Far From Home

The Romans in the 1st century BCE were maybe the most developing realms around. Despite the fact that the common wars of Caesar and Pompey, and Octavian and Marc Antony overwhelmed the scene, much more occurred around them. In 53 BCE a Roman armed force under Marcus Licinius Crassus, vanquisher of Spartacus and most extravagant man in Rome, endeavored to broaden Roman power into Parthia, modern day Iran. He got similarly as present day Harran in southeast Turkey before he was met by a Parthian armed force under Surena.

This did not end well for the Romans. Due to his fame Crassus was bit arrogant, too complacent against his would be enemies. In his opinion this battle would be "easy" against the "inferior" barbarians. Sadly he was greatly mistaken and he would pay for his mistake with his life and beloved gold.

In the first place the Parthians have a semi-professional army. They also have one of the most efficient horse archers the world had ever seen at the time. Those horse archers are greatly effective in catching the roman army off guard.

And since the Romans are poor at combined arms at the time which added to their defeat.

The Battle of Carrhae was an entire catastrophe for the Romans, with Marcus Licinius Crassus kicking the bucket alongside around 20,000 of his men, and another 10,000 captured. This one for the most part came down to the brilliant work of mounted force by the Parthians.

Presently, the army was a genuinely versatile unit, and it was genuinely solid on resistance against mounted force, infantry and bowmen. Be that as it may, it couldn't shield against these dangers all the while. At Carrhae, the Parthians pelted the armies with flame from range, and when the Romans went into testudo formation, the armies were hit by a mounted force charge. The Parthians shifted back and forth between the mounted archers and cavalry charge throughout the day, and the armies just couldn't confront it which led to their collapse.

The war in Parthia came about because of political courses of action expected to be commonly advantageous for Marcus Licinius Crassus, Pompeius Magnus, and Julius Caesar the supposed First Triumvirate. In March and April 56 BC, gatherings were held at Ravenna and Luca, in Caesar's region of Cisalpine Gaul...

"Caesar! My good friend it's nice to meet you again"

"Marcus it's nice to meet you to! So how was the trip?"

"The roads a bit bumpy but overall its fine, so where's Pompei, late again?"

"No he's not late he was just delayed by some matters at Rome, he'll arrive after a day or two."

"Hmph! That man really gets on my nerves"

"Now, now calm yourself, why don't we have some food while talking, i'm sure your hungry after all that travelling"

"Good, by the way how was your campaign?"

The two talked for hours, Caesar told Marcus first hand information regarding the wars while Marcus listens and ask questions from time to time.

A day later Pompei arrived and the the three of them reaffirm the debilitating partnership framed four years earlier. It was concurred that the triumvirate would marshal their supporters and assets to anchor enactment for drawing out Caesar's Gallic direction and to impact the forthcoming races for 55 BC, with the target of a second joint consulship for Crassus and Pompei. The pioneers of the triumvirate planned to extend their group's capacity through conventional methods: military directions, setting political partners in office, and propelling enactment to advance their interests.

The faction secured the consulship and most, though not all, of the other offices sought. Legislation passed by the tribune Trebonius granted extended proconsulships of five years, matching that of Caesar in Gaul, to the two outgoing consuls. The Spanish provinces would go to Pompeius; Crassus arranged to have Syria, with the transparent intention of going to war with Parthia.

In the middle of this was the man called Avitus Aquilinus, during the the meeting Avitus was one of the legionary guard of Caesar, due to some twist of fate he was tranferred to Crassus's command.

Three years had passed and he faithfully served Crassus as one of his personal guards. Now he's a prisoner of the Parthians. Under chains and in cages they are being carried somewhere far from their homes.

"Avitus where are they taking us?"

"How the hell would I know Lucius?"

"Sigh... That battle was a disaster, Avitus will we ever go back home?"

"We are going deep into enemy lines and we better pray to the gods that Rome will ransom us back or we'll never ever see home again Lucius"

"Ransom us? Do you think those greedy politicians will pay for us?"

"Thats why I told you to pray to the gods because right now our future is quite dark my friend"

"Avitus it's been a whole day already when will they ever feed us?"

"Lucius would you please stop talking?! It's getting on my nerves. Please think on how would I ever know the answer to your stupid questions?"

"I'm sorry Avitus..."

"Never mind, just be silent and conserve your energy, I noticed that some of our men are being flogged by the bastards so we better not annoy them with our noise"

For days the prisoners traveled starving. Food was scarcely given to them while water was also sparing given. Some Romans tried to escape, some were successful but died due to the heat and lack of water while some were captured and killed in front of the prisoners as example.

It took them many days before they finally reach the City of Hatra, but it was not their last stop since the Parthians had a standard practice of employing captured soldiers as border guards. By transferring the legionaries to the eastern boarders they prevented any realistic chance of escape.

In Hatra it will be decided where the captured soldiers from Carrhae will be sent to live the rest of their lives as guards for their captors and far from their families and home.