Roman Defeat at Rhandeia under Paetus

After Corbulo’s successes, Nero divided forces. He left Lucius Caesennius Paetus to finish the job in Armenia while Corbulo secured Syria. Paetus advanced to Rhandeia with impatience and insufficient preparation. Tacitus paints the soundscape before the disaster: “The Parthians’ javelins [arrows] gleamed with light, a prodigy the more significant because the Parthian foe fights with missiles” [8].

Tiridates, Arsacid brother to Vologases, massed Parthian–Armenian forces and pressed Paetus’ legions hard. Surrounded, short of supplies, and with relief far away, Paetus yielded terms and withdrew. Shields that had crossed the Euphrates under Corbulo returned across it, their bronze scuffed, their standards now symbols of a bargain rather than victory [7][8].

Corbulo held his army near the Euphrates at Melitene and in Syria, furious but disciplined. He did not throw good legions after bad. Instead, he prepared to convert the reverse into a diplomatic win by reminding the Arsacids that he, not Paetus, commanded Rome’s real power in the region [7].

Rhandeia did not erase Artaxata and Tigranocerta. It did reveal how quickly Parthian missiles and mountainous terrain could unmake a rash Roman offensive [7][8].