Claudius Nero had just fought Hannibal in Grumentum, some hundreds of kilometres south of the Metaurus river, and reached Marcus Livius by a forced march that went unnoticed by both Hannibal and Hasdrubal, so that the Carthaginians suddenly found themselves outnumbered. In the battle, the Romans used their numerical superiority to outflank the Carthaginian army and rout them, the Carthaginians losing 15,400 men killed or captured, including Hasdrubal.
The battle confirmed Roman supremacy over Italy. Without Hasdrubal's army to support him, Hannibal was compelled to evacuate pro-Carthaginian towns in much of southern Italy in the face of Roman pressure and withdraw to Bruttium, where he would remain for the next four years.
Background
Hasdrubal's invasion of Italy
Hasdrubal's campaign to come to his brother's aid in Italy had gone remarkably well up to that point. After adeptly escaping Publius Scipio in Baecula, recruiting mercenary contingents in Celtiberia and making his way into Gaul in the winter of 208, Hasdrubal waited until the spring of 207 to make his way through the Alps and into Northern Italy. Hasdrubal made much faster progress than his brother had during his crossing, partly due to the constructions left behind by Hannibal's army a decade earlier, but also due to the removal of the Gallic threat that had plagued Hannibal during that expedition. The Gauls now feared and respected the Carthaginians, and not only was Hasdrubal allowed to pass through the Alps unmolested, his ranks were swelled by many enthusiastic Gauls. Hasdrubal, in the same fashion as his brother, succeeded in bringing his war elephants, raised and trained in Hispania, over the Alps.
Rome was still reeling from the series of devastating defeats by Hannibal ten years earlier, and the Romans were terrified at the prospect of fighting two sons of "the Thunderbolt" (a rough translation of Hamilcar Barca's surname) at once. The hastily elected consuls Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius were dispatched to face Hannibal and Hasdrubal respectively. Neither consul engaged his intended target initially. Claudius Nero's force of over 40,000 men was too formidable for Hannibal to engage openly[citation needed], and so the two played an unproductive game of cat and mouse in Bruttium; meanwhile, Marcus Livius, despite the added bulwark of two of the many Roman armies scattered across Italy, yielded cautiously to Hasdrubal, and allowed him to push beyond the Metaurus as far south as the town of Sena, today Senigallia.
Prelude
It was not until Hasdrubal sent messengers to Hannibal that decisive measures were finally taken. Hasdrubal wished to meet with his brother in southern Umbria. Hasdrubal's messengers were captured, and his plans fell into the hands of the consul Claudius Nero. Recognizing the urgency of the situation and the enormous threat that a merging of the Carthaginian brothers' armies would present to Rome, Nero decided to circumvent the authority of the Senate, also advising them to organize levies for their own protection. Leaving his camp under the command of his legate Quintus Catius, he then marched quickly to the North with 7,000 selected men, 1,000 of whom were cavalry, in order to join up with Marcus Livius. Horsemen were sent forward along the line of march with orders for country people to prepare supplies for soldiers, who took only weapons from the camp. Nero's troops were joined by both young and veteran volunteers during the march.
Claudius Nero quickly reached Marcus Livius, who was camped at Sena along with the praetor Porcius Licinius. Hasdrubal was camped approximately a half-mile to the north. Because Claudius Nero had conveniently arrived at night, his presence was not detected until the next day, when the Romans drew themselves up for battle. Hasdrubal drew his army up as well, but upon closer observation of the forces assembled before him, noticed that Marcus Livius' army seemed to have grown considerably over the course of the night, and that he had a much larger contingent of cavalry. Hasdrubal remembered hearing a second trumpet in the Roman camp heralding the arrival of an important figure the night before—a sound with which he had become familiar during his entanglements with the Romans in Hispania—and correctly concluded that he was now facing two Roman armies. Fearing defeat, he retreated from the field.
The rest of the day passed without event. When nightfall came, Hasdrubal quietly led his army out of his camp with the intent of retreating into Gaul, where he could safely establish communications with Hannibal. Early on in the march, Hasdrubal's guides betrayed him, and left him lost and confused along the banks of the Metaurus, searching futilely for a ford at which to cross.
The night passed with no change in Hasdrubal's misfortunes, and the morning found his army disarrayed, deprived of sleep, and trapped against the banks of the Metaurus, with a great many of his Gallic troops drunk. Roman cavalry fast approaching and the legions under the two consuls not far behind, Hasdrubal reluctantly prepared for battle.
Opposing forces
The battle was fought on the banks of the Metaurus River, near Montemaggiore al Metauro.[1] The exact numbers of troops on both sides are not known. The Romans estimated 8,000 Ligurians in Hasdrubal's army, making up one-third of his infantry.[2] The data given by the ancient sources are often either insufficient or very contradictory. Appian for instance says that the Carthaginian force numbered 48,000 infantry, 8,000 cavalry, and 15 elephants.[3]Livy claims that there were 61,400 slain or captured Carthaginian soldiers at the end of the battle and there were still more who escaped the slaughter.[4]
These figures look inflated, especially given that Polybius estimated only 10,000 Carthaginian and Gallic dead. Modern estimates suggest Hasdrubal's army was about 30,000 in strength,[5] and Marcus Livius' army of roughly equal numbers. The propraetor L. Porcius Licinius commanded two legions—as many men as the consul. This means that Marcus Livius and Porcius Licinius had between them four legions, i.e. 32,000–40,000 men, including their allies. The numbers of the allied contingents could have been less than usual due to the refusal of some of the Roman clients to provide auxiliaries. Porcius' legions were under-strength.[6] The Roman force was probably further diminished by earlier fighting with Hasdrubal, the evidence of which is the presence of 3,000 prisoners in Hasdrubal's camp. Claudius Nero's 7,000 troops were joined by perhaps 2,000 volunteers en route, and upon his arrival the Romans had 37,000 men concentrated against Hasdrubal.[6][7]
Like most Carthaginian armies, Hasdrubal's was a mix of many different cultures and ethnicities, including Hispanics, Ligures, Gauls, and a few were of African origin. Hasdrubal's right flank was on the River Metaurus and his left flank was inaccessible hilly terrain. He placed his cavalry on his right wing to guard it against the superior Roman cavalry that could outflank him. Contrary to this, Hasdrubal's left flank was well guarded by hills to the left and ravines in front. Hasdrubal's best troops were his Hispanic veterans, who he put in a deep formation on his right flank.[8] The centre was composed of Ligures, also deployed in deep ranks.[8] Finally, on his left, he placed the tired Gauls on a hilltop, shielded by the deep ravine in front of them.[8] Hasdrubal also had ten elephants, which he put up front.[8] He had introduced an innovation in elephant warfare, equipping their mahouts with hammers and chisels to kill the beasts if they ever turned against their own troops, as it was frequent.[9]
Marcus Livius Salinator deployed the Roman army in front of the Carthaginian force. The Roman left wing was commanded by Marcus Livius, the right wing was under Gaius Claudius Nero, facing the inaccessible Gauls, and the centre was under the command of Porcius Licinius. The Roman cavalry was placed on the left wing, facing the Carthaginian cavalry.
Battle
The battle.
The battle started with the Roman left flank charging the Carthaginian right, followed a little later by the advance of the Roman centre. The outnumbered Carthaginian cavalry tumbled against the Roman cavalry. The Carthaginian right wing and centre held their ground and the war elephants succeeded in breaking the Roman lines and spreading mass confusion.
Claudius Nero, on the Roman right flank, struggled to overcome the terrain that blocked his path to the unwary Gauls on Hasdrubal's left.[8] Seeing the futility in wasting further time attempting to reach the inert Gauls, he instead took half of his men in cohorts and led them from behind the battling Roman lines to the extreme Roman left, swinging his troops around and crashing into the Carthaginian right flank with sudden force and intensity.[8] The Carthaginian right wing, composed of Hispanics, could not withstand this two pronged attack of Marcus Livius from the front and Claudius Nero on their flank.[8] They were forced to fall back, taking the Ligures in the Carthaginian centre with them.[8] The elephants were running amok, killing Romans and Carthaginians alike.[8] Hasdrubal fought alongside his men and exhorted them to keep fighting, rallying fleeing soldiers and re-starting the battle wherever he was present.
The Gauls on the Carthaginian left now faced a three pronged attack: Porcius Licinius from the front, Marcus Livius from their right flank, and Claudius Nero from the rear. By now, the Roman cavalry had completely defeated the Carthaginian cavalry and, with the retreat of the Carthaginian left wing, a general retreat of Hasdrubal's army started.[8] Six of the elephants were killed by their own drivers to stop their rampages and the remaining four were captured by the Romans.[8]
Hasdrubal, seeing that there was nothing more he could do, and presumably doubtful of his own prospects of escape or simply unwilling to be taken captive, charged into the Roman ranks on his horse along with his remnant Hispanic guards and was killed.[8] He was praised by Polybius and Livy for having done all he could as a general and then meeting a glorious death.[10] Dexter Hoyos believes Hasdrubal's death was foolish, as he could have given organisation and leadership to the remnants of the Carthaginian army and posed a lingering threat to Rome in northern Italy.[10] An unknown number of Ligurians and Gauls, possibly 10,000 or so, who either escaped the battle or didn't take part at all formed into an organised body but dispersed afterwards for want of a general.[10] At least one Carthaginian officer, Hamilcar, refused to give up after Hasdrubal's defeat and organized a Cisalpine Gallic army of 40,000 men against the Romans in 200 BC, causing the Battle of Cremona.
Roman left wing, center and cavalry charging the respective Carthaginian forces.
Claudius Nero attacking the Carthaginian right wing at its flank, left unprotected by retreating cavalry.
Carthaginian right wing and cavalry routed followed by a three prong attack on Carthaginian center.
Retreat of the entire Carthaginian army.
Aftermath
Claudius Nero showed no respect for his fallen adversary. He had Hasdrubal's head severed from his body, taken south, and thrown into Hannibal's camp as a token of his brother's defeat.
The consul Claudius Nero, who made the unequalled march which deceived Hannibal and deceived Hasdrubal, thereby accomplishing an achievement almost unrivaled in military annals. The first intelligence of his return, to Hannibal, was the sight of Hasdrubal's head thrown into his camp. When Hannibal saw this, he exclaimed, with a sigh, that 'Rome would now be the mistress of the world.' To this victory of Claudius Nero's it might be owing that his imperial namesake reigned at all. But the infamy of the one has eclipsed the glory of the other. When the name of Claudius Nero is heard, who thinks of the consul? But such are human things.
The significance of the Battle of the Metaurus is recognized amongst historians. It is included in Edward Shepherd Creasy's The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World (1851), the rationale being that it effectively removed the Carthaginian threat from Rome's ascendancy to continental dominion by leaving Hannibal stranded in Italy. Paul K. Davis sees its importance as the "Carthaginian defeat ended the attempt to reinforce Hannibal, dooming his effort in Italy, and Rome was able to establish dominance over Spain."[11] The Battle of the Metaurus is overshadowed by other battles of the Second Punic War, such as Hannibal's great victory at the Battle of Cannae or his ultimate defeat at the Battle of Zama. Nonetheless, the effects of Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius' victory at the Metaurus have earned it a significant standing amongst historians; not only of the history of Rome, but in that of the entire world.
One of Hasdrubal's officers, a certain Hamilcar, stayed behind in Cisalpine Gaul after the defeat and organized a united Gallic army of 40,000 men against Rome in 200 BC, sacking the city of Placentia before being defeated and killed by Rome at the Battle of Cremona. On the other hand, a part of the surviving Hispanic mercenaries continued the journey and eventually reached Hannibal.[12]
Casualties
Polybius gave 10,000 killed for Hasdrubal's army and an unspecified number of prisoners. Six elephants were killed and four captured. The Romans lost 2,000 killed. Livy estimates 8,000 Roman and allied killed, possibly not contradicting Polybius, with the Carthaginians losing 56,000 killed and 5,400 captured.[7][8] Livy's figure for prisoners is generally accepted by modern historians, but the number of Carthaginian deaths is not taken seriously.[7] Total Carthaginian casualties were probably around 15,400, including 10,000 killed and 5,400 captured.[8] A large number of Carthaginian officers were killed and many of the rest captured.[8]
In literature
F. L. Lucas's short story "The Fortune of Carthage" (Athenaeum, 28 January 1921 ) is about the battle's prelude, from Claudius Nero's viewpoint. It focuses on the dilemma the Roman consul faced in Apulia on intercepting Hasdrubal's letter to Hannibal. The closing section gives Hannibal's perspective in the aftermath of the battle. The story was admired by T. E. Lawrence.[13]
The Punic Wars were a series of wars between 264 and 146BC fought between Rome and Carthage. Three conflicts between these states took place on both land and sea across the western Mediterranean region and involved a total of forty-three years of warfare. The Punic Wars are also considered to include the four-year-long revolt against Carthage which started in 241BC. Each war involved immense materiel and human losses on both sides.
The Second Punic War was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Italy and Iberia, but also on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia and, towards the end of the war, in North Africa. After immense materiel and human losses on both sides, the Carthaginians were defeated. Macedonia, Syracuse and several Numidian kingdoms were drawn into the fighting, and Iberian and Gallic forces fought on both sides. There were three main military theatres during the war: Italy, where Hannibal defeated the Roman legions repeatedly, with occasional subsidiary campaigns in Sicily, Sardinia and Greece; Iberia, where Hasdrubal, a younger brother of Hannibal, defended the Carthaginian colonial cities with mixed success before moving into Italy; and Africa, where Rome finally won the war.
This article concerns the period 219 BC – 210 BC.
Year 207 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Nero and Salinator. The denomination 207 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 Battle of Zama was fought in 202 BC in what is now Tunisia between a Roman army commanded by Scipio Africanus and a Carthaginian army commanded by Hannibal. The battle was part of the Second Punic War and resulted in such a severe defeat for the Carthaginians that they capitulated. The Roman army of approximately 30,000 men was outnumbered by the Carthaginians who fielded either 40,000 or 50,000; the Romans were stronger in cavalry, but the Carthaginians had 80 war elephants.
Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus was a Roman general and statesman during the third century BC. He played a major part in the Second Punic War, establishing Roman rule in the east of the Iberian peninsula and tying up several Carthaginian armies to keep them from reinforcing Hannibal.
The battle of the Trebia was the first major battle of the Second Punic War, fought between the Carthaginian forces of Hannibal and a Roman army under Sempronius Longus on 22 or 23 December 218 BC. Each army had a strength of about 40,000 men; the Carthaginians were stronger in cavalry, the Romans in infantry. The battle took place on the flood plain of the west bank of the lower Trebia River, not far from the settlement of Placentia, and resulted in a heavy defeat for the Romans.
Hasdrubal Barca, a latinization of ʿAzrubaʿal son of Hamilcar Barca, was a Carthaginian general in the Second Punic War. He was the brother of Hannibal and Mago Barca.
Gaius Claudius Nero was a Roman general active during the Second Punic War against the invading Carthaginian force, led by Hannibal Barca. During a military career that began as legate in 214 BC, he was praetor in 212 BC, propraetor in 211 BC during the siege of Capua, before being sent to Spain that same year. He became consul in 207 BC.
Marcus Livius Salinator was a Roman general and politician who fought in the Second Punic War, most notably during the Battle of the Metaurus.
The Battle of the Upper Baetis was a double battle, comprising the battles of Castulo and Ilorca, fought in 211 BC during the Second Punic War between a Carthaginian force led by Hasdrubal Barca and a Roman force led by Publius Cornelius Scipio and his brother Gnaeus. The immediate result was a Carthaginian victory in which both Roman brothers were killed. Before this defeat, the brothers had spent seven years campaigning against the Carthaginians in Hispania, thus limiting the resources available to Hannibal, who was simultaneously fighting the Romans in Italy.
The Battles of Kroton in 204 and 203 BC were, as well as the raid in Cisalpine Gaul, the last larger scale engagements between the Romans and the Carthaginians in Italy during the Second Punic War. After Hannibal’s retreat to Bruttium due to the Metaurus debacle, the Romans continuously tried to block his forces from gaining access to the Ionian Sea and cut his eventual escape to Carthage by capturing Kroton, the last port which had remained in his hands after years of fighting.
The Battle of Cissa was part of the Second Punic War. It was fought in the fall of 218 BC, near the Celtic town of Tarraco in north-eastern Iberia. A Roman army under Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus defeated an outnumbered Carthaginian army under Hanno, thus gaining control of the territory north of the Ebro River that Hannibal had just subdued a few months prior in the summer of 218 BC. This was the first battle that the Romans had ever fought in Iberia. It allowed the Romans to establish a secure base among friendly Iberian tribes, and due to the eventual success of the Scipio brothers in Spain, Hannibal looked for but never received reinforcements from Spain during the war.
The Battle of Ibera, also known as the Battle of Dertosa, was fought in the spring of 215 BC on the south bank of the Ebro River near the town of Ibera and was part of the Second Punic War. A Roman army, under the command of the brothers Gnaeus and Publius Scipio, defeated a similarly sized Carthaginian army under Hasdrubal Barca. The Romans, under Gnaeus Scipio, had invaded Iberia in late 218 BC and established a foothold after winning the Battle of Cissa. This lodgement, on the north-east Iberian coast, between the Ebro and the Pyrenees, blocked the route of any reinforcements from Iberia for the army of Hannibal, who had invaded Italy from Iberia earlier in the year. Hasdrubal attempted to evict the Romans in 217 BC, but this ended in defeat when the Carthaginian naval contingent was mauled at the Battle of Ebro River.
The Battle of Insubria in 203 BC was the culmination of a major war, carried out by the Carthaginian commander Mago, brother of Hannibal Barca, at the end of the Second Punic war between Rome and Carthage in what is now northwestern Italy. Mago had landed at Genoa, Liguria, two years before, in an effort to keep the Romans busy to the North and thus hamper indirectly their plans to invade Carthage's hinterland in Africa. He was quite successful in reigniting the unrest among various peoples against the Roman dominance. Rome was forced to concentrate large forces against him which finally resulted in a battle fought in the land of the Insubres (Lombardy). Mago suffered defeat and had to retreat. The strategy to divert the enemy's forces failed as the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio laid waste to Africa and wiped out the Carthaginian armies that were sent to destroy the invader. To counter Scipio, the Carthaginian government recalled Mago from Italy. However, the remnants of the Carthaginian forces in Cisalpine Gaul continued to harass the Romans for several years after the end of the war.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus was a pontiff in 216 BC, aedile of the plebeians in 209 BC, curule aedile in 208 BC, magister equitum in 207 BC, consul in 206 BC, dictator in 205 BC, proconsul of Bruttium in 204 BC, and an ambassador at the court of Philip V of Macedon in 185 BC.
This section of the timeline of Hispania concerns Spanish and Portuguese history events from the Carthaginian conquests to before the barbarian invasions.
The Battle of Silva Litana was an ambush that took place in a forest 75 miles northwest of the Roman city of Ariminum during the Second Punic War in 216 BC. The Gallic Boii surprised and destroyed a Roman army of 25,000 men under the consul-elect Lucius Postumius Albinus and destroyed the Roman army, with only ten men surviving the ambush, a few prisoners were taken by the Gauls and Postumius was killed, his corpse was decapitated and his skull was covered with gold and used as a ceremonial cup by the Boii. News of this military disaster, reaching Rome probably after the election of consuls for 215 BC in Spring 215 BC or after the defeat at Cannae in the fall of 216 BC, triggered a renewed panic in Rome and forced the Romans to postpone military operations against the Gauls until the conclusion of the Second Punic War. Rome decided to focus on defeating Hannibal and sent only two legions to guard against any possible Gallic attack, however, the Boii and Insubres did not attack the Romans to exploit their victory. Cisalpine Gaul remained in relative peace until 207 BC, when Hasdrubal Barca arrived in Cisapline Gaul with his army from Spain.
Lucius Veturius Philo was a curule aedile in 210 BC, praetor of Cisalpine Gaul in 209 BC, propraetor of the same province in 208 BC, consular legate in 207 BC, consul in 206 BC, and magister equitum in 205 BC. He was renowned for having been the first to announce to the Roman Senate the news of the great victory won over Hannibal Barca at the Battle of Zama, which ended the Second Punic War.
References
↑ G. Baldelli, E. Paci, L. Tomassini, La battaglia del Metauro. Testi, tesi, ipotesi, Minardi Editore, Fano 1994; M. Olmi, La battaglia del Metauro. Alla ricerca del luogo dello scontro, Edizioni Chillemi, Roma 2020.
↑ Michael B. Charles, Peter Rhodan, Magister Elpehantorum: A Reappraisal of Hannibal's Use of Elephants. Classical World, volume 10,0, number 4, pp. 363-389
↑ Paul K. Davis, 100 Decisive Battles from Ancient Times to the Present: The World’s Major Battles and How They Shaped History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 39.
Polybios: The Histories, Book 11 p.235, Text n.3 (3.)"Not fewer than ten thousand Carthaginians and Gauls fell in the battle, while the Roman loss amounted to two thousand. Some of the Carthaginians of distinction were captured and the rest were slain."
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