The Battle of Osca ended the Sertorian War, eliminating the last organized rebel resistance to Roman Senate authority in Hispania.
Key Facts
- Date relative to Sertorius's death
- Ten days after Sertorius was assassinated
- Pompeian force engaged initially
- Ten cohorts (2,500–5,000 men)
- Roman commander
- Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus)
- Rebel commander
- Perperna, second-in-command of Sertorian forces
- Outcome for Perperna
- Captured and executed after the battle
- War ended
- Final battle of the Sertorian War
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Perperna assassinated Sertorius, the rebel leader, and assumed command of the Sertorian army. Upon learning of Sertorius's death, Pompey immediately marched his legions to Osca, the rebel capital. Perperna, needing a decisive victory to legitimize his new leadership, chose to engage Pompey in open battle rather than remain on the defensive.
Perperna's forces attacked ten of Pompey's cohorts, who feigned retreat and drew the rebels into a prepared ambush. The rebels found themselves surrounded on three sides; the cohorts wheeled to attack frontally while the rest of Pompey's army struck the flanks. The Sertorian army broke and fled, ending organized resistance in Hispania.
Perperna was captured and executed, along with those who had murdered Sertorius. He had offered Pompey Sertorius's correspondence with prominent Romans, which Pompey burned to prevent another civil war. Pompey spent the remainder of the campaigning season reducing remaining rebel strongholds, completing the pacification of Hispania.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus).
Side B
1 belligerent
Perperna.