Siege of Curicta
| Siege of Curicta | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Caesar's Civil War | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
Optimates |
Populares | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Lucius Scribonius Libo Marcus Octavius |
Titus Pullo | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| Unknown |
Many legionaries auxiliariesSome Gallic Fleet of ships | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
15 cohorts 40 galleys | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown |
Nearly all land units captured Fleet lost | ||||||||
The siege of Curicta was a military confrontation that took place during the early stages of
Background
Deteriorating relations between
Prelude
Following the
At some point during 49 BC, Marcus Octavius and Lucius Scribonius Libo were given command of Pompey's large fleet and directed to begin operations against Caesar's forces in the Adriatic Sea.
Siege
The exact date of the siege is unknown, although most sources place it before Gaius Scribonius Curio's expedition to Africa and by taking the poet Lucan's astrological descriptions which he used to date the event in his work Pharsalia, then that would mean that the events likely occurred in June 49 BC.[4][5]
Dolabella's fleet engaged with the Pompeian fleet nearby to Curicta and, being heavily outnumbered, was thoroughly beaten with the majority of his ships either destroyed or captured. Dolabella himself was also captured.[6] Libo and Octavius then put in place a naval blockade around Curicta which drove Antonius and his men, who had seemingly no chance of relief, to near starvation.[7]
An attempt was made to break out from the siege using rafts which were sent in by
During or shortly after these events, Antonius surrendered the island to the Pompeians.[10]
Aftermath
Following the siege Antonius was captured along with the majority of his men, many of whom would soon switch sides and bolster Pompey's ranks. In fact, one of Caesar's few mentions of these events claims that a centurion named
The battle was regarded as a disaster for the Caesarian cause. It seems to have had considerable significance to Caesar who mentions it alongside the death of Curio as one of the worst setbacks of the civil war.[12] Of the four instances that Suetonius gives of the most disastrous defeats suffered by Populares in the civil war, both the defeat of Dolabella's fleet and the capitulation of the legions at Curicta are listed. It is also noted that all four major defeats were suffered by subordinates and not by Caesar himself.[13]
While the events at Curicta are referred to in Caesar's commentaries they are notably absent from his main narrative; this may be because Caesar had the defeat retroactively expunged or simply that he never got around to writing about it.[14]
References
- ISBN 1-84603-002-1.
- ISBN 978-0-300-12048-6.
- ISBN 1-84603-002-1.
- ^ Lucan, Pharsalia, IV, 525–528
- JSTOR 4476983.
- ISBN 1-84603-002-1.
- ^ Florus, Epitome of Roman History, II, XIII, 31
- ^ Florus, Epitome of Roman History, II, XIII, 32
- ^ Florus, Epitome of Roman History, II, XIII, 33
- ^ Cassius Dio, Roman History, XLI, 40
- ^ Caesar, De Bello Civili, III, 67
- ^ Caesar, De Bello Civili, III, 10
- ^ Suetonius, The Life of Caesar, 36
- ISBN 9780195165104.