War between Clusium and Aricia
The war between Clusium and Aricia was a military conflict in central Italy that took place around 508 BC.
Porsena then split his forces, and sent part of the Clusian army with his son Aruns to besiege the Latin city of Aricia. According to Livy, Porsena did this so that his military expedition might not appear to have been fruitless.[2]
The Aricians sent for assistance from the Latin League, and also from the Greek city of Cumae. When support arrived, the Arician army ventured beyond the walls of the city and the combined armies met the Clusian forces in battle. According to Livy, the Clusians initially routed the Arician forces, but the Cumaean troops allowed the Clusians to pass by, then attacked them from the rear, gaining victory against the Clusians. Livy says the Clusian army was destroyed.[2]
The Clusian survivors are reported by Livy to have fled to Rome, as supplicants, and were allowed a district in the city to settle, which later became known as the Vicus Tuscus.[2]
Chronology
In Roman tradition, the battle of Aricia happened around the fourth year of the
Alföldi's argument has been attacked by Andrew Gallia, who argues that there was no contemporary writing or tradition behind the Cumaean point of view in the conflict, and that Dionysius's date for the battle of Aricia should not be regarded as more accurate than Livy's.[7] Wiseman was unconvinced by Gallia's arguments and accepted the existence of a Cumaean chronicle narrating the historical period in question.[8]
Endnotes
References
- ISBN 0-415-01596-0.
- Gallia, Andrew B. (2007). "Reassessing the 'Cumaean Chronicle': Greek Chronology and Roman History in Dionysius of Halicarnassus". JSTOR 20430571.
- ISBN 978-0-85989-822-5.