Battle of Saguntum (75 BC)

Last updated
Battle of Saguntum
Part of the Sertorian War
Date75 BC
Location
On the plain of "Saguntum"
Result Draw
Belligerents
Sertorian Rebels Roman Republic
Commanders and leaders
Strength
Unknown but similar to the Romans 10 understrength legions and an unknown number of auxiliaries and allied troops
Casualties and losses
  • Sertorius: 3,000 [2]
  • Perpenna: 5,000 [2]
  • Lucius Hirtuleius  †
    • Pompey: 6,000, [2]
    • Metellus: unknown
    • C. Memmius  †

The Battle of Saguntum was fought in 75 BC between forces of the Roman Republic under the command of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius and an army of Sertorian rebels under the command of Quintus Sertorius. The location of the battle is disputed, but it was most likely near modern Langa de Duero, as Sallust informs us the battle was fought on the banks of the river Douro. [3] The battle lasted from noon till night and ended in a draw.

Contents

Background

In 88 BC, Lucius Cornelius Sulla marched his legions on Rome, starting a period of civil wars. Quintus Sertorius, a client of Gaius Marius, joined his patron's faction and took up the sword against the Sullan faction (mainly optimates). After the death of Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Gaius Marius, Sertorius lost faith in his faction's leadership. In 82 BC, during the war against Sulla, he left Italy for his assigned province in Hispania. [4] Unfortunately his faction lost the war in Italy right after his departure, and in 81 BC Sulla sent Gaius Annius Luscus with several legions to take the Iberian provinces from Sertorius. [5] After a brief resistance Sertorius and his men are expelled from Hispania. They ended up in Mauretania in north-western Africa where they conquered the city of Tingis. Here the Lusitanians, a fierce Iberian tribe who were about to be invaded by a Sullan governor, approached him. They asked him to become their war leader in the fight against the Sullans. In 80 BC Sertorius landed at the little fishing town of Baelo near the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar) and returned to Hispania. Soon after his landing he fought and defeated the Sullan general Lucius Fufidius (the aforementioned Sullan governor) at the Baetis River. After this, he defeated several Sullan armies and drove his opponents from Hispania.

Threatened by Sertorius' successes, the Senate in Rome upgraded Hispania Ulterior to a proconsular province and sent the proconsul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius with a large army to fight him. [6] Sertorius used guerrilla tactics so effectively that he wore down Metellus to the point of exhaustion while Sertorius' legate Lucius Hirtuleius defeated the governor of Hispania Citerior, Marcus Domitius Calvinus. In 76 BC the government in Rome decided to send Pompey and an even larger army to help Metellus. [7] In the same year Sertorius was joined by Marcus Perpenna, who brought with him the remnants of the army of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, the rebel consul of 78 BC. [8] Thus reinforced, Sertorius decided to try and take the Iberian east coast (because the cities there supported his enemies). His first target was the city of Lauron where he outgeneraled Pompey and massacred a large part of his army (see: the battle of Lauron). [9]

In 75 BC Sertorius decided to take on Metellus and leave the battered Pompey to his legates Perpenna and Gaius Herennius. Pompey defeated his opponents in a battle near Valentia [10] forcing Sertorius to come and take charge of the situation. Metellus used the change in command to defeat Hirtuleius, left in charge of the Sertorian western army, at the Battle of Italica and marched after Sertorius. [11] Pompey and Sertorius, not wanting to wait for Metellus, met at the Battle of Sucro, which ended in a draw. [12] Sertorius had to give up his conquest of the Iberian east coast and withdrew inland. Metellus and Pompey followed him to "Saguntum" (probably not Saguntum on the coast, for he had withdrawn inland, but one of the many Segontias in Celtiberia).

Prelude

After the disastrous battles of Valentia and Italica and the draw and retreat from the Battle of Sucro, Sertorius had to raise the morale of his troops. In this he succeeded by using the White Fawn. [13] Sertorius owned a white fawn which he claimed gave him messages from the goddess Diana. With his forces morale raised he awaited the Roman armies while launching many guerilla raids to weaken them during their advance. The Romans were hard pressed for supplies and Metellus decided to march on the Celtiberian town of Segontia to feed his army on their stores. Sertorius's Celtiberian troops refused to let one of their towns fall into Roman hands and fighting ensued. [14]

