After Cannae, with neither side prepared to do battle on the other’s terms, the war in Southern Italy slipped into a series of minor campaigns with Hannibal trying to capture new towns (his primary requirement now was access to a harbour to give him easier communication with Carthage), while the Romans recovered those she had lost. When Casilinum fell to Hannibal after a two-year siege, Capua, Nuceria and Acerrae joined him; but the important ports of Neapolis, Cumae, Nola, Puteoli and Tarentum remained faithful to Rome.
Capua was only two hundred kilometres (125 miles) from Rome. To deter Hannibal from getting any closer, the cities near Capua but still friendly to Rome were ordered to harvest their grain early and put it in fortresses; Capua’s crops were cut down; and the nearby Roman supply depots, Naples and Nola, were kept in line by garrisoning and fortifying them as well as executing waverers.
In 215 BC the Romans took the field with three armies: one under 06Claudius Marcellus, between Capua and Nola; a second under 08Fabius Cunctator (the ‘delayer’), near Cales covering the way to Rome; a third, under 05Sempronius Gracchus (fl.216-212 BC) protecting the coast near Cumae. Hannibal withdrew to Mount Tifata, a long narrow ridge of the Apennines, over twelve miles (20 km) in length and presenting a steep mountain front towards the Campanian Plain.
Early each year between 215 and 212 BC Hannibal moved his army down to the plain and dared the consuls to face him in battle. This they refused to do, so rather than waste the rest of the campaigning season in a futile stand-off with the Romans, Hannibal took his army to southernmost Italy, where he endeavoured to win over Rome’s allies.
An attempt by the main group of Campanian cities supporting Hannibal to surprise Cumae was frustrated by Gracchus, who defeated the Campanians at Hamae, three miles (5 km) north of Cumae, and killed their leader Marcus Alfius. After Bomilcar (3) managed to land a small party of reinforcements near Locris in Southern Italy, Hannibal sent Hanno (9) with a separate force to support the revolt of Lucania.
In 214 BC Hanno was marching north to rejoin Hannibal near Nola northeast of Neapolis. He was intercepted further east at the Calore Irpino River near Beneventum by a larger force under Sempronius (5). Hanno’s army of eighteen thousand suffered a terrible defeat and driven back to Bruttium.
Gracchus returned to Cumae. Hannibal, on discovering the slaughter at Hamae, proceeded to lay siege to Cumae. Gracchus made a sally, and the Carthaginians, taken by surprise, lost a great number of men. Before they could recover, Gracchus ordered his troops to withdraw to within the walls of the city. Hannibal now expected a regular battle but, as Gracchus remained quiet, he raised the siege and returned to Tifata.
A fourth Roman army under the praetor 09Valerius Laevinus took position at Luceria and in conjunction with the force under Marcellus raided Hannibal’s allies in Apulia and Lucania. To relieve this, Hannibal attacked Nola for the third time. Marcellus sent his officer 09Claudius Nero (fl.214-204 BC) with cavalry to attack the Carthaginian rear when Marcellus began the battle with Hannibal. Nero was late, the fighting was inconclusive, and Hannibal withdrew to Arpi in Apulia.
Fabius (8) and Marcellus then attacked Casilinum, held by Carthaginians and Capuans under Statius Metius. After a heavy assault, the garrison surrendered to Fabius in return for a free passage to Capua. Marcellus, claiming ignorance, attacked the column as it withdrew.
Hannibal tried to capture Rhegium, Croton and Locris, all of which were garrisoned by Rome at this stage. The attack of Rhegium was unsuccessful, but Croton and Locris seceded. Fabius reconquered places in rebel Samnium, including the important town of Compsa, then Aecae in Apulia. Then in 213 BC the consul 09Fabius Maximus recaptured Arpi.
In 213 BC the anti-Roman faction in Tarentum killed the guards and opened the gates to Hannibal. The Roman garrison, however, led by 02Livius Macatus managed to secure itself in the citadel. As the citadel overlooked and commanded the entrance to the harbour, which was very narrow, the Romans could attack and take anything that tried to go in or out. There were ships trapped in the harbour and to get them to the open sea the Tarentines had to drag them on rollers from the harbour and across to the seaward side. To prevent a foray by the garrison, Hannibal sealed the Romans in the citadel by building a moat and palisade, but as the Romans controlled the sea they were able to send supplies and reinforcements to the garrison. Later, the Romans attacked and destroyed much of the siege equipment being readied by Hannibal for an assault on the citadel. The garrison held out until the city was recaptured four years later.
Tarentum’s defection was followed in 212 BC by that of Metapontum, Thurii and Heraclea, and the rest of the Lucanian cities. Northwards, three Roman armies under the consuls 08Claudius Pulcher (c.47; fl.217-211 BC) and 08Fulvius Flaccus (fl.237-121 BC), and 09Claudius Nero, were entrenched around Capua. 05Sempronius Gracchus marched from Lucania to join them, but was killed in ambush and his army dispersed with his death.
The Capuans sent urgent messages to Hannibal, who set off for Mount Tifata and sent Hanno (9) (fl.218-204 BC) with a pack train of grain to Capua. 06Fulvius intercepted Hanno (9) at Beneventum, seized the greater part of his stores, plundered his camp, and Hanno returned to Bruttium.
