Background
The Third Samnite War started when envoys from Lucania asked Rome for help against an attack on them by the Samnites. Rome intervened and the war started. Just prior to and during the first year of this, Rome was also facing a war with the Etruscans. In 297 BC the Romans received news that the Etruscans were considering suing for peace. As a result, both Roman consuls marched on Samnium and concentrated their operations there. Quintus Fabius defeated the Samnites at the Battle of Tifernum and Publius Decius defeated a Samnite force from Apulia near Maleventum. The two consuls then spent four months ravaging Samnium. Fabius also seized Cimetra (location unknown).
In 296 BC Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius were made proconsuls and were given a six-month extension of their military command to carry on the war in Samnium. Publius Decius ravaged Samnium until he drove the Samnite army outside its territory. The Samnite army headed north to Etruria to back up previous calls for an alliance with the Etruscans that had been turned down. Gellius Egnatius, a Samnite commander, insisted on the Etruscan council being convened. Most Etruscan city-states voted for a joint war. Umbrian groups near Etruria also joined in and there were attempts to hire Gallic mercenaries. [2]
The consul Appius Claudius Caecus set off for Etruria with two legions and 15,000 allied troops. The other consul, Lucius Volumnius Flamma Violens, had already left for Samnium with two legions and 12,000 allies. Appius Claudius suffered some setbacks so Lucius Volumnius went to Etruria to help. The two consuls together defeated the Etruscans and Lucius Volumnius returned to Samnium as their appointments as proconsulships were about to expire. [3] Meanwhile, the Samnites raised new troops and raided Roman territories and allies in Campania. Volumnius repelled the raids. However, the raids alarmed Rome because of news that the Etruscans were arming themselves and had invited the Samnites (under Gellius Egnatius) and the Umbrians to join them in a major revolt against the Romans. There were also reports that large sums of money were being offered to the Gauls followed by reports of an actual coalition between these four peoples and that there was "a huge army of Gauls." [4]
It was the first time that Rome had to confront such a large coalition of forces. The two best military commanders, Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus and Publius Decius Mus, were elected as consuls again (for 295 BC). They took on the war in Etruria with four legions and a large body of allied infantry and cavalry (1,000 Campanian soldiers are mentioned), 40,000 men in total. The allies fielded an even larger army. Lucius Volumnius' command was prolonged for a year to continue the war in Samnium with two legions. Livy thought that his going there with such a big force must have been part of a diversionary strategy to force the Samnites to respond to Roman raids in Samnium and limit their troop deployment in Etruria. Two reserve contingents headed by propraetors were stationed in the Faliscan district and near the Vatican Hill to protect Rome. [5]
The Etruscans, Samnites, and Umbrians crossed the Apennine Mountains and approached Sentinum. Their plan was for the Samnites and Senones to engage the Romans and for the Etruscans and Umbrians to take the Roman camp during the battle. Deserters from Clusium informed Quintus Fabius about this plan. The consul ordered the legions in Falerii and the Vatican to march to Clusium and ravage its territory as another diversionary strategy. This succeeded in drawing the Etruscans away from Sentinum to defend their land. Livy thought that with their departure the two enemy forces were so evenly matched that if the Etruscans and Umbrians had been present it would have been a disaster for the Romans. The propraetor Gnaeus Fulvius defeated the Etruscans. Perusia and Clusium lost up to 3,000 men. [6]
The battle
The two armies arrived at the plain of Sentinum, but waited for two days to do battle. Finally, unable to control the eagerness of their troops, the Romans attacked. The Senones stood on the right and the Samnites on the left. On the Roman side Quintus Fabius commanded the right and Publius Decius the left.
Quintus Fabius fought defensively to make the battle a test of endurance and wait for the enemy to flag. Publius Decius fought more aggressively and ordered a cavalry charge, which drove back the Senone cavalry twice. During the second charge they reached the enemy infantry, but were counter-charged by the Senone chariots and were routed. The line of Decius’ infantry was broken by the chariots and the Senone foot.
Publius Decius decided to perform the devotio , offering prayers to the gods and launching himself into the enemy lines, effectively sacrificing himself when his troops were in dire straits, just as his father had done at the Battle of Vesuvius in 340 BC. This act galvanised the Roman left who were joined by two reserve contingents which Quintus Fabius had called in to help.
