The Battle of the Muthul was fought at the Muthul River in

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 ...

in 109 BC. The Numidians, led by their king

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 ...

, fought a Roman army commanded by the

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states thro ...

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 1 ...

. The battle was fought during the

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, ki ...

, a war between King Jugurtha of Numidia and the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...

. The battle was indecisive - it took the Romans four more years to defeat Jugurtha. Jugurtha was eventually captured by

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (, ; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman of the late Roman Republic. A great commander and ruthless politician, Sulla used violence to advance his career and his co ...

in 105 and executed during Marius' Triumphal parade a year later (104). The Roman historian

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 th ...

distinguished himself during the battle, while

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 fami ...

' 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 strengthening his communication links. Other views ( Mannert and Forbiger) identify the Muthul with the river

Ubus Seybouse (in ) is a river in northeastern Algeria, near the border with Tunisia. In Roman times, it was called the ''Ubus''. Course The river runs for about , flowing through Guelma and Annaba Provinces. It starts in Medjez Amar, in the Tell Atla ...

, with Metellus starting his campaign in western Numidia, and later returning to Zama.

Battle

The objective of Metellus' army was to reach the interior of Numidia. His army had to descend from the mountains and cross a desert plain eighteen miles wide to reach the Muthul River where he could refill his water reserves. Jugurtha had deployed part of his infantry and all of his

war elephants A war elephant is an elephant that is trained and guided by humans for combat purposes. Historically, the war elephant's main use was to charge the enemy, break their ranks, and instill terror and fear. Elephantry is a term for specific mil ...

along the river, under Bomilcar, while all of his cavalry and the best part of his infantry was hidden in a short and bushy ridge along the path the Roman army had to follow. Descending from the mountain pass, Metellus noticed the ambush, but his army needed to refill its water reserves, and thus had to cross the desert without cavalry coverage and within sight of the enemy. So he detached a small force under the command of

to set up a camp beside the river. The main part of the Roman army moved diagonally towards the Numidian force on the ridge to dislodge them. Jugurtha ordered his infantry to cut off the retreat of the Romans by occupying the mountain pass while the Numidian cavalry charged against the Romans, scattering them into small detachments. The Romans were kept in small groups, unable to perform any coordinated movement. Each group was fighting for its own survival, and the Numidian cavalry had control of the battlefield. Bomilcar engaged the troops of Rufus, thus preventing him from aiding Metellus' troops. At this point

, an officer who had risen from the ranks, re-organized a few detachments, and led a column of 2,000 soldiers through the Numidians to free his commander Metellus. Marius then led the Roman column up the hill against the Numidian infantry, which retreated, leaving the Romans with control of the hill. From this position, Marius led his men against the rear of the Numidian cavalry, uniting the separated Roman detachments into a single army. At the same time, Rufus had held the Numidian force on the river, and succeeded in killing or routing the Numidian elephants. In the evening, the two armies met and rejoined. Despite the retreat of the Numidians, the retreat was well-timed by the quick-thinking Jugurtha. As a result, Jugurtha's forces suffered light casualties compared with the battered Romans. Therefore, the result was somewhat indecisive. The Romans primarily survived the battle thanks to the luck of the Roman scouts prior to the battle, and the inspirational leadership of Marius against the odds.

Aftermath

Jugurtha disbanded most of his troops and skilfully and successfully reverted to guerilla warfare. Hearing of the Battle of the Muthul and Metellus' subsequent manoeuvres against Numidian cities, Romans back home applauded Metellus' performance: Metellus and Marius drove two columns against the Numidian cities, but Metellus' defeat at Zama forced the Romans to return to Carthage. Marius returned to Rome, where he was elected

with the support of the people and over the objections of the Senate. Since the Senate did not give him an army, he called for volunteers. He allowed citizen classes that were usually not used for military service, the ''

capite censi ''Capite censi'' were the lowest class of citizens in ancient Rome, people not of the nobility or middle classes. The term in Latin means "those counted by head" in the ancient Roman census. Also known as "the head count", the owned little or no ...

'' (Romans without property), into the army. Marius thus reformed the Roman army, and went on to defeat and capture Jugurtha (106 BC). The Senate disliked Marius (because he was a '' novus homo'' ("new man") and not part of the elite) and gave the title of ''Numidicus'' to Metellus, and recognized Marius' lieutenant

as the conqueror of Numidia. However, Marius retained the support of the people of Rome, and became consul six more times in the following years.

Notes

References

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (, ; –35 BC), was a historian and politician of the Roman Republic from a plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became a partisan of Julius ...

, ''Jugurthine War'', 48–55. *

Theodor Mommsen Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; ; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th ce ...

, ''

History of Rome The history of Rome includes the history of the city of Rome as well as the civilisation of ancient Rome. Roman history has been influential on the modern world, especially in the history of the Catholic Church, and Roman law has influenced m ...

'', book 4 "The Revolution". {{DEFAULTSORT:Muthul, Battle of the 109 BC 100s BC conflicts Battles involving the Roman Republic Kingdom of Numidia Battles involving Numidia Gaius Marius