Rome

The Battle of Thapsus - which occurs just before the opening scene - was a major conflict in the ongoing "last civil war" of the Roman Republic - but not quite the last. After the defeats of Dyrrhachium and Pharsalus, the abandoning of Greece, and death of Pompey, the conservative faction regrouped in Africa, in modern day Tunisia. There, under the leadership of Marcus Porcius Cato the younger and Metellus Scipio (with Titus Labienus, Publius Attius Varus, Lucius Afranius, Marcus Petreius and the brothers Sextus and Gnaeus Pompeius - Pompey's sons), and with the aid of a local king (Juba I of Numidia) they raised a force of nearly 10 legions strong, with Numidian auxiliaries - including a contingent of 60 "war elephants". On Dec 28, 47 B.C.E. Ceasar crossed from Italy with his legions. His legions were strengthened by reinforcements from the island of Sicily, and by the defection of two legions of conservative troops. The following February, Ceasar besieged the city of Thapsus. Realizing they could not lose this strategically important position, Metellus Scipio and his legions engaged Ceasar's armies. The Numidian contribution to the war turned out to be disastrous. Under heavy fire from Ceasar's archers, the war elephants were stampeded into trampling their own forces - although some of them did charge into Ceasar's lines. With the loss of the elephants, the conservative forces began to give ground, and were outmaneuvered by Ceasar's cavalry. When the conservatives's fortified camp was finally destroyed, their legions were forced into retreat. At this point, the Numidian auxiliaries abandoned the battle, and the conservative army fell. In an atypical move for Caesar, 10,000 enemy troops who were trying to surrender (Metellus Scipio among them) were slaughtered. It has been suggested that Caesar has succumbed to an epileptic fit during the last moments of the battle, and was not conscious or responsible for this bloody aftermath. Upon hearing that Metellus Scipio and his legions had fallen, Cato the Younger - who was commanding the forces at Utica - committed suicide, and was mourned by Caesar. In July of that year, Caesar left Africa and returned to Rome. The remaining leaders of the conservative faction fled to the province of Hispania (modern day Spain), to regroup and gather new forces. They would challenge Caesar one last time at the Battle of Munda.