Castulo (211 BC)

Time runs out for Publius Scipio. After several years of unbroken successes, the Scipio brothers rashly divide their armies to defeat the Carthaginians in detail. As Publius’s army nears Castulo, he realizes he is facing superior Carthaginian numbers and is …

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Time runs out for Publius Scipio. After several years of unbroken successes, the Scipio brothers rashly divide their armies to defeat the Carthaginians in detail. As Publius’s army nears Castulo, he realizes he is facing superior Carthaginian numbers and is in danger of being surrounded. Marching all night, his troops attack a small detachment of 7500 Celt-Iberian warriors under Indibilis blocking the Roman line of retreat. They hold long enough for the Numidian Masinissa and his elite Numidian cavalry to join the fight. Scipio’s army is not strong enough to defeat both forces quickly, and now the Carthaginian armies of Mago and Hasdrubal arrive on the field, surrounding and destroying the Roman Army. Publius Scipio is killed in the fighting. Shortly thereafter, Publius Scipio’s son comes to Spain, rebuilds and retrains the Roman army, and wins the battles of Baecula and Ilipa, avenging the deaths of his father and uncle.

Castulo, Spain

The Battle of the Upper Baetis was a double battle, comprising the battles of Castulo and Ilorca, fought in 211 BC during the Second Punic War between a Carthaginian force led by Hasdrubal Barca and a Roman force led by Publius Cornelius Scipio and his brother Gnaeus. The immediate result was a Carthaginian victory in which both Roman brothers were killed. Before this defeat, the brothers had spent seven years campaigning in Hispania, which had limited the resources available to Hannibal, who was simultaneously fighting the Romans in Italy.

Wikipedia: Battle of the Upper Baetis

Carthaginian

Roman

Second Punic War