The Battle of Thapsus

Caesar landed in Africa and fell face-first onto the beach, a terrible omen. According to Suetonius, he hugged the sand and cried, I hold you now, Africa. For the first few months after landing things went badly for Caesar. His legions already ashore were harassed constantly by detachments of Numidian cavalry who would strike and disappear with impunity. It was looking like Caesar should have heated the omen and just gone back to Italy. But he managed to hold his army together until spring, when reinforcements finally gave him an army he felt he could go to battle with rather than simply survive with. The decisive battle came with the port city of Thapsus, whose unique