furnished by Artavasdes.[1] These horsemen, fully equipped and armored, the Armenian king was proud to display before Antony.[2] His advice was to attack Media Atropatene, since the ruler of that country, also named Artavasdes, and all of his troops were with the Parthians on the Euphrates. The guide who led the Romans northward from Zeugma to the borders of Atropatene, and later even Artavasdes himself, were accused of being Parthian agents;[3] but the charge may have been based on a desire to shift the blame for the defeat that ensued. In order to speed up his advance Antony left behind his slow-moving baggage, his siege engines (carried in three hundred wagons), and all beasts of burden. About two legions, under Oppius Statianus, were assigned the task of bringing forward this material as rapidly as possible.[4] Because there was no heavy timber in the country to be traversed, siege engines could not be constructed there; if they were to be available, they had to be brought with the army. Antony himself took the cavalry and the pick of the infantry and hurried to the capital of Media Atropatene, Praaspa (Takht-i-
- ↑ Plut. Antony 37. Justin xlii. 5. 3 and Florus ii. 20 state that he had with him sixteen legions; Victor De vir. ill. 85. 4 reports the number as fifteen; Livy Epit. cxxx gives 18; and Vell. Pat. ii. 82 says thirteen. Kromayer, op. cit., Hermes, XXXIII (1898), 27, estimates the average strength of these legions at 3750. See also Günther, Beiträge, p. 50 and n. 2; Tarn, "Antony's Legions," Classical Quarterly, XXVI (1932), 75–81.
- ↑ Strabo xi. 14. 9.
- ↑ Strabo xi. 13. 4 and xvi. 1. 28.
- ↑ Dio Cass. xlix. 25; Plut. Antony 38 says ten thousand men.
