The Battle of Veii, also known as the Siege of Veii, was a battle involving

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

, approximately dated at 396 BC. The main source about it is

Livy Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...

's ''

Ab Urbe Condita ''Ab urbe condita'' ( 'from the founding of the City'), or ''anno urbis conditae'' (; 'in the year since the city's founding'), abbreviated as AUC or AVC, expresses a date in years since 753 BC, the traditional founding of Rome. It is an ex ...

''. The Battle of Veii was the final battle between the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, who were led by

Marcus Furius Camillus Marcus Furius Camillus (; c. 446 – 365 BC) was a Roman soldier and statesman of the patrician class. According to Livy and Plutarch, Camillus triumphed four times, was five times dictator, and was honoured with the title of ''Second Founder ...

, who had been elected

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in time ...

, and the Etruscan city of

Veii Veii (also Veius; it, Veio) was an important ancient Etruscan civilization, Etruscan city situated on the southern limits of Etruria and north-northwest of Rome, Italy. It now lies in Isola Farnese, in the Comuni of the Province of Rome, comune ...

. Veii had resisted the Romans in a long and inconclusive war with victories and defeats on both sides. The Romans besieged Veii and dug a tunnel beneath the city. Camillus attacked the city on all sides so as to distract the Veientines. The Romans then emerged from the tunnel and their forces quickly overwhelmed Veii.

The Siege

The

were led by

, elected ''

'' (in the Roman Republic, this was an emergency general rather than a tyrant) after Rome had suffered defeats. Their opponent, the Etruscan city of

, was a large city about 16 km (10 miles) from

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. When Camillus took over command, Veii was under siege, and the Veientines had already destroyed a large quantity of siege equipment prepared by the Romans. In order to break into the city, the Romans dug a tunnel through the soft

tufa Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of water in unheated rivers or lakes. Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less porous) carbonate deposits, which are known as travertin ...

rock on which the city was built.

describes the scene with the Veientines holed up in their city, the main Roman force encamped outside and a second force set to attack from within via the tunnel. After Camillus had taken the

auspices Augury is the practice from ancient Roman religion of interpreting omens from the observed behavior of birds. When the individual, known as the augur, interpreted these signs, it is referred to as "taking the auspices". "Auspices" ( Latin ''aus ...

, he had uttered the following prayer:

Pythian Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
, guided and inspired by thy will I go forth to destroy the city of Veii, and a tenth part of its spoils I devote to thee. Thee too, Queen Juno, who now dwellest in Veii, I beseech, that thou wouldst follow us, after our victory, to the City which is ours and which will soon be thine, where a temple worthy of thy majesty will receive thee.

Relying on the superior size of the

Roman army The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval contin ...

, Camillus attacked the city on all sides. The intent of Camillus' attack was to distract the Veientines from the mine by forcing their soldiers to defend the walls. The Veientines wondered "what had happened to make the Romans, after never stirring from their lines for so many days, now run recklessly up to the walls as though struck with sudden frenzy".From the Founding of the City by Livy. Book 5: The Veii and the Destruction of Rome by the Gauls. Translation by Rev. Canon Roberts (1905) https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/From_the_Founding_of_the_City/Book_5#21 As the unsuspecting Veientines rushed to defend their walls from the sudden attack of the Roman army, picked Roman troops emerged from the entrance of the tunnel inside the temple of Juno. They quickly overwhelmed the Veientines and began a general massacre. As the fighting slackened, Camillus gave orders to spare the unarmed who began to surrender as the soldiers gathered loot. The wealth so impressed Camillus that he gave a speech, during which he turned and stumbled, which was seen to be an omen of his later condemnation and the sack of Rome, which followed a few years later after the

Battle of the Allia The Battle of the Allia was a battle fought between the Senones – a Gallic tribe led by Brennus, who had invaded Northern Italy – and the Roman Republic. The battle was fought at the confluence of the Tiber and Allia rivers, 11 Roman ...

. The survivors were enslaved. The city was subsequently repopulated by Romans. This destruction of the Etruscan stronghold secured Rome's growing place in central Italy.

References

Bibliography

;Primary sources * (print: ''Book 1 as The Rise of Rome,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

, 1998, '') ;Secondary sources *

396 BC

4th century BC in the Roman Republic 390s BC conflicts Veii {{AncientRome-battle-stub