Battle of Arretium
283 BCE.
Shown on the map at 43.463°, 11.883°.
The Battle of Arretium, which was probably fought in 284 BC, is a poorly documented event in the history of the Roman Republic because it occurred in a period for which some of the books of the History of Rome by Livy, the most thorough ancient historian for early Rome, have been lost. The battle is only explicitly referred to in a text by Polybius, the ancient Greek historian, which does not give much detail and puts it in the context of other events. A text by Appian talks about these events, but does not make any explicit reference to the Battle of Arretium. It was fought between the Romans and the Gauls of northern Italy, who may have been from the Senone tribe. According to Polybius, unspecified Gauls besieged the city of Arretium (Arezzo, in northeastern Tuscany) and defeated a Roman force which had come to the aid of the city. Their commander, the praetor Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter, died in the battle. This would place the battle in 283 BC because Denter was a consul in 284 BC. In Polybius’ account, Denter was replaced by Manius Curius Dentatus after the battle. Dentatus sent envoys to negotiate the release of Roman hostages, but the envoys were killed.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of Arretium, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.