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Siege of Thala | |||||||
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Part of the Jugurthine War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Roman Republic | King Jugurtha of Numidia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Quintus Caecilius Metellus | Unknown Numidian commander | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
25,000-35,000 | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | Entire town committed suicide or was killed or enslaved |
The siege of Thala, part of the Jugurthine War, was an invasion of the Numidian town of Thala by a Roman army. The Romans were commanded by the proconsul Quintus Caecilius Metellus, the Thalans by an unknown Numidian commander. The Romans' main objective was to capture the Numidian king Jugurtha who was reported to be in Thala, but he escaped before the legions reached the fortress town. Metellus then besieged the town to get hold of one of Jugurtha's treasuries which was stored in Thala. The fortress town was besieged for forty days after which most of its inhabitants committed suicide by setting fire to the town.
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King Masinissa of Numidia, who was a steadfast ally of Rome, died in 149 and was succeeded by his son Micipsa, who ruled from 149 to 118 BC. At the time of his death Micipsa had three potential heirs, his two sons, Adherbal and Hiempsal, and an illegitimate nephew, Jugurtha. Jugurtha had fought under Scipio Aemilianus at the siege of Numantia, where he had formed a friendship with Roman aristocrats and learned about Roman society and military tactics. Micipsa, worried that after his death Jugurtha would usurp the kingdom from his own somewhat less able sons, adopted him, and bequeathed the kingship jointly to his two sons and Jugurtha. After Micipsa's death the three kings fell out, and ultimately agreed between themselves to divide their inheritance into three separate kingdoms. When they were unable to agree on the terms of the division Jugurtha declared open war on his cousins. Hiempsal, the younger and braver of the brothers, was assassinated by Jugurtha's agents. Jugurtha gathered an army and marched against Adherbal, who fled to Rome. There he appealed to the Roman Senate for arbitration.
Although the Senate was the executor of Micipsa's will, they now allowed themselves to be bribed by Jugurtha into overlooking his crimes, and organized a commission, led by the ex-Consul Lucius Opimius, to fairly divide Numidia between the remaining contestants in 116 BC. Jugurtha bribed the Roman officials in the commission and was allotted the more fertile and populous western half of Numidia, while Adherbal received the east. Powerless Adherbal accepted and peace was made. Shortly after, in 113 BC, Jugurtha again declared war on his brother, and defeated him, forcing him to retreat into Cirta, Adherbal's capital. Adherbal held out for some months, aided by a large number of Romans and Italians who had settled in Africa for commercial purposes. From inside his siege lines, Adherbal appealed again to Rome, and the Senate dispatched a message to Jugurtha to desist. The latter ignored the demand, and the Senate sent a second commission, this time headed by Marcus Scaurus, a respected member of the aristocracy, to threaten the Numidian king into submission. The king, pretending to be open to discussion, protracted negotiations with Scaurus long enough for Cirta to run out of provisions and hope of relief. When Scaurus left without having forced Jugurtha to a commitment, Adherbal surrendered. Jugurtha promptly had him executed, along with the Romans who had joined in the defence of Cirta. But the deaths of Roman citizens caused an immediate furor among the commoners at home, and the Senate, threatened by the popular tribune Gaius Memmius, finally declared war on Jugurtha in 111 BC.
In 111 BC the consul Lucius Calpurnius Bestia commanded a Roman army against Jugurtha, but he allowed himself to be bribed. The following year the consul Spurius Postumius Albinus succeeded the command against the Numidian king, but he let himself be bribed too. Spurius's brother, Aulus Postumius Albinus, allowed Jugurtha to lure him into the desolate wilds of the Sahara, where the cunning Numidian king, who had reportedly bribed Roman officers to facilitate his attack, was able to catch the Romans at a disadvantage. Half the Roman army were killed, and the survivors were forced to pass under the yoke in a disgraceful symbolism of surrender. The Roman Senate, however, when it heard of this capitulation, refused to honour the conditions and continued the war.
After Postumius' defeat, the Senate finally shook itself from its lethargy, appointing as commander in Africa the plebeian noble Quintus Caecilius Metellus, who had a reputation for integrity and courage. Metellus proved the soundness of his judgement by selecting as officers for the campaign men of ability rather than of rank, men like Gaius Marius and Publius Rutilius Rufus. Metellus arrived in Africa as consul in 109 BC and dedicated several months to a serious disciplinary reform of his demoralised forces.
