Battle of the Cranita Hills | |||||||
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Part of the Pyrrhic War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Roman Republic | Samnites | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Publius Cornelius Rufinus Caius Junius Bubulcus | Unknown |
The Battle of the Cranita Hills was fought in 277 BC between a Roman and a Samnite army during the Pyrrhic War (280-275 BC). The Samnite people allied with King Pyrrhus of Epirus against the Roman Republic to regain the independence that they had lost during the Roman Samnite wars, but when Pyrrhus left Italy in 278 BC for Sicily, Pyrrhus' Italian allies were left to defend against the Romans on their own.
In 277 the consuls Publius Cornelius Rufinus and Caius Junius Bubulcus invaded Samnium, devastating the country as they went, and took several deserted forts. [1] The Samnites had retreated to a range of hills called Cranita, because of the large growths of cornel-wood (crania) they bore, where they had conveyed their most valuable treasures. [1] Despite the difficulty of the terrain the Romans ascended the hills, but the undergrowth and the steep climb made them easy prey for the Samnite attack, which killed and took prisoner many Romans. [1]
After their defeat at the Cranita hills both Roman consuls blamed each other for the debacle and no longer worked together. Junius went on ravaging a portion of Samnium, while Rufinus campaigned against the Lucanians and Bruttians and captured Croton. [1]
The Appian Way is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, recorded by Statius, of Appia longarum... regina viarum . The road is named after Appius Claudius Caecus, the Roman censor who, during the Samnite Wars, began and completed the first section as a military road to the south in 312 BC.
During the 290s BC, Hellenistic civilization begins its emergence throughout the successor states of the former Argead Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great, resulting in the diffusion of Greek culture throughout the Levant and advances in science, mathematics, philosophy, etc. Meanwhile, the Roman Republic is embroiled in war against the Samnites, the Mauryan Empire continues to thrive in Ancient India, and the Kingdom of Qin in Ancient China, the one which in the future will conquer its adversaries and unite China, begins to emerge as a significant power during the Warring States period.
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The First, Second, and Third Samnite Wars were fought between the Roman Republic and the Samnites, who lived on a stretch of the Apennine Mountains south of Rome and north of the Lucanian tribe.
Samnium is a Latin exonym for a region of Southern Italy anciently inhabited by the Samnites. Their own endonyms were Safinim for the country and Safineis for the people. The language of these endonyms and of the population was the Oscan language. However, not all the Samnites spoke Oscan, and not all the Oscan-speakers lived in Samnium.
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Manius Curius Dentatus was a Roman general and statesman noted for ending the Samnite War and for his military exploits during the Pyrrhic War. According to Pliny, he was born with teeth, thus earning the surname Dentatus, "toothed."
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The Battle of Asculum was a poorly documented battle that took place near Asculum in 279 BC, and was thought to have lasted either one or two days, between the Roman Republic under the command of the consuls Publius Decius Mus and Publius Sulpicius Saverrio, and the forces of King Pyrrhus of Epirus. The battle took place during the Pyrrhic War, after the Battle of Heraclea of 280 BC, which was the first battle of the war. There exist accounts of this battle only by three ancient historians: Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Plutarch, and Cassius Dio. Asculum was in Lucanian territory, in southern Italy. The Battle of Asculum was the original "Pyrrhic victory". The result of the battle is not definitively known, with Plutarch stating that it was a pyrrhic Greek victory, Cassius Dio recording it as a Roman victory. The constituents of both armies are also poorly known, with each historian offering largely divergent estimates for the strength of the armies or the length of the battle.
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Publius Decius Mus, of the plebeian gens Decia, was a Roman consul in the years 312 BC, 308 BC, 297 BC and 295 BC. He was a member of a family that was renowned for sacrificing themselves on the battlefield for Rome.
The Battle of Tifernum was an important battle of the Third Samnite War, fought in 297 BC near Castropignano, either on the banks of the river Biferno or near the Matese mountains in the province of Campobasso, in what is now southern Italy, where the Romans overcame a determined Samnite army. The result would lead to the decisive Battle of Sentinum, which granted Rome the domination of central Italy.
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Gaius Junius Bubulcus Brutus was a Roman general and statesman, he was elected consul of the Roman Republic thrice, he was also appointed dictator or magister equitum thrice, and censor in 307 BC. In 311, he made a vow to the goddess Salus that he went on to fulfill, becoming the first plebeian to build a temple. The temple was one of the first dedicated to an abstract deity, and Junius was one of the first generals to vow a temple and then oversee its establishment through the construction and dedication process.
Lucius Postumius Megellus was a politician and general during the middle years of the Roman Republic. Reportedly an arrogant and overbearing man, he was elected consul in 305 BC. The Second Samnite War was ongoing, and as consul he led troops against the Samnites. He defeated them at the Battle of Bovianum and took the town of Bovianum, which caused the Samnites to sue for peace, ending the war. Megellus was awarded a triumph.
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