Battle of the Tagus (220 BC)

Battle of the Tagus
Part of Barcid conquest of Hispania
Date 220 BC Location Tagus River near the border between today's Guadalajara and Madrid regions, Iberian Peninsula Result Punic victory
Belligerents
Carthaginian Empire	Carpetani Vaccaei Olcades
Commanders and leaders
Hannibal Barca	Unknown

The battle of the Tagus was a confrontation that took place in the framework of the Carthaginian campaigns against the peoples of the Central Plateau of the Iberian Peninsula. It took place in 220 B.C. along the river Tagus, pitting an army commanded by Hannibal Barca against a large Carpetani army, which had been joined by contingents of Vaccaei and Olcades. By the numbers that the classic sources transmit us, it had to be the battle that involved a greater number of combatants in the Iberian Peninsula before the Roman presence.

This confrontation counts as the first pitched battle led by Hannibal Barca - who was then 27 years old - after the sieges of Althia, Helmantiké (Salamanca) and Arbucala (Toro). ^[1] It is also the first historical account of the Carpetani.

This battle took place in one of the fords that allowed crossing the upper stretch of the Tagus. Traditionally, the place known as Valdeguerra, in Colmenar de Oreja, has been considered as the site where this war event took place. Due to the dates of the beginning of Hannibal's campaign (spring); the journey made from Qart Hadasht (Cartagena) to the place of the battle (more than 1200 kilometers) and the time spent in the sieges of Helmantiké and Arbucala, it can be estimated that the battle took place during the autumn.

References

1. Sánchez-Moreno, Eduardo. "De Aníbal a César: la expedición cartaginesa de Salamanca y los vetones" (PDF). Museo Arqueológico Regional (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 April 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2014. Estamos ante la primera referencia al territorio vacceo y a dos de sus principales ciudades, Helmantica (Salmantica en las fuentes latinas), la actual Salamanca, y Arbucala (Albocella en otros documentos), identificada tradicionalmente con Toro (Zamora) (TIR, K-30: 44), si bien en últimas fechas se insiste en su localización en El Alba, Villalazán (Zamora), o en el imponente cerro vecino de El Viso de Bamba (Delibes et alii, 1995: 97).