ORDER OF BATTLE // -214 BCE
Battle of Cornus
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 37,000 estimated
Roman Republic
22,000
Medium-confidence figure
Carthage
15,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The Battle of Cornus ended a Carthaginian attempt to exploit an internal revolt against Roman rule in Sardinia during the Second Punic War. A Carthaginian army under Hasdrubal the Bald had sailed to the island to support the local insurgency led by Hampsicora, opening a potential second front against Rome at a moment when Carthaginian forces under Hannibal were active in Italy. The Roman praetor Titus Manlius Torquatus met this force near Sestu and Decimomannu, north of Caralis, and destroyed it: Carthaginian casualties reached 13,500 out of a force of 15,000. A subsequent Roman naval engagement south of Sardinia scattered the Carthaginian fleet, eliminating both the land and sea components of the expedition. The double defeat closed off Sardinia as an operational theater, securing Roman control of the island and denying Carthage a base from which to threaten Roman communications and supply in the western Mediterranean.
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