Battle of Tarentum (209 BC)
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| Roman Recapture of Tarentum | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Second Punic War | |||||||
 Tarantine coin minted during Hannibal's occupation of the city 212–209 BC | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Roman Republic | Carthage | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus | Carthalo † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 20,000 | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown |
Garrison captured or killed Population massacred 30,000 enslaved | ||||||
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The Battle of Tarentum of 209 BC took place during the Second Punic War. The Romans, led by Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, recaptured the city of Tarentum that had betrayed them in the first Battle of Tarentum in 212 BC. This time the commander of the city, Carthalo, turned against the Carthaginians, and supported the Romans.
According to Plutarch, a Greek biographer, Fabius won the city of Tarentum through treachery. One of the soldiers in Fabius's army had a sister in Tarentum who was the lover of the Bruttian commander, Carthalo, who Hannibal had left in charge of the city. Carthalo was swayed to the Roman side and agreed to help the Romans gain entry into Tarentum. However Plutarch also writes that another story is that it was Fabius's Bruttian mistress who seduced the commander over to the Roman side when she discovered that he was a fellow countryman.
Fabius drew Hannibal away from Tarentum by sending the garrison of Rhegium to plunder the lands of the Bruttians and to take Caulonia. Hannibal went to the aid of the Bruttians.
On the sixth day of the siege it was arranged that the commander would help the Romans gain entry to Tarentum. Fabius took a cohort to the appointed place while the rest of the army attacked the walls, luring the cities defenders away. The Bruttian gave the signal and Fabius and his men scaled the walls and took the city. (Plutarch does not mention what the Bruttian commander does to aid the Romans)
