Roman general, consul in 30 BC
Marcus Licinius Crassus
(
fl.
1st century BC), grandson of the
triumvir
Marcus Licinius Crassus
, was a
Roman
consul
in the year 30 BC as the colleague of Octavian (the future
Roman Emperor
Augustus
).
[1]
He was best known for his successful campaigns in
Macedonia
and
Thrace
in 29?27 BC, for which he was denied customary military honors by Augustus.
Family
[
edit
]
The younger Crassus was the son of another
Marcus Licinius Crassus
, possibly by his wife
Caecilia Metella Cretica
, daughter of the consul
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus
(see
Caecilius Metellus
); his mother's tomb is visible on the
Appian Way
. His father was a
quaestor
to
Julius Caesar
, and a son of
Marcus Licinius Crassus
possibly by his wife
Tertulla
(widow of an elder brother killed in December 87 BC).
Crassus apparently had no surviving sons by his wife. It is believed that he
adopted
the future consul
Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi
from the
Calpurnii Pisones
family.
[2]
Military career
[
edit
]
Crassus was a Roman general, who fought first with
Sextus Pompey
and
Mark Antony
before defecting to Octavian. Octavian then appointed him as his colleague as
consul
for 30 BC, even though Crassus had not been
praetor
, the office that was traditionally a prerequisite for the consulship. Appointed proconsul of
Macedonia
in 29 BC, he moved against the
Bastarnae
, a tribe of mixed ethnicity (Scythian, Dacian, and Germanic) who had crossed the
Danube
and threatened Roman allies in neighboring
Thrace
.
[3]
He drove them back toward the Danube and finally defeated them in pitched battle, killing their King Deldo in single combat.
[4]
By Roman tradition, he was thus entitled to the
Spolia opima
, but Octavian blocked the privilege, apparently wishing to downplay the successes of individual generals in favor of his own prestige. It is assumed that Crassus also fought against the
Dacians
but that this victory was downplayed by order of Octavian who did not want a rival to get the prestige connected with this military success.
[5]
Octavian eventually did grant him a
triumph
, which he celebrated upon his return to Rome in July 27 BC.
[6]
However Octavian did not attend, having pointedly left Rome to visit the Western provinces of the Empire. Crassus then disappears from the historical record, perhaps because Octavian never allowed him another position of authority.
[7]
Cultural depictions
[
edit
]
A fictional version of Crassus is portrayed by actor
Lex Shrapnel
in the
Sky Atlantic
television series
Domina
. He is portrayed as an ambitious political rival of Augustus, involved in an extramarital affair with Augustus' ex-wife,
Scribonia
.
[8]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Attilio Degrassi
,
I fasti consolari dell'Impero Romano dal 30 avanti Cristo al 613 dopo Cristo
(Rome, 1952), p. 3
- ^
Ronald Syme
,
"Piso Frugi and Crassus Frugi"
,
Journal of Roman Studies
, 50 (1960), pp. 12-20
- ^
Syme,
The Roman Revolution
(Oxford: University Press, 1939), p. 308
- ^
Cassius Dio
51.23.3 ff.
[1]
- ^
Mocsy, Andreas (1966). "Der vertuschte Dakerkrieg des M. Licinius Crassus". In:
Historia
, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 511?514.
- ^
Syme,
Roman Revolution
, p. 303
- ^
Syme,
The Augustan Aristocracy
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), pp. 273-275
- ^
"Domina"
.
IMDb
. Retrieved
June 1,
2021
.