On Marcus Crassus

Marcus Licinius Crassus(about 115 B.C.-53 B.C.)was a famous statesman,strategist,and the richest man in Rome at the end of the Roman Republic.Crassus was born into a noble family and an early supporter of Sulla.He was highly valued for his outstanding performance in Sulla’s battle for Italy.After Sulla came to power,he accumulated huge wealth through various means,such as speculation in real estate and became the richest man in Rome.Crassus rose in Roman politics after suppression of the slave uprising led by Spartacus.However,Pompey,who had just returned from Spain and gave the last blow to the slave uprising,covered up his credit,and the two had a gap.In 70 BC,Crassus and Pompey became consuls and abolished the reforms enacted during Sulla’s reign.At the end of his term of office,Crassus used Pompey’s opportunity to march to the East and pacify the pirates from Rome,and improved his political status through a series of political activities.He worked with Caesar to lay the foundation for the alliance that followed.Since then,as the Senate carried out hostile policies towards Pompey,Crassus and Caesar,the three men abandoned their previous suspicions and secretly formed an alliance in 60 BC.After the renewal of the alliance in 56 BC,Crassus became governor of the province of Syria and prepared to go to Parthia.In 53 BC,Crassus was killed in the battle of Carrhae during the expedition to Parthia.His death not only led to the breakdown of The First Triumvirate,intensified the struggle between Pompey and Caesar for the supreme ruling power of the Roman state and the outbreak of the Roman civil war,but also accelerated the process of the transformation of Rome from a republic to a monarchy.