In 54 BC, Marcus Licinius Crassus, a rich, ambitious Roman businessman, got himself named governor of the wealthy province of Syria. Crassus had been sharing power in Rome with Pompey and Julius Caesar. Call him the Donald Trump of his day. Crassus decided to invade neighboring Parthia, which is today Turkey and Iran. At the battle of Carrhae, retreating Persian horse archers loosed arrows over the back of their horses, giving us the literary term for a parting shot, `Parthian shaft.’ The...























