Surena or Suren, also known as Rustaham Suren (died 53 BC) was a Parthian '' spahbed'' ("general" or "commander") during the first century BC. He was the leader of the House of Suren and was best known for defeating the Romans in the

Battle of Carrhae The Battle of Carrhae () was fought in 53 BC between the Roman Republic and the Parthian Empire near the ancient town of Carrhae (present-day Harran, Turkey). An invading force of seven legions of Roman heavy infantry under Marcus Liciniu ...

. Under his command Parthians decisively defeated a numerically superior Roman invasion force under the command of

Marcus Licinius Crassus Marcus Licinius Crassus (; 115 – 53 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who played a key role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. He is often called "the richest man in Rome." Wallechinsky, David & Wallace, I ...

. It is commonly seen as one of the earliest and most important battles between the Roman and Parthian empires and one of the most crushing defeats in Roman history. "Surena" remains popular as a name in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and it is sometimes pronounced as “Sorena”. "Surena" is the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

form of ''Sûrên''. or ''Sūrēn''.. As "Suren", the name remains common in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

.. ''Suren'' means "the heroic one,

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

''sūra'' (strong, exalted).".

Context

In '' Life of Crassus'' 21, written c. 125 years after the commander's time,

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...

described Surena as "an extremely distinguished man. In wealth, birth, and in the honor paid to him, he ranked next after the king; in courage and ability he was the foremost Parthian of his time; and in stature and personal beauty he had no equal." Also according to Plutarch, there were "many slaves" in his army, suggesting the general had great wealth.. However, the actual meaning of the term "slaves" (''doûloi'', ') mentioned in this context is disputed. Plutarch also described him as "the tallest and finest looking man himself, but the delicacy of his looks and effeminacy of his dress did not promise so much manhood as he really was master of; for his face was painted, and his hair parted after the fashion of the Medes." Surena was thus one of the most powerful men in the Parthian Empire, and according to Gazerani, was a "king in his own right, as he travels with what is unmistakably a courtly retinue" In 54 BC, Surena commanded troops of Orodes II at the battle for the city of

Seleucia Seleucia (; grc-gre, Σελεύκεια), also known as or , was a major Mesopotamian city of the Seleucid empire. It stood on the west bank of the Tigris River, within the present-day Baghdad Governorate in Iraq. Name Seleucia ( grc-gre, ...

. Surena distinguished himself in this battle for dynastic succession (Orodes II had previously been deposed by Mithridates IV) and was instrumental in the reinstatement of Orodes upon the Arsacid throne.. In 53 BC, the Romans advanced on the western Parthian vassalaries. In response, Orodes II sent his cavalry units under Surena to combat them. The two armies subsequently met at the

(at Harrân in present-day Turkey), where the superior equipment and clever tactics of the Parthians to lure the Romans out into the middle of the desert enabled them to defeat the numerically superior Romans.. Although this feat of arms took a severe toll on the Roman troops (Plutarch speaks of 20,000 dead and 10,000 prisoners), and "produced a mighty echo amongst the peoples of the East," it did not cause "any decisive shift in the balance of power,". that is, the Arsacid victory did not gain them territory. Surena was then executed by King Orodes II, the reason likely being that the king felt Surena could be a threat. "In some ways, the position of urenain the historical tradition is curiously parallel to that of Rustam in the /nowiki>Shahnameh.html" ;"title="Shahnameh.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Shahnameh">/nowiki>Shahnameh">Shahnameh.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Shahnameh">/nowiki>Shahnameh/nowiki>." "Yet despite the predominance of Rustam in the epic tradition, it has never been possible to find him a convincingly historical niche.".

Portrayals

* The last composition of the 17th-century French dramatist Pierre Corneille, a tragedy titled ''Suréna'', is roughly based on the story of General Surena.

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Bibliography

* * * * * . * * * * Plutarch, "Marcus Crassus", in * * * * * *

Context

Portrayals

See also

Notes

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Bibliography

Further reading