Fall of Republican Africa
Losing to Caesar battle of Pharsalus (August 9, 48 BC), Pompey went to Egypt. Here, according to the will of King Ptolemy XII, his 13-year-old son and 18-year-old daughter ruled. According to the custom of this country, they entered into a marriage, which, however, due to the difference in age, was still purely nominal. The boy ascended the throne under the name of Ptolemy XIII, his sister and wife was the famous Cleopatra.
Caesar is wasting time
At the beginning of October 48 BC. e. Caesar appeared in Alexandria, to whom the advisers of the young king presented the head of Pompey. According to historians, Caesar was not at all happy with such a gift. This is how Legnani depicted this episode in his painting in 1793:
However, it is very likely that the dictator simply skillfully played out his sadness over the death of his former son-in-law.
Meanwhile, the situation in Egypt was tense to the limit, since the tutor of the new king, Potin, decided to get rid of the overly ambitious Cleopatra and marry his ward to his other sister, Arsinoe.
Ptolemy XIII and Pothinus in the film "Cleopatra", 1963. In fact, Ptolemy was a full-blooded and probably fair-haired Macedonian, and Pothinus was a Greek
Another Greek, Apollodorus, Cleopatra's tutor, organized her flight, and then the famous meeting with Caesar, to whose chambers the young queen, according to Plutarch, was delivered in a laundry bag. This seemed to the writers too prosaic and boring (indeed: the great queen - and suddenly some kind of bag with dirty laundry!), And therefore a spectacular scene of the appearance of the queen from a rolled carpet was invented.
Frame from the film "Cleopatra", 1963
Taking advantage of the will of Ptolemy XII, who appointed Rome as the guarantor of the fulfillment of his will, Caesar intervened in Egyptian affairs, which led to a war that lasted 8 months and a fire that destroyed the famous Library of Alexandria. In the meantime, Caesar easily suppressed the rebellion of Pharnak, the son of the king of Pontus Mithridates, in Asia Minor, giving rise to the famous aphorism "I came, I saw, I conquered." He also traveled along the Nile, enjoying the luxury, divine honors and caresses of the grateful and far-sighted Cleopatra.
Republicans in Africa
Meanwhile, the Republicans were preparing for a new war with him - this time in the province of Africa, which Publius Attius Var managed to defend, having entered into an alliance with the Numidian king Yuba. Thirsty for revenge opponents of Caesar gathered here. Among them were very famous and talented people. For example, Mark Porcius Cato the Younger is a Stoic philosopher who previously held the positions of military tribune and popular tribune, quaestor, propraetor and praetor. Few people had such high authority in Rome.
Denarius of Cato, 47-46 years. BC e.
Titus Labienus is a former associate of Caesar, and one of the most talented, who twice replaced him as commander in Britain and Gaul. Labien joined Pompey after Caesar crossed the Rubicon. Participated in the Battle of Pharsalus, where he commanded the cavalry.
Lucius Aphranius previously ruled the province of Near Hispania.
Mark Petreus - former praetor, was governor of Lusitania.
Among the republicans was Faustus Cornelius Sulla, the son of the famous dictator. And many other people, lesser known and famous.
The new head of the Republican Party was Metellus Scipio, a former consul, father of the last wife of Pompey the Great.
Coin with the inscription "Scipio Emperor"
There were also the sons of Pompey, the eldest of whom, however, soon went to raise Spain against Caesar. In Africa, even the Senate met - there were 300 senators.
The Pompeians were building up their forces. Attia Varus already had three legions. Now, from the Roman colonists, refugees from Spain, Greece, Sicily, Sardinia, freedmen and local residents, four more were recruited (according to other sources - five). There was a heavy cavalry of Gauls, Germans - about 1600 people. The light cavalry was recruited from Libya. The troops of the Numidian king Yuba, allied to the republicans, numbered up to 30 thousand heavily armed infantrymen, about 20 thousand horsemen, many lightly armed soldiers and shooters. There were also 120 war elephants in it. Scipio was especially happy with the elephants, he even found time for personal participation in their preparation and training. The anonymous author of the work "African War" reports that the commander imitated an attack on elephants by "enemy" slingers, while "their" soldiers standing behind them also fired at them, preventing them from turning around and chasing the enemy.
The Numidian army was formed on the Roman model, and the king voluntarily ceded the supreme command to Metellus Scipio. Yuba himself was second in command.
Denarius of the king of Yuba with his image
In total, the army of Caesar's opponents reached 14 legions. The forces in Africa were very serious, the commanders of the Pompeians were experienced people and at the same time - the principled opponents of Caesar, who fought not for power, money and positions, but for ideas.
Caesar starts - and almost loses
At the beginning of December 47 BC. e. Caesar finally arrived in Sicily to lead the preparation of troops for war in Africa. For a new military campaign, he intended to use 10 legions. Without waiting for all of them to gather in Lilybaeum, Caesar crossed to Africa on December 25 with six legions and 2 thousand horsemen. Some of his ships were scattered over the sea, so that only 3 thousand infantrymen and 150 horsemen landed with him, with whom he occupied Ruspina (Monastir) and Leptis (Lemta). The rest of the ships with troops arrived here over the next three days. They say that, going ashore, Caesar fell, but, lying on the ground, exclaimed, addressing the soldiers, frozen by such an unkind sign:
"You are in my hands, Africa!"
Meanwhile, the very next day after Caesar's landing, Ruspina was approached by his old comrade-in-arms - Titus Labienus, and not alone, but at the head of a fairly large cavalry and light infantry. In the ensuing battle, some of Caesar's soldiers fled. They say that Caesar, who personally stopped the fugitives, took one of them by the neck, in whose hands was the Roman "eagle", and turned it 180 degrees with the words:
"There are enemies over there!"
