Arausio Orange (; Provençal: ''Aurenja'' or ''Aurenjo'' ) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is about north of Avignon, on the departmental border with Gard, which follows th ...

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.Rhône River. Ranged against the migratory tribes of the

Cimbri The Cimbri (Greek Κίμβροι, ''Kímbroi''; Latin ''Cimbri'') were an ancient tribe in Europe. Ancient authors described them variously as a Celtic people (or Gaulish), Germanic people, or even Cimmerian. Several ancient sources indicate that ...

under Boiorix and the Teutoni under

Teutobod Teutobod was a king of the Teutons, who, together with the allied Cimbri, invaded the Roman Republic in the Cimbrian War and won a spectacular victory at the Battle of Arausio in 105 BC. He was later captured at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae in 10 ...

were two Roman armies, commanded by the

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ...

Quintus Servilius Caepio and

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

Gnaeus Mallius Maximus Gnaeus Mallius Maximus was a Roman politician and general. A ''novus homo'' ("new man"), Mallius was elected to the consulship of the Roman Republic in 105 BC. He was sent as consul to the province of Transalpine Gaul to stop the migration of the C ...

. However, bitter differences between the commanders prevented the Roman armies from co-operating, with devastating results. The terrible defeat gave

Gaius Marius Gaius Marius (; – 13 January 86 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his important refor ...

the opportunity to come to the fore and make radical reforms to the organisation and the recruitment of

Roman legions The Roman legion ( la, legiō, ) was the largest military unit of the Roman army, composed of 5,200 infantry and 300 equites (cavalry) in the period of the Roman Republic (509 BC–27 BC) and of 5,600 infantry and 200 auxilia in the period of ...

. Roman losses are described as being up to 80,000 troops as well as another 40,000

auxiliary Auxiliary may refer to: * A backup site or system In language * Auxiliary language (disambiguation) * Auxiliary verb In military and law enforcement * Auxiliary police * Auxiliaries, civilians or quasi-military personnel who provide support of ...

troops ( allies) and servants and

camp follower Camp followers are civilians who follow armies. There are two common types of camp followers; first, the wives and children of soldiers, who follow their spouse or parent's army from place to place; the second type of camp followers have histori ...

s – 120,000 in total, virtually all of their participants in the battle. In terms of losses, the battle is regarded as one of the worst defeats in the history of

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

. Even surpasssing the devastating Battle of Cannae in losses, which took place more than 100 years earlier.

Prelude

The migrations of the

Cimbri The Cimbri (Greek Κίμβροι, ''Kímbroi''; Latin ''Cimbri'') were an ancient tribe in Europe. Ancient authors described them variously as a Celtic people (or Gaulish), Germanic people, or even Cimmerian. Several ancient sources indicate that ...

tribe through

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

and adjacent territories had disturbed the balance of power and incited or provoked other tribes, such as the Helvetii, into conflict with the Romans. An ambush of Roman troops and the temporary rebellion of the town of Tolosa (modern Toulouse) caused Roman troops to mobilize in the area, with eighty strong forces. Having regained Tolosa, the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio adopted a defensive strategy, waiting to see if the Cimbri would move toward Roman territories again. On 6 October 105 BC, they did.

Battle

Even before the battle had erupted, the Romans were in trouble. The senior of the year's two consuls,

Publius Rutilius Rufus Publius Rutilius Rufus (158 BCafter 78 BC) was a Roman statesman, soldier, orator and historian of the Rutilia ''gens'', as well as a great-uncle of Gaius Julius Caesar (through his sister Rutilia, Caesar's maternal grandmother). He achieved the ...

, was an experienced and highly decorated soldier, veteran of the recent war in Numidia, but for some reason did not take charge of the military campaign himself but remained in Rome while his inexperienced, untried colleague

Gnaeus Mallius Maximus Gnaeus Mallius Maximus was a Roman politician and general. A ''novus homo'' ("new man"), Mallius was elected to the consulship of the Roman Republic in 105 BC. He was sent as consul to the province of Transalpine Gaul to stop the migration of the C ...

led the legions north. The reasons for Rutilius not taking charge himself do not seem to be known: perhaps he faced political opposition because of his friendship with

Gaius Marius Gaius Marius (; – 13 January 86 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his important refor ...

, or perhaps he believed Mallius Maximus deserved the chance to earn himself a share of glory, or perhaps he was simply temporarily ill. Two of the major Roman forces available were camped out on the Rhone River, near Arausio: one led by Mallius Maximus, and the other by the proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio. As the consul of the year, Maximus out-ranked Caepio and therefore should by law have been the senior commander of the combined armies. However, because Maximus was a

novus homo ''Novus homo'' or ''homo novus'' (Latin for 'new man'; ''novi homines'' or ''homines novi'') was the term in ancient Rome for a man who was the first in his family to serve in the Roman Senate or, more specifically, to be elected as consul. Whe ...

and therefore lacked the noble background of the Roman aristocracy – in addition to his military inexperience – Caepio refused to serve under him and made camp on the opposite side of the river. The initial contact between the two forces occurred when a detached picketing group under the legate

