Generals that personally killed enemy combatants

[Ross Cowan]

Where did Tiberius Gracchus fight?

Africa/Carthage 147-6 BC, where he was Scipio Aemilianus' contubernalis and is noted as the first man over an enemy rampart. He was also involved in one of the many disastrous campaigns against the Numantines (137 BC).

[floofthegoof]

Not a Roman, but I believe King Pyrrhus was said to cleave people in half.

[Ross Cowan]

Not a Roman, but I believe King Pyrrhus was said to cleave people in half.

Indeed. His unfortunate victim was a champion of the Mamertines.

[philsidnell]

The first to succeed in emulating Romulus' feat of killing an enemy leader in single combat and thus winning the spolia opima was, according to Livy, Aulus Cornelius Cossus. At Fidenae in 437BC he spotted the Etruscan king, Tolumnius, valiantly counterattacking Roman horsemen as they chased the rest of his broken army from the field. Cossus seized his chance for glory and confronted him:

Putting spurs to his horse he rode at his enemy with levelled spear. The blow struck home and Tolumnius fell; instantly, Cossus dismounted and, as Tolumnius struggled to rise, struck him down again with the boss of his shield and with repeated thrusts of his spear finally pinned him to the ground. Then he stripped the lifeless body of its armour, cut off its head and, sticking it on the point of his lance, returned to the fight with his spoils. - Livy, iv.20.


Others tried. At the Battle of Lake Regillus in 496 BC, (where the young Roman republic faced a combination of Latins and supporters of the exiled last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus) the Latin commander,
was challenged to single combat by a Roman tribune and killed. The tribune was himself then killed as he dismounted to strip the corpse of its armour with a view to claiming the spolia opima.

Examples of personal combat among high-ranking officers are much easier to find in the Greek and Hellenistic world. Alexander is the obvious example, but all the diadochoi or Successors tried to emulate his leadership style in this respect. At the Battle of the Hellespont in 321 BC, for example, Eumenes personally led his cavalry against that of Craterus and sought out the opposing cavalry commander, Neoptolemus, who had only recently switched sides so he could settle the matter one on one. According to Diodorus' highly-detailed account, which has the ring of a true incident preserved, in the press of the melee neither could get in a good sword blow and they ended up grappling and pulling each other to the ground. Then they laid about each other with swords again. Eumenes quickly hamstrung Neoptolemus who, unable to stand, fought on his knees and inflicted three painful but superficial wounds on his former commander's arm and thigh. Eumenes then got in with a killing blow to the neck.

Pyrrhus, as someone mentioned above was apparently particularly terrifying to face. I think I quoted the relevant passage on another thread elsewhere just recently when we were discussing cavalry (might have been under the 'enemy horses as targets' thread?).


Phil Sidnell

[Roy]

Marcus Crassus killed Deldo, the king of the Bastarnae.

Crassus himself slew their king Deldo and would have dedicated his armour as spolia opima to Jupiter Feretrius had he been general in supreme command.
From Cassius Dio, book LI, XXIII

[Commilito]

as far as I know...Octavian is said to have participated in the battle of Mutina when he relieved Decimus Brutus with great honor.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Was Octavian able to weild a sword?