Marcus Licinius Crassus (consul 30 BC) - Military Career

Military Career

Crassus was a Roman general, who fought first with Sextus Pompeius and Mark Antony before defecting to Octavian. Octavian then appointed him as his colleague as consul for 30 BC, even though Crassus had not been praetor, the office that was traditionally a prerequisite for the consulship. Dispatched to Macedonia in 29 BC, he moved against the Bastarnae, a tribe of Scythian ethnicity who had crossed the Danube and threatened Roman allies in neighboring Thrace. He drove them back toward the Danube and finally defeated them in pitched battle, killing their King Deldo in single combat. By Roman tradition, he was thus entitled to the Spolia opima, but Octavian blocked the privilege, apparently wishing to downplay the successes of individual generals in favor of his own prestige. Crassus likewise did not receive the agnomen of Scythicus to commemorate his victory. However, Octavian eventually did grant him a triumph upon his return to Rome.