Battle of the Bagradas River (255 BC) 255 BC
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 255 BC | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Ancient (before 500) | derived from year |
| Location | Tunisia | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | First Punic War | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 36.7975, 10.1659 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of the Bagradas River (the ancient name of the Medjerda), also known as the Battle of Tunis, was a victory by a Carthaginian army led by Xanthippus over a Roman army led by Marcus Atilius Regulus in the spring of 255 BC, nine years into the First Punic War. The previous year, the newly constructed Roman navy established naval superiority over Carthage. The Romans used this advantage to invade Carthage's homeland, which roughly aligned with modern-day Tunisia in North Africa. After landing on the Cape Bon Peninsula and conducting a successful campaign, the fleet returned to Sicily, leaving Regulus with 15,500 men to hold the lodgement in Africa over the winter.
Instead of holding his position, Regulus advanced towards the city of Carthage and defeated the Carthaginian army at the Battle of Adys. The Romans followed up and captured Tunis, only 16 kilometres (10 mi) from Carthage. Despairing, the Carthaginians sued for peace, but Regulus's proposed terms were so harsh the Carthaginians decided to fight on. They gave charge of the training of their army, and eventually operational control, to the Spartan mercenary general Xanthippus.
In the spring of 255 BC, Xanthippus led an army strong in cavalry and elephants against the Romans' infantry-based force. The Romans had no effective answer to the elephants.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Bagradas River (255 BC) (revision 1370598050), 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.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Tunis (Mercenary War) 238 BC · 0 km
- Conquest of Tunis (1535) 1535 · 0 km
- Conquest of Tunis (1574) 1574 · 1 km
- Siege of Tunis (1705) 1705 · 2 km
- Siege of Tunis (1694) 1694 · 2 km
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Other battles of the First Punic War
- Battle of Mylae 260 BC
- Battle of the Lipari Islands 260 BC
- Battle of Sulci 258 BC
- Battle of Tyndaris 257 BC
- Battle of Cape Ecnomus 256 BC
- Battle of Adys 255 BC
- Siege of Aspis 255 BC
- Battle of Panormus 251 BC
- Siege of Lilybaeum (250–241 BC) 250 BC
- Battle of Drepana 249 BC
All 14 battles of the First Punic War →
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