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Muthul
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. The Muthul River ran through Adherbal's old kingdom in eastern Numidia. It has been identified as the Wäd Mellag,Tissot ''Géographie comparée'' 1. pp. 67–68. and in this case Metellus would have started his campaign in south-east Numidia, with the aim of strengtheni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jugurthine War
The Jugurthine War (; 112–106 BC) 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 to the throne; he had done so by overcoming his rivals through assassination, war, and bribery. Following Jugurtha's usurpation of the throne of Numidia, a loyal ally of Rome since the Punic Wars, Rome felt compelled to intervene. The war constituted an important phase in the Roman subjugation of Northern Africa and the rise of the empire, but Numidia did not become a Roman province until 46 BC. Jugurtha and Numidia Numidia was a kingdom located in North Africa (roughly corresponding to northern modern day Algeria) adjacent to what had been Rome's arch enemy, Carthage. King Masinissa, who was a steadfast ally of Rome in the Third Punic War, died in 149 BC, and was succeeded by his son Micipsa, who rule ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaius Marius
Gaius Marius (; – 13 January 86 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbrian War, Cimbric and Jugurthine War, Jugurthine wars, he held the office of Roman consul, consul an unprecedented seven times. Rising from a family of smallholders in a village called Ceraetae in the district of Arpinum, Marius acquired his initial military experience serving with Scipio Aemilianus at the Siege of Numantia in 134 BC. He won election as tribune of the plebs in 119 BC and passed a law limiting aristocratic interference in elections. Barely elected praetor in 115 BC, he next became the governor of Further Spain where he campaigned against bandits. On his return from Spain he married Julia (wife of Marius), Julia, the aunt of Julius Caesar. Marius attained his first consulship in 107 BC and became the commander of Roman forces in Numidia, where he brought an end to the Jugurthine War. By 105 BC Rome faced an invasion by the Cimbri and Teutones, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siege Of Zama
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.Marc Hyden, ''Gaius Marius'', p. 52. 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. Background King Masinissa of Numidia, who was a steadfast ally of Rome, died in 149, he was succeeded b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bomilcar (2nd Century BC)
__NOTOC__ Bomilcar (, ) was a Numidian nobleman of the 2nd centuryBC and a follower of the Numidian king Jugurtha, whom he later betrayed. Deep in the confidence of Jugurtha, Bomilcar was employed on many secret services. In particular, when Jugurtha was at Rome, Bomilcar undertook and effected for him the assassination of Massiva, who happened to be at Rome at the same time, and who, as well as Jugurtha himself, was a grandson of Masinissa, and a rival claimant to the throne of Numidia. The murder was discovered and traced to Bomilcar, who was obliged to enter into large recognizances to appear and stand his trial; but, before the trial came on, his master privately sent him back to Africa. He also commanded a portion of Jugurtha's army, with which he was defeated in a skirmish at the river Muthul in 109 BC by Publius Rutilius Rufus, lieutenant of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus () was an ancient Roman statesman and general. He was a le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jugurtha
Jugurtha or Jugurthen (c. 160 – 104 BC) was a king of Numidia, the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa. When the Numidian king Micipsa, who had adopted Jugurtha, died in 118 BC, Micipsa's two sons, Hiempsal and Adherbal, and their adopted brother Jugurtha succeeded him. Jugurtha arranged to have Hiempsal killed in 117 BC and, after a civil war, defeated and killed Adherbal in 112 BC. The death of Adherbal, which was against the wishes of Rome, along with the growing popular anger in Rome at Jugurtha's success in bribing Roman senators and thus avoiding retribution for his crimes, led to the Jugurthine War between Rome and Numidia. After a number of battles in Numidia between Roman and Numidian forces, Jugurtha was captured in 105 BC and paraded through Rome as part of Gaius Marius' Roman triumph. He was thrown into the Tullianum prison, where he was executed by strangulation in 104 BC. Etymology The Numidian name Jugurtha matches the ancient nami ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus
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 Roman consul, 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 Roman triumph, triumph and the agnomen Numidicus. He later became a Roman censor, censor, entering into exile in opposition to Marius. Metellus Numidicus enjoyed a reputation for integrity in an era when Roman politics was increasingly corrupt.William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith, ed. (1867)"Metellus Numidicus" ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology''. Youth and ''cursus honorum'' The son of Lucius Caecilius Metellus Calvus, in his youth he was sent to Athens where he studied under Carneades, celebrated philosopher and great master of Elo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingdom Of Numidia
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 state in the east (Capital: Cirta) and the Masaesyli state in the west (Capital: Siga). During the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), Masinissa, king of the Massylii, defeated Syphax of the Masaesyli to unify Numidia into the first unified Berber state for Numidians in present-day Algeria. The kingdom began as a sovereign state and an ally of Rome and later alternated between being a Roman province and a Roman client state. Numidia, at its foundation, was bordered by the Moulouya River to the west, Africa Proconsularis and Cyrenaica to the east. the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the Sahara to the south so that Numidia entirely surrounded Carthage except towards the sea. before Masinissa expanded past the Moulouya and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Publius Rutilius Rufus
Publius Rutilius Rufus (158 BCafter 78 BC) was a Roman statesman, soldier, orator and historian of the Rutilia ''gens'', as well as a great-uncle of Gaius Julius Caesar (through his sister Rutilia, Caesar's maternal grandmother). He achieved the highest political office in the Roman Republic when he was elected consul in 105 BC. During his consulship, he reformed the drill system and improved army discipline. As legate to Quintus Mucius Scaevola, he attempted to protect the inhabitants of Asia from extortion by the equites, which provoked them to raise the accusation of extortion from those provincials. The charge was false, but as the juries were chosen from the equestrian order, he was condemned. He was exiled and went to Smyrna, where he wrote a history of Rome in Greek. Early life He was the third child of a Publius Rutilius, the other children being called Lucius and Rutilia (mother of Gaius Aurelius Cotta). Rufus studied philosophy under Panaetius (becoming a Stoic), la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battles Involving The Roman Republic
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force commitment. An engagement with only limited commitment between the forces and without decisive results is sometimes called a skirmish. The word "battle" can also be used infrequently to refer to an entire operational campaign, although this usage greatly diverges from its conventional or customary meaning. Generally, the word "battle" is used for such campaigns if referring to a protracted combat encounter in which either one or both of the combatants had the same methods, resources, and strategic objectives throughout the encounter. Some prominent examples of this would be the Battle of the Atlantic, Battle of Britain, and the Battle of France, all in World War II. Wars and military campaigns are guided by military strategy, whereas batt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
