While reading a historical trivia book I came across the author following up explaining how rich Crassus was by saying, 'Yes, the old phrase, "rich as Crassus" refers to him.' My first thought was, that's not a phrase, at least in the proverbial sense, and the author is mixing up Crassus and Croesus. I did some searching and found some others saying "rich as Crassus," but wonder if this is just a case of confusion that has spread or if this is an actual common saying; not that "rich as Croesus" is that common of a saying anymore. So, is "rich as Crassus" an old phrase or not?
It's in Plutarch's Lives, as a classic diss from Cato.
The recent TV shows Rome and Spartacus probably brought this phrase into more common knowledge, where it's been conflated with "rich as Croesus," which has always been more common in English. I would imagine Roman references were deliberately conflating the two as a bit of a pun. Crassus was fabulously rich.