Publius Canidius Crassus

Publius Canidius Crassus (died 30 BC) was a Roman general and Mark Antony's lieutenant. He served under Lepidus in southern Gallia in 43 BC, and was henceforth allied with Antony. He became suffect consul in 40 BC and then served as a commander in Armenia whence he invaded, in 36 BC, Iberia (Georgia), and forced its king Pharnabazus into alliance against Zober, king of Albania. Having subjugated the Iberians and Albanians, Crassus then joined Antony's campaign against Parthia.

A papyrus document dated February 33 BC granting Publius Canidius Crassus tax exemptions in Ptolemaic Egypt and containing the signature of Cleopatra VII in a different hand, with her statement "make it happen" (Greek: γινέσθωι, ginesthō)[1]

In the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, he commanded Antony's land forces against Octavian, having advised Antony before the battle that it would be more advantageous for their forces, together with those of Cleopatra, to fight on land, where they would have had the advantage over those of Octavian.[2] [3] After Antony's defeat and flight to Egypt, Crassus was accused of deserting his army. He went to Egypt, where he was executed on Octavian's order.[4]


Political offices
Preceded by
Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus and Gaius Asinius Pollio		 Consul of the Roman Republic
with Lucius Cornelius Balbus
40 BC		 Succeeded by
Lucius Marcius Censorinus and Gaius Calvisius Sabinus

See also

References
  1. Roller, Duane W. (2010), Cleopatra: a biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 134, ISBN 978-0-19-536553-5
  2. Plutarch, Life of Antony
  3. Smith, W. (Ed.). (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology (Vol.1, p.872). On the outbreak of the war many of Antony's friends advised him to remove Cleopatra from the army, but Crassus who was bribed by the queen, opposed this plan, and she accordingly accompanied her lover to the fatal war. Shortly afterwards, however, Crassus also advised Antony to send her back to Egypt, and to fight the decisive battle on the land and not on the sea. This time his advice was disregarded.
  4. Hazel, John (2002), Who's Who in the Roman World, p. 85. Routledge, ISBN 0-415-29162-3.


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