| Battle of Mount Algidus | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Roman-Italic Wars | |||||||
 Surroundings of Rome in Antiquity | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Roman Republic | Aequi | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, Lucius Minucius Esquilinus Augurinus | Cloelius Gracchus | ||||||
  Location within Italy | |||||||
The Battle of Mount Algidus was fought in 458 BC, between the Roman Republic and the Aequi, near Mount Algidus in Latium. The Roman dictator Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus turned an expected Roman defeat into an important victory.
The government of Rome was already shared between the original Romans, the Latin and Sabine peoples. For example, the Quinctia gens, who had a major influence on Roman public life during this time, were of Latin origin. The Hernici were allied to Rome; the Etruscans were not impinging on the Romans, even though the Etruscan town of Veii was close to Rome.
The greatest enemies of Rome at this time were the Volsci and the Aequi. The Volsci were based in territory to the southeast of Rome, while the Aequi were based to the east. The Aequi kept attacking Rome and its surroundings, either alone or with allies. In particular, the Aequi moved from the Apennine Mountains towards Tusculum. Their attacks disturbed trade and commercial communications along the Via Latina, as well as throughout Roman territory.
The situation at Rome in this time was disturbing. There were conflicts between the Roman patricians and plebeians. There was also a revolt by the slaves of Rome. During the revolt, the Capitol was held by the slaves for a lengthy period, along with the most important temples of Rome. It was during this revolt that consul Publius Valerius Poplicola had died. The revolt ended only with the arrival of an army from Tusculum, led by the Tusculan dictator Lucius Mamilius. Meanwhile, Cincinnatus was appointed consul to replace Publicola.
In 459 BC, the Aequi occupied Tusculum. In response to the threat, the Romans decided to send an army to help the allied city, under the command of the consul Lucius Cornelius Maluginensis. In addition, the consul Quintus Fabius Vibulanus, who was at that point besieging Antium, moved his forces to attack Tusculum. In the end, the Tusculans were able to recapture their city, with Vibulanus killing many Aequi near Mount Algidus. A truce was then arranged with the Aequi.
The following year, 458 BC, the Aequi broke the truce. They attacked Tusculum again, and camped near Algidus; at the same time, a Sabine army moved against Rome. Two Roman armies were formed in haste: the consul Gaius Nautius Rutilus planned to move against the Aequian territories, while his colleague, Lucius Minucius Esquilinus Augurinus, planned to move against the Aequi camped near the mountain. [1] [2]
Minucius did not attack the Aequi, who by nightfall had started to build a fortification all around the Roman camp. [3] Since Nautius did not know how to handle the situation, Cincinnatus, whose brief term as consul had ended, was nominated dictator. [3] [4]
Cincinnatus chose his magister equitum, and levied every available Roman in the Campus Martius, requiring them to bring food for five days, along with twelve valli. The vallus was the pole brought by each Roman soldier. Valli were used to build a protective wall around the camp; a requirement of twelve valli instead of one was unusual.
The Roman army arrived at Mount Algidus by nightfall. Cincinnatus signalled to the besieged Romans that he had arrived, then ordered his men to build a wall all around the Aequi. The Aequi attacked Cincinnatus, but they were soon obliged to turn and face the Romans under Minucius, who had left their camp to aid their countrymen. At dawn, the wall around the Aequi was completed; Cincinnatus ordered his men, who had marched and worked for a whole day without rest, to attack the Aequi within the wall. The Aequi, unable to sustain a double attack, surrendered. Cincinnatus let all but the leaders of the Aequi go. [5] [6]
The spoils from the sack of the Aequian camp were distributed among Cincinnatus' men, while the Romans who had fought under Minucius were poorly regarded, and Minucius himself was obliged to resign the consulship. The Aequian leaders were brought to Rome as prisoners, where Cloelius Gracchus, the Aequian commander, was paraded in Cincinnatus' triumphal procession. Cincinnatus resigned the dictatorship, having held it for just sixteen days. Lucius Mamilius, the Tusculan commander, was rewarded with Roman citizenship. [7] [8]
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus was a Roman patrician, statesman, and military leader of the early Roman Republic who became a legendary figure of Roman virtue—particularly civic virtue—by the time of the late Republic.
Gaius Nautius Rutilus was consul of the Roman Republic in 475 BC and 458 BC.
The Battle of Lake Regillus was a legendary Roman victory over the Latin League shortly after the establishment of the Roman Republic and as part of a wider Latin War. The Latins were led by an elderly Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last King of Rome, who had been expelled in 509 BC, and his son-in-law, Octavius Mamilius, the dictator of Tusculum. The battle marked the final attempt of the Tarquins to reclaim their throne. According to legend, Castor and Pollux fought on the side of the Romans.
Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy. Tusculum was most famous in Roman times for the many great and luxurious patrician country villas sited close to the city, yet a comfortable distance from Rome.
Quintus Fabius Vibulanus, son of Marcus Fabius Vibulanus, was consul of the Roman Republic and one of the second set of decemviri.
Lucius Minucius Esquilinus Augurinus was a Roman politician in the 5th century BC, consul in 458 BC, and decemvir in 450 BC.
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Lucius Furius Medullinus, of the patrician gens Furia, was a politician and general of the Roman Republic who was consul twice and Consular Tribune seven times.
Titus Quinctius Capitolinus Barbatus was a Roman statesman and general who served as consul six times. Titus Quinctius was a member of the gens Quinctia, one of the oldest patrician families in Rome.
The Roman-Aequian wars were a series of wars during the early expansion of ancient Rome in central Italy against their eastern neighbours, the Aequi.
Lucius Julius Iullus was a member of the ancient patrician gens Julia. He was one of the consular tribunes of 438 BC, magister equitum in 431, and consul in 430 BC.
Gaius Julius Mento, a member of the patrician gens Julia, held the consulship in 431 BC.
Gaius Claudius Ap. f. M. n. Sabinus Regillensis, was a member of the great patrician house of the Claudii at Ancient Rome. He held the consulship in 460 BC.
Lucius Sergius Esquilinus was a Roman politician, and member of the Second Decemvirate in 450 and 449 BC.
Marcus Cornelius Maluginensis was a Roman politician and member of the Second Decemvirate in 450 and 449 BC.
Gaius Horatius Pulvillus was a Roman politician during the 5th century BC, and was consul in 477 and 457 BC.
The gens Nautia was an old patrician family at ancient Rome. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Spurius Nautius Rutilus in 488 BC, and from then until the Samnite Wars the Nautii regularly filled the highest offices of the Roman Republic. After that time, the Nautii all but disappear from the record, appearing only in a handful of inscriptions, mostly from Rome and Latium. A few Nautii occur in imperial times, including a number who appear to have been freedmen, and in the provinces.
Algidum was a town in ancient Italy at the foot of Mount Algidus on the Via Latina.