A forgotten Roman disaster where trapped soldiers chose death over surrender to the enemy
In 49 BC, a significant Caesarian force found itself isolated on the island of Curicta. Besieged by a superior naval fleet, the trapped soldiers faced starvation and a desperate, failed breakout attempt. The resulting capitulation became one of the most humiliating setbacks for Caesar’s cause during the Roman Civil War.
The siege of Curicta emerged from the escalating conflict between Gaius Julius Caesar and the Roman Senate, backed by Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. After Caesar crossed the Rubicon in January 49 BC, Pompey retreated to Greece, leaving Caesar in control of the Italian Peninsula. To secure the Adriatic, Caesar dispatched Publius Cornelius Dolabella with 40 ships to patrol the Illyrian coast, while Gaius Antonius—brother of Marcus Antonius—commanded 15 cohorts stationed on Curicta.
Pompeian commanders Lucius Scribonius Libo and Marcus Octavius soon overwhelmed Dolabella’s fleet, capturing him and destroying most of his vessels. With the sea lanes controlled by the Optimates, Antonius was effectively blockaded. A relief effort involving rafts sent by Lucius Minucius Basilus failed when the Pompeians deployed specialized Cilician nets to trap them. Two rafts escaped the nets, but one ran aground, forcing 1,000 Gallic auxiliaries from Opitergium into a desperate, day-long last stand. Realizing their situation was hopeless, the soldiers chose to kill one another rather than surrender.
The eventual capitulation of Antonius and his men was a major blow to the Populares. Caesar later identified this defeat, alongside the loss of Gaius Scribonius Curio at the Battle of the Bagradas, as among the most significant disasters of the war. Suetonius highlights these events as part of a quartet of major failures suffered by Caesar’s subordinates. Interestingly, while Caesar acknowledged the loss, he notably omitted the details of the Curicta disaster from his primary narrative, possibly to distance himself from the embarrassment or due to an unfinished record.
Source: Siege of Curicta
