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CANNAE Apulia, Italy.

A Roman city 8 km NE of Canosa on the right bank of the Ofanto (ancient Aufidus) on a hill, traditionally called Monte di Canne. In its environs have been discovered Neolithic and Bronze Age sherds, a menhir (to the S on the road to Canusium, mod. Canosa), and Iron Age and archaic Apulian burials, the latter furnished with Daunian geometric ware of the 6th-5th c. B.C. An antiquarium houses these remains and also a documentation of the battle of the second Punic war for which the city is best known, in which Hannibal's Carthaginians defeated a larger Roman army in a classic double envelopment. On the right bank of the Ofanto, generally thought to be the battle site, an immense necropolis of 23,000 sq. m was found in 1937 but has proved to be mediaeval.

A representative portion of the Roman town, including part of the wall, has also been excavated. The character of the shops, columns, and inscriptions along an uncovered ancient street indicate that the city may have served as an emporium for more prosperous Canusium through the time of Julian.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Livy 22; Polyb. 3.107-17.

G. De Sanctis, Storia dei Romani (1907); M. Gervasio, “Scavi di C.,” Iapigia 9 (1938) and 10 (1939); H. H. Scullard, Historia 4 (1955) 474ff; F. Tiné Bertocchi, Ann. dell'Accad. Etr. di Cortona 12 (1961-64).

D. C. SCAVONE

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