Siege of Curicta

The siege of Curicta was a military confrontation that took place during the early stages of Caesar's Civil War. Occurring in 49 BCE, it saw a significant force of Populares commanded by Gaius Antonius besieged on the island of Curicta by an Optimate fleet under Lucius Scribonius Libo and Marcus Octavius. It immediately followed and was the result of a naval defeat by Publius Cornelius Dolabella and Antonius eventually capitulated under prolonged siege. These two defeats were some of the most significant suffered by the Populares during the civil war.

The battle was regarded as a disaster for the Caesarian cause. It seems to have had considerable significance to Caesar who mentions it alongside the death of Curio as one of the worst setbacks of the civil war. Of the four instances that Suetonius gives of the most disastrous defeats suffered by Populares in the civil war, both the defeat of Dolabella's fleet and the capitulation of the legions at Curicta are listed.