In spring of 109 BC, Metellus led his reorganised army into Numidia; Jugurtha was alarmed and attempted negotiation, but Metellus prevaricated; and, without granting Jugurtha terms, he conspired with Jugurtha's envoys to capture Jugurtha and deliver him to the Romans. The crafty Jugurtha, guessing Metellus' intentions, broke up negotiation and retreated. Metellus followed and crossed the mountains into the desert, advancing to the river Muthul where the Numidians ambushed them. Through the capable leadership of Metellus, Marius and Rutilius Rufus the Romans won an indecisive victory at the Battle of the Muthul.
Some time after the Battle of the Muthul, Metellus' agents and scouts located Jugurtha's army again and the Romans were able to catch up with the Numidians – who were not anticipating their arrival – and forced a battle. The legions won an easy victory, routing the entire Numidian army. Jugurtha managed to escape and with a small force of cavalry and foot soldiers, he travelled to Thala, one of his treasury fortresses. [1]
Metellus learned that Jugurtha and his family, and not unimportantly a vast treasury, were located at Thala. The fortress town was situated in a waterless wasteland, but Metellus was not deterred by this, he commandeered pack animals, saddled them with water sacks and marched his army through the desert to Thala. Along the way a storm unleashed a torrent of rain, greatly benefitting his soldiers, who believed the gods favoured them. Unfortunately for Metellus, Jugurtha got advance warning and fled with his family. [2]
Metellus' army besieged Thala for forty days; assaulting the walls with ladders, battering the gates and constructing great mounds to provide covering fire for his troops. When the Thalans saw that their town was going to fall they hid the gold, imbibed wine and burned themselves along with much of Thala. [3]
Metellus had conquered Thala, but Jugurtha had escaped him once again. The Numidian king now travelled into the territories of the Gaetulians and started to raise another army from among these Berber people. The war would rage on for another four years and only end when Lucius Cornelius Sulla succeeded in capturing the king himself.
This article concerns the period 109 BC – 100 BC.
This article concerns the period 119 BC – 110 BC.
Year 118 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Cato and Rex and the Fifth Year of Yuanshou. The denomination 118 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between the Massylii in the east and the Masaesyli in the west. During the Second Punic War, Masinissa, king of the Massylii, defeated Syphax of the Masaesyli to unify Numidia into the first Berber state in present-day Algeria. The kingdom began as a sovereign state and later alternated between being a Roman province and a Roman client state.
Gaius Marius was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times.
Jugurtha or Jugurthen was a king of Numidia. When the Numidian king Micipsa, who had adopted Jugurtha, died in 118 BC, Jugurtha and his two adoptive brothers, Hiempsal and Adherbal, succeeded him. Jugurtha arranged to have Hiempsal killed and, after a civil war, defeated and killed Adherbal in 112 BC.
Marcus Aemilius Scaurus was a Roman statesman who served as consul in 115 BC. He was also a long-standing princeps senatus, occupying the post from 115 until his death in late 89 or early 88 BC, and as such was widely considered one of the most prestigious and influential politicians of the late Republic.
Adherbal, son of Micipsa and grandson of Masinissa, was a king of Numidia between 118 and 112 BC. He inherited the throne after the death of his father, and ruled jointly with his younger brother Hiempsal, and Jugurtha, the nephew of Masinissa. After the murder of his brother by Jugurtha, Adherbal fled to Rome and was restored to his share of the kingdom by the Romans in 117 BC, with Jugurtha ruling his brother's former share. But Adherbal was again stripped of his dominions by Jugurtha and besieged in Cirta, where he was killed by Jugurtha in 112 BC, although he had placed himself under the protection of the Romans.
The Jugurthine War was an armed conflict between the Roman Republic and King Jugurtha of Numidia, a kingdom on the north African coast approximating to modern Algeria. Jugurtha was the nephew and adopted son of Micipsa, king of Numidia, whom he succeeded on the throne, he had done so by overcoming his rivals through assassination, war, and bribery.
