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159-625: Mateba , a contraction of the Italian words Ma cchine Te rmo- Ba listiche (Thermo-Ballistic Machines), was an Italian machine manufacturer based in Pavia, Italy . It is better known for its low-barrelled revolver pistols that it produced under the leadership of Emilio Ghisoni . After a change in ownership and poor sales, the Mateba company closed in 2005, but reopened in 2014 in Montebelluna under

318-488: A banquet meant to negotiate a peace between the two rulers. With the establishment of the Ostrogoth kingdom based in northern Italy, Theoderic began his vast program of public building. Pavia was among several cities that Theodoric chose to restore and expand. He began the construction of the vast palace complex that would eventually become the residence of Lombard monarchs several decades later. Theoderic also commissioned

477-678: A business supplying electrical materials, the Einstein. The Einsteins lived in the city in the same building ( Palazzo Cornazzani ) where Ugo Foscolo and Ada Negri had lived. The young Albert came to the family several times between 1895 and 1896. During his time in Italy he wrote a short essay with the title "On the Investigation of the State of the Ether in a Magnetic Field". In 1943 Pavia

636-743: A close collaborator of William the Conqueror and, after the Norman conquest of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom, reorganizer of the English church. Pavia remained the capital of the Italian Kingdom and the centre of royal coronations until the diminution of imperial authority there in the 12th century. In 1004, Holy Roman Emperor Henry II bloodily suppressed a revolt of the citizens of Pavia, who disputed his recent coronation as King of Italy . In

795-473: A collection of clay votive offerings donated by Pope Pius XI ) and Roman (some from Pompeii ). The Natural History Museum of the University (Kosmos), housed inside Palazzo Botta Adorno , is one of the oldest in Italy, it was in fact founded by Lazzaro Spallanzani in 1771 and which preserves a naturalistic heritage of high scientific and historical value, including nearly 400,000 finds divided between

954-484: A considerable distance south of the River Ebro, and claimed the city as its protectorate . Hannibal not only perceived this as a breach of the treaty signed with Hasdrubal, but as he was already planning an attack on Rome, this was his way to start the war. So he laid siege to the city , which fell after eight months. Hannibal sent the booty from Saguntum to Carthage, a shrewd move which gained him much support from

1113-470: A crosier in elephantine ivory carved, painted and gilded made by a Sicilian workshop by the hand of Arab craftsmen and dating back to the end of the 12th century), sculptures and paintings, such as the panel of the Madonna della Misericordia by Lorenzo Fasolo . The history of the municipality of Pavia, from the tenth to the twentieth century, can be told through the amount of documentation collected within

1272-570: A culturally rich period due to the presence of leading scientists and humanists like Ugo Foscolo , Alessandro Volta , Lazzaro Spallanzani , and Camillo Golgi , among others. In 1796, after the Jacobins demolished Regisole (a bronze classical equestrian monument), the inhabitants of Pavia revolted against the French and the revolt was quelled by Napoleon after a furious urban fight. In 1814, it again came under Austrian administration. In 1818

1431-523: A few of the Italian city-states that he had expected to gain as allies defected to him. The war in Italy settled into a strategic stalemate. The Romans used the attritional strategy that Fabius had taught them, which, they finally realized, was the only feasible means of defeating Hannibal. Fabius received the name "Cunctator" ("the Delayer") because of his policy of not meeting Hannibal in open battle, but through attrition. The Romans deprived Hannibal of

1590-582: A herd of cattle and drive them up the heights nearby. Some of the Romans, seeing a moving column of lights, were tricked into believing it was the Carthaginian army marching to escape along the heights. As they moved off in pursuit of this decoy, Hannibal managed to move his army in complete silence through the dark lowlands and up to an unguarded pass. Fabius himself was within striking distance but in this case his caution worked against him, as rightly sensing

