March 203 BC — the Second Punic War
Chapter VI · The ring closes — Metaurus & Ilipa — the ring closes.
This month
- Burning of the camps — Under cover of peace talks Scipio’s envoys have counted the reed huts of Syphax’s camp. On a spring night Laelius and Masinissa fire it, and Scipio fires Hasdrubal’s; the armies of Carthage burn in their sleep. (Polybius 14.1–5; Livy 30.3–6)
Where the commanders stand
- Philip V of Macedon: In Pella · king of macedon
- Syphax: Encamped at the camps before Utica · since Summer 204 BC
- Masinissa: Encamped at Scipio’s camp before Utica · since Summer 204 BC
- Hasdrubal son of Gisco: Encamped at the camps before Utica · since Summer 204 BC
- Mago Barca: Operating in the region of Savo and the Ligurian hills · 2nd year
- Q. Fabius Maximus: In Rome · princeps senatus
- Hannibal Barca: Operating in the region of the Bruttian redoubt · 4th year
- Publius Cornelius Scipio: Encamped at the burning of the camps · since Spring 203 BC
- Hasdrubal Barca: fell here, June 207 BC
- M. Claudius Marcellus: fell here, June 208 BC
- Publius & Gnaeus Scipio: fell here, June 211 BC