Publius Rutilius Rufus was a Roman statesman, soldier, orator and historian of the Rutilia gens, as well as a great-uncle of Gaius Julius Caesar. He achieved the highest political office in the Roman Republic when he was elected consul in 105 BC.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus was an ancient Roman statesman and general, he was a leader of the Optimates, the conservative faction of the Roman Senate. He was a bitter political opponent of Gaius Marius. He was consul in 109 BC, in that capacity he commanded the Roman forces in Africa during the Jugurthine War. In 107 BC, he was displaced from his command by Marius. On his return he was granted a triumph and the agnomen Numidicus. He later became a censor, entering into exile in opposition to Marius. Metellus Numidicus enjoyed a reputation for integrity in an era when Roman politics was increasingly corrupt.
The Battle of the Muthul was fought at the Muthul River in Numidia in 109 BC. The Numidians, led by their king Jugurtha, fought a Roman army commanded by the consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus. The battle was fought during the Jugurthine War, a war between King Jugurtha of Numidia and the Roman Republic. The battle was indecisive - it took the Romans four more years to defeat Jugurtha. Jugurtha was eventually captured by Lucius Cornelius Sulla in 105 and executed during Marius' Triumphal parade a year later (104). The Roman historian Publius Rutilius Rufus distinguished himself during the battle, while Gaius Marius' military genius shone through for the first time, saving the day for the Romans.
Micipsa was the eldest legitimate son of Masinissa, the King of Numidia, a Berber kingdom in North Africa. Micipsa became the King of Numidia in 148 BC.
Hiempsal I, son of Micipsa and grandson of Masinissa, was a king of Numidia in the late 2nd century BC.
Vaga, Vecca and lately Theodorias is an ancient city in Tunisia built by the Berbers and ruled sequentially by the Carthaginians, the Numidians, the Romans, the Vandals and the Byzantines until it was captured by the Arabs who changed its name to the present day Béja. The town was the capital of the Numidian Kingdom during the rule of Jugurtha.
The siege of Cirta was fought between the rival Numidian kings Adherbal and Jugurtha in 113 BC. They were contesting the throne of Numidia after the death of King Micipsa. Jugurtha invaded Adherbal's territory, defeated him and besieged him in his capital Cirta. Two Roman deputations attempted to negotiate a settlement, but Jugurtha ignored them. When the city surrendered he tortured Adherbal to death and executed all who had bourne arms against him, including numerous Romans. This last action was to spark the outbreak of the Jugurthine War between Rome and Numidia.
The Second Battle of Cirta, part of the Jugurthine War, was fought in 106 BC between a Numidian-Mauretanian coalition and a Roman army near the Numidian capital of Cirta. The Numidians were led by King Jugurtha, the Mauritanians were led by king Bocchus while the Romans were under the overall command of Gaius Marius who was supported by his quaestor Lucius Cornelius Sulla as cavalry commander. The Romans were victorious routing their opponents and capturing Cirta.
The siege of the fortress at Muluccha, part of the Jugurthine War, was an investment of a Jugurthine fortress by a Roman army in 106 BC. The Romans were commanded by Gaius Marius, the Numidians by an unknown commander. The Romans' main objective was to capture one of king Jugurtha's treasuries which was reported to be inside the fortress. Marius besieged the fortress town and finally took it by trickery.
The siege of Zama, part of the Jugurthine War, was an investment of the Numidian town of Zama by a Roman army. The Romans were commanded by Quintus Caecilius Metellus, one of the consuls of 109 BC, while the Numidians were under the overall command of Jugurtha, the king of Numidia. The Romans' main objective was to lure Jugurtha into a set-piece battle; the Numidians had been wearing down the Roman legions by guerilla warfare and the Roman commander hoped the siege would pressure the Numidian king into giving battle. Jugurtha did not let himself be goaded into a pitched battle and kept up his opportune attacks while the defenders of Zama kept the Romans at bay. Failing to take the city and failing to provoke the Numidian king into entering a set-piece battle, the Romans gave up on the siege and marched back to the Roman province of Africa.
The Bellum Jugurthinum is an historical monograph by the Roman historian Sallust, published in or around 41 BC. It describes the events of the Jugurthine War between the Roman Republic and King Jugurtha of Numidia. Sallust alleges that Jugurtha was able to repeatedly bribe corrupted Roman officials during the war, which Sallust took as indicative of a broader moral decline in the late Republic. In this way, the Bellum Jugurthinum is thematically similar to Sallust's first monograph, the Bellum Catilinae. The Bellum Jugurthinum is the main historical source for the Jugurthine War.