Battle of Silva Litana the Romans postponed military operations against the Gauls until the conclusion of the Second Punic War. In 216 BC, the Romans elected Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro as consuls. The consuls gave a legion to Lucius Postumius Albinus to punish the Gallic tribes in Cisalpine Gaul that had supplied troops to Hannibal's Carthaginian army. After Hannibal's crushing victory at the Battle of Cannae, Postumius was elected Roman consul for the third time and "in absentia", since he was in command of the Roman legion in Cisalpine Gaul. Postumius' army strength was increased to two Roman legions and he
Ancient history not to be confused with "Classical Antiquity". The term classical antiquity is often used to refer to Western History in the Ancient Mediterranean from the beginning of recorded Greek history in 776 BC (First Olympiad). This roughly coincides with the traditional date of the founding of Rome in 753 BC, the beginning of the history of ancient Rome, and the beginning of the Archaic period in Ancient Greece. The academic term "history" is additionally not to be confused with colloquial references to times past. History is fundamentally the study of the past through documents, and can be either scientific (archaeology)