ORDER OF BATTLE // -48 BCE
Battle of Utica
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 25,000 estimated
Caesarians
10,000
Medium-confidence figure
Numidia
15,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Utica was an initial Caesarian success in the African theater of Caesar's Civil War, fought between Curio's force of roughly 10,000 and a combined Pompeian-Numidian army of around 15,000 under Publius Attius Varus with support from King Juba I of Numidia. Curio's victory inflicted some 1,600 casualties on the Numidian and Pompeian forces and drove Varus back within the walls of Utica, temporarily establishing Caesarian momentum in the region. The engagement demonstrated that the Pompeian position in Africa, though backed by the resources of the Numidian kingdom, was not unassailable in open battle. However, the broader African campaign would prove costly for the Caesarian cause, with the theater remaining a significant front in the wider civil war.
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