Cannae (now Canne della Battaglia, ) is an ancient village of the Apulia region of south east

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It is a ''

frazione A ''frazione'' (plural: ) is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' (municipality) in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidate territ ...

'' (civil parish) of the ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces ('' province''). The can ...

'' (municipality) of

Barletta Barletta () is a city, ''comune'' of Apulia, in south eastern Italy. Barletta is the capoluogo, together with Andria and Trani, of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. It has a population of around 94,700 citizens. The city's territory be ...

. Cannae was formerly a bishopric, and is presently (2022) a Latin Catholic

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...

Geography

The commune of Cannae is situated near the river Aufidus (the modern

Ofanto The Ofanto (), known in ancient times as Aufidus or Canna, is a river in southern Italy that flows through the regions of Campania, Basilicata, and Apulia, into the Gulf of Manfredonia near Barletta. Geography The river's source is on the ...

), on a hill on the right (i.e., south) bank, southwest of its mouth, and 9 km southwest of

History

It is primarily known for the

Battle of Cannae The Battle of Cannae () was a key engagement of the Second Punic War between the Roman Republic and Carthage, fought on 2 August 216 BC near the ancient village of Cannae in Apulia, southeast Italy. The Carthaginians and their allies, led by ...

, in which the numerically superior

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 ...

suffered a disastrous defeat by

Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Pu ...

in 216 BC (see

Punic Wars The Punic Wars were a series of wars between 264 and 146BC fought between Rome and Carthage. Three conflicts between these states took place on both land and sea across the western Mediterranean region and involved a total of forty-three ye ...

). There is a considerable controversy as to whether the battle took place on the right or the left bank of the river. In later times the place became a ''municipium'', and the remains of an unimportant Roman town still exist upon the hill known as ''Monte di Canne''. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, probably after the destruction of

Canosa di Puglia Canosa di Puglia, generally known simply as Canosa ( nap, label= Canosino, Canaus), is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, Apulia, southern Italy. It is located between Bari and Foggia, on the northwestern edge of th ...

in the 9th century, it became a

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

, and again saw military action in the second battle of Cannae, twelve centuries after the more famous one (1018). The Byzantine ''katapan'', Basilios Bojoannes, successfully drove off the invading Lombard and Norman army. The town was wrecked in 1083 by

Robert Guiscard Robert Guiscard (; Modern ; – 17 July 1085) was a Norman adventurer remembered for the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily. Robert was born into the Hauteville family in Normandy, went on to become count and then duke of Apulia and Calab ...

, who left only the cathedral and bishop's residence,Benigni, Umberto
"Trani and Barletta."
The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. Retrieved: 26 November 2022. and was ultimately destroyed in 1276.

References

Bibliography

* Berry, Small, Talbert, Elliott, Gillies, Becker, 'Cannae' in ''Pleiades Gazetteer'': http://pleiades.stoa.org/places/442523 * * * Gams, Pius Bonifacius ''Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae'', reprint: Leipzig 1931, pp. 865–866. * * Hammond, N.G.L. & Scullard, H.H. (Eds.) (1970).'' The Oxford Classical Dictionary''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. . p. 201. * Pius VII (1818), "De utiliori," in: ''Bullarii romani continuatio'', Vol. XV, Rome 1853, pp. 56–61.

External links

GCatholic – data on former and titular bishopric
* {{authority control Frazioni of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani Barletta Archaeological sites in Apulia

Geography

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links