First Battle of Clusium
81 BCE battle
The First Battle of Clusium took place in June of 82 BC during the Roman Republic's Second Civil War. The battle pitted the Optimates under the command of Lucius Cornelius Sulla against the Populares commanded by Gnaeus Papirius Carbo. The battle was indecisive.
Background
During the campaigns of 83-82 BC, the Populares forces had divided into two groups, those in the north under the command of Gnaeus Papirius Carbo, and those in the south who were commanded by Gaius Marius the Younger. Sulla had defeated Marius at the Battle of Sacriporto and afterwards had managed to pin Marius and his survivors at Praeneste. While Praeneste was being besieged Sulla himself moved on to Rome. The capital surrendered allowing Sulla to march against Carbo. The war now shifted to Etruria where Sulla engaged Carbo's cavalry forces near the River Clanis, emerging victorious.
The battle
According to Appian, the two armies eventually met on the outskirts of Clusium. After a bloody battle, the armies separated at nightfall.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5452512. Authority coordinates are 43.017, 11.950. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “First Battle of Clusium” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.