Ctesiphon, Regnum Parthorum, may 164
Hecatee
Donor
Ctesiphon, Regnum Parthorum, may 164
The battle had been bloody, more than bloody even, murderous. Emperor Marcus Aurelius himself had had to take out his sword and wield it in anger, as had the shahanshah Vologases IV. Now one of them rode his horse on the battlefield, blood spattered on his armor, surrounded by his surviving bodyguard. The other lay at the heart of a mound of dead and wounded warriors that marked the most hotly contested ground of the battle, the spot where the ruler of an empire had fallen.
The Roman army had come south from both the Tigris and Euphrates and joined a few days’s walk above Ctesiphon, concentrating all the might of the Roman Empire : a good fourth of the total imperial forces, some 80 000 men, arrayed for battle against the remaining might of the Parthian empire.
Chosroes had been given overall command of some 150 000 men, with no less than 40 000 horsemen. But numbers were deceptive here as many of the horsemen were young second or third sons without the training and experience of their deceased elders. Loses among the parthian nobility had been horrendous during the previous years with the defeats at Arsamosata and in a number of smaller battles taking the best of the light horsemen and too many of the cataphractoi. The situation was no better with the infantry : the Immortals’ regiment, picked infantry of the empire, had less than a third of its original soldiers surviving the campaign.
Desperate measures had been taken. The wall of Gorgan had been depleted of most of its garrison, despite the threat of the nomadic tribes of the great northern plain : the road toward the heart of the Parthian plateau was open to the barbarians and devastation would follow if the troops brought to Ctesiphon did not succeed in turning away the westerners…
Marcus Aurelius contemplated the death and destruction around him, his face a neutral mask to hide his sentiments, a mix of deep sadness and elation, of worry and pain. So many dead. His cavalry almost annihilated, the praetorian guard gutted with more than half its picked elite force dead, his own commander of the imperial bodyguard, Titus Aelius Borysthene, dead in the thick of the fight that had turned the battle.
Chosroes had convinced Vologases to try a last, desperate operation. Concentrating the last of the heavy cavalry in a single heavy fist, they had charged directly toward the roman imperial entourage, bursting from the center of the parthian lines while the rest of their cavalry kept the Romans and Armenian cavalry to the sides of the battlefield. The heavily armored men then pushed into the roman center, brushing away the infantry under their sheer weight of their armoured Nisean mounts, the largest horses known in the world.
The legionnaires had not been enough to stop the momentum of the charge and the praetorian had been engaged but their desperate defense was not enough and the emperor himself, against the wishes of his high command, had ordered a counter charge. Running in the gap between the back of the legions and the praetorian guard, he’d taken a lead position at the head of his bodyguard, a number of his highest military advisors at his side. The wedge formation had taken the parthian snake of the left flank and penetrated deep in the line where Marcus Aurelius and his bodyguard had fallen on Vologases and his own protectors. The two emperors had exchanged a few blows before being separated by the flow of the battle, but legend would say that it was Marcus Aurelius himself who’d slayed the Parthian King of Kings. It had been Borysthene who’d accomplished the feat, causing the fight to increase in ferocity as the Parthians attempted to bring the corpse of their leader back to their lines. The noblest Parthians fell around the body, many dying not from wounds but from the weight of the bodies that fell upon them, be it horseflesh or men’s.
Yet it was too late. The infantry had reformed and now pushed against the cavalry from all sides, not giving the Parthians the room to take any momentum. The roman imperial entourage went through the Parthian lines and exited on their right flank before going back to their initial position, with Marcus Aurelius’ cloak well in sight to prove to those of his soldiers who looked that he was still alive although he’d received a number of cuts, luckily minor, during the fight. Gallenus tended to them while the emperor was still on horseback looking at the disaster happening in front of him as the roman infantry made contact with the underwhelming parthian infantry who was already beginning to flee as rumors about the death of the Shahanshah began to flow on the battlefield.
While some fled toward the walls of Ctesiphon, most would flee east and try to put the river between them and the romans, who were in no shape to pursue given the losses in cavalry. Beside all wanted to be there for the sack of Ctesiphon…
For Marcus Aurelius the victory was total, too total even : he was not sure whom would try to negotiate peace now, as so many of the Satraps had fallen at the side of their lord. What should the goals of the war be now that so much had been won but that peace seemed unreachable ?
