Battle of Arretium 284 BC
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 284 BC | Wikidata P585 (point in time); 2 differing years recorded, earliest shown |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Ancient (before 500) | derived from year |
| Location | Italy | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Roman–Gallic Wars | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Ancient Rome, Cisalpine Gauls, Senones | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 43.4630, 11.8833 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Arretium, which was probably fought in 284 BC, is a poorly documented event in the history of the Roman Republic because it occurred in a period for which some of the books of the History of Rome by Livy, the most thorough ancient historian for early Rome, have been lost. The battle is only explicitly referred to in a text by Polybius, the ancient Greek historian, which does not give much detail and puts it in the context of other events. A text by Appian talks about these events, but does not make any explicit reference to the Battle of Arretium. It was fought between the Romans and the Gauls of northern Italy, who may have been from the Senone tribe.
According to Polybius, unspecified Gauls besieged the city of Arretium (Arezzo, in northeastern Tuscany) and defeated a Roman force which had come to the aid of the city. Their commander, the praetor Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter, died in the battle. This would place the battle in 283 BC because Denter was a consul in 284 BC.
In Polybius’ account, Denter was replaced by Manius Curius Dentatus after the battle. Dentatus sent envoys to negotiate the release of Roman hostages, but the envoys were killed.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Arretium (revision 1370107030), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Roman–Gallic Wars
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