The Battle of the Baetis River was fought between an army of the

Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Ki ...

and a rebel army at the Baetis river (modern day

Guadalquivir The Guadalquivir (, also , , ) is the fifth-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula and the second-longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is the only major navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable from the Gul ...

) in Spain. The battle took place in 80 BC at the start of the

Sertorian War The Sertorian War was a civil war fought from 80 to 72 BC between a faction of Roman rebels ( Sertorians) and the government in Rome (Sullans). The war was fought on the Iberian Peninsula (called ''Hispania'' by the Romans) and was one of the ...

. The Romans were led by Lucius Fufidius, while the rebels were led by 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 ...

. The rebel army was victorious, gaining Sertorius control over

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 ( ...

Background

In 82 BC, during

Sulla's 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 y ...

, Sertorius left Italy for his assigned propraetorian province in Hispania. Unfortunately, his faction, the Marians, lost the war in Italy right after his departure and in 81 BC Sulla sent

Gaius Annius Luscus Gaius, sometimes spelled ''Gajus'', Kaius, Cajus, Caius, was a common Latin praenomen; see Gaius (praenomen). People * Gaius (jurist) (), Roman jurist *Gaius Acilius *Gaius Antonius *Gaius Antonius Hybrida *Gaius Asinius Gallus *Gaius Asinius P ...

with several legions to take the Spanish provinces from Sertorius. After a brief resistance Sertorius and his men were expelled from Hispania. They ended up in Mauretania, in north-western Africa, where they conquered 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 c ...

. 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 requested Sertorius to become their war leader in the fight against the Sullans. Sertorius accepted the request and late 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 = Gib ...

) thus returning to Hispania for the third and final time.Philip Matyszak, ''Sertorius and the Struggle for Spain'', p. 64; Spann, ''Quintus Sertorius'', pp. 56–7

Prelude

Sertorius made a camp on a mountain near Baelo and started gathering his forces. He had brought 2,600 Romans soldiers (mainly veterans from the Social and Civil War) and 700 North African adventurers and mercenaries. The Lusitanians sent him 4,700 of their warriors. Added to this were an unknown number of disaffected local Romans, Turdetani, Celtiberians, and Roman and Italian refugees. All in all, Sertorius had an army of over 8,000 men. It fell to Fufidius, the aforementioned governor of Hispania Ulterior, to do something about the rebels in his province. So he marched his army, which was already assembled for the invasion of Lusitania, toward Baelo. Sertorius was an active commander and decided not to wait for Fufidius, but marched his little army east. The two forces met at the estuary of the Baetis River.

Battle

The Baetis estuary was a swampy maze which favoured those with local knowledge. As a number of Sertorius' men were locals, he had the upper hand. The only fragmentary description we have is from Sallust: Fufidius lost two thousand men, and the greater part of further Spain along with them. He survived the battle, but vanished into obscurity, remembered mainly as the man who had lost Hispania to Sertorius.

Aftermath

Sertorius' victory marked the start of Sertorian war which would ravage the

Iberian peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

for the next eight years. He would outgeneral every Republican commander sent against him and destroyed several of their armies. At the height of his power Sertorius ruled almost all of the Iberian peninsula. The war would only come to an end when a number of Sertorius' own men became disgruntled, conspired against him and assassinated him during a banquet.

References

{{coord missing, Spain 1st century BC in the Roman Republic 80 BC Baetis River 80 BC the Baetis River Hispania Baetica 1st century BC in Hispania