The Battle of Mount Tifata was fought in 83 BC as part of

Sulla's Second Civil War Sulla's civil war was fought between the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla and his opponents, the Cinna-Marius faction (usually called the Marians or the Cinnans after their former leaders Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Cinna), in the ye ...

History

It was fought in the foothills of Mount Tifata, a spur of the Apennines, close to the River Vulturnus, and is alternatively known as the Battle of Casilinum. The location of the battle suggests that Sulla was moving on

Capua Capua ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain. History Ancient era The name of Capua comes from the Etrusc ...

. The

Optimate Optimates (; Latin for "best ones", ) and populares (; Latin for "supporters of the people", ) are labels applied to politicians, political groups, traditions, strategies, or ideologies in the late Roman Republic. There is "heated academic dis ...

forces were led by

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla ha ...

and his officer Quintus Caecilius Metellus, while the Populares were led by

Gaius Norbanus Gaius Norbanus (died 82 BC) was a Roman politician who was elected consul in 83 BC alongside Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus. He committed suicide in exile at Rhodes after being proscribed by Lucius Cornelius Sulla shortly after the latter's vi ...

. The battle started when Sulla “immediately attacked” Norbanus, even though

Velleius Marcus Velleius Paterculus (; c. 19 BC – c. AD 31) was a Roman historian, soldier and senator. His Roman history, written in a highly rhetorical style, covered the period from the end of the Trojan War to AD 30, but is most useful for the per ...

claims Norbanus attacked Sulla. As an army under Scipio was currently moving to support Norbanus it is likely that Sulla attacked Norbanus by surprise before he could link up with Scipio. In total Scipio's and Norbanus’ armies numbered 100,000 as compared to at most 40,000 under Sulla. Sulla was victorious. Afterwards Sulla besieged Norbanus in Capua.

References

83 BC Mount Tifata 83 BC Mount Tifata Mount Tifata {{AncientRome-battle-stub