The battle had been bloody, more than bloody even, murderous. Emperor Marcus Aurelius himself had had to take out his sword and wield it in anger, as had the shahanshah Vologases IV. Now one of them rode his horse on the battlefield, blood spattered on his armor, surrounded by his surviving bodyguard. The other lay at the heart of a mound of dead and wounded warriors that marked the most hotly contested ground of the battle, the spot where the ruler of an empire had fallen.
The Roman army had come south from both the Tigris and Euphrates and joined a few days’s walk above Ctesiphon, concentrating all the might of the Roman Empire : a good fourth of the total imperial forces, some 80 000 men, arrayed for battle against the remaining might of the Parthian empire.
Chosroes had been given overall command of some 150 000 men, with no less than 40 000 horsemen. But numbers were deceptive here as many of the horsemen were young second or third sons without the training and experience of their deceased elders. Loses among the parthian nobility had been horrendous during the previous years with the defeats at Arsamosata and in a number of smaller battles taking the best of the light horsemen and too many of the cataphractoi. The situation was no better with the infantry : the Immortals’ regiment, picked infantry of the empire, had less than a third of its original soldiers surviving the campaign.
Desperate measures had been taken. The wall of Gorgan had been depleted of most of its garrison, despite the threat of the nomadic tribes of the great northern plain : the road toward the heart of the Parthian plateau was open to the barbarians and devastation would follow if the troops brought to Ctesiphon did not succeed in turning away the westerners…
Marcus Aurelius contemplated the death and destruction around him, his face a neutral mask to hide his sentiments, a mix of deep sadness and elation, of worry and pain. So many dead. His cavalry almost annihilated, the praetorian guard gutted with more than half its picked elite force dead, his own commander of the imperial bodyguard, Titus Aelius Borysthene, dead in the thick of the fight that had turned the battle.
Chosroes had convinced Vologases to try a last, desperate operation. Concentrating the last of the heavy cavalry in a single heavy fist, they had charged directly toward the roman imperial entourage, bursting from the center of the parthian lines while the rest of their cavalry kept the Romans and Armenian cavalry to the sides of the battlefield. The heavily armored men then pushed into the roman center, brushing away the infantry under their sheer weight of their armoured Nisean mounts, the largest horses known in the world.
The legionnaires had not been enough to stop the momentum of the charge and the praetorian had been engaged but their desperate defense was not enough and the emperor himself, against the wishes of his high command, had ordered a counter charge. Running in the gap between the back of the legions and the praetorian guard, he’d taken a lead position at the head of his bodyguard, a number of his highest military advisors at his side. The wedge formation had taken the parthian snake of the left flank and penetrated deep in the line where Marcus Aurelius and his bodyguard had fallen on Vologases and his own protectors. The two emperors had exchanged a few blows before being separated by the flow of the battle, but legend would say that it was Marcus Aurelius himself who’d slayed the Parthian King of Kings. It had been Borysthene who’d accomplished the feat, causing the fight to increase in ferocity as the Parthians attempted to bring the corpse of their leader back to their lines. The noblest Parthians fell around the body, many dying not from wounds but from the weight of the bodies that fell upon them, be it horseflesh or men’s.
Yet it was too late. The infantry had reformed and now pushed against the cavalry from all sides, not giving the Parthians the room to take any momentum. The roman imperial entourage went through the Parthian lines and exited on their right flank before going back to their initial position, with Marcus Aurelius’ cloak well in sight to prove to those of his soldiers who looked that he was still alive although he’d received a number of cuts, luckily minor, during the fight. Gallenus tended to them while the emperor was still on horseback looking at the disaster happening in front of him as the roman infantry made contact with the underwhelming parthian infantry who was already beginning to flee as rumors about the death of the Shahanshah began to flow on the battlefield.
While some fled toward the walls of Ctesiphon, most would flee east and try to put the river between them and the romans, who were in no shape to pursue given the losses in cavalry. Beside all wanted to be there for the sack of Ctesiphon…
For Marcus Aurelius the victory was total, too total even : he was not sure whom would try to negotiate peace now, as so many of the Satraps had fallen at the side of their lord. What should the goals of the war be now that so much had been won but that peace seemed unreachable ?