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The Battle of Canusium was a three-day engagement between the forces of Rome and Carthage. It took place in Apulia during the summer of 209 BC, the tenth year of the Second Punic War. A larger Roman offensive, of which it was a part, aimed to subjugate and to punish cities and tribes that had abandoned the alliance with Rome after the Battle of Cannae, and to narrow the base of the Carthaginian leader, Hannibal, in southern Italy. The battle of Canusium was also an episode of the years-long contest between Hannibal and the Roman general Marcus Claudius Marcellus for control over that territory. As neither side gained a decisive victory and both suffered considerable losses (up to 14,000 killed overall〔Livy, XXVII.12,14〕〔), the outcome of this engagement was open to differing interpretations by both ancient and modern historians. While Marcellus took a heavy blow at Canusium, he nevertheless checked for some time the movements of the main Punic forces and thus contributed to the simultaneous Roman successes against Hannibal's allies in Magna Graecia and Lucania. ==Antecedents: Rome on the offensive== Since the beginning of the Carthaginian invasion in 218 BC, Rome invested more and more resources first to protect Italy, then to regain territories lost to Hannibal. This is particularly noticeable in terms of manpower. The number of the legions grew steadily, despite the sanguinary routs suffered in the initial stage of the war (see the articles on the battles of the Trebia, Lake Trasimene, and Cannae), so that in 210 BC - the year before the clash at Canusium - Rome had 21 legions.〔Livy, History of Rome, XXVI.28〕 Some engaged the Carthaginians and their allies in Sicily, Sardinia, Iberia and Greece, but most were placed in various parts of Italy, still the primary theatre of the Second Punic war. * See a (map of western Mediterranean ) in 218 BC, from Shepherd's ''Historical Atlas'' (1911 edition) After their defeat at Cannae, the Romans generally followed the policy of their statesman Quintus Fabius Maximus, who taught them to avoid general confrontations with Hannibal, in order to preserve their own strength and gradually diminish his. They sought to wear him out in a series of smaller engagements and sieges (see Fabian strategy). As evidenced by the unceasing sequence of defeats (e. g. the battle of Herdonia in 212 BC), this strategy was not always followed. One of the generals who did not comply completely was Marcus Claudius Marcellus. He had distinguished himself before the Punic invasion as a conqueror of Cisalpine Gaul. He gained even more prominence in the immediate aftermath of the battle of Cannae, when he repeatedly denied Hannibal entrance to Nola, thus reducing Roman losses in Campania, where Capua defected.〔Smith, W., Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, Vol. 2, (p. 928 )〕 Marcellus' military merits (further increased by the capture of Syracuse) earned him a place among the other seasoned commanders, such as Fabius Maximus, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus and Appius Claudius, whom the Roman people preferred as leaders, expecting that they would make up for the superior quality of the Carthaginian commanding staff.〔Delbrück, Hans, Geschichte der Kriegskunst im Rahmen der politischen Geschichte, I Teil: Das Altertum, Walter de Gruyter & Co., Berlin 1964, S. 388〕 The Carthaginan general found it increasingly difficult to cope with such adversaries. Then in 211 BC, the Romans captured Capua, Carthage's major Italian ally.〔Livy, XXVI.12-14; Cassius Dio, Roman History, (Book XV ); Appian, Roman History, The Hannibalic War, (7.43 )〕 After the reconquest of Campania, Rome sent its armies to the south and east to attack the other cities that had joined Hannibal. In 210 BC Marcellus, elected consul for the fourth time, subdued several places in Samnium and Apulia, destroying their Carthaginian garrisons,〔Livy, XXVI.38〕〔Livy, XXVII.1〕 and fought Hannibal in an indecisive battle at Numistro.〔Livy, XXVII.2〕〔Caven, Punic Wars, pp. 188-189〕 The Romans advanced against Tarentum, the main Greek city of southern Italy. It had joined Hannibal several years earlier. Fabius, consul in 209 BC, made the retaking Tarentum his priority. His colleague, Q. Fulvius Flaccus, and Marcellus, now a proconsul, had the task of keeping Hannibal from assisting the city. Each of the three generals had an army of two legions with their allied auxiliaries. While Fabius advanced to Tarentum, Fulvius marched into Lucania. The third army under Marcellus fought in Apulia. A fourth, not insignificant, force was ordered by Fabius to attack Hannibal's Bruttian allies.〔Livy, XXVII.7〕〔Livy, XXVII.12〕〔Caven, Punic Wars, p. 194〕 * See a (map of ancient southern Italy ) from Shepherd's ''Historical Atlas'' (1911 edition) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Canusium」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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