Marcus 8.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123, citing W. Eck, Die Satthalter der germ. Provinzen (1985), 65ff.
More bad news arrived: Attidius Cornelianus' army had been defeated in battle against the Parthians, and retreated in disarray.HA Marcus 8.6; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123. Reinforcements were dispatched for the Parthian frontier. Publius Julius Geminius Marcianus, an African senator commanding X Gemina at Vindobona (Vienna), left for Cappadocia with vexillations from the Danubian legions.Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum 8.7050 –51 ; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123. Three full legions were also sent east: I Minervia from Bonn in Upper Germany,Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 1097 –98 ; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123. II Adiutrix from Aquincum,Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 1091 ; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123. and V Macedonica from Troesmis.Incriptiones Latinae Selectae 2311 ; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123. The northern frontiers were strategically weakened; frontier governors were told to avoid conflict wherever possible.HA Marcus 12.13; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123. Attidius Cornelianus himself was replaced by M. Annius Libo, Marcus' first cousin. He was young—his first consulship was in 161, so he was probably in his early thirtiesL'Année Épigraphique 1972.657 ; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125.—and, as a mere patrician, lacked military experience. Marcus had chosen a reliable man rather than a talented one.HA Verus 9.2; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125.
Marcus took a four-day public holiday at Alsium, a resort town on the Etrurian coast. He was too anxious to relax. Writing to his former tutor Marcus Cornelius Fronto, he declared that he would not speak about his holiday.De Feriis Alsiensibus 1 (= Haines 2.3); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126. Fronto replied ironically: "What? Do I not know that you went to Alsium with the intention of devoting yourself to games, joking and complete leisure for four whole days?"De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.1 (= Haines 2.5), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126. He encouraged Marcus to rest, calling on the example of his predecessors (Pius had enjoyed exercise in the palaestra, fishing, and comedy),De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.4 (= Haines 2.9); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126–27. going so far as to write up a fable about the gods' division of the day between morning and evening—Marcus had apparently been spending most of his evenings on judicial matters instead of leisure.De Feriis Alsiensibus 3.6–12 (= Haines 2.11–19); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 126–27. Marcus could not take Fronto's advice. "I have duties hanging over me that can hardly be begged off," he wrote back.De Feriis Alsiensibus 4, tr. Haines 2.19; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127. Marcus put on Fronto's voice to chastise himself: "'Much good has my advice done you', you will say!" He had rested, and would rest often, but "—this devotion to duty! Who knows better than you how demanding it is!"De Feriis Alsiensibus 4 (= Haines 2.19), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127.
Fronto sent Marcus a selection of reading material, including Cicero's pro lege Manilia, in which the orator had argued in favor of Pompey taking supreme command in the Mithridatic War. It was an apt reference (Pompey's war had taken him to Armenia), and may have had some impact on the decision to send Lucius to the eastern front.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127. "You will find in it many chapters aptly suited to your present counsels, concerning the choice of army commanders, the interests of allies, the protection of provinces, the discipline of the soldiers, the qualifications required for commanders in the field and elsewhere [...]"De bello Parthico 10 (= Haines 2.31), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127. To settle his unease over the course of the Parthian war, Fronto wrote Marcus a long and considered letter, full of historical references. In modern editions of Fronto's works, it is labeled De bello Parthico (On the Parthian War). There had been reverses in Rome's past, Fronto writes, at Allia, at Caudium, at Cannae, at Numantia, Cirta, and Carrhae;De bello Parthico 1 (= Haines 2.21). and under Trajan (against the Dacians and the Parthians), Hadrian (against the Jews and the Britons), and again under Pius;De bello Parthico 2 (= Haines 2.21–23); Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127. but, in the end, Romans had always prevailed over their enemies: "always and everywhere [Mars] has changed our troubles into successes and our terrors into triumphs".De bello Parthico 1 (= Haines 2.21), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 127.
Lucius' dispatch and journey east, 162–163? Over the winter of 161–62, as more bad news arrived—a rebellion was brewing in Syria—it was decided that Lucius should direct the Parthian war in person. He was stronger and healthier than Marcus, the argument went, more suited to military activity.Dio 71.1.3; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123. Lucius' biographer suggests ulterior motives: to restrain Lucius' debaucheries, to make him thrifty, to reform his morals by the terror of war, to realize that he was an emperor.HA Verus 5.8; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123, 125. Whatever the case, the senate gave its assent, and Lucius left. Marcus would remain in Rome; the city "demanded the presence of an emperor".HA Marcus 8.9, tr. Magie; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 123.
Titus Furius Victorinus, one of the two praetorian prefects, was sent with Lucius, as were a pair of senators, Marcus Pontius Laelianus Larcius Sabinus and Marcus Iallius Bassus, and a detachment of the Praetorian Guard. Victorinus had previously served as procurator of Galatia, giving him some experience with eastern affairs.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125, citing H.G. Pfalum, Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain I–III (Paris, 1960–61); Supplément (Paris, 1982), no. 139. Moreover, he was far more qualified than his praetorian partner, Sextus Cornelius Repentinus, who was said to owe his office to the influence of Pius' mistress Galeria Lysistrate.HA Pius 8.9; Birley, "Hadrian to the Antonines", 160–61. Repentius had the rank of a senator, but no real access to senatorial circles—his was merely a decorative title.Giuseppe Camodeca, "La carriera del prefetto del pretorio Sex.Cornelius Repentinus in una nuova iscrizione puteolana" (in Italian), Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 43 (1981): 47. Since a prefect had to accompany the Guard, Victorinus was the clear choice.
Laelianus had been governor of both Pannonias and governor of Syria in 153; hence he had first-hand knowledge of the eastern army and military strategy on the frontiers. He was made comes Augustorum ("companion of the emperors") for his service.Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae 1094 , 1100 ; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125. Laelianus was, in the words of Fronto, "a serious man and an old-fashioned disciplinarian".Ad Verum Imperator 2.6 (= Haines 2.84ff), qtd. and tr. Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125. Bassus had been governor of Lower Moesia, and was also made comes.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125, citing Prosopographia Imperii Romani2 1.4. Lucius selected his favorite freedmen, including Geminus, Agaclytus, Coedes, Eclectus,HA Verus 8.6, 9.3–5; Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125. and Nicomedes, who gave up his duties as praefectus vehiculorum to run the commissariat of the expeditionary force.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125, citing H.G. Pfalum, Les carrières procuratoriennes équestres sous le Haut-Empire romain I–III (Paris, 1960–61); Supplément (Paris, 1982), no. 163. The fleet of Misenum was charged with transporting the emperor and general communications and transport.Birley, Marcus Aurelius, 125, citing C.G. Starr, The Roman Imperial Navy, (1941), 188ff.