Tiberius Sempronius Longus (Consul 218 BC)

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Tiberius Sempronius Longus (* around 260 BC) was, together with Publius Cornelius Scipio , Roman consul in 218 BC. At the beginning of the Second Punic War . He came from the Sempronian family ( gens ) .

The Roman strategy was initially to attack the Carthaginians both in their African homeland and in Spain. Scipio was therefore assigned, together with his brother, to land with his fleet in Spain, while Sempronius in Sicily made the necessary preparations for a strike against Africa. Here he collected 160 quinqueremes and stationed them in the naval port of Lilybaeum on the west coast of Sicily. He succeeded in conquering Malta from the Carthaginians and winning a first naval battle in front of Lilybaeum.

However, developments in the north quickly overturned Roman plans. Hannibal was able to cross both the Rhone and the Alps quickly, so that Scipio was forced to build up a defensive position in the Gallia Cisalpina (Po Valley). The Carthaginians suffered some losses during the difficult crossing of the Alps, but they won several Celtic tribes in northern Italy. Scipio opposed the advance and it came in the late autumn of 218 BC. BC to a first cavalry fight on the Ticinus , in which the Romans were defeated and Scipio was seriously injured. Sempronius was then instructed to rush to the rescue as quickly as possible, whereupon he shipped his troops to Ariminum and marched from there up to Placentia . Scipio advised against a battle, but Sempronius feared that if there was a delay he would no longer be able to reap the credit of a possible victory himself, since it was already December and the end of the term of office and the election of new consuls were due. He dared the poorly prepared battle of the Trebia , which ended in a clear defeat against the outnumbered Carthaginians. At first Sempronius tried to cover up this fact, but the news soon leaked to Rome , where the Carthaginian advance became increasingly uneasy. Sempronius then returned in January 217 BC. Back to Rome and took care of the implementation of the consular elections, in which Gaius Flaminius was his successor as consul.

215 BC Sempronius led Roman troops in a battle near Grumentum against Hanno , in which his army succeeded in killing 2,000 enemy soldiers and taking 280 prisoners; the Carthaginians were thereby ousted from Lucania and had to withdraw into the area of ​​the Bruttians , so that the cities of Vercellium, Vescellium and Sicilinum came back under Roman rule.

His son of the same name, Tiberius Sempronius Longus, was consul in 194 BC. Chr.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Polybios IV 66.9; Livy XXI 6.3; to the magistrates of the year 218 BC See: T. Robert S. Broughton : The Magistrates Of The Roman Republic. Vol. 1: 509 BC - 100 BC Cleveland, Ohio: Case Western Reserve University Press, 1951. Reprinted unchanged 1968. (Philological Monographs. Ed. Of the American Philological Association. Vol. 15, Part 1), pp. 237-242
personal data
SURNAME Sempronius Longus, Tiberius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Longus, Tiberius Sempronius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman consul 218 BC Chr.
DATE OF BIRTH around 260 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 215 BC Chr.