Siege of Apamea

Caesar's Civil War began in 49 BC due to the escalating tensions over the previous decade between Gaius Julius Caesar and the Roman Senate, who turned to his old ally Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus ("Pompey the Great"). Caesar famously crossed the Rubicon river in January, being labeled as "enemy of the people" by the senate. Caesar would go on to conquer Italy, Spain, Sardinia, and Sicily. Caesar would next invade Greece and although suffering a setback at Dyrrhachium, he eventually crushed Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus. Pompey fled to Egypt, where he was assassinated by the Egyptians in an attempt to appease Caesar. Caesar then intervened in the Alexandrian Civil War to avenge Pompey, eventually deciding to help Egyptian pharaoh, Cleopatra to the throne after defeating her younger brother, Ptolemy XIII after the Battle of the Nile. The young Ptolemy was killed and Cleopatra was put on the throne.

Despite the military victory in Egypt, and with a friendly ruler in Egypt, problems swiftly began to rise, in Hispania a pro-Pompeian rebellion arose against Casear's governor in Spain, Quintus Cassius Longinus led by Marcellus. In the East Pontic ruler, Pharnaces II the son of the more famous Mithridates VI had invaded and begun attacking Rome's client states that Pompey had once set up and even defeated Caesar's legate, Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus at the Battle of Nicopolis. Meanwhile a Pompeian fleet arrived near Dalmatia under the command of Marcus Octavius and started a pro-Pompeian rebellion. This forced Caesar to confront the Pontic king, to which he expected would be a hard fought and long campaign, who ever Pharnaces II decided to charge up hill at Caesars position leading to the Battle of Zela and the origin of phrase "Veni, vidi, vici" (I came; I saw; I conquered). Pharnaces II would be killed by the usurper, Asander. Luckily for Caesar, his luck improved following the victory at Zela. The future member of the Second Triumvirate, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus had managed to quell the revolt with the help of Maurentania, The former governor, Quintus Cassius Longinus then died in a ship crash. Publius Vatinius then assembled a small fleet of ships, manned by legionaries who were too sick to join Caesar in Greece and prepared to confront Octavius. He swiftly won the resulting Battle of Tauris and Octavius fled to Africa.

Caesar would return to Italy and set upon conquering the last of Pompey's supporters in the province of Africa. Caesar would carry out his plan, succeeding in 46 BC when he crushed a Pompeian army at the Battle of Thapsus. Many Pompeian's were killed in the aftermath including Cato the Younger, Metellus Scipio, Lucius Afranius, Marcus Petreius, Faustus Cornelius Sulla, and the king of Numidia, Juba I. Others had fled to Hispania, modern day Spain, to continue the fight including Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, his brother Sextus, Titus Labienus, and the commander of the Pompeian fleet at Thapsus, Publius Attius Varus. Caesar would then fight a long and hard fought campaign against the Pompeians before eventually crushing them at the Battle of Munda, many Pompeians including Varus and Labienus were killed. Caesar's men under Lucius Caesennius Lento found Gnaeus Pompey and killed him at the Battle of Lauro. By now the only main Pompeian Leader was Sextus Pompey, who was in the city of Corduba. Caesar began to take the last remaining pro-Pompeian cities in the region including Munda itself.

Following Julius Caesar's victories in the east, he set upon establishing his administration in the eastern provinces. He appointed Cleopatra client king of Egypt He next reaffirmed relations with the Kingdoms of Galatia and Cappadocia, and their kings Ariobarzanes and Deiotarus ensuring they remain kings despite previously supporting Pompey in the Civil War. Finally Caesar decided to deal with Syria by appointing his Cousin,[1] Sextus Julius Caesar as governor of the province.[2]

The following year, a Pompeian equite by the name of Quintus Caecilius Bassus, who had fought at the Battle of Pharsalus had arrived and began to encourage the rumor that Caesar had been defeated and killed in Africa and he managed to gain in following in the local aristocracy and soldiers and started a large scale revolt.[3] Caesar was at this time occupied with the revolt of the son of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, Sextus and Gnaeus. Unable to directly help in the Syrian revolt, Caesar sent reinforcements instead.[4] Bassus meanwhile had managed to capture the city of Tyre in modern day Lebanon and established it as his base of operations. Despite this early success he soon was soon crushed and wounded in a pitch battle by Sextus, using his reinforcements from Ceasar.[5] Bassus had managed to escape the battle on a horse and fled to the province of Cilicia, in modern day Turkey. He continued his revolt against Sextus however and encouraged mutinies and revolts in Syria and resulted in Sextus being killed in one such mutiny.[6][7] He was replaced with acting governor Quintus Cornificius.[8][9]