Unfortunately for the Republicans, a horse was wounded near Labienus and threw him off his saddle. Labienus was carried away from the battlefield, and Petreus, who remained instead of him, being in euphoria, unexpectedly ordered an end to the pursuit, stating:
"We will not take away the victory from our general Scipio."
And Caesar managed to lead his soldiers to the camp.
Then his troops began to be greatly disturbed by Yuba's cavalry.
In general, Caesar, occupying only a narrow coastal strip, was in an extremely difficult situation, aggravated by the fact that his soldiers were short of supplies. His army received everything necessary only by sea from Sicily, but in insufficient quantities. Moreover, the Republicans had a strong fleet, which often intercepted Caesarian ships. The situation was especially difficult with horse food. Plutarch claims they were fed
"sea moss (algae?), washing off sea salt from it and adding a little grass as a seasoning."
In mid-January, the main enemy forces gathered at Ruspina. Metellus Scipio approached here with the main army, and the XIII and XIV legions arrived by sea to Caesar, and then another IX and X. Thus, the size of his army reached the planned one. In addition, Caesar managed to negotiate with the Moorish king Bokh, who attacked the possessions of Yuba and forced him to send most of the army to protect his lands. This greatly weakened his allies.
Battle of Thapsa
April 3, 46 B.C. e. Caesar led his army to Tapsu (now Ras Dimas), where the enemy's food depots were located. Scipio moved his troops there, on April 6 he set about setting up a camp between the sea and the salt marsh. The battle began unexpectedly for both him and Caesar, since the Roman soldiers went on the attack without permission. The first to go into battle was the 52th Legion of the Larks, formed by Caesar in Gaul in XNUMX BC. e. (at first he was not recognized by the Senate, and at first Caesar kept him at his own expense). Some believe that the name does not mean larks (Alaudae), but foreigners (from the Cimbrian allaid). In this case, the V legion will be "foreign". He was indeed the first legion not recruited from Roman citizens. But we digress, back to the battle of Tapsa. So, on the right flank of the V, the legion went into battle without permission, and it is claimed that the centurions, awaiting Caesar's order, even unsuccessfully tried to stop their subordinates. This came as a complete surprise to Scipio, and only part of the republican army managed to line up in battle formations. The "Larks" put the elephants to flight, which in battles can be equally dangerous for both foreign troops and their own army. And since then, the elephant has become the symbol of the V Legion.
Denarius of Mark Anthony, minted in honor of the legion "Larks"
The attack of the V Legion was supported by the troops of the center and the left flank. The Republican army fled, its camp captured with little or no resistance.
Battle of Thapsa, XNUMXth century engraving
Pompeians are said to have lost 10 men. Approximately the same number surrendered. The Caesarians captured 64 elephants.
The defeat of Caesar's opponents was complete. Lucius Aphranius and Faustus Cornelius Sulla, retreating, stumbled upon a detachment of Publius Sittius, were captured and executed. Cato, who led the Utica garrison, committed suicide. The Numidian king Yuba retreated to the pre-fortified city of Zama, where his family was located, and a treasury was also placed. Moreover, he prepared in advance in the central square of this city everything necessary for a huge fire, on which, in case of defeat, he intended to burn himself and burn his family and treasures. But here's the bad luck: the inhabitants of the city, who learned about the defeat of Yuba and his allies, refused to let him in. Apparently, they decided that it was extremely inexpedient to burn the accumulated wealth, and they could find another, more reasonable use. They even refused to give Yuba his wives, children and family members. After wandering around the country a little, Yuba decided to try to die beautifully and begged the Pompeian commander Mark Petreus, who was with him, to join him in a sword fight. Petreus easily defeated the king, after which he tried to pierce his chest with the same sword. However, he either did not dare, or he could not deal a strong enough blow to himself. I had to ask for the murder of a slave who was nearby.
Caesar annexed the "ownerless" possessions of Yuba to the Roman province of Africa (in fact, why should the good disappear?).
Metellus Scipio, who was trying to reach Spain, died by throwing himself overboard when his ship was overtaken by enemy ships. According to another version, Scipio committed suicide and his corpse was thrown overboard. More fortunate were Publius Attius Varus, Titus Labienus and Sextus Pompey, who managed to get to Spain. Varus and Labienus died in another battle with Caesar - at Munda, March 17, 45 BC. e.
Sextus Pompey became the head of the garrison of Korduba, after the defeat and death of his older brother, he led the resistance to Caesar's legates. Then, having captured Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, for some time he very successfully resisted the second triumvirs - Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus. This will be discussed in a separate article.
And Caesar, returning to Rome, on September 21, 47 BC. e. celebrated four triumphs in a row: in honor of the victories over the Gauls, Egyptians, Pharnaces and Yuba. As you can see, he prudently did not celebrate the victories over the Roman citizens - Pompey and his associates. Among the noble captives who followed the dictator's chariot was Cleopatra's rival, her sister Arsinoe. And Cleopatra herself arrived in Rome in November of the same 46 BC. e.
Caesar waiting for Cleopatra. Another shot from the famous 1963 film.
Her appointment with Caesar turned out to be short-lived: already in December he went to Spain, which was captured by the eldest son of Pompey the Great and his full namesake, Gnaeus Pompey the Younger. Here Caesar will once again meet with his principal opponents, the last of the survivors - Publius Attius Varus and Titus Labienus. But we will talk about this in the next article.
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