The Battle of Thinisa was a major battle of the civil war between Octavian's Rome and Lepidus' Rome, fought in North Africa in 38 BC. That year, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa had landed in Africa with his Legio I Alaudae, fresh from the conquest of Sextus Pompey's final stronghold on the island of Sardinia. Having lost control of Sicily and failed to regain control of it, the triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus planned a decisive counterattack against Agrippa's legion along the Mediterranean coast to prevent Agrippa from advancing on Carthage. Lepidus' Legio III Apollinaris and Pacuvius Lollius Atellus' Legio IV Victrix launched a combined attack on Agrippa's Legio I Alaudae at Thinisa in Numidia, and, in the ensuing battle, Agrippa's legion won an unlikely victory against the numerically-superior Lepidian forces. Agrippa was wounded in the battle and was recalled by his friend Octavian, who kept him by his side as his advisor, but his victory at Thinisa nearly destroyed the two Lepidian legions and allowed for Octavian's forces to march on Carthage.
Background[]
By 41 BC, the Second Triumvirate - headed by Julius Caesar's adoptive son Octavian, Caesar's most trusted lieutenant Mark Antony, and the late Caesar's magister equitum (a "vice-dictator" of sorts) Marcus Aemilius Lepidus - had defeated Caesar's assassins at the Battle of Philippi, and divided the Roman Republic's overseas empire between them: Octavian received Italia, Illyricum, Gaul, and Hispania; Antony received Greece, Roman Asia, and Rome's other eastern possessions; and Lepidus received Roman Africa. The three triumvirs had an uneasy relationship, as Octavian cheated Lepidus out of his desired province of Hispania; Antony and Octavian each claimed to be Caesar's heir and had previously crossed swords at the Battle of Mutina; and Antony privately derided Lepidus as a furtherance of his and Octavian's own goals, and had told Octavian not to talk of Lepidus but as a "property". The tenuous alliance between the triumvirs quickly unraveled when Sextus Pompey, the son of Pompey the Great and the republican warlord in control of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, declared war on the Triumvirate; Antony declined to come to the aid of Lepidus, as he was focused on his war with Parthia. Antony's exit from the alliance with Lepidus diplomatically isolated Lepidus, who counted on the aid of Octavian in defeating Sextus and restoring peace to the Mediterranean. Octavian undertook an invasion of Sicily in 40 BC, capturing Pompey's capital of Syracuse and destroying his Legio I Equestris after a costly assault on the city. Lepidus took advantage of Octavian's victory by sending his son Marcus Aemilius Lepidus the Younger with his Legio I Africana to claim the rest of Sicily. Lepidus the Younger captured Agrigentum (Agrigento) and Panormus (Palermo) from their weak Pompeian garrisons, angering Octavian, who was quick to accuse Lepidus of attempting to usurp control of Sicily from him. Lepidus claimed ownership of Sicily by right of conquest, while Octavian claimed that Sicily legitimately belonged to his portion of the empire. When the Iberian Cantabri tribe declared war on Lepidus that same year, Octavian took the opportunity to decline to come to Lepidus' aid, severing his alliance with his fellow triumvir. He then proceeded to declare war on Lepidus and quickly seized control of Sicily from Lepidus' under-manned garrisons; Lepidus the Younger's African legion suffered heavy losses during a failed attack on Syracuse in 39 BC, and its remnants, led by Gaius Sepurcius Mergus, waged a hit-and-run guerrilla war in western Sicily, posing little threat to Octavian's control over the island. Meanwhile, Octavian's right-hand man and admiral Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa captured Corsica and Sardinia from the remnants of Pompey's republican faction, and his Legio I Alaudae regrouped at the Sardinian city of Caralis and made preparations for an invasion of North Africa as Octavian defeated Lepidian attempts to reconquer Sicily.