1749-406: A lack of commitment from Carthage of men, money, and material—principally siege equipment. Whatever the reason, the choice prompted Maharbal to say, "Hannibal, you know how to gain a victory, but not how to use one." As a result of this victory, many parts of Italy joined Hannibal's cause. As Polybius notes, "How much more serious was the defeat of Cannae, than those that preceded it can be seen by

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1908-414: A large-scale battle and instead assaulted his weakening army with multiple smaller armies in an attempt to both weary him and create unrest in his troops. For the next few years, Hannibal was forced to sustain a scorched earth policy and obtain local provisions for protracted and ineffectual operations throughout southern Italy. His immediate objectives were reduced to minor operations centred mainly around

2067-570: A legacy of the city's prestigious past, divided into several museums. The Pavia Civic Museums (located, in the Visconti Castle ) are divided into various sections: Archaeological, which preserves one of the richest collections of Roman glass in northern Italy and important artifacts and archeological finds of Lombard period, such as the plutei of Teodota and the collection (the largest in Italy) of Lombard epigraphs, some of which belong to

2226-602: A method to demonstrate their piety and their wealth by extravagantly decorating these structures which in many cases would become the site of that person's tomb, as in the case of Grimoald (r. 662–671) who built San Ambrogio in Pavia and buried there after his death in 671. Aripert I had the basilica of Santissimo Salvatore built in 657, which became the mausoleum of the kings of the Bavarian dynasty . Perctarit (r. 661–662, 672–688) and his son Cunicpert (r.679–700) built

2385-583: A northern front and subduing allied city-states on the peninsula, rather than by attacking Rome directly. Historical events that led to the defeat of Carthage during the First Punic War when his father commanded the Carthaginian Army also led Hannibal to plan the invasion of Italy by land across the Alps. The task involved the mobilization of between 60,000 and 100,000 troops and the training of

2544-519: A nunnery and a church at Pavia during their reigns. Lombard churches were sometimes named after those who commissioned their construction, such as San Maria Theodota in Pavia. The monastery of San Michele alla Pusterla located at Pavia was the royal monastery of the Lombard kings. One of the most famous churches built by a Lombard king in Pavia is the church San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro . This famous church

2703-437: A peasant woman with the few ingredients at her disposal (broth, eggs and cheese) to feed the king of France Francis I after the disastrous defeat at the gates of the city. Hannibal Hannibal ( / ˈ h æ n ɪ b əl / ; Punic : 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋 , romanized:  Ḥanībaʿl ; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against

2862-400: A province in the shape of a bunch of grapes , as it was defined by Gianni Brera , there are many fruits that this land offers and which are the origin of various local dishes. The wealth of springs and waterways have made Pavia, and its territory, one of the main Italian centers for the production of rice, it is therefore no coincidence that there are numerous recipes that allow you to discover

3021-696: A region corresponding with the Mediterranean coasts of modern Lebanon and Syria. There is a lesser supported theory that he was born in Malta , at the time, a part of Carthage. He had several sisters whose names are unknown, and two brothers, Hasdrubal and Mago . His brothers-in-law were Hasdrubal the Fair and the Numidian king Naravas . He was still a child when his sisters married, and his brothers-in-law were close associates during his father's struggles in

3180-687: A reputation as a place to have a "good time," as witness the Archpoet 's famous comments of 1163. In the following centuries Pavia was an important and active town. Pavia supported the emperor Frederick II against the Lombard League and the Pavese army took part in numerous operations in the service of the emperor and participated in the battle of Cortenuova in 1237. Under the Treaty of Pavia , Emperor Louis IV granted during his stay in Italy

3339-516: A rich frame, on top of which there is a mask with a crown count and often flanked by two angels holding the shield and the letters CO-PP (Comunitas Papie). The seal of the municipality depicts the Regisole , an ancient late antique bronze equestrian statue originally placed inside the Royal Palace and, probably in the 11th century, placed in the cathedral square. The statue was pulled down by

