Antony's Atropatene campaign
| Antony's Atropatene campaign | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Roman–Parthian Wars | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Roman Republic Armenia Galatia Cappadocia Pontus Herodian Kingdom of Judea |
Parthian Empire Atropatene Hasmonean Kingdom | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Mark Antony Artavasdes II of Armenia Oppius Statianus † Polemon I of Pontus (POW) Herod the Great |
Phraates IV Artavasdes I of Atropatene Monaeses | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
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100,000 in total
|
24,000 in total
| ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| ~32,000 men lost | Unknown, but minimal | ||||||||
Antony's Atropatene campaign, also known as Antony's Parthian campaign, was a military campaign by Mark Antony, the eastern triumvir of the Roman Republic, against the Parthian Empire under Phraates IV.
Julius Caesar had planned an invasion of Parthia but died before he could implement it. In 40 BC, the Parthians were joined by Pompeian forces and briefly captured much of the Roman East, but a force sent by Antony defeated them and reversed their gains.
Allying with several kingdoms, including Armenia, Antony began a campaign against Parthia with a massive force in 36 BC. Since the Euphrates front was found to be strong, Antony chose the route via Armenia. Upon entering Atropatene, the Roman baggage train and siege engines, which had taken a different route, were destroyed by a Parthian cavalry force. Antony moved on and besieged the Atropatene capital but was unsuccessful. The arduous journey of retreat to Armenia and then Syria further inflicted losses on his force, making the war a tactical Roman disaster and a strategic draw. Peace was later negotiated by Augustus.