Battle of Bovianum

The Battle of Bovianum was fought in 305 BC between the Romans and the Samnites.

Battle of Bovianum
Part of Second Samnite War
Date 305 BC Location Boiano or Pietrabbondante, Italy 41°28′59.999″N 14°28′0.001″E Result Roman victory
Belligerents
Roman Republic	Samnium
Commanders and leaders
Tiberius Minucius Augurinus, Lucius Postumius Megellus	Statius Gellius
class=notpageimage| Location within Italy Battle of Bovianum (Europe)

Panorama of Bojano

Battle

The Romans were led by two consuls, Tiberius Minucius Augurinus and Lucius Postumius Megellus. The result was a Roman victory and end of the Second Samnite War.

Aftermath

The consul Tiberius Minucius Augurinus died of his wounds during or after the battle.The battle of Bovianum at last completely crushed the spirit of the Samnites, who, unable to continue the war, were obliged to accept the terms dictated by Romans. The Romans then proved victorious at the Battle of Bovianum and the tide turned strongly against the Samnites from 314 BC onwards, leading them to sue for peace with progressively less generous terms. By 304 BC the Romans had effectively annexed the greater degree of the Samnite territory, founding several colonies. This pattern of meeting aggression in force and almost inadvertently gaining territory in strategic counter-attacks was to become a common feature of Roman military history.

Sources

• Livy, Ab urbe condita 9, 44, 5-16
• Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 20, 90, 3-4