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3498-526: A treaty with Rome whereby Carthage would not expand north of the Ebro so long as Rome did not expand south of it. Hasdrubal also endeavoured to consolidate Carthaginian power through diplomatic relationships with the native tribes of Iberia and native Berbers of the North African coasts. Upon the assassination of Hasdrubal in 221 BC, Hannibal, now 26 years old, was proclaimed commander-in-chief by

3657-431: A trick he stayed put. Thus, Hannibal managed to stealthily escape with his entire army intact. What Hannibal achieved in extricating his army was, as Adrian Goldsworthy puts it, "a classic of ancient generalship, finding its way into nearly every historical narrative of the war and being used by later military manuals". This was a severe blow to Fabius' prestige and soon after this his period of dictatorial power ended. For

3816-632: A war of attrition (the Fabian strategy ). Carthaginian defeats in Hispania prevented Hannibal from being reinforced, and he was unable to win a decisive victory. A counter-invasion of North Africa, led by the Roman general Scipio Africanus , forced him to return to Carthage. Hannibal was eventually defeated at the Battle of Zama , ending the war in a Roman victory. After the war, Hannibal successfully ran for

3975-480: A war-elephant corps, all of which had to be provisioned along the way. The alpine invasion of Italy was a military operation that would shake the Mediterranean World of 218 BC with repercussions for more than two decades. Hannibal's perilous march brought him into the Roman territory and frustrated the attempts of the enemy to fight out the main issue on foreign ground. His sudden appearance among

4134-538: A woman from Castulo , a powerful Spanish city closely allied with Carthage. The Roman epic poet Silius Italicus names her as Imilce . Silius suggests a Greek origin for Imilce, but Gilbert Charles-Picard argued for a Punic heritage based on an etymology from the Semitic root m-l-k ('chief, the 'king'). Silius also suggests the existence of a son, who is otherwise not attested by Livy, Polybius, or Appian . The son may have been named Haspar or Aspar, although this

4293-454: A wooden bridge he had built over the river Ticinum, on his way to search for Hannibal , who was rumoured to have managed to lead an army over the Alps and into Italy. The forces of Rome and Carthage ran into each other soon thereafter, and the Romans suffered the first of many crushing defeats at the hands of Hannibal, with the consul himself almost losing his life. The bridge was destroyed, but

4452-621: Is disputed. After he assumed command, Hannibal spent two years consolidating his holdings and completing the conquest of Hispania, south of the Ebro. In his first campaign, Hannibal attacked and stormed the Olcades ' strongest centre, Alithia, which promptly led to their surrender, and brought Punic power close to the River Tagus . His following campaign in 220 BC was against the Vaccaei to

4611-664: Is little information, but, again in the eighth century, a Jewish community was also present in Pavia: Alcuin of York recalls a religious disputation that took place in the city between 750 and 766 between the Jew Julius of Pavia and the Christian Peter of Pisa. Emperor Lothair I , king of Italy from 822 to 850, paid attention to schools when in 825 he issued his capitulary by means of which he prescribed that students from many towns of north Italy had to attend

4770-621: Is located in the cathedral's crypt. The third and largest tomb of the three located in San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro contains the remains of St. Augustine of Hippo . St. Augustine is the early fifth-century Christian writer from Roman North Africa whose works such as On Christian Doctrine revolutionized the way in which the Christian scripture is interpreted and understood. On October 1, 1695, artisans working in San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro rediscovered St. Augustine's remains after lifting up some of

4929-444: Is often argued that, if Hannibal had received proper material reinforcements from Carthage, he might have succeeded with a direct attack upon Rome. Instead, he had to content himself with subduing the fortresses that still held out against him, and the only other notable event of 216 BC was the defection of certain Italian territories, including Capua , the second largest city of Italy, which Hannibal made his new base. However, only

