National Geographic History - July 2019

50 JULY/AUGUST 2019

Caesar was victorious, defeating Pompey’s
forces at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 B.C. Pompey
the Great fled to Egypt, where the pharaoh Ptol-
emy (Cleopatra’s brother) had him murdered, an
act which disturbed Caesar, who, despite be-
ing an adversary of the general, still saw him as
a Roman. The legacy of his former ally turned
enemy would trouble Caesar as he turned to his
future in Rome.

Tallying Up Triumphs
Once back in Rome, Caesar’s thoughts turned to
triumphs. Before civil war broke out, Caesar had
already chalked up some astounding military vic-
tories. Between 58 and 50 B.C., his forces waged
a series of campaigns in Gaul, conquering new
territory for Rome and defeating several Gallic
tribes. The climax of the Gallic Wars came in
52 B.C. when the Romans won the Battle of
Alesia, defeating a confederation of tribes
led by Gallic chief Vercingetorix. This vic-
tory was certainly worthy of a triumph.
Caesar’s second great victory occurred
in Egypt, shortly after Pompey’s death.

Caesar traveled to Egypt, where Cleopatra and her

brother Ptolemy and sister Arsinoë were fighting

for power. Caesar backed Cleopatra, and she de-

feated her siblings in 47 B.C. to become sole Egyp-

tian ruler. Caesar’s third victory came later that

year. Pharnaces II, king of Pontus, was crushed by

Rome at the Battle of Zela in present-day Turkey.

Victories in Gaul, Egypt, and Pontus quali-

fied Caesar for three triumphs, but he did not

hesitate to ask the Senate for a fourth. Caesar

scored a victory that led to the downfall of the

remnants of Pompey’s forces, the defeat of King

Juba I of Numidia in North Africa. During the

Roman civil war, Juba supported the remnants

of Pompey’s forces with reinforcements during

the Battle of Thapsus (in present-day Tunisia)

in April 46 B.C.

Juba did die in the conflict, but he wasn’t

slain by Caesar’s forces. Sources say that he

and Marcus Petreius, a general allied with

Pompey, fled and made a mutual suicide pact

to avoid capture.

Not only was Thapsus not a victory that

would technically justify a triumph, but

ONE FOR

POSTERITY

The words Veni, vidi,

vici—“I came, I saw,

I conquered”—are

stamped on this

sesterce from 47 B.C.

The words were

allegedly said by

Caesar after his

lightning victory

over Pharnaces II

in Zela (Turkey) in

47 B.C. Sammlung

Archiv für Kunst und

Geschichte, Berlin

AKG/ALBUM

TO THE

VICTORS

T

HE UTMOST military glory was the

spolia opima, the weapons and

personal effects stripped from

the body of an enemy chieftain

killed in one-on-one combat. Roman his-

tory records only three instances of this

happening. Tradition holds that Romulus,

Rome’s co-founder, challenged and killed

Acron, the king of the Ceninenses, in single

combat. He is said to have hung Acron’s

weapons in an oak tree, which he carried

on his back all the way to the top of Capi-

toline Hill. Then in the fifth century B.C.,

general Aulus Cornelius Cossus defeated

Lars Tolumnius, king of Veii, at the Battle

of the Amio and claimed the spolia opima.

Evidence for the first two incidents is hazy,

but historians do believe that in 222 B.C.,

Marcus Claudius Marcellus killed the

Gallic king Viridomarus at the battle of

Clastidium and claimed the spoils of war.

BOOTY SEIZED BY THE ROMANS IS DEPICTED
ON THE TRIUMPHAL ARCH ERECTED BY
AUGUSTUS IN THE FIRST CENTURY A.D. IN THE
FRENCH CITY OF ORANGE.
PRISMA/ALBUM