November 218 BC — the Second Punic War
Chapter I · Ad Portas — Ad Portas — the world on the eve.
This month
- Storming of Taurasia — Down from the Alps with an army in rags, Hannibal offers the Taurini friendship, is refused, and takes their chief town in three days. The massacre brings the neighbouring Gauls over. (Polybius 3.60; Livy 21.39)
- Battle of the Ticinus — A cavalry skirmish on the Ticino: the Numidians envelop the Roman horse and the consul Publius Scipio is wounded, saved — the tradition says — by his seventeen-year-old son. Rome falls back behind the Po. (Polybius 3.64–65; Livy 21.46)
- Malta taken by Rome — The consul Sempronius crosses from Lilybaeum and the Punic garrison of two thousand under Hamilcar son of Gisgo surrenders; the island is Roman for the rest of antiquity. (Livy 21.51)
- The African invasion is cancelled — Sempronius is recalled from Lilybaeum to face Hannibal in the north; Carthage will not see a Roman army for fourteen years. (Polybius 3.61; Livy 21.51)
Where the commanders stand
- Philip V of Macedon: In Pella · king of macedon
- Hannibal Barca: Encamped at Taurasia stormed · since Autumn 218 BC
- Publius & Gnaeus Scipio: Winter quarters at Battle of Cissa · 218/17