The Battle of Cantalupum was a battle of the Second Punic War which was fought between the armies of the Roman Republic and the Ligures near present-day Cantalupo Ligure, Liguria in 218 BC. The Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio led his Legio II Veneria into northern Italy to crush the Celtic Ligures' resistance, and he decisively defeated the Ligurian chieftain Broiiox and smashed his army.
Background[]
In 218 BC, the Gauls in the Po Valley grew restless and took up arms against the Roman Republic once more. Rome could not fight effectively against Carthage with the Gauls at their backs, so the Roman Senate decreed that the Ligures be pacified. Publius Cornelius Scipio was ordered northwest from Pisaurum (Pesaro) in Umbria to deal with the Ligurian threat as a prelude to military action against Carthage. Scipio's Legio II Veneria advanced through Lombardy and towards the Ligurian borderlands, recruiting Celtic mercenary light horsemen and swordsmen along the way.
Battle[]
The Ligurian king Dauicios decided to offer resistance near the present-day town of Cantalupo Ligure, 15.5 miles northeast of Genoa. He brought his army of 1,800 warriors north to confront Legio II Veneria, and the ensuing battle saw the numerically superior Roman army, aided by its Celtic mercenary allies, overwhelm and crush the Ligurians. The Romans outflanked the Ligurian army, with their Celtic mercenaries attacking the Ligurian center. Dauicios was slain in battle and his army nearly annihilated, while the Romans suffered comparatively light casualties.