The battle

Plutarch remarks that this battle was forced upon Sertorius (probably by his Iberian and/or Celt-Iberian troops). [15] The fighting started at noon and lasted well into the night. Sertorius first fought Pompey while his legates Perpenna and Hirtuleius fought Metellus. After Hirtuleius had fallen Sertorius switched places with Perpenna and launched several personally-led ad hominem attacks on Metellus intended on taking him out of the fight. Metellus stood his ground and in the course of the fight he was wounded by a spear. This turned out to be a turning point in the battle for Metellus' men counter-attacked in revenge and pushed back the Iberians. [15]

All the Romans who saw or heard of this [Metellus being wounded] were filled with shame at the idea of deserting their commander. The same event filled them with fury against the enemy. So, they covered Metellus with their shields and carried him out of danger. Then they fell energetically on the Iberians and pushed them back. Victory changed sides. [15]

Metellus then complacently decided to rest his troops and made camp. Sertorius in the meantime had regrouped his men and in the evening launched an unexpected attack on Metellus' camp, and attempted to exploit its vulnerable position by cutting it off with a trench. Unfortunately for the Sertorians, Pompey and his army now showed up and forced them to withdraw. Over the course of the battle Pompey had lost 6,000 men while Sertorius had lost only 3,000, but to offset this Perperna had lost some 5,000 soldiers. [2] Metellus's losses are unknown, but must have been significant as well. Sertorius' second-in-command, Lucius Hirtuleius, and Pompey's brother-in-law, Gaius Memmius (married to Pompey's sister), were among the casualties. [15]

Aftermath

This was the last pitched battle Sertorius fought, and probably one he had not wanted in the first place. Sertorius ordered his army to break up and reassemble at a place he designated. [16] He then made for the fortress town of Clunia and prepared for a siege. [17] Even while fortifying Clunia Sertorius was dispatching messengers to his allies, requesting them to raise new levies. The war was far from over, Sertorius still had allies, his reputation and an army. After the Siege of Clunia he reverted to guerilla warfare and the war would drag on for another three years and only end because a few of his own men plotted against Sertorius and assassinated him.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pompey</span> Roman general and statesman (106–48 BC)

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a general and statesman of the Roman Republic. He played a significant role in the transformation of Rome from republic to empire. Early in his career, he was a partisan and protégé of the Roman general and dictator Sulla; later, he became the political ally, and finally the enemy, of Julius Caesar.

Lucius Afranius was an ancient Roman plebeian and a client of Pompey the Great. He served Pompey as a legate during his Iberian campaigns, his eastern campaigns and remained in his service right through to the Civil War. He died in Africa right after the Battle of Thapsus in 46 BC.

Quintus Sertorius was a Roman general and statesman who led a large-scale rebellion against the Roman Senate on the Iberian peninsula. He had been a prominent member of the populist faction of Cinna and Marius. During the later years of the civil war of 83–81 BC, he was sent to recover the Iberian Peninsula. When his faction lost the war, Sertorius was proscribed (outlawed) by the dictator Sulla. Supported by a majority of the native Iberian tribes, Sertorius skillfully used irregular warfare to repeatedly defeat various commanders sent by Rome to subdue him. He was never decisively beaten on the battlefield and remained a thorn in the Senate's side until his murder in 73 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius</span> Roman politician and general, Pontifex Maximus, consul in 80 BCE

Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius was a general and statesman of the Roman Republic. Like the other members of the influential Caecilii Metelli family, he was a leader of the conservative faction, the Optimates, who opposed the popular faction, the Populares, during the last century of the Roman Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of Portuguese history (Lusitania and Gallaecia)</span>

This is a historical timeline of Portugal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaccaei</span> Pre-Roman Celtic people of Northern Spain

The Vaccaei or Vaccei were a pre-Roman Celtic people of Spain, who inhabited the sedimentary plains of the central Duero valley, in the Meseta Central of northern Hispania. Their capital was Intercatia in Paredes de Nava.

The Battle of the Baetis River was fought between an army of the Roman Republic and a rebel army at the Baetis river in Spain. The battle took place in 80 BC at the start of the Sertorian War. The Romans were led by Lucius Fufidius, while the rebels were led by the Roman rebel Quintus Sertorius. The rebel army was victorious, gaining Sertorius control over Hispania Ulterior.

Marcus PerpernaVeiento was a Roman aristocrat, statesman and general. He fought in Sulla's civil war, Lepidus' failed rebellion of 77 BC and from 76 to 72 BC in the Sertorian War. He conspired against and assassinated Quintus Sertorius, and was defeated and executed by Pompey the Great.

