Cataclysm 90 BC: The Forgotten War that Almost Destroyed Rome

by Philip Matyszak

With communication to Brundisium cut off, access to the eastern empire had suddenly become much more difficult. Nor were things going well in the rest of eastern Italy. Pompeius Strabo had been given the job of bringing Asculum to heel. This was an obvious choice, for Strabo was a major landowner in the more romanized part of Picenum to the north. He knew both the terrain and the people, and he had plenty to lose, for while the rebels held Asculum they had a springboard to attack his own lands in Picenum. In fact Asculum was at a nexus of road communications. From Asculum not only Picenum but also Umbria and Cisalpine Gaul were highly accessible to the rebels. Apart from Asculum’s strategic value, there were other reasons for wanting the town captured as soon as possible, namely the political and propaganda prize that the Romans would gain if they captured the town and avenged the massacre of Roman citizens there when the revolt had first flared up.