First Battle of Clusium (82 BC)

For the Second Battle of Clusium of the same year, see Second Battle of Clusium (82 BC).

First Battle of Clusium

Date	June, 82 BC
Location	Clusium, Italia
Result	Indecisive Populares Victory

Belligerents

Optimates

Populares

Commanders and leaders

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix

Gnaeus Papirius Carbo

Roman Republican Civil Wars

1st Servile 2nd Servile Social Sulla's 1st Sertorian Sulla's 2nd 3rd Servile Catilinarian conspiracy Caesar's Post-Caesarian Liberators' Sicilian Fulvia's Final

First Civil War of the Roman Republic

Mount Tifata Asio River Sacriporto Sena Gálica Saturnia Glanis River Espolecio 1 Clusium 1 Espolecio 2 Faventia Fidentia Clusium 2 Colline Gate Praeneste Neápolis Utica Norba Caesarina Nola Volterras

The First Battle of Clusio was a battle that took place in June of 82 BC during the context of Sulla's Second Civil War. The battle pitted the Optimates under the command of Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix against the Populares forces commanded by Gnaeus Papirius Carbo. The battle resulted in a precarious Populares victory.

Context

Main article: Sulla's Second Civil War

Through the course of the campaign of 82 BC, the Populares forces had divided into two groups, those in the north under the command of Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, and those in the south who were commanded by Gaius Marius the Younger. Sulla had successfully defeated Marius Battle of Sacriporto and had managed to pin Marius and his fellow survivors under a siege at Preneste. Rome itself soon after had fallen to the Optimates. Soon after, the war had shifted to Etruria where Sulla engaged in a pitched cavalry skirmish against Popular forces near the Glanis River, emerging victorious.^[1]

The Battle

According to Appian,^[2] the two armies eventually met on the outskirts of Clusium. After a bloody battle, the armies separated at nightfall. The battle is generally referred to as a stalemate, but the German scholar, Theodor Mommsen affirmed the following:

The battle remained indecisive, however, Carbo gained a clear advantage as he detained his adversaries' march. - Theodor Mommsen^[3]

Consequences

The surviving Populares forces, including Marius, took refuge at Preneste to escape the pursuing Sullan forces. Sulla arrived shortly thereafter and besieged the city. The city fell on 4 November, holding out surprisingly until all of Italy was under Sulla's direct control.^[4]

References

↑ Mommsen 1856a, pp. 344–347
↑ Appian, The Civil Wars, 1, 89.
↑ Mommsen 1856a, p. 346
↑ Appian, The Civil Wars, 1, 88.

Bibliography

Classic Sources

Appian, The Civil Wars.

Modern Sources

Gabba, Emilio (1958). Appiani bellorum civile liber primus (in Italian). Florence: La Nouva Italia, 1958.
Keaveney, Arthur (1982). Sulla: The Last Republican (2nd revised ed.). London: Routledge, 2005. ISBN 978-0-203-02251-1.
Lovano, Michael (2002). The Age of Cinna: Crucible of Late Republican Rome. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Veralg, 2002. ISBN 978-3-51507948-8.
Mommsen, Theodor (1856a). Historia de Roma 3. Translated by Alejo García Moreno. Madrid: Turner, 2003. ISBN 84-7506-607-0.
Smith, William (1870). "Lucullus (5)". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 2. p. 837.

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