Tiberius Sempronius Longus (consul 218 BCE)
Titus Sempronius Longus (c.
260 BC-
210 BC) was a
Roman consul during the
Second Punic War and a contemporary of
Publius Cornelius Scipio. In
218 BC, Sempronius was sent to Africa with 160
quinqueremes to gather forces and supplies, while Scipio was sent to
Iberia to intercept
Hannibal. It was at this time, striking from
Lilybaeum, on the island of
Sicily, that Sempronius Longus captured
Malta from the
Carthaginians.
[ ] Shortly thereafter, with Scipio wounded and pursued by Hannibal's forces after the
Battle of Ticinus, the
Senate sent for Tiberius Sempronius Longus. Upon his arrival in December, and reportedly against Scipio's advice, Sempronius Longus led an ambitious attack at the
Battle of the Trebia. His army charged into a trap and was
enveloped by the forces of Hannibal's brother,
Mago. Although it was a crushing Roman defeat, Tiberius Sempronius Longus and a force of 10,000
infantrymen fought their way through the rear Carthaginian lines and to safety.
In January of 217 BC Sempronius Longus returned to Rome to oversee the elections for the new consuls.
He was succeeded by
Gaius Flaminius Nepos and returned to his army at their winter encampment.
[Ibid. Book XXI, section 63.]In 215 BC, Sempronius fought
Hanno at
Grumentum. Sempronius' army killed 2,000 enemy men and captured 280 more, pushing Hanno out of
Lucania back to
Bruttium and allowing the towns of Vercellium, Vescellium, and Sicilinum to be recaptured for Rome.
[Ibid. Book XXIII, section 37.] In 194 BC, his son,
Tiberius Sempronius Longus, became consul and supervised the migration of Roman colonists in Gaul.
[Ibid. Book XXXIV, section 42.]*
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