Spring 255 BC
The Roman army destroyed
Packed tightly together, the Romans hold their ground while the elephants trample through their ranks and the cavalry throw missiles into their flanks and rear. Xanthippus then sends the phalanx forward. Most of the Romans have no room to fight back and are cut down where they stand.
Two Roman soldiers of the Republic with mail shirts and oval shields, from the altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus, late 2nd century BC, LouvreWikimedia Commons, unknown sculptor, Public domain (Altar Domitius Ahenobarbus Louvre n3 (cropped).jpg)
Regulus and a small group fight their way out of the ring, but they are pursued and he surrenders with 500 men. About 13,000 Romans are killed. The 2,000 men of the Roman left who broke into the Carthaginian camp escape from the field and fall back to Aspis. The Carthaginians lose 800 men from their broken right wing, and their other losses are unknown. It is Carthage’s only victory in a major land battle of the war.
Sources
- Polybius, Histories, book 1, 34.
- John Lazenby, The First Punic War (1996).
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