Battle of Aquae Sextiae

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Aquae Sextiae
partof=Cimbrian War


caption=The migration of the Teutons and the Cimbri
date= 102 BC
place=modern Aix-en-Provence, France
result=Decisive Roman victory
combatant1=Teutones
combatant2=Roman Republic
commander1=TeutobodPOW
commander2=Gaius Marius
strength1=Unknown
strength2=about 40,000 (6 legions with cavalry and auxiliaries)
casualties1=Unknown; reported as 90,000 killed,
20,000 captured
casualties2=Probably under 1,000

The Battle of Aquae Sextiae (Aix-en-Provence) took place in 102 BC. After a string of Roman defeats (see Battle of Arausio), the Romans under Gaius Marius finally defeated the Teutones and Ambrones.

Marius took up a strong position on a carefully selected hill and enticed the Teutones to attack him there using his cavalry and light infantry skirmishers (most of whom were allied Ligurians). The leading Teutone elements, the Ambrones, took the bait and attacked. They were soon foolishly followed by the rest of the horde. Meanwhile, Marius had hidden a small Roman force of 3,000 nearby. At the battle's height this force launched an ambush, attacking the Teutones from behind, and throwing them into confusion and rout. The Roman accounts claim that in the ensuing massacre 90,000 Teutones were slain and 20,000, including their King Teutobod, were captured. The only surviving reports are Roman, which exaggerate the one-sidedness of the battle, but certainly the complete annihilation of the Teutones and Ambrones speaks to the crushing nature of their defeat.

Plutarch mentions ("Marius" 10, 5-6) that during the battle, the Ambrones began to shout "Ambrones!" as their battle-cry; the Ligurian troops fighting for the Romans, on hearing this cry, found that it was identical to an ancient name in their country which the Ligurians often used when speaking of their descent (polytonic|"οὕτως κατὰ ὀνομάζουσι Λίγυες"), so they returned the shout, "Ambrones!".The captured women committed mass suicide, which passed into Roman legends of Germanic heroism (cf Jerome, letter cxxiii.8, 409 AD [http://www.ccel.org/fathers/NPNF2-06/letters/lette123.htm] )::"By the conditions of the surrender three hundred of their married women were to be handed over to the Romans. When the Teuton matrons heard of this stipulation they first begged the consul that they might be set apart to minister in the temples of Ceres and Venus; and then when they failed to obtain their request and were removed by the lictors, they slew their little children and next morning were all found dead in each other's arms having strangled themselves in the night."

ee also

*Battle of Vercellae

External links

* [http://italian.classic-literature.co.uk/history-of-rome/04-the-revolution/ebook-page-71.asp Read Theodor Mommsen's account of the battle]