The Battle of Placentia was fought in 271 between a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

army led by Emperor

Aurelian Aurelian ( la, Lucius Domitius Aurelianus; 9 September 214 October 275) was a Roman emperor, who reigned during the Crisis of the Third Century, from 270 to 275. As emperor, he won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited t ...

and the

Juthungi The Juthungi (Greek: ''Iouthungoi'', Latin: ''Iuthungi'') were a Germanic peoples, Germanic tribe in the region north of the rivers Danube and Altmühl in what is now the modern German state of Bavaria. The tribe was mentioned by the Roman Empire ...

tribe, near modern

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

Background

Since the winter of 270, the Roman army had been occupied with repulsing a

Vandal The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...

invasion at the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

frontier. The expedition was ultimately successful, however, the Juthungi tribe seized the opportunity by invading

Italia 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 re ...

, counting on the absence of the

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 ...

. Emperor Aurelian, who was in

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now wes ...

with an army to control the withdrawal of the Vandals, hastily moved into Italia but, as he approached

Mediolanum Mediolanum, the ancient city where Milan now stands, was originally an Insubrian city, but afterwards became an important Roman city in northern Italy. The city was settled by the Insubres around 600 BC, conquered by the Romans in 222 BC, and d ...

, he received news that the enemy was already moving south-east, after sacking Placentia. According to the Anonymous

Continuator A continuator, in literature, is a writer who creates a new work based on someone else's prior text, such as a novel or novel fragment. The new work may complete the older work (as with the numerous continuations of Jane Austen's unfinished novel ...

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

,Potter (2004), p.645. he immediately sent them a message demanding their surrender, which they rejected by saying that if he wanted to challenge them they would show him how a free people could fight.

The battle

The Juthungi surprised the exhausted Roman army in an ambush at a wooded area near Placentia, and the Roman army was defeated by the barbarians.Watson (1999), p.50.

Aftermath

The news of this humiliating defeat produced two short-lived military revolts. The Juthungi continued to move on

Via Emilia The ( it, Via Emilia; en, Aemilian Way) was a trunk Roman road in the north Italian plain, running from ''Ariminum'' (Rimini), on the Adriatic coast, to ''Placentia'' (Piacenza) on the river ''Padus'' ( Po). It was completed in 187 BC. The ' ...

towards

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

.Potter (2004), p.269. Since no remarkable military force was left between the invaders and the capital, panic spread through the city, which had grown far beyond its old walls. According to ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the sim ...

'', the

Sibylline Books The ''Sibylline Books'' ( la, Libri Sibyllini) were a collection of oracular utterances, set out in Greek hexameters, that, according to tradition, were purchased from a sibyl by the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, and were consulted at mo ...

were consulted, and religious ceremonies were performed to call for the gods' help.Watson (1999), p. 51. The Romans escaped disaster when Emperor Aurelian soundly defeated the Juthungi at the

Battle of Fano The Battle of Fano, also known as the Battle of Fanum Fortunae,Michael Grant, The History of Rome, p. 285 was fought in 271 between the Roman Empire and the Juthungi. The Romans, led by Emperor Aurelian, were victorious. Background Aurelian h ...

, leading to great celebration throughout the city.

References

Bibliography

* * {{cite book , last=Watson , first=Alaric , title=Aurelian and the Third Century, orig-year=1999 , year=2004 , publisher=Routledge , isbn=0-415-10057-7 Placentia 271 Crisis of the Third Century Placentia 271 Placentia 271 3rd century in Italy 271 Placentia Aurelian