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