Era I · to AD 476
Antiquity
From Marathon in 490 BC to Chrysopolis in AD 324, these are the battles of hoplites, legions, war elephants and oared warships. Greece turned back the Persian invasions, Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, and Rome fought Carthage for mastery of the Mediterranean.
35 battles ยท 21 commanders
Image: The Battle of the Milvian Bridge, Giulio Romano (Raphael workshop), 1520 to 1524, Vatican Museums. Public domain.
Where the battles were fought
Every battle of the era with a story in the Field Dispatch. Tap a dot to read it.
Europe in close-up
Basemap: Natural Earth, public domain. Modern coastlines.
The battles in order
- 490 BCBattle of Marathon
About 10,000 hoplites charged at a run and lost 192 men to some 6,400 Persians, says Herodotus. Tactics, map, run myth.
- 480 BCBattle of Salamis
How a smaller Greek fleet lured Persia's navy into a strait and shattered it, saving Greek civilization weeks after Thermopylae.
- 480 BCBattle of Thermopylae
Some 7,000 Greeks under Leonidas held the Hot Gates until a mountain path was betrayed.
- 479 BCBattle of Plataea
In 479 BC the largest Greek army ever assembled crushed the Persians under Mardonius at Plataea, ending Xerxes' invasion of Greece for good.
- 333 BCBattle of Issus
In 333 BC Alexander charged straight at Darius III on a cramped plain in southern Turkey. The king fled, his family was taken and the road to Egypt opened.
- 331 BCBattle of Gaugamela
Alexander the Great won at Gaugamela on 1 October 331 BC, routing the far larger army of Darius III in northern Iraq. The armies, chariots and dead.
- 326 BCBattle of the Hydaspes
In 326 BC Alexander the Great crossed the flooded Hydaspes river in a storm and defeated King Porus and his war elephants in the Punjab.
- 260 BCBattle of Mylae
In 260 BC the consul Duilius beat Carthage's fleet off Mylae in Sicily: the first Roman fleet, the corvus boarding bridge, the ships lost and the column.
- 256 BCBattle of Cape Ecnomus
In 256 BC Rome sailed to invade Africa and met Carthage's fleet off Sicily. Who won at Cape Ecnomus, how the wedge worked, the losses and the doubts.
- 255 BCBattle of Tunis
In 255 BC the Spartan Xanthippus led Carthage's elephants and cavalry against Regulus near Tunis: how the Roman army died, the numbers and the legend.
- 250 BCBattle of Panormus
In 250 BC Metellus lured Hasdrubal's elephants to a trench under the walls of Panormus, modern Palermo: the trap, the stampede, the captured herd, the triumph.
- 249 BCBattle of Drepana
In 249 BC the consul Claudius Pulcher attacked Carthage's fleet at Drepana and lost 93 ships. Who won, the sacred chickens story and what the defeat cost Rome.
- 241 BCBattle of the Aegates Islands
On 10 March 241 BC a Roman fleet paid for by private loans caught Carthage's laden relief fleet off Sicily: the battle, the losses, the peace and the rams.
- 219 BCSiege of Saguntum (219 BC)
In 219 BC Hannibal besieged Saguntum for eight months. Why he attacked, whether the city was Rome's ally, how it fell and why it started the Second Punic War.
- 218 BCBattle of the Ticinus
In autumn 218 BC Hannibal's cavalry routed the consul Scipio near the Ticinus. Why they met, how the Numidians won it, and who saved the wounded consul.
- 218 BCBattle of the Trebia
In December 218 BC Hannibal lured a Roman army across the icy Trebia river and destroyed it, his first great victory in Italy in the Second Punic War.
- 217 BCBattle of Lake Trasimene
In June 217 BC Hannibal trapped a Roman army in morning mist at Lake Trasimene and destroyed it in hours, killing the consul Flaminius. Step by step.
- 216 BCBattle of Cannae
His double envelopment destroyed a Roman army of about 86,000. The armies, the dead and why he never marched on Rome.
- 209 BCSiege of New Carthage (209 BC)
In 209 BC Scipio stormed New Carthage, Carthage's capital in Spain, in a single day. How his men crossed the lagoon, who defended it and why it mattered.
- 208 BCBattle of Baecula
In 208 BC Scipio stormed Hasdrubal Barca's hill at Baecula in Spain, yet Hasdrubal escaped to Italy. How it was fought, who won, and where archaeology puts it.
- 207 BCBattle of the Metaurus
Nero's secret march let two consuls destroy Hasdrubal's army before it reached Hannibal. The letter and the battle.
- 206 BCBattle of Ilipa
In 206 BC Scipio reversed his battle line at Ilipa near Seville and broke Carthage's last army in Spain. Who won, how the maneuver worked and what came next.
- 203 BCBattle of the Great Plains
In 203 BC Scipio routed Carthage and King Syphax on the Great Plains of Tunisia. Who won, the Celtiberians' last stand and how the battle led to Zama.
- 202 BCBattle of Zama
In 202 BC Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at Zama, ending the Second Punic War and setting Rome on the road to mastery of the Mediterranean.
- 146 BCSiege of Carthage
From 149 to 146 BC Rome besieged and razed Carthage. Why the Third Punic War began, how Scipio Aemilianus took the city, the cost, and the salt myth.
- 52 BCBattle of Alesia
How Julius Caesar trapped Vercingetorix at Alesia in 52 BC behind a double ring of siege walls, beat off a huge relief army, and won all of Gaul for Rome.
- 48 BCBattle of Pharsalus
On 9 August 48 BC Julius Caesar's outnumbered army crushed Pompey the Great at Pharsalus in Greece, deciding Rome's civil war.
- 42 BCBattle of Philippi
In October 42 BC Mark Antony and Octavian defeated Caesar's assassins Brutus and Cassius at Philippi, the death of the Roman Republic.
- 31 BCBattle of Actium
On 2 September 31 BC Octavian's fleet crushed Antony and Cleopatra at Actium, ending the Roman Republic and clearing the path to the age of emperors.
- AD 9Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
Arminius's tribes destroyed three Roman legions under Varus in the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9. The ambush, the dead and why Rome stopped at the Rhine.
- AD 208Battle of Red Cliffs
Sun Quan and Liu Bei beat Cao Cao's far larger army at Red Cliffs in AD 208 when Huang Gai sent fire ships into his fleet. Why China stayed divided.
- AD 218Battle of Antioch
Legions backing the 14-year-old Elagabalus beat Emperor Macrinus, who fled in disguise and was hunted down in Asia Minor.
- AD 312Battle of the Milvian Bridge
In AD 312 Constantine beat Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge outside Rome, a victory that set Rome on the road to Christianity.
- AD 324Battle of Chrysopolis
Constantine defeats Licinius on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, reunites the empire and founds Constantinople.
- AD 378Battle of Adrianople
Fritigern's Goths destroyed Valens's eastern Roman army near Edirne. Armies, the battle, Valens's death and legacy.
Wars and nations
Wars of this era
Each war told in full: its causes, its course and all its battles in the Field Dispatch.
- Greco-Persian Wars 499 BC to 449 BC
- Wars of Alexander the Great 336 BC to 323 BC
- Punic Wars 264 BC to 146 BC
- Roman civil wars 88 BC to AD 324
Nations
Countries and peoples that fought the battles of this era, by number of battles. Each page tells that country's military history across every era.
Test yourself
This era in the app
Echoes of Battle tells the battles of this era on the real map, with a quiz, and many of them as story scenes. The app is in closed testing: enlist below and we will send word to your inbox the day it launches.