Member-only story
About Me — Marcus Licinius Crassus
The life of Rome’s richest citizen, and why I write with a pseudonym.
Marcus Licinius Crassus spent his life becoming the richest man in all of Rome, seizing power, and nurturing the career of a novice Julius Caesar. Born in 115 B.C. to a wealthy family, the young Crassus eventually lost all of his wealth in the civil war from 83–82 B.C. between Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla. After fighting alongside the victorious Sulla, Crassus found himself with newfound wealth and power. He purchased cheap land from persecuted political enemies, establishing his core economic strategy of buying land as cheaply as possible. When fires broke out in the city, Crassus would arrive with a private firefighter squad and only offer to help if the landowners paid a high fee. If they refused, Crassus would let the building burn until it was valueless, and then he would buy the land for very little.
However, Crassus didn’t desire money primarily. It was social status that he wanted, and politics was the most viable avenue to get it. With his sheer wealth, Crassus effectively purchased political power and later took part in the infamous First Triumvirate, a political alliance with Julius Caesar and Pompeius Magnus.
After Caesar grew more powerful through foreign conquests, Crassus invaded Parthia to…