Marcus Aurelius Scaurus Marcus Aurelius Scaurus (died 105 BC) was a Roman politician and general during the Cimbrian War. After one of the consul designates was prosecuted and condemned, Scaurus was made consul suffectus in 108 BC. In 105 BC he went as a senior legate wit ...

met an advance party of the Cimbri. The Roman force was completely overwhelmed and the legate was captured and brought before king Boiorix. Scaurus was not humbled by his capture and advised Boiorix to turn back before his people were destroyed by the Roman forces. The king of the Cimbri was indignant at this impudence and had Scaurus executed. Caepio, however, only crossed the river after a direct order from the Senate, but even then insisted on having a separate camp and ignored orders from Mallius. According to Mommsen, Caepio was presumably motivated into action by the thought that Maximus might be successful in negotiations and claim all the credit for a successful outcome; he launched a unilateral attack on the Cimbri camp on 6 October. However, Caepio's force was annihilated because of the hasty nature of the assault and the tenacity of Cimbri defence. The Cimbri were also able to ransack Caepio's camp, which had been left practically undefended. Caepio himself escaped from the battle unhurt. With a great boost in confidence from an easy victory, the Cimbri then proceeded to destroy the force commanded by Maximus. Already at a low ebb due to the infighting of the commanders, this Roman force had also witnessed the complete destruction of their colleagues. In other circumstances the army might have fled, but the poor positioning of the camp left them with their backs to the river. Many tried to escape in that direction, but crossing the river would have been difficult encumbered with armor. The number of Romans who managed to escape were very few. This includes the servants and camp followers, who usually numbered at least half as many again as the actual troops.

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

, quoting

Valerius Antias Valerius Antias ( century BC) was an ancient Roman annalist whom Livy mentions as a source. No complete works of his survive but from the sixty-five fragments said to be his in the works of other authors it has been deduced that he wrote a chroni ...

, states Roman losses as 80,000 soldiers and 40,000 servants and camp followers killed.

Valerius Antias Valerius Antias ( century BC) was an ancient Roman annalist whom Livy mentions as a source. No complete works of his survive but from the sixty-five fragments said to be his in the works of other authors it has been deduced that he wrote a chroni ...

(1st century BC). ''Manubiae'' (quoted by

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

''Periochae'', book 67
.

Aftermath

Rome was a warfaring nation and accustomed to military setbacks. However, the recent string of defeats ending in the calamity at Arausio was alarming for all the people of Rome. The defeat left them not only with a critical shortage of manpower and lost military equipment, but also with a terrifying enemy camped on the other side of the now-undefended Alpine passes. In Rome, it was widely thought that the defeat was due to the arrogance of Caepio rather than to a deficiency in the Roman Army, and popular dissatisfaction with the ruling classes grew. The Cimbri next clashed with the Arverni tribe, and after a hard struggle set out for the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

instead of immediately marching into Italy. This gave the Romans time to re-organise and elect the man who would become known as the savior of Rome. The catastrophic scale of the loss, which cut a large swath through the ranks of aristocrats and commoners alike, inspired the

Roman Senate The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...

and people to set aside the peacetime legal constraints that prevented a man from being consul a second time until ten years had passed since his first consulship, and to immediately propose and elect the highly skilled general

Gaius Marius Gaius Marius (; – 13 January 86 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. Victor of the Cimbric and Jugurthine wars, he held the office of consul an unprecedented seven times during his career. He was also noted for his important refor ...

(despite his absence) as senior consul only three years after his first consulship. Then, for a further unprecedented four successive years, they continued to elect him as senior consul (thus commander-in-chief of all Roman forces) while the war was being prosecuted.

In fiction

The battle as well as the events surrounding it are described in detail in

Colleen McCullough Colleen Margaretta McCullough (; married name Robinson, previously Ion-Robinson; 1 June 193729 January 2015) was an Australian author known for her novels, her most well-known being '' The Thorn Birds'' and ''The Ladies of Missalonghi''. Life ...

's 1990 historical fiction novel ''

The First Man in Rome ''The First Man in Rome'' is a 1990 historical novel by Australian author Colleen McCullough, and the first in her ''Masters of Rome'' series. The cast includes most of the major historical figures of the late Roman Republic, including Gaius Ma ...

''. It also features in

Philip Matyszak Philip L. Matyszak is a British non-fiction author, primarily of historical works relating to ancient Rome. Biography Matyszak studied ancient history at Royal Holloway, University of London, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. He th ...

's 2013 historical novel ''The Gold of Tolosa''.

References

Sources

* Gilman, Arthur; The Story of Rome From the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic *

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

Book LXVII
*

Granius Licinianus Granius Licinianus (active in the 2nd century AD) was a Roman Empire, Roman author of historical and encyclopedic works that survive only in fragments. He most likely lived at the time of Hadrian. History Granius compiled a "novel" narrative epito ...

pp. 11–12
* Mommsen, Theodor; The History of Rome, Book IV {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Arausio 105 BC 100s BC conflicts Arausio – 105 Arauisio

Arausio Orange (; Provençal: ''Aurenja'' or ''Aurenjo'' ) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is about north of Avignon, on the departmental border with Gard, which follows th ...

Vaucluse