Battle of Lake Trasimene

In 217 BC Hannibal marched into central Italy and drew the consul Gaius Flaminius after him. He placed his army on the hills above the road along the northern shore of Lake Trasimene, hidden by a morning mist. When the Roman column was strung out between the hills and the water, the Carthaginians attacked from front, flank and rear at once. The Romans could not form a line, and many were cut down or pushed into the lake. Flaminius was among the dead.

The traditional account follows Polybius and Livy, and the exact site of the ambush has been debated for generations, with the northern shore near Tuoro the most widely accepted. The casualty numbers are the ancient writers' and tend to round upward. Archaeology has so far found little to settle the question.