Marcus Crassus

Marcus Crassus (c. 115-53 bc), Roman politician and speculator, a member of the First Triumvirate with Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar. He fought in the civil war (83-82 bc) on the side of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, leader of the ousted aristocratic party, against Gaius Marius the Younger, who had assumed leadership of the revolutionary party after the death of his adoptive father and namesake in 86 bc. When the property of Marius's followers was confiscated after their defeat at the Battle of the Colline Gate (82 bc), Crassus accumulated a fortune, which he enlarged through speculation and usury until he was one of the wealthiest men in Rome. Crassus used his wealth to win office and power in the political intrigues that characterized the last years of the Roman Republic. He was praetor in 71 bc and crushed the slave revolt led by the gladiator Spartacus. Crassus was elected to the consulship for the year 70 bc with the support of Pompey. Shortly thereafter Crassus allied himself with Julius Caesar, and the two men supported Catiline against Cicero for the consulship. Crassus was censor in 65 bc, and in 60 bc formed with Caesar and Pompey the coalition known as the First Triumvirate. Pompey and Crassus were consuls again in 55 bc; the following year Crassus was assigned the province of Syria to govern as proconsul. Greed and ambition drove him to start a war against Parthia, invade Mesopotamia, and sack Jerusalem and its Temple of Solomon, but he was ingloriously defeated and killed by the Parthians at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 bc.