By John E. Spindler
In the evening hours on a midsummer day in 102 bc, Roman Consul Gaius Marius decided that tomorrow was to be the day to confront the barbarians. Marius and his army had been trailing a pair of Celto-Germanic tribes, the Teutones and Ambrones, for the past few weeks. Starting from where the Isere River flows into the Rhone, the enemy’s route had led him to Aquae Sextiae, now known as Aix-en-Provence. Although the two sides had clashed previously, that engagement involved only a small portion of both the Roman and barbarian forces. Marius, in an unprecedented third consecutive term as consul, would learn if the past two years of training and conditioning his army had been worth the time, effort, and resources. More important, if Marius lost, the Teutones would have an open road to Rome.
The road to this crucial battle in southeast Gaul began years before with the rise of the Cimbri, who hailed from the Jutland peninsula. Looking for sufficient lands to settle, the Cimbri arrived in Noricum, the land of Roman allies known as the Taurisci in 113 bc. A miscommunication led to a local Roman commander’s attempt of a surprise assault on the Cimbri. The clash ended with a heavy Roman defeat the following year at Noreia. At that point, the Cimbri were joined by the Teutones, Ambrones, and Tigurini in their migration across Europe.
Another significant loss occurred on October 6, 105 bc, at Arausio on the Rhone River. Consul Gnaeus Mallius Maximus led a consular army north from Rome to join forces with Proconsul Quintus Servilius Caepio, whose army was already in the region dealing with border violations. Because Maximus lacked military experience and was a novus homo, the first of his family to serve in the Roman Senate, Caepio refused to serve under or even cooperate with him. Bad relations and jealousy led to separate plans and camps. Instead of having one of the largest Roman armies ever put into the field, the forces were divided with Caepio having erected his base in front of Maximus’s camp.
Without informing Maximus of his intentions, the proconsul hastily attacked the barbarians. His army was not only stopped, but the Cimbri and Teutones counterattacked and destroyed it. The barbarians quickly overran Caepio’s base and then annihilated Maximus’s army and camp. The resulting defeat was the worst Rome had suffered since the catastrophe at Cannae more than a century earlier. Approximately 80,000 legionnaires and 40,000 noncombatants lost their lives, leaving Rome open to being conquered.
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