Carrhae 53 B.C – Epic Symphony



An original composition by Farya Faraji. I wanted to write a symphonic piece in movements about the legendary battle of Carrhae, which saw one of the most catastrophic defeats in the history of Ancient Rome, fought on one side by Crassus of the Roman Republic, and on the other by the general Surena of the Parthian Empire. On that day, the two greatest states of this corner of the world met, and the memory of their battle still echoes to this day.

The Roman side of the music emulates Ancient Roman music, especially in the instrumentation: most of it is historical and uses lyres, aulos and a pan flute, whilst being spruced up with modern trumpets and modern compositional methods. The Iranian side representing the Parthians uses modern Iranian instruments since the music of Ancient Iran is lost to us, and the instrumentation revolves mainly around the kemenche, the tanbour and daf drums.

The lyrics are in Latin and in Parthian, the official languages of the respective warring states.

Latin lyrics:
Per aspera ad astra,
Per ardua ad astra,
Exurge Mars, Mars Ultor,
Roma et Imperator,

Viribus unitis,
Semper fidelis!
Sumus filii Lupae capitolinae!

English translation (loose translation):
Through hardships to the stars,
Through adversity to the stars,
Awake Mars, Mars the avenger,
For Rome and the Imperator*,

*Given the timeframe here, imperator cannot yet be translated as emperor, as it will only gain that meaning centuries later when deep into the era of Rome as an autocratic Empire.

With forces united,
Forever loyal!
We are sons of the Capitoline Wolf!

Parthian lyrics:
Az mazdezn bag,
Werod Shāh,
Shāhān Shāh Erān,

Ke chihr as yazdān,
Werod Shāh,
Shāhan Shāh Eran

Translation:
I, the Mazda-worshiping,
King Orodes,
King of Kings of Iran,

Whose race is of the gods,
King Orodes,
King of Kings of Iran,

00:00 Overture – The Parthian Empire
1:20 Crassus Departs
3:15 Surena Sets Out
6:12 The Romans Approach
9:40 The Parthian Drums
10:24 Charge of the Cataphracts
14:02 Blood
18:20 Crassus’ Lament
19:30 Surena Returns Triumphant
22:26 Surena’s Reward

#epicromanmusic
#sonsofmars
#epicbattlemusic

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28 thoughts on “Carrhae 53 B.C – Epic Symphony”

  1. An original composition by Farya Faraji. I wanted to write a symphonic piece in movements about the legendary battle of Carrhae, which saw one of the most catastrophic defeats in the history of Ancient Rome, fought on one side by Crassus of the Roman Republic, and on the other by the general Surena of the Parthian Empire. On that day, the two greatest states of this corner of the world met, and the memory of their battle still echoes to this day.

    The Roman side of the music emulates Ancient Roman music, especially in the instrumentation: most of it is historical and uses lyres, aulos and a pan flute, whilst being spruced up with modern trumpets and modern compositional methods. The Iranian side representing the Parthians uses modern Iranian instruments since the music of Ancient Iran is lost to us, and the instrumentation revolves mainly around the kemenche, the tanbour and daf drums.

    The lyrics are in Latin and in Parthian, the official languages of the respective warring states.

    Latin lyrics:
    Per aspera ad astra,
    Per ardua ad astra,
    Exurge Mars, Mars Ultor,
    Roma et Imperator,

    Viribus unitis,
    Semper fidelis!
    Sumus filii Lupae capitolinae!

    English translation (loose translation):
    Through hardships to the stars,
    Through adversity to the stars,
    Awake Mars, Mars the avenger,
    For Rome and the Imperator*,

    *Given the timeframe here, imperator cannot yet be translated as emperor, as it will only gain that meaning centuries later when deep into the era of Rome as an autocratic Empire.

    With forces united,
    Forever loyal!
    We are sons of the Capitoline Wolf!

    Parthian lyrics:
    Az mazdezn bag,
    Werod Shāh,
    Shāhān Shāh Erān,

    Ke chihr as yazdān,
    Werod Shāh,
    Shāhan Shāh Eran

    Translation:
    I, the Mazda-worshiping,
    King Orodes,
    King of Kings of Iran,

    Whose race is of the Yazatas (minor gods, or angelic-like beings depending on the wide variety of Ancient Iranian beliefs back then)
    King Orodes,
    King of Kings of Iran

    Reply
  2. Oh this sounds wonderful. I love the mix of Persian and Roman music. Really good as always. A question I wanted to ask you. Do you record your songs with real instruments or vst files? If you use vst files, do you mind listing them here? I'm a small musician myself and would love to maybe do some songs inspired by the Roman and Parthian era. Thanks in advance!

    Reply
  3. It’s cool having listened to the fall of Constantinople to hear the ottomans approaching to end time and here is doing the same thing with romans and later the ottomans would do later on in regards with how you made the songs.

    Reply
  4. Awesome farvahar symbol and awesome melody farya brother. With this music the sound in the form of an energy will connect us all together, This is called asha. We all are ashavans and asha tests our stability. Because in the final war of ahura mazda and daiva, We will have to choose the side of ahura mazda. But for that in this materialistic world, We will have to realise the importance of asha. Asha is the greatest light in this dark world which will burn a flame inside our souls 🔥, That flame will help us to burn daiva deeds in this world. We should always choose good path of ahura mazda in this cruel world. We should consume vegetarian food we should do good deeds we should always help others in need we should never let violence get greater. With this flame in our souls our sword will slay every bad people who cause violence.

    Ashem vohu
    Vahistem Asti
    Usta Asti
    Usta Ahmai
    Hyat Ashai
    Vahistai Ashem.

    The melody is so amazing and emotional. Good luck to all for this battle.

    Reply
  5. JUST WOW… And just to let you know, there are many Serbians that truly admire how you respect our and all Eurasian ancient music culture and tradition. Maybe, what can be a good inspirational idea in the future is to reproduce, in the same manner as you usually do – THE BATTLE OF ANGORA (1402). An epic story, worthy of remembrance, about Two Mighty Sultans and One Serbian Prince. Take care!!! 🙂

    Reply
  6. Hey, could you do a piece about Aurelian and the restoration of the Empire after the Crisis of the Third Century? it could fit both as a long symphony and a short song. It would start off slow and sad, symbolising the crisis, then a epic chant about Aurelian, the Restitutor Orbis. The end would be also sad symbolising the asssasination

    Reply

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