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Historical person

Surena

85 BCE–53 BCE

Surena was a Parthian nobleman and commander from one of the empire’s great aristocratic houses. In 53 BC he led the army that defeated Marcus Crassus at Carrhae, using horse archers, armoured cavalry and a sustained supply of arrows to destroy the Roman force.

Surena captured or killed much of the army and recovered Roman standards. King Orodes II later had him executed, possibly because his prestige had become dangerous. Surena was born in Parthian Empire.

Peter Darman’s Carrhae makes Surena the architect of the Parthian victory over Crassus, directing horse archers and armoured cavalry whose mobility destroys the Roman army. In Darman’s Parthian Vengeance, the younger Surena serves among Pacorus of Dura’s companions during Parthia’s dynastic struggles, already marked out as a commander of exceptional promise. Ben Kane’s The Forgotten Legion brings Surena into the Carrhae campaign from the Roman side, where his command is part of the disaster that sends the surviving legionaries into captivity far from Rome.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Surena (2 series)

Parthian Chronicles in Order

by Peter Darman 16 books 4.5(22,678)

The Parthian Chronicles follow Pacorus, a fictional Parthian prince whose life stretches across the violent politics of the first century BCE. The opening novel places him beside Spartacus during the Third Servile War; later volumes return him to Mesopotamia, where he becomes ruler of Dura and is drawn…

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The Forgotten Legion Chronicles in Order

by Ben Kane 3 books 4.4(6,878)

The enslaved twins Romulus and Fabiola are separated when Romulus is sold to a gladiator school and Fabiola to a brothel. Romulus comes under the protection of the Gallic gladiator Brennus and meets Tarquinius, an Etruscan warrior and seer. The three men are forced into Crassus’s army and…

All books in this series