Battle of Canusium 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 ) , 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 , and fought Hannibal in an indecisive battle at Numistro . 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 . The three days battle . It was Marcellus ’ lot to confront Hannibal directly , for the Carthaginian general chose Apulia for his main operations after winter ' s end . Hannibal made the first move by encamping near Canusium , hoping to persuade its inhabitants to break their allegiance to Rome . Canusium was not far from Salapia , a town whose Numidian garrison had been betrayed to and slaughtered by Marcellus the preceding year . Hannibal ’ s intention was to restore his influence in the area . However , as soon as the proconsul approached , the Carthaginian withdrew from Canusium . The loss of the Numidian contingent in Salapia had deprived him of one of his advantages over the Romans – his strong cavalry , so the open and flat terrain was no longer as favorable as it had been at the time of Cannae . That is why Hannibal retreated , endeavoring to lure Marcellus into an ambush . The Romans , relentlessly pursuing , forced a battle . Initial skirmishes grew to a general battle which ended only when night fell and both sides disengaged and fortified their camps . On the next day Hannibal decided to stand his ground and in the renewed fighting the Romans were heavily beaten . One of the wings of the first battle line , composed of allied levies , was forced to give ground . Marcellus ordered the legion positioned in the rear to relieve the retreating allies . This proved to be an error , as the ensuing manoeuvre and the continuing Carthaginian advance threw the entire Roman army into disorder . The Romans were put to flight and 2 , 700 of them were killed before the rest could take refuge behind the palisade of the camp . Marcellus was undaunted by this setback , and although many of his men were wounded , he led them to yet another long and inconclusive fight on the third day . Hannibal ' s elite Iberian troops were unable to break the Romans , and the Carthaginian brought up his war elephants . At first they produced the desired effect by trampling and scattering the Roman front , but a successful counterstrike by a maniple of hastati turned the beasts against their own troops and caused disorder among the Carthaginian ranks . Marcellus seizing the opportunity , threw his cavalry , kept so far in reserve , into the action . The cavalry charge was followed by an all - out and irresistible infantry attack . Hannibal ' s forces fell back to their camp with heavy losses ( 8 , 000 killed according to Livy ) . The toll on Marcellus ' troops was even heavier than that of the preceding day ( 3 , 000 killed and many wounded ) , so he declined to pursue Hannibal when the latter broke camp and marched south the following night . Consequences : Hannibal on the defensive . As a result of the battle of Canusium , the army of Marcellus was effectively put out of action . Sparing his soldiers , most of whom were wounded , the proconsul retired to Sinuesa ( Campania ) according to Plutarch , or Venusia ( Apulia ) according to Livy , where he was inactive the rest of the summer , allowing Hannibal to traverse southern Italy unchecked . This prompted Marcellus ' political enemies in Rome to accuse him of bad generalship and to ask the Senate and People to relieve him of his command . Nevertheless , Marcellus was elected consul once again and was authorized to seek a decisive engagement with Hannibal in the following year . Still in the summer of 209 BC , while Marcellus was fighting Hannibal in Apulia , the army under the consul Quintus Fulvius Flaccus effected the submission of northern Lucania . The other consul , Quintus Fabius Maximus , assaulted the city of Manduria , in the Sallentine . It was hardly 35 km away from Tarentum . Having disentangled himself from Marcellus , although the army of Fabius was very close to Tarentum , Hannibal hurried to rescue the city of Caulonia ( in the farthest corner of southwestern Italy , for Bruttium was also under Roman attack ) . Unopposed by the main Roman forces , the Carthaginian commander managed to intercept and destroy near Caulonia an 8 , 000 strong detachment , that had attacked the Bruttians from Regium , and thus retained control over the region . But this fight , delayed him and could not reach it in time to save Tarentum of Fabius Maximus assault . He was five miles away when Fabius sacked Tarentum . In the following year ( 208 BC ) Hannibal confronted Marcellus once again in Apulia , for the final time . Marcellus was killed in an ambush at Venusia . Following his death , Rome gave up the idea for a decisive encounter with Hannibal . After the battle of the Metaurus in 207 BC , it was Hannibal ' s turn to relinquish his hopes for regaining the military initiative . These events led to prolongation of the war in Italy until the Romans invaded Carthaginian territory in northern Africa ( see the articles about the battle of Crotona and the battle of Utica ) . References . Note : All links to online sources were active on October 17 , 2007