The Sertorian War was a civil war fought from 80 to 72 BC between a faction of Roman rebels (Sertorians) and the government in Rome (Sullans). The war was fought on the Iberian Peninsula and was one of the Roman civil wars of the first century BC. The Sertorians, a coalition of Celts, Aquitanians, Iberians and Roman and Italic rebels, fought against the representatives of the regime established by Sulla. The war takes its name from Quintus Sertorius, the leader of the opposition. It was notable for Sertorius' successful use of guerrilla warfare. The war ended after Sertorius was assassinated by Marcus Perperna, who was then promptly defeated by Pompey.

Sulla's civil war was fought between the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla and his opponents, the Cinna-Marius faction, in the years 83–82 BC. The war ended with a decisive battle just outside Rome itself. After the war the victorious Sulla made himself dictator of the Roman Republic.

Marcus Domitius Calvinus was an ancient Roman politician and military commander who was killed during the early stages of the Sertorian War.

Lucius Hirtuleius was a legate of Quintus Sertorius during the Sertorian War, in which he fought from 80 BC until his death in 75 BC. He is considered Sertorius's most trusted lieutenant, his second-in-command, and was often given independent commands. During the war he defeated the Roman governors Marcus Domitius Calvinus and Lucius Manlius.

This section of the timeline of Hispania concerns Spanish and Portuguese history events from the Carthaginian conquests to before the barbarian invasions.

The gens Hirtuleia was a minor plebeian family of equestrian rank at ancient Rome, which appears in history during the final century of the Republic, and under the early Empire.

The Battle of Lauron was fought in 76 BC by a rebel force under the command of the renegade Roman general Quintus Sertorius and an army of Roman Republic under the command of the Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. The battle was part of the Sertorian War and ended in victory for Sertorius and his rebels. The battle was recorded in detail by Frontinus in his Stratagems and by Plutarch in his Lives of Sertorius and Pompey.

The Battle of Sucro was fought in 75 BC between a rebel army under the command of the Roman rebel Quintus Sertorius and a Roman army under the command of the Roman general Pompey. The battle was fought on the banks of the river Sucro near a town bearing the same name. It ended indecisively: with Sertorius winning a tactical victory but having to withdraw because Pompey's colleague Metellus and his army were approaching.

The Battle of Italica was fought in 75 BC between a rebel army under the command of Lucius Hirtuleius a legate of the Roman rebel Quintus Sertorius and a Roman Republican army under the command of the Roman general and proconsul of Hispania Ulterior Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius. The battle was fought near Italica and ended in a stunning victory for the Metellan army.

The Battle of Valentia was fought in 75 BC between a rebel army under the command of Marcus Perpenna Vento and a general called Gaius Herennius, both legates of the Roman rebel Quintus Sertorius, and a Roman Republican army under the command of the Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. The battle was fought at Valentia in Spain and ended in a stunning victory for the Pompeian army.

The Battle of Utica of 81 BC was fought near Utica between a Roman army under the command of Gnaeus Pompeius and another Roman army under the command of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus. The battle was part of Sulla's civil war and ended in a complete victory for Pompeian army.

Gaius Memmius was a Roman plebeian and a soldier of the Late Roman Republic.

References

  1. ↑ Frontinus, Stratagems, 2.7.5.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Appian, Civil Wars, 1.110.
  3. ↑ Sallust, History, 2.98; Spann, Saguntum vs Segontia, Historia, 33 (1984).
  4. ↑ Plutarch, Life of Sertorius, 6.
  5. ↑ Plutarch, Life of Sertorius, 7.
  6. ↑ Philip Matyszak, Sertorius and the Struggle for Spain, p.68.
  7. ↑ Plutarch, Life of Pompey, 17.
  8. ↑ Plutarch, Life of Sertorius, 15.
  9. ↑ Plutarch, Life of Sertorius, 18; Plutarch, Life of Pompey, 18; Frontinus, Stratagems, 2.5.31; John Leach, Pompey the Great, pp.226-227; Philip Matyszak, Sertorius and the Struggle for Spain, pp.96-101.
  10. ↑ Plutarch, Life of Pompey, 18.
  11. ↑ Plutarch, Life of Pompey, 19.
  12. ↑ Appian, Civil Wars, 1.110; Plutarch, Life of Sertorius, 19; Plutarch, Life of Pompey, 18.
  13. ↑ Plutarch, Life of Sertorius, 20
  14. ↑ Philip Matyszak, Sertorius and the Struggle for Spain, pp 124-126
  15. 1 2 3 4 Plutarch, Life of Sertorius, 21.
  16. ↑ Frontinus, Stratagems, 2.13.3.
  17. ↑ Livy, Epitome, 92.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.