The Battle of Valentia was fought in 75 BC between a rebel army under the command of Marcus Perpenna Vento and general called Herennius both

legates A ''legatus'' (; anglicised as legate) was a high-ranking Roman military officer in the Roman Army, equivalent to a modern high-ranking general officer. Initially used to delegate power, the term became formalised under Augustus as the officer ...

of the Roman rebel

Quintus Sertorius Quintus Sertorius (c. 126 – 73 BC) was a Roman general and statesman who led a large-scale rebellion against the Roman Senate on the Iberian peninsula. He had been a prominent member of the populist faction of Cinna and Marius. During the l ...

and a Roman Republican army under the command of the Roman general

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (; 29 September 106 BC – 28 September 48 BC), known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a leading Roman general and statesman. He played a significant role in the transformation of ...

(better known as Pompey the Great). The battle was fought at Valentia in Spain and ended in a stunning victory for the Pompeian army.

Background

In 88 BC,

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 had t ...

marched his legions on Rome, starting a period of civil wars. Quintus Sertorius, a

client Client(s) or The Client may refer to: * Client (business) * Client (computing), hardware or software that accesses a remote service on another computer * Customer or client, a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuable ...

of Gaius Marius, joined his patron's faction and took up the sword against the Sullan faction (mainly

optimates 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 ...

). After the death of

Lucius Cornelius Cinna Lucius Cornelius Cinna (died 84 BC) was a four-time consul of the Roman Republic, serving four consecutive terms from 87 to 84 BC, and a member of the ancient Roman Cinna family of the Cornelia gens. Cinna's influence in Rome exacerb ...

and Gaius Marius, Sertorius lost faith with his factions leadership. In 82 BC, during the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

against Sulla, he left Italy for his assigned province in Hispania. Unfortunately his faction lost the war in Italy right after his departure and in 81 BC Sulla sent Gaius Annius Luscus with several legions to take the Spanish provinces from Sertorius. After a brief resistance Sertorius and his men are expelled from Hispania. They end up in

Mauretania Mauretania (; ) is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It stretched from central present-day Algeria westwards to the Atlantic, covering northern present-day Morocco, and southward to the Atlas Mountains. Its native inhabitants, ...

in north-western Africa where they conquer the city of

Tingis Tingis (Latin; grc-gre, Τίγγις ''Tíngis'') or Tingi ( Ancient Berber:), the ancient name of Tangier in Morocco, was an important Carthaginian, Moor, and Roman port on the Atlantic Ocean. It was eventually granted the status of a Roman co ...

. Here the

Lusitanians The Lusitanians ( la, Lusitani) were an Indo-European speaking people living in the west of the Iberian Peninsula prior to its conquest by the Roman Republic and the subsequent incorporation of the territory into the Roman province of Lusitania. ...

, a fierce Iberian tribe who were about to be invaded by a Sullan governor, approached him. They asked him to become their war leader in the fight against the Sullans. In 80 BC, Sertorius landed at the little fishing town of Baelo near the

Pillars of Hercules The Pillars of Hercules ( la, Columnae Herculis, grc, Ἡράκλειαι Στῆλαι, , ar, أعمدة هرقل, Aʿmidat Hiraql, es, Columnas de Hércules) was the phrase that was applied in Antiquity to the promontories that flank t ...

(

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibr ...

) and returned to Hispania. Soon after his landing he fought and defeated the Sullan general Fufidius (the aforementioned Sullan governor) at the Baetis river. After this, he defeated several Sullan armies and drove his opponents from Spain. Threatened by Sertorius' success the Senate in Rome upgraded

Hispania Ulterior Hispania Ulterior (English: "Further Hispania", or occasionally "Thither Hispania") was a region of Hispania during the Roman Republic, roughly located in Baetica and in the Guadalquivir valley of modern Spain and extending to all of Lusitania (mo ...

to a proconsular province and sent the proconsul

Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius (c. 128 – 63 BC) was a Roman politician and general. Like the other members of the influential Caecilii Metelli family, he was a leader of the Optimates, the conservative faction opposed to the Populares during ...

with a large army to fight him. Sertorius used guerrilla tactics so effectively he wore down Metellus to the point of exhaustion while his legate

Lucius Hirtuleius Lucius Hirtuleius was a legate of Quintus Sertorius during the Sertorian War, in which he fought from 80 BC until his death in 75 BC. He is considered Sertorius's most trusted lieutenant, his second-in-command, and was often given independent co ...

defeated the governor of

Hispania Citerior Hispania Citerior (English: "Hither Iberia", or "Nearer Iberia") was a Roman province in Hispania during the Roman Republic. It was on the eastern coast of Iberia down to the town of Cartago Nova, today's Cartagena in the autonomous community of ...

Marcus Domitius Calvinus. In 76 BC, the government in Rome decided to send Pompey and an even larger army to help Metellus. In the same year Sertorius is joined by Marcus Perpenna, who brought him the remnants of the army of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus the rebel consul of 78 BC. Thus reinforced Sertorius decided to try and take the Spanish east coast (because the cities there support his enemies). His first target was the city of Lauron where he outgeneraled Pompey and massacred a large part of his army (see: the Battle of Lauron).

Prelude

In 75 BC Sertorius decided to take on Metellus and leave the battered Pompey to his legates Perpenna and Herennius (probably a Samnite noble). Pompey and Metellus repeated their strategy of the previous year. While Metellus returned through the centre of Spain to the further province, Pompey once more marched his legions south toward the plain of Valentia. This time he met with no serious resistance until he reached Valentia itself. Here he found Herennius and Perpenna holding the line of the river Turia.

The battle

Perperna and Herrenius decided to give battle apparently under the impression they could defeat Pompey in a pitched battle. They fought in the narrow space which separated the river from the city walls. The battlefield gave no distinct tactical advantage to either side, so what developed was a conventional clash of strength, morale and endurance. Pompey's army of battle-hardened veterans totally outclassed and massacred their opponents. Herennius himself was among the 10,000 casualties. Valentia was taken and sacked.

Aftermath

When word reached Sertorius of Herennius and Perpenna's defeat he decided to retrieve the situation in the north himself. He left Hirtuleius in charge of the western campaign against Metellus while he marched north to face Pompey. While Sertorius was en route Hirtuleius made things worse in the south by getting himself drawn into a pitched battle with Metellus near the Roman colony of Italica. At the

Battle of Italica The Battle of Italica was fought in 75 BC between a rebel army under the command of Lucius Hirtuleius a legate of the Roman rebel Quintus Sertorius and a Roman Republican army under the command of the Roman general and proconsul of Hispania Ulte ...

Metellus crushed Hirtuleius' army and immediately marched north in pursuit of Sertorius, he wanted to catch Sertorius between himself and Pompey's army. Pompey and Sertorius, both not wanting to wait for Metellus, met at the river Sucro, where Pompey almost lost his army and his life.Appian, ''Civil Wars'', 1.110; Plutarch, ''Life of Sertorius'', 19; Plutarch, ''Life of Pompey'', 18. Sertorius failed to destroy Pompey at the

Battle of Sucro The Battle of Sucro was fought in 75 BC between a rebel army under the command of the Roman rebel Quintus Sertorius and a Roman army under the command of the Roman general Pompey. The battle was fought on the banks of the river Sucro near a to ...

, and with Metellus on the way he had no other choice than to march inland and revert to guerrilla warfare. The war would drag on for another three years and only end when a few of his own men plotted against Sertorius and assassinated him.

Notes and References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valentia 1st century BC in the Roman Republic 75 BC 70s BC conflicts Battles involving the Roman Republic 1st century BC in Hispania