At Capua Hannibal’s two thousand Numidian infantry attacked the Roman camp and inflicted some casualties. Hannibal arrived some time later and offered battle, which was accepted, but both sides broke off fearing that an approaching dust column could indicate reinforcements for the enemy.
06Fulvius Flaccus retreated towards Cumae and Claudius (8) advanced into Lucania. Hannibal entered Capua and then set off in pursuit of Claudius, who with part of his army managed to evade Hannibal, but a Roman blocking force under the praetor Marcus 02Centenius Penula was wiped out in the Battle of the Silarus (=Sele) River.
A few days later Hannibal advanced to Herdonea in Apulia, which was under siege by the praetor Gnaeus 08Fulvius Flaccus. With a larger and more experienced force, Hannibal inflicted a decisive defeat. Fulvius fled and his army of about eighteen thousand was largely destroyed. After the battle, Hannibal marched south towards Tarentum, where the Carthaginians were besieging the Romans in the citadel. Taking advantage of his absence the Roman consuls renewed their siege of Capua.
In 211 BC Hannibal returned to Capua and launched a direct assault on the Roman camps, while the Capuans sallied out and attacked the Romans from the other side. Hannibal’s attack failed and he tried to lure the legions away from Capua with a feint towards Rome. He encamped on the north bank of the Anio River, about five miles (8 km) from the city, but the defences of the capital were now too strong. Frustrated, Hannibal turned back, abandoned Capua to its fate and returned to Bruttium in the southeast.
06Fulvius Flaccus encircled Capua with a double wall (circumvallation: a wall facing the city to protect against sorties; contravallation; a second wall facing outwards to defend against a relief force) and within the space thus enclosed resided sixty thousand Romans. Capua, its position now hopeless, submitted to an unconditional surrender (deditio). Fifty-three of its senators were executed; other officials were sold into slavery; constitutions were abolished; and in future the city would be governed by an official appointed by Rome.
In 210 BC the city of Salapia in Apulia together with its garrison of five hundred Numidian cavalry, was handed over to 06Claudius Marcellus by a faction of its citizens. Meanwhile, Hannibal had returned to northern Apulia and caught the proconsul Gnaeus 09Fulvius Centumalus (cos.211 BC) when the latter was besieging Herdonea. Taken in the rear by Numidian cavalry, Fulvius was killed and his army crushed, with perhaps ten thousand killed. Deciding that in the long run he could not retain Herdonea, Hannibal burnt the town before setting an example by executing some of the citizens who had conspired to betray Herdonea to Centumalus.
Shortly after his destruction of Herdonea, Hannibal was attacked in camp at Numistro in Lucania, by Marcellus. The hard-fought day-long action that followed is regarded as drawn engagement, for Hannibal, though technically the victor, avoided further action by withdrawing during the night with Marcellus in pursuit the next day. The strategic reality was that the Romans might not have been able to crush Hannibal, but he in turn could not now threaten them, or even protect his remaining allies from them.
In 209 BC the consul 08Fabius Cunctator advanced to Tarentum, and his colleague 06Fulvius Flaccus went to Lucania. Marcellus, now a proconsul, confronted Hannibal in Apulia, encamped near Canusium hoping to persuade its inhabitants to break their allegiance to Rome. When Hannibal withdrew up the Aufidus, Marcellus followed and attacked the Carthaginian camp at Asculum (2). Hannibal again had the better of it, but the battle itself was strategically indecisive.
Despite his losses and meagre reinforcements, Hannibal’s army was still a considerable force. He withdrew down the Aufidus, hoping to draw Marcellus into an ambush. Skirmishes that developed near Canusium grew to a battle that ended only when night fell and both sides disengaged and fortified their camps. On the next day one of the wings of Marcellus’ first battle line, composed of allies, was forced to give ground. Marcellus ordered the legion positioned in the rear to relieve the retreating allies, but during the changeover the Carthaginian advance threw the Roman army into disorder. Nearly three thousand of them were killed before the rest could gain refuge behind the palisade of the camp.
On the third day, Hannibal’s elite Iberian troops were unable to break the Roman line, and the Carthaginian brought up his war elephants. At first they trampled and scattered the Roman front, but a successful counterstrike by a maniple of hastati turned the animals against their own troops and caused disorder among the Carthaginian ranks. A Roman cavalry charge followed by an all-out and irresistible infantry attack drove Hannibal’s forces back to their camp with heavy losses (8000 killed according to Livy). The toll on Marcellus’ troops was even heavier than that of the preceding day (3000 killed and many wounded), so he declined to pursue Hannibal when the latter broke camp and marched south the following night.
Meanwhile, with Hannibal preoccupied in Apulia, the Romans mounted an attack to recover Tarentum. Fabius’ army besieged the city; and thirty quinqueremes, some of which were equipped with siege equipment, were detached from the main fleet at Sicily and sent to blockade the harbour. This was meant to be a signal for a breakout by the Roman army in the citadel, but the garrison surrendered before this could happen.
Although the army of Fabius was very close to Tarentum, Hannibal hurried to rescue the Bruttians who were under attack by the eight thousand strong garrison of Rhegium. Near Caulonia (in the corner of southwestern Italy) he intercepted and destroyed the enemy force and thus retained control over the region. But this fight had delayed him and he was unable to reach Tarentum in time to prevent its loss (he was five miles (8 km) away when the city surrendered to Fabius). Tarentum was pillaged and the inhabitants sold into slavery.
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