He assembled a force of seven legions (for a total of about 28,000–35,000 heavy infantry).[17] In addition he had about 4,000 light infantry, and 4,000 cavalry, including the 1,000 Gallic cavalry Publius had brought with him.[18] With the aid of Hellenic settlements in Syria and support of about 6,000 cavalry from Artavasdes, the Armenian king, Crassus marched on Parthia. Artavasdes advised him to take a route through Armenia to avoid the desert and offered him reinforcements of a further 10,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry.[19] Crassus refused the offer and decided to take the direct route through Mesopotamia, and capture the great cities in the region. In response, the Parthian king Orodes II divided his army, taking most of the soldiers—mainly foot archers with a small amount of cavalry—to punish the Armenians himself, and sending the rest of his forces—9,000 horse archers and 1,000 cataphracts under the command of Spahbod Surena—to scout out and harass Crassus' army.