Marcus Licinius Crassus rose from a modest upbringing to become one of the most powerful men in the Roman Republic, amassing a fortune so vast that historians still debate whether he was the richest man who ever lived. But his relentless pursuit of wealth and power ultimately led to a death so humiliating that his enemies reportedly poured molten gold down his throat in mockery of his greed. Born in 115 BC to a respected plebeian family, Crassus was the second of three sons in a competitive household led by his father, a prominent senator and army commander. His early life was far from luxurious.
When his older brother died in his teens, Crassus became the eldest surviving son. Then, in 87 BC, his father and remaining brother perished in Rome after being pursued by supporters of a defeated political rival—whether they were murdered or took their own lives remains unclear. Suddenly the sole surviving male of his line, Crassus married his brother’s widow, Tertulla, an uncommon practice in ancient Rome, and the couple had two sons. He then set out to build a career that would rival his father’s legacy, beginning as an army commander under General Lucius Sulla.
Crassus proved a talented commander and an inspiring presence to his men. But after the purges that claimed his father and brother, he fled Rome for Hispania, modern-day Spain. There he linked up with Sulla during the civil conflict against his family’s aggressors. Between 87 and 84 BC, Crassus showed the first signs of his ruthless capacity, amassing an army of 2,500 men and reportedly sacking the city of Malaca to fund his campaign.
The civil conflict concluded at the Battle of the Colline Gate, where Crassus’ army intervened to turn a near-defeat into victory for Sulla. The victorious general rewarded Crassus with a key position in his government. But Crassus had not forgotten that his family’s assets had been confiscated during the earlier purges. He set about rebuilding his fortune using the very tools deployed against his family.
When Sulla implemented new proscriptions, stripping victims of their property and auctioning it at low prices, Crassus seized the opportunity, purchasing as many cheap properties as he could. He became a real estate mogul with a reputation for buying burnt or dilapidated buildings, flipping them cheaply using skilled enslaved architects and construction workers. He also profited from slave trafficking and silver production. His most infamous scheme was creating Rome’s first fire brigade, staffed with 500 men.
When his firefighters arrived at a burning building, Crassus would offer to purchase the property from its panicked owner at a shockingly low price. If the owner refused, he commanded his men to let the fire consume the structure entirely. The tactic worked often, and he would repair the properties and lease them back to their original owners. In another cunning maneuver, Crassus became close with Licinia, a Vestal Virgin cousin who owned a valuable villa he coveted.
After attempting to seduce her, he accused her of breaking her vow of celibacy. Licinia was prosecuted, and Crassus acquired her villa. His fortune grew through property speculation, extortion, and slave driving. Estimates of his wealth in modern value range from 200 million to a staggering 20 billion dollars.
Yet Crassus did not live lavishly. His home life was simple, his family dined on modest fare, and his entertainments were subdued compared to other wealthy Romans. Instead, he directed his money toward the thing he desired most: power. In 73 BC, when Spartacus led a massive slave revolt, Crassus, recently elected praetor, personally bankrolled the offensive against the rebels.
After several Roman legions suffered defeat, he paid for the equipment, training, and leadership of new men. But his forces proved no match for Spartacus at first. After a brutal battle, a segment of his army laid down their arms and abandoned the group. Furious, Crassus revived the ancient practice of decimation—executing one of every ten men, chosen at random.
It proved grimly effective. His men’s fighting spirit improved afterward, as one Greek historian observed that Crassus proved more dangerous to them than the enemy. During the Battle of the Silarus River, Spartacus himself tried to kill Crassus, fighting his way toward him, but only managed to take out two of his centurion guards. The battle proved decisive.
Crassus captured 6,000 slaves alive and had them all crucified along the Appian Way, the southern road to Rome, leaving their bodies on display to rot as a gruesome warning to any other would-be dissenters. Despite ending the rebellion, Crassus reportedly considered it ignoble to celebrate the triumph or receive public honors. For him, the resulting power was the real prize. Crassus then formed a shaky political alliance with fellow general Pompey, and both were elected to the consulship.
The collaboration was contentious from the start, with the two men clashing on nearly every measure. Pompey would become a lifelong rival. By 65 BC, Crassus was elected censor. He recognized the potential of Julius Caesar and became his political supporter and financial patron for the next decade.
In 60 BC, Caesar, Crassus, and Pompey formed the First Triumvirate, an informal alliance that dominated Roman politics. It was an uneasy coalition of three ambitious, power-hungry men. While Caesar and Crassus remained closely aligned, Pompey’s rivalry with Crassus was evident from the start, and Pompey was also jealous of Caesar’s conquests in the Gallic Wars. By 56 BC, tensions had reached a boiling point.
Pompey accused Crassus of plotting against his life. The three men met at the Luca Conference to repair their fragile bond and stabilize their alliance. Crassus came away with a new assignment: he was appointed governor of Roman Syria, a resource-rich region promising even more wealth. But his interest did not stop at wealth.
He wanted battle glory to match his Triumvirate colleagues. He decided to invade the Parthian Empire, crossing the Euphrates against the tactical advice of the local king of Armenia. His hubris proved his downfall. At the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, the Parthian army defeated Crassus’ forces despite having much lower numbers.
After severe casualties and a retreat that left many men behind, Crassus’ troops demanded he negotiate peace under threat of mutiny. He reluctantly agreed to meet with a Parthian general to discuss terms. At the negotiations, his junior officer Octavius, a paranoid man, panicked and seized Crassus’ horse by the bridle to flee. The move was misconstrued by the Parthians, and a fight broke out between the two negotiating parties.
All the Romans were slain, including Crassus, who died a year or two after his 60th birthday. But the Parthians were not finished with him. Viewing him as a greedy conqueror concerned more with personal gain than anything else, they reportedly poured molten gold down his throat in scorn for his thirst for riches. They went further.
At the wedding of the Parthian king’s son and heir, Pakorus, the Parthians presented Crassus’ severed head to King Orodes II. According to accounts, the wedding celebrations included a performance of Euripides’ tragedy “The Bacchae,” and the actors disturbingly used Crassus’ head as a prop to recite verses. The death of Crassus had earth-shattering ramifications for the Roman Republic. With his counterbalancing influence and wealth gone, the alliance between Caesar and Pompey unraveled permanently.
Within four years, tensions reached a boiling point. Caesar’s infamous crossing of the Rubicon kicked off a civil conflict between the two factions, transforming the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Crassus’ legacy has endured in culture as well. From Dante’s “Divine Comedy” in the 1300s to modern literature, ballet, music, video games, and television, he has been heavily represented in art.
Perhaps his most famous portrayal is in Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 film “Spartacus,” where Laurence Olivier played Crassus in the epic dramatization of the Third Servile War.
