Battle near Osca
Battle of Osca | |||||||
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Part of the Sertorian War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Sertorian rebels |
Senate of Rome | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Perperna |
Pompey | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
unknown | six legions plus auxiliaries and allies | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
entire army routed | unknown |
The Battle of Osca took place near
Perperna's army came across ten of Pompey's cohorts – a force of 2,500–5,000 men[a] – and attacked. The Pompeian force broke and retreated drawing Perperna's army after them. It turned out to be a feigned retreat, they lured the rebels into an ambuscade. Perperna soon found his army surrounded on three sides, this is when the ten cohorts wheeled round and attacked him in the front while the rest of the Pompeian army attacked the flanks. The rebel army broke and fled pursued by the Romans, the final battle of the Sertorian War was over.[3][4]
Perperna attempted to plead for his life, offering to give Pompey all of Sertorius's correspondence, which would document contacts with the highest levels of Roman government and society. Pompey indicated he would accept the papers, and when they had all been gathered together, he burned them, averting the possibility of another civil war. Perperna and all of the men who had murdered Sertorius were executed and Pompey spent the rest of the campaigning season mopping up the remaining rebel forces and taking their remaining stronghold.[5][4]
Notes
- ^ Roman units were seldom at full strength, and Pompey's army had been campaiging for years at that point.
References
- ^ Matyszak 2013, p. 155–156.
- ^ a b Matyszak 2013, p. 157.
- ^ Matyszak 2013, p. 158.
- ^ a b Leach 1978, p. 52.
- ^ Matyszak 2013, p. 158–159.
Sources
- ISBN 978-1-84884-787-3.
- Leach, John (1978). Pompey the Great. London: Croom Helm Ltd. ISBN 978-0-84766-035-3.