The death of Sextus put the province in disarray and paved the way for Bassus to grab power. He assembled an army of slaves, vassals, regional kinglets, Parthians, and the Jewish opposition of Antipater of Idumea, including the Galatian Tetrarch, Deiotarus. Bassus then invaded Syria and with little resistance captured the majority of the province and became its acting governor, with his own government, administration, and military forces (militia).[10] By now Julius Caesar had sent reinforcements under Gaius Antistio Veto, who was to replace Cornificius, he arrived shortly after, where he was received cordially by Cornificius.[11] Vetus's army besieged a city loyal to Bassus, and was initially successful, even being hailed as imperator by the troops.[12] However the Parthian prince Pacorus I and the old ally of the Parthians, the Arabian king Alcaudonius, and drove the Caesarians away from the city, badly bloodied.[13] Caesar immediately ordered another campaign to finally bring Bassus to heel.

In the later part of 45 BC, Caesar ordered the new campaign to be led by Lucius Statius Murcus and Quintus Marcius Crispus.[14] They were further reinforced by a substantial force sent by the king of Judea, Antipater.[15] Bassus retreated to his stronghold of Apamea, <ref>Knoblet, 2005: 33-34</ref> on the banks of the river Orontes. We know little of the siege itself, but upon arrival at the city they established a siege camp and set to take the town, however the town was heavily fortified and could not be assaulted directly. As a result of this the two Roman commanders decided to simply besiege it, until the city was starved into submission.[16] The siege continued into 44 BC,[17] when news of the assassination of Caesar came to fruition, despite this the siege continued until one of Caesar's key assassins Gaius Cassius Longinus arrived and killed the Senates replacement for Vetus, Publius Cornelius Dolabella, at Laodicea. Upon Cassius's arrival at the siege, he offered Bassus and Murcus amnesty to put an end to the siege, although this was not extended to Crispus.[18] This was one of the last engagements in Caesar's Civil War.[19][20]

With the end of the siege, Murcus was given command of the fleet, while Crispus went to govern Bithynia before being stripped by Cassius and probably retiring from public life. Bassus meanwhile disappeared from history as he is never mentioned again, he could have fought for Cassius, and Marcus Junius Brutus before being killed by Augustus and Mark Antony. The remains of this conflict climaxed in the Liberators' civil war, in which the former Caesarians, led by Augustus, Antony, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and the former Pompeians and assassins of Caesar, led by Cassius and Brutus. The war was ultimately concluded with the Battle of Philippi, and both Cassius and Brutus committed suicide when the battle was lost. Relations between Augustus and Antony broke down and another civil war occurred, which was won by Augustus, general Agrippa at the battle of Actium, Antony committed suicide in Egypt and Augustus became master of the Roman republic and stirred it to become its first emperor leading to a new period in Roman history.

• Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Civili 2.40
• Cassius Dio . Roman history . Book 43. Digitized by UChicago . Based on Loeb Classical Library edition volume 3, Ancient Greek-English translation by Earnest Cary, 1924.
• Goldsworthy, Adrian (2006). "XXI". Caesar: Life of a Colossus. New Haven: Yale Press. p. 466.
• Appian . Book 2 of The Civil Wars . Volume 14 of Roman History . Digitized by Perseus . Based on Ancient Greek-English translation by Horace White, London: MacMillan & Co., 1899. pdf
• Canfora, Luciano (2006). Giulio Cesare. Il democratic dittatore. Rome: Laterza.
• Knoblet, Jerry (2005). Herod the Great . University Press of America.
• Usher, James (2003). The Annals of the World . New Leaf Publishing Group.
• Cicero, Marcus Tullius. Cicero De Officiis. London : New York :W. Heinemann; The Macmillan Co., 1913.
• Strabo, Geography 5.3.6. Digital version in Perseus Digital Library online: A. Meineke (ed.), Strabonis Geographica: recognovit Augugtus Meineke., Lipsiae, 1877.