Battle of the Metaurus
Coordinates: 43 ° 44 ′ 1.6 ″ N , 12 ° 54 ′ 24.1 ″ E
| date | 207 BC Chr. |
|---|---|
| place | On the Metaurus River, southeast of Ariminum (Rimini) |
| output | Roman victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| approx. 30,000 | 35,000-40,000 |
| losses | |
|
approx. 20,000 |
unknown |
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 of Metaurus was decided in 207 BC. The further course of the Second Punic War on Italian soil. Hasdrubal Barkas , who, like his brother Hannibal, had also crossed the Alps with an army to come to their aid, lost with his army against the legions of the incumbent consuls Gaius Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius Salinator . Hasdrubal was killed in this battle.
The history
The Carthaginian general Hannibal moved with his army since 218 BC. Chr. By Italy. During this time he inflicted devastating defeats on the Romans in various battles. However, Hannibal decided not to go directly against Rome. After Rome recovered, it was able to record smaller victories against Hannibal, e.g. B. the conquest of Syracuse and the reconquest of Capua . Hannibal requested support from the Carthaginian Senate, which was only given to him to a small extent. Carthage decided to send troops to Spain and not support the war in Italy. Hasdrubal Barkas , Hannibal's brother, moved to Italy with the rest of his army after a defeat by Publius Cornelius Scipio near Baecula (Spain). He too first crossed the Pyrenees , traversed Gaul and crossed the Alps on the same route as Hannibal about ten years earlier. Hasdrubal also carried elephants with him. Hasdrubal crossed the Alps faster and with fewer losses than Hannibal. On the way to Italy he enlisted mercenaries among the Gallic peoples. Several messages that Hasdrubal sent to his brother were intercepted by Gaius Claudius Nero .
The place of the battle
Hasdrubal moved south with his army along the Adriatic coast and reached the Ager Gallicus . From the intercepted messages, the Romans knew about Hasdrubal's plans. Claudius Nero secretly withdrew part of his legions from guarding Hannibal. He moved north in a very quick forced march and united with the legions of Livy Salinator. They fought south of Ariminum Hasdrubal on the Metaurus River . Hasdrubal initially wanted to evade and retreated along the river to cross it at a suitable point. At night, however, his demoralized Gallic leaders deserted and Hasdrubal had to stand with his back to the river.
The exact location of the battle is not known. A possible battlefield might have been near Tavernelle, a district of the municipality of Colli al Metauro . Here the Metauro breaks through the chain of hills in a two-kilometer-wide aisle that surrounds the municipalities of Serrungarina and Montebello across the predominant north-eastern course. After overcoming the obstacle, the river takes the usual course again. At both ends of the breakthrough, the terrain rises relatively steeply about 150 meters above the valley floor. Ridge and water form a natural barrier which the Carthaginian army would not have been able to bypass and prevent their further retreat. Thus several conditions from the descriptions would be fulfilled at this point. Hasdrubal had not yet crossed the river and had his back to the water. The geography also shows for the first time the possibility of hiding the Gallic troops from the right wing of the Romans in a side valley.
Another indication of a place here or in the vicinity arises from the assumptions of some historians who use the name of the nearby village Cartoceto with the Greek name for Carthage “Carchidon” or “Carthada” or from the Latin “Carthaginensium coetus” ( group of Carthaginians ). Based on this, they attribute the founding of Cartoceto and the neighboring villages to surviving Carthaginian soldiers. According to the theory, they should have fled to the surrounding forests from capture and death and settled there after they were not allowed to return to their homeland.
Due to a lack of evidence with regard to archaeological finds, these assumptions remain only hypotheses.
The battle
Hasdrubal and his 30,000 men faced the 35,000 - 40,000 legionnaires of C. Claudius Nero and M. Livius Salinator. However, a large part of his army consisted of demoralized Gauls who, considering two Roman armies, got very drunk at night and were hardly able to fight. Hasdrubal set them up behind a small but deep valley, which the Romans approaching uphill could not see and which was insurmountable. The battle could therefore initially only be waged on Hasdrubal's right wing with his Hispanics and Africans, and there it was balanced. Nero's decision to use cavalry units and independently operating infantry units to outflank the enemy army brought the decisive advantage, as his right wing, intended for the Gauls, which was inactive because of the valley, moved to his left flank behind the fighting troops. Nero adopted this tactic from Hannibal. Hasdrubal was crushed. Approx. 20,000 men in his army, as well as Hasdrubal himself, lost their lives. With Hasdrubal's head, Nero hurried back to his legionnaires left with Hannibal. As a token of the Roman victory, Hasdrubal's head was hurled into Hannibal's camp.
Political consequences of the battle
Hannibal could only achieve small successes in Italy. He now received the official order from the Carthaginian Senate to march on Rome. However, there was no necessary reinforcement. Hannibal defeated the legions of Publius Sempronius Tuditanus at Kroton . In the course of the war, however, he lost his last bases in Italy. In the north landed 205 BC. Chr. Hannibal's youngest brother Mago in Liguria and conquered Genoa . Mago occupied northern Italy for three years. But even that did not bring the necessary support for Hannibal. After Publius Cornelius Scipio in 203 BC. After traveling to North Africa in the 4th century BC and threatening Carthage directly, Mago and his brother Hannibal were forced to leave Italy and cross over to Africa. Mago, who was seriously wounded in a battle on the Padus (Po) , died during the crossing. The further course of the second Punic War was no longer decided on Italian soil.
Main sources
- Titus Livius 27, 43-51
- Polybios 11, 1-3
- Appian , Hannibalica 52f.
- Zonaras 9, 9
literature
- Serge Lancel: Hannibal . Paris 1996, German Düsseldorf / Zurich 1998, ISBN 3-538-07068-7 , pp. 240–247.