On the right, Quintus Fabius directed the cavalry to outflank the Samnite wing and attack it in the flank and ordered his infantry to push forward. He then called in the other reserves. The Samnites broke and fled past the Senone line. The Senones formed a testudo with their shields at the front and top. Quintus Fabius ordered 500 Campanian lancers to attack them in the rear, combined with attacks by the middle line of one of the legions and by other cavalry units. Meanwhile, Quintus Fabius and the rest of the army took the Samnite camp by storm and cut off the line of retreat of the Senones. The Senones were defeated, losing 20,000 men according to Livy, while the Romans lost 8,700 men. [7]
Aftermath
Livy noted that some writers (whose work is lost) exaggerated the size of the battle, saying that the Umbrians also took part which gave the enemy an infantry of 60,000, a cavalry of 40,000 and 1,000 chariots and claiming that Lucius Volumnius and his two legions also fought in the battle. Livy said that Lucius Volumnius, instead, was holding the front in Samnium and routed a Samnite force near Mount Tifernus. After the battle, 5,000 Samnites made their way back home from Sentinum through the land of the Paeligni. The locals attacked them and killed 1,000 men. Quintus Fabius left Publius Decius’ army to guard Etruria and went to Rome to celebrate a triumph. In Etruria, the Perusini continued the war. Appius Claudius was sent to head Publius Decius’ army as propraetor and Quintus Fabius confronted and defeated the Perusini. The Samnites attacked the areas around the River Liris (at Formiae and Vescia), and the River Volturnus. They were pursued by Appius Claudius and Lucius Volumnius. They joined their forces and defeated them near Caiatia, near Capua. [8]
Rome's victory broke up the coalition it had defeated. The Etruscans, Umbrians and Senone Gauls pulled out of the war. The Samnites, besides losing their allies, suffered heavy casualties. The Romans went on to win other battles against the Samnites. In the final stage of the war, which ended five years later, the Romans devastated Samnium and the Samnites capitulated. Rome gained control over much of central Italy and part of southern Italy.
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.
Year 296 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Violens and Caecus. The denomination 296 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
Year 295 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. It was known in the Roman Republic as the Year of the Consulship of Rullianus and Mus. The denomination 295 BC for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.
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.
Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus was one of the two elected Roman consuls in 298 BC. He led the Roman army to victory against the Etruscans near Volterra. A member of the noble Roman family of Scipiones, he was the father of Lucius Cornelius Scipio and Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina and great-grandfather of Scipio Africanus.
Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus, son of Marcus Fabius Ambustus, of the patrician Fabii of ancient Rome, was five times consul and a hero of the Samnite Wars. He was brother to Marcus Fabius Ambustus.
The Battle of the Allia was fought c. 387 BC between the Senones – a Gallic tribe led by Brennus, who had invaded Northern Italy – and the Roman Republic.
Lucius Papirius Cursor was a celebrated politician and general of the early Roman Republic, who was five times consul, three times magister equitum, and twice dictator. He was the most important Roman commander during the Second Samnite War, during which he received three triumphs.
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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.
Gellius Egnatius was the leader of the Varriani, a leading clan of the Samnites during the Third Samnite War, which broke out in 298 BC. By the end of the second campaign the Samnites appeared completely defeated, however in the following year Gellius Egnatius marched into Etruria, and roused the Etruscans to a close co-operation against Rome. This had the effect of withdrawing Roman troops from Samnium for a period of time; but the forces of the confederates were defeated by the combined armies of consuls Lucius Volumnius Flamma Violens and Appius Claudius Caecus.
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.
The Roman–Etruscan Wars, also known as the Etruscan Wars or the Etruscan–Roman Wars, were a series of wars fought between ancient Rome and the Etruscans. Information about many of the wars is limited, particularly those in the early parts of Rome's history, and in large part is known from ancient texts alone. The conquest of Etruria was completed in 265–264 BC.
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.
Gnaeus Fulvius Maximus Centumalus was a military commander and politician from the middle period of the Roman Republic, who became consul in 298 BC. He fought in the final wars against the Etruscans and later led armies in the Third Samnite War. He was appointed dictator in 263 BC with responsibility for overseeing the start of the Roman ship building effort in the First Punic War.
Over the course of nearly four centuries, the Roman Republic fought a series of wars against various Celtic tribes, whom they collectively described as Galli, or Gauls. Among the principal Gallic peoples described as antagonists by Greek and Roman writers were the Senones, Insubres, Boii, and Gaesatae.
Aulus Cornelius Cossus Arvina was a Roman politician and general who served as both consul and Magister Equitum twice, and Dictator once in the mid 4th century BC.
Publius Sempronius Sophus was a Roman politician and general who achieved the honors of being both consul and censor in his political career, as well as renown for being a talented and well respected jurist.