Agrippa landing at Thabraca
Lepidus himself was planning to lead the reconquest of Sicily from Octavian, assembling his massive Legio III Apollinaris at Carthage and sailing north towards Sicily. He assisted Marcus Atrius Sura's Legio II Alaudae in its recapture of Agrigentum in the winter of early 38 BC, but, on hearing that Octavian had quickly moved south from Panormus and recaptured Agrigentum in the spring of 38 BC, Lepidus withdrew to Africa rather than risk a disastrous landing on Sicily within the range of Octavian's army. Lepidus returned to Carthage with his legion, but his legionaries would not remain idle for long, as news arrived that Octavian's legate Agrippa had set sail from Sardinia and had landed at Thabraca (present-day Tabarka, Tunisia) in late 38 BC. Agrippa arrived in Africa with 2,568 troops; most of them (nine cohorts) were legionaries, with contingents of spear-wielding vigiles (three cohorts), javelin-wielding velites (two cohorts), and skirmisher leves (two cohorts); he also recruited two cohorts of mercenary Numidian cavalry and a cohort of Numidian javelinmen into his legion. Lepidus' legion consisted almost entirely of legionaries, plus three cohorts of velites and a cohort of Numidian cavalry. Meanwhile, Pacuvius Lollius Atellus had raised Legio IV Victrix at Carthage and enlisted three cohorts of legionaries and a cohort each of vigiles, velites, and leves. Lepidus decided on a decisive pitched battle with Agrippa's legion, planning on overwhelming Agrippa with the combined superior numbers of his Legio III Apollinaris and Atells' Legio IV Victrix. The two Lepidian legions attempted to bring Agrippa to battle at Thabraca, within range of the garrison of Carthage, but Agrippa sensed disaster and instead withdrew further west to the coastal town of Thinisa in Numidia (present-day El Kala, Algeria). Lepidus gambled on a closer fight, and he and his two legions advanced beyond the range of the Carthaginian garrison and attacked Agrippa at Thinisa.
Battle[]
The two armies meeting at Thinisa
Agrippa deployed his army in two long battle lines: his legionaries formed the main body, with Numidian cavalry on either side, and Numidian javelinmen and Roman skirmishers screening the main force. Lepidus' Legio III Apollinaris was the first to take to the field, with Legio IV Victrix gradually joining Lepidus' legion on the battlefield. The first contact between the armies occurred when Agrippa sent the Numidian cavalry on his right flank to skirmish with Lepidus' own Numidian cavalry. Agrippa's Numidians outnumbered their rival compatriots, and the skirmish resulted in an early victory for the Octavian cause.
Octavian and Lepidian legionaries meeting in battle
The Octavian and Lepidian battle lines proceeded to meet in hand-to-hand combat across the battlefront. Faced with superior enemy numbers, Agrippa personally led his cavalry bodyguards in a flanking attack on Lepidus' forces, attacking the rear of his cohorts as they battled with Octavian's legionaries to the front. Agrippa's risky maneuvers cost him several of his trusted comrades, and Agrippa himself was wounded later in the battle. However, from his stretcher, Agrippa directed his army to victory. Agrippa's cohorts broke the Lepidian flanks and closed in on the center. The battle was hard-fought, as Atellus' fresh troops joined the fray and came up against Agrippa's weary legionaries, but Agrippa's army attained numerical superiority on the battlefield after routing Lepidus' legion, and Legio IV Victrix soon found itself fleeing from the field as well. Atellus was killed and Lepidus fled with only a handful of his bodyguards, but both of Lepidus' legions were almost destroyed. Agrippa lost his entire bodyguard unit and an entire unit of Numidian cavalry, while three of his legionary cohorts, his two cohorts of vigiles, and his other Numidian cavalry cohort were badly mauled during the action.
Aftermath[]
After ordering that the 290 Lepidian prisoners be enslaved, the wounded Agrippa delegated command of his victorious legion to Sextus Numerius Blaesus while a worried Octavian recalled his dear friend to his side to serve as his personal advisor, removing him from field command. Blaesus pursued the remnants of Legio III Apollinaris to the highlands and slew 311 of the 315 remaining Lepidians; Lepidus and three of his closest comrades were able to flee to Carthage. Blaseus' attempt to mop up the remnants of Legio IV Victrix, commanded by Gnaeus Veturius Barbatus, resulted in the Battle of Thuburbo, which spelled the end of Legio IV Victrix and inflicted heavy losses on the garrison of Carthage.
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