22 or 23 December 218 BC
The Roman centre breaks through
In the centre the Roman legions rout the 8,000 Gauls and a unit of African infantry and break clean through Hannibal’s line. When they halt and re-form, the rest of their army behind them has dissolved. Sempronius, who is fighting with the infantry, leads these 10,000 men away in formation, back across the Trebia to Placentia.
The battle of the Trebia, plate from the French edition of Polybius by Jean-Charles de Folard, about 1728Wikimedia Commons, unknown engraver, Public domain (Battle of Trebbia, 217 BC (Histoire de Polybe, Volume 4).jpg)
The Carthaginians cut down the partly surrounded rest of the Roman army between the battle line and the river. Paul Erdkamp estimates 20,000 Romans killed, not counting prisoners. Hannibal loses several thousand of the Gauls in his centre, fewer of his other infantry and cavalry, and several elephants. Over the winter, by Polybius’s account, Gallic recruits bring his army to 60,000 men.
Sources
- Polybius, Histories, book 3, 74 to 75.
- Livy, History of Rome, book 21, 56.
- Paul Erdkamp, in A Companion to the Punic Wars (2011).
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