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5088-703: Is the episcopal seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Pavia . The city possesses many artistic and cultural treasures, including several important churches and museums , such as the well known Certosa di Pavia . The municipality of Pavia is part of the Parco naturale lombardo della Valle del Ticino (a Nature reserve included by UNESCO in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves ) and preserves two forests ( Strict nature reserve Bosco Siro Negri and Bosco Grande nature reserve ) that they show us

5247-548: The Adriatic Sea and because of its defence structures. In 325 Martin of Tours came to Pavia as a child following his father, a Roman officer. Pavia was the seat of an important Roman mint between 273 and 326. The reign of Romulus Augustulus (r. 475–476), the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire ended at Pavia in 476 CE, and Roman rule thereby ceased in Italy. Romulus Augustulus, while considered

5406-563: The Battle of Carrhae against the Parthian Empire . Hannibal had now disposed of the only field force that could check his advance upon Rome. He realized that without siege engines , he could not hope to take the capital. He opted to exploit his victory by entering into central and southern Italy and encouraging a general revolt against the sovereign power. The Romans appointed Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus as their dictator. Departing from Roman military traditions, Fabius adopted

5565-612: The Battle of Magnesia and was forced to accept Rome's terms, and Hannibal fled again, making a stop in the Kingdom of Armenia . His flight ended in the court of Bithynia . He was betrayed to the Romans and committed suicide by poisoning himself. Hannibal is considered one of the greatest military tacticians and generals of Western antiquity, alongside Alexander the Great , Cyrus the Great , Julius Caesar , Scipio Africanus , and Pyrrhus . According to Plutarch , Scipio asked Hannibal "who

5724-738: The Consolation of Philosophy . Pavia played an important role in the war between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ostrogoths that began in 535. After the Eastern Roman general Belisarius 's victory over the Ostrogothic leader Wittigis in 540 and the loss of most of the Ostrogoth lands in Italy, Pavia was among the last centres of Ostrogothic resistance that continued the war and opposed Eastern Roman rule. After

5883-749: The Electorate of the Palatinate to his brother Duke Rudolph's descendants. Pavia held out against the domination of Milan , finally yielding to the Visconti family, rulers of that city in 1359 after a difficult siege; under the Visconti Pavia became an intellectual and artistic centre, being the seat from 1361 of the University of Pavia founded around the nucleus of the old school of law, which attracted students from many countries. During

6042-535: The Gauls of the Po Valley, moreover, enabled him to detach those tribes from their new allegiance to the Romans before the Romans could take steps to check the rebellion. Publius Cornelius Scipio was the consul who commanded the Roman force sent to intercept Hannibal. He was also the father of Scipio Africanus. He had not expected Hannibal to make an attempt to cross the Alps, since the Romans were prepared to fight

6201-675: The Girolamo Cardano University of Pavia, while, probably in 1511, Leonardo da Vinci studied anatomy together with Marcantonio della Torre , professor of anatomy at the university. In 1597, by the will of Philip II of Spain, the Jewish community of Pavia had to abandon the city. During the Franco-Spanish war , Pavia was besieged from 24 July to 14 September 1655 by a large French, Savoyard and Estense army commanded by Thomas Francis, prince of Carignano , but

6360-517: The Jacobins in 1796. The Pavia municipality falls in the orographic system of the Po Valley formed after the alluvial filling of the wide of the gulf occupied by the Adriatic Sea before the Quaternary . A large part of the historic city center is located on the edge of the river Ticino . The city occupies an area of 62.86 km (24.27 sq mi) west of Lombardy , located along

6519-614: The Matterhorn . Stanford geoarchaeologist Patrick Hunt argues that Hannibal took the Col de Clapier mountain pass, claiming the Clapier most accurately met ancient depictions of the route: wide view of Italy, pockets of year-round snow, and a large campground. Other scholars have doubts, proposing that Hannibal took the easier route across Petit Mount Cenis. Hunt responds to this by proposing that Hