Battle of Crotona
Part of the Second Punic War
Date 204 BC Location Crotone, Calabria, Italy Result Indecisive
Combatants
Carthage	Roman Republic
Commanders
Hannibal	Sempronius Tuditanus

The battles of Crotona in 204 and 203 BC were 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 tried continuously to insulate his forces from the Ionion Sea and cut his eventual escape to Carthage by capturing Croton. The Carthaginian commander struggled to retain his hold on the last efficient port which had remained in his hands after years of fighting and was ultimately successful. Combatants Roman Republic Carthage Commanders Publius Cornelius Scipio†, Tiberius Sempronius Longus Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, Gaius Flaminius†, Fabius Maximus, Claudius Marcellus†, Lucius Aemilius Paullus†, Gaius Terentius Varro, Marcus Livius Salinator, Gaius Claudius Nero, Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus†, Masinissa, Minucius†, Servilius Geminus† Hannibal Barca, Hasdrubal Barca†, Mago Barca†, Hasdrubal Gisco†, Syphax... Battles of the Second Punic War Created by Panairjdde with GMT (Generic Mapping Tools, gmt. ... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC - 200s BC - 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC Years: 209 BC 208 BC 207 BC 206 BC 205 BC - 204 BC - 203 BC 202 BC... Crotone is a city in Calabria, southern Italy, on the Gulf of Taranto. ... Cliffside dwellings in Tropea. ... Roman Carthage with former military harbor Carthage (Greek: , Latin: , from the Phoenician meaning new town; Arabic: ) refers both to an ancient city in Tunisia and to the civilization that developed within the citys sphere of influence. ... Motto Senatus Populusque Romanus Roman provinces on the eve of the assassination of Julius Caesar, c. ... Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar Barca, (247 BC – ca. ... 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Southern Italy at the End of the Hannibalic War

By 204 BC Romans were clearly winning the war. Three years ago they had destroyed the army of Hasdrubal Barca who had marched from Spain through the Alps into Italy to help his brother Hannibal. Publius Cornelius Scipio had taken advantage of Hasdrubal’s departure and destroyed the Carthaginian power on the Iberian peninsula as a result of the battle at Ilipa. The final victory was just a matter of time. Hasdrubal Barca (d. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Scipio Africanus. ... The Battle of Ilipa was a battle of the Second Punic War. ...

Following the battle of the Metaurus river Hannibal decided to concentrate all his remaining forces and supporters in Bruttium, “the remotest corner of Italy”.^[1] He relinquished his other possessions in Lucania and Magna Graecia apparently because they lost their strategical importance and he deemed them indefensible against Rome’s superior forces. Furthermore, having lost many troops in cities taken by the Romans in the previous years, he wanted to diminish his losses. A mainly mountainous region almost entirely surrounded by the sea, Bruttium provided Hannibal with a perfect base to check the Roman advance and force the Senate to keep a large standing army against him. Thus he resorted to the same tactics his father Hamilcar Barca used for seven years during the First Punic war in Sicily. Combatants Roman Republic Carthage Commanders Marcus Atilius Regulus Gaius Lutatius Catulus Gaius Duilius Hamilcar Barca Hanno the Great Hasdrubal Xanthippus The First Punic War (264 to 241 BC) was the first of three major wars fought between Carthage and the Roman Republic. ...

Livy describes the character of the ensuing warfare in this way: “The struggle in Bruttium had assumed the character of brigandage much more than that of regular warfare. The Numidians had commenced the practice, and the Bruttians followed their example, not so much because of their alliance with the Carthaginians as because it was their traditional and natural method of carrying on war. At last even the Romans were infected by the passion for plunder and, as far as their generals allowed them, used to make predatory incursions on the enemy's fields.”^[2]

At this point Rome had to decide how to proceed. After much debating in the Senate^[3], Scipio, elected consul for 205 BC, was authorized to invade Africa.^[4] Scipio’s point was that only by this invasion he would induce Carthage to recall Hannibal^[5] and Mago, who had set up another Carthaginian stronghold in Italy by landing in Liguria. He was not given sufficient resources though and had to spend a year in preparations of the expedition from Sicily.

The Campaign in Bruttium

With time Scipio’s assessment proved correct. For four years the main Roman forces were entangled in Brutium and some were diverted to Etruria and Gaul to face Mago. In 206 BC Brutium was assigned to the both consuls.^[6] Cassius Dio explains their inaction: “Hannibal for a time was keeping quiet, satisfied if he might only retain such advantages as were already his. And the consuls, believing that his power would waste away even without a battle, also waited.”^[7] Appian states that Hannibal was awaiting help from Carthage. This did not come, for a large convoy of 100 ships with soldiers, money and supplies was driven off its course by high winds, intercepted and routed by the Roman fleet at Sardinia.^[8] Hannibal had to raise heavy taxes and collect more resources by confiscations. These measures undermined his popularity among the local population and were the cause for several instances of revolting.^[9] The deportation of unreliable citizens from strategic fortresses, refered by Appian, produced more security for Hannibal but not in the case of Locri. In 205 BC a Roman detachment, sent from Sicily by Scipio, managed to take a part of the town by a sudden assault. Hannibal moved quickly to expel the enemy “and the Romans would not have held out had not the population, embittered by the tyranny and rapacity of the Carthaginians, taken their side.”^[10]

Pressed by the loss of the strategic port, Hannibal set his base “at Croton, which he found to be well situated for his operations and where he established his magazines and his headquarters against the other towns”.^[11] As in the previous year he was confronted by two armies of two legions each, one commanded by the consul Publius Licinius Crassus, the other by the proconsul Q. Caecilius.^[12] According to Appian, Crassus managed to detach from Hannibal seven towns in Bruttium, Consentia among them.^[13] It is open to debate whether he did this by force or persuasion. It is also debatable whether Crassus accomplished anything, for Livy narrates that Consentia surrendered after the battles at Croto in the following year. For Livy the most memorable event in Bruttium in 205 BC was a pestilence that “attacked the Romans and the Carthaginians and was equally fatal to both, but in addition to the epidemic, the Carthaginians were suffering from scarcity of food”.^[14] This occurred toward the year’s end. The desease was so serious that Crassus could not return to Rome for conducting the elections of the next consuls and recommended to the Senate to disband one of the armies in Bruttium, so as to preserve the soldiers’ lives.^[15] The Senate let Crassus do what he deemed right and Sempronius received Bruttium and Publius Sempronius Tuditanus, who was sent the next year to Bruttium as a new consul had to enrol fresh troops.^[16]

The first battle in the vicinity of Croto took place in the summer of 204 BC. In Livy’s words, it was an irregular battle that was started by accidental clash between the marching columns of Hannibal and Sempronius. The Carthaginians repulsed their enemies who retreated in confusion to their camp leaving 1,200 dead. This statement may be a hint that Hannibal watched his opponents carefully and managed to surprise them when they left the camp. He was not prepared to attack the camp itself though. Perhaps a premeditated attack was canceled because the Romans were not entirely routed. Nevertheless, Sempronius received a severe blow and judged that his two legions were no match to the Carthaginians. So he abandoned the camp under cover of the following night and summoned the proconsul P. Licinius Crassus.

After uniting with the other Roman commander in the region Sempronius returned to Croto looking for a revenge. He arranged his legions in front, leaving those of Crassus in reserve. This time Hannibal could not stand his ground against an army doubled in size and was forced to retreat to Croto at the cost of 4,000 dead and 300 prisoners, if one believes Livy.^[17] It is not clear whether the Romans made an attempt on taking Croto itself. Our authority states that Sempronius turned his attention elsewhere. The same summer the consul took by storm Clampetia. “Consentia, Pandosia and some other unimportant places surrendered voluntarily.”^[18]

The fighting around Croto continued in 203 BC, but as Livy puts it himself, there are no clear accounts of the events. Livy is particularly suspicious of a story that the consul Cnaeus Servilius Caepio killed 5,000 of Carthaginian soldiers in a pitched battle.^[19] One thing is sure – Servilius could not prevent Hannibal from departing safely to Africa. Appian informs that for the transportation of his veterans Hannibal even built more ships in addition to the fleet that arrived in Croto from Carthage.^[20] This was unimpeded by the Romans.

Footnotes

1. ^ Livy, The History of Rome, Book XXVII, 51; Cassius Dio, Roman History, Book XVI; Appian, Hannibalic War, Book VIII, 54
2. ^ Livy, XXIX, 6
3. ^ Livy, XXVIII, 40-45
4. ^ Livy, XXVIII, 45
5. ^ Cassius Dio, XVII; Appian, IX, 55
6. ^ Livy, XXVIII, 10
7. ^ Cassius Dio, XVII
8. ^ Appian, VIII, 54
9. ^ Appian, IX, 57
10. ^ Livy, XXIX, 6
11. ^ Appian, IX, 57
12. ^ Livy, XXVIII, 45
13. ^ Appian, IX, 56
14. ^ Livy, XXVIII, 46
15. ^ Livy, XXIX, 10
16. ^ Livy, XXIX, 13
17. ^ Livy, XXIX, 36
18. ^ Livy, XXIX, 38
19. ^ Livy, XXX, 19
20. ^ Appian, IX, 58

External Links

Livius, Titus, The History of Rome, Vol. IV (Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library)

Appian, History of Rome: The Hannibalic War (Livius Articles on Ancient History)

Cassius Dio, Roman History (on LacusCurtius)