Cannae Cannae Cannae (now Canne della Battaglia) is an ancient village of the Apulia region of south east Italy. It is a "frazione" (civil parish) of the "comune" (municipality) of Barletta, a former bishopric and presently a Latin Catholic titular see. It is situated near the river Aufidus (the modern Ofanto), on a hill on the right (i.e., south) bank, southwest from its mouth, and 9 km southwest from Barletta. It is primarily known for the Battle of Cannae, in which the numerically superior Roman army suffered a disastrous defeat by Hannibal in 216 BC (see Punic Wars). There is a
Gelo, son of Hiero II title of king. Livy asserts that, after the huge defeat suffered by the Romans at Cannae, Gelo was preparing to abandon the alliance of Rome for that of Carthage. According to this account, he began making friendly overtures to the cities allied to Rome and might have convinced the entire island of Sicily to defect to the Carthaginian side, had he not died later in the year of 216 BC. However, this seems quite at variance with the statement of Polybius of his uniform submission to his father's views and may very likely deserve as little credit as Livy's insinuation