Battle of the Ticinus
Location of today's Vigevano near the Ticino River
| date | 218 BC Chr. |
|---|---|
| place | On the Ticinus River |
| output | Carthaginian victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| approx. 6,000 cavalry men | approx. 2,500 infantry and approx. 1,500 cavalry |
| losses | |
|
low |
minor |
Saguntum - Lilybaeum II - Rhone - Ticinus - Trebia - Cissa - Lake Trasimeno - Ager Falernus - Geronium - Cannae - Nola I - Nola II - Ibera - Cornus - Nola III - Beneventum I - Syracuse - Tarentum I - Capua I - Beneventum II - Silarus - Herdonia I - Upper Baetis - Capua II - Herdonia II - Numistro - Asculum - Tarentum II - New Carthage - Baecula - Grumentum - Metaurus - Ilipa - Crotona - Large fields - Cirta - Zama
The battle on the Ticinus was between the troops of the Carthaginian general Hannibal and Publius Cornelius Scipio in November 218 BC. BC. That year Scipio held the office of one of the two consuls of the Roman Republic . The battle got its name from the nearby river Ticinus (German Ticino). It was the first battle of the Second Punic War that was fought on Italian soil.
prehistory
After Hannibal left Spain by land for Italy, Scipio led his legions by sea to Massilia (Marseille) in order to stop Hannibal prematurely. The two armies crossed their path near the Rhone , but Scipio could not prevent Hannibal's army from crossing the Alps . He divided his legions. He sent some of them, led by his brother Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus , on to Spain to fight the Carthaginians there under the leadership of Hasdrubal Barkas , a brother of Hannibal. Scipio himself returned to Genoa by sea with a small remnant of the army . He wanted to team up with an army camped on the Po and confront Hannibal in Gallia Transpadana after crossing the Alps .
In October 218 BC Hannibal reached Italy. He tried to win the local Gallic tribes , including the Bojer , for his cause. When Hannibal heard of Scipio's return to Italy, he immediately went to meet him. Scipio was also willing to face Hannibal at once. He crossed the Po on a self-built bridge and set up camp near the Ticinus River (a tributary of the Po), not far from Hannibal's camp. The ensuing battle is usually located near today's Vigevano .
The battle
In the days that followed, Hannibal and Publius Scipio set out personally with reconnaissance troops, mostly consisting of cavalry units, to scout out each other. In addition to horsemen, Scipio took with him a unit of light spearmen ( iaculatores ) marching on foot . When the enemy armies met, they formed up for battle. An equestrian battle broke out, at the beginning of which Hannibal's troops attacked so quickly that the spearmen in the front on the Roman side immediately fled behind their own squadrons out of dismay at the impetuous attack and their fear of being ridden down. After that, the main part of the enemy cavalry clashed without either side being able to gain an advantage. However, Hannibal had positioned the Numidian riders on both of his wings, who, after circumventing them, fell in the back of the enemy and knocked down the spearmen, whereupon the Roman riders fled.
The consul Scipio was seriously injured during the fight. According to the Roman historian Titus Livius and the Greek historian Polybios , Scipio's 18-year-old son Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus saved his father's life (picture left). However, Livy also mentions that Lucius Coelius Antipater attributed this consul's rescue to a Ligurian slave. Coelius' source was probably Hannibal's historiographer Silenus von Kaleakte . A number of Roman horsemen took their wounded commander into their midst, formed a human shield and brought him back to the camp.
The consequences of the battle
The losses were very small on both sides. Nevertheless, Scipio decided to quietly break up his camp that night and march back across the Po to the newly founded colony of Placentia (now Piacenza ). Hannibal followed him and days later he reached the Placentia area. Scipio avoided attacking Hannibal.
The Gauls saw this as a sign of weakness. In one night around 2200 Gaulish auxiliaries from Scipio's army ran over to the enemy. Scipio had the camp demolished again and moved it on a slight hill near the river Trebia . He hoped this would give him a tactical advantage. There he met Hannibal again in the battle of the Trebia .
Art and history
An artist who is not known by name has translated Scipio's rescue into a painting by his son in the battle on the Ticinus. The painting The Battle of Ticinus hangs in the Louvre .
literature
- Serge Lancel: Hannibal . Paris 1996, Ger. Zurich / Düsseldorf 1998, pp. 140–143.
Web links
Historical sources translated into English:
- by Titus Livius , a Roman historian Book 21 paragraph 39-48
- by Polybios , a Greek historian Book 3 Paragraph 64-66