SYRIA, Seleukis and Pieria. Antioch. Marcus Licinius Crassus, proconsul, circa 55-53 BC. Tetradrachm (Silver, 26 mm, 15.58 g, 12 h), in the name and types of the Seleukid king Philip I Philadelphos (95/4-76/5 BC). Diademed head of Philip I to right. Rev. [B]AΣIΛE[ΩΣ] / ΦIΛIΠΠΟ[Υ] - EΠIΦΑΝΟΥΣ / [ΦI]ΛAΔEΛΦ[ΟΥ] Zeus seated left, holding Nike in his right hand and long scepter in his left; in inner left field, monogram of KP; below throne, monogram; in exergue, thunderbolt; all within wreath. McAlee 2. Prieur 2. RPC I 4125a and 4125b var. (letters in the exergue, and with monogram of KPA not KP). An apparently unpublished variety of Crassus' very rare Antiochian silver issue. Nearly extremely fine.


P. Licinius Crassus first gained a reputation for rapacious greed during Sulla’s proscriptions and eventually became the richest man Rome had yet seen. Yet his ambitions extended beyond mere enrichment. In 60 BC he formed the First Triumvirate with Pompey and Julius Caesar. Crassus lacked the battlefield prestige of his partners and, in practice, helped underwrite the informal alliance, while Pompey - and later Caesar as well - brought the loyalty of thousands of veterans. Seeking military distinction of his own and anxious not to lose influence, Crassus secured the governorship of Syria for five years in 55 BC.

The arrangement offered him the chance to wage a major war and cultivate a personal power base, much as Caesar was doing in Gaul. Upon arriving in Syria, the proconsul quickly lived up to his reputation, plundering the temples of Heliopolis and Jerusalem while preparing for war with Parthia. He also followed the precedent set by Aulus Gabinius by striking coins in the name of the Seleukid king Philip I Philadelphus, marking them with his personal monogram on the reverse. In 53 BC Crassus marched east with an invasion force of some 40,000 Roman troops. It soon became clear, however, that the overconfident commander was no Caesar or Pompey: his army was almost completely destroyed by the Parthians at the disastrous Battle of Carrhae. Crassus himself was killed, and his head was reportedly presented to the Parthian king Orodes II - a humiliation that hardened hostility between the two powers for generations.