Bellum Siculum

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Bellum Siculum
Part of the Roman civil wars
Coin of Sextus Pompey, minted in Sicily in 37 or 36 BC.
Date 42–36 BC Location Sicily, Roman Republic Result Victory for the Triumvirate Territorial changes Sicily taken by the Triumvirate
Belligerents
Second Triumvirate	Optimates
Commanders and leaders
Titus Statilius Taurus Gaius Calvisius Sabinus Mark Antony Marcus Titius Gaius Furnius Amyntas of Galatia	Menas Menecratus † Demochares Apollophanes Papias
Casualties and losses
Total dead: 200,000 1,000 warships destroyed

The Bellum Siculum

that eventually ended in a victory for the Triumvirate and Sextus Pompey's death. The conflict is notable as the last stand of any organised opposition to the Triumvirate.

The result of the war settled the question whether the political ascendancy of the autocratic Triumvirs could be reversed, ending all hopes for the restoration of the constitutional government of the

.

Context

Sextus' father,

and kept a low profile for a while.

When Julius Caesar was

Octavian

, the members of the Second Triumvirate. Those whose names were placed on the list were targeted for death and the confiscation of their property. The proscription was designed not only to fill the treasury, but to help in the Second Triumvirate's war against Brutus and Cassius, and listed all of Caesar's other enemies and their relatives.

Early victories

Upon finding his name upon this list, Sextus decided to pick up where his father had left off. He selected Sicily as his base, capturing several cities, including

prayed for it to stop.

With his large fleet of ships manned by Sicilian

where it was negotiated.

Major fighting

In 42 BC, the Triumvirate defeated

. Octavian tried to invade Sicily in 38 BC, but the ships were forced to go back because of bad weather.

Agrippa cut part of Via Ercolana and dug a channel to connect the

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

, sailed from Africa, to attack Sextus' stronghold in Sicily.

In August, Agrippa was able to finally defeat Sextus in a naval battle near Mylae (modern Milazzo); the same month Octavian was defeated and seriously wounded in a battle near Taormina.

At Naulochus, Agrippa met Sextus' fleet. Both fleets were composed of 300 ships, all with artillery, but Agrippa commanded heavier units, armed with the harpax and corvus. Agrippa succeeded in blocking the more manoeuvrable ships of Sextus and, after a long and bloody fight, to defeat his enemy. Agrippa lost three ships, while 28 ships of Sextus were sunk, 17 fled, and the others burnt or captured. Meanwhile Lepidus managed to land the bulk of his army and ravaged the Sicilian countryside.

Some 200,000 men were killed and 1,000 warships destroyed in the fighting which followed, with many of the casualties being taken by Sextus and his army and navy. Tyndaris and Messina were particularly hard hit, and the area in between was ravaged.

Aftermath

In 36 BC, Sextus fled Sicily (effectively ending the war) to

, and therefore entitled to a trial. This malpractice was capitalized upon by Octavian when the relationship between him and Marcus Antonius became heated.

The final end of Pompeian resistance immediately highlighted the growing distrust between the Triumvirs. When Octavian made a visit to Lepidus' camp and was hailed by soldiers as Caesar's son, Lepidus made an ill-judged move to expel his guest beyond the limits of the camp. This caused much of Lepidus' army to defect to Octavian's side and gave Octavian the excuse he needed to sideline Lepidus entirely. Lepidus was accused by Octavian of usurping power in Sicily and of attempted rebellion. Lepidus was forced to submit, exiled to Circeii and was stripped of all his offices except that of pontifex maximus. His former provinces were seized by Octavian.

Much of the vast farmland in Sicily was either ruined or left empty, and much of this land was taken and distributed to members of the legions which had fought in Sicily. What this accomplished was twofold: it served to fill Sicily with loyal, grateful inhabitants, and it promised to bring back Sicily's former productivity.

30,000 slaves were captured and returned to their masters, with another 6,000 being

upon wooden stakes as an example.

Historical sources

• Appian: The Civil Wars. Book 5 (online copy)

References

• Si Sheppard: Actium 31 BC: Downfall of Antony and Cleopatra. Osprey Publishing, 2009,
  ISBN 978-1-84603-405-3, pp. 6–18 (excerpt, p. 6, at Google Books
  )
• Spencer C. Tucker (ed.): A Global Chronology of Conflict. ABC-CLIO, 2009,
  ISBN 978-1-85109-672-5, p. 131 (excerpt, p. 131, at Google Books
  )
• Anthony Everett: Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor. Random House, 2006,
  ISBN 978-1-58836-555-2, pp. 116–143 (excerpt, p. 116, at Google Books
  )
• Shelley C. Stone, III: Sextus Pompey, Octavian and Sicily. American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 87, No. 1 (Jan., 1983), pp. 11–22 (JSTOR)