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+--- Thread: Battle of Mursa Major (/showthread.php?tid=21283)
Battle of Mursa Major - Steve O\'Reilly - 08-25-2012
Hi...new to this site. So, excuse me if I have inadvertently stepped upon any rules or etiquette! I am trying to locate information on the battle of Mursa Major (351 A.D.), fought by two Roman armies under Magnentius and Constantius.
Researching the battle online, I haven't really found a good historical reconstruction of it. I keep coming across the same old recycled blurbs. I don't believe it made it into Ammianus' history - being part of his work that was lost. Julian briefly described it in an oration regarding Constantius - and one or two ecclesiastical writers seem to have commented upon it.
Although Magnentius was outnumbered, and had a significant portion of his cavalry defect (Silvanus) prior to the battle; his army still exacted a heavy toll on the army of Constantius. Magnentius used the river to anchor the left of his line - but Constantius would seemingly have attempted to outflank and envelop the right of it.
Therefore, I wonder if terrain issues on the right precluded or made more difficult a battle of maneuver, and turned Mursa into a head-on battle of attrition - until, perhaps, the cavalry could finally break through much later in the afternoon (the fighting only ended because of night fall).
Just a few amateur ramblings. Anyway...anybody out there who can point to any good online or other sources on it? Thanks.
Steve
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Re: Battle of Mursa Major - markhebb - 08-26-2012
Steve - Julian's panegyric to Constantius has some interesting information on the battle - as does Zosimus and I believe Socrates Scholasticus (although it could be Sozomen :oops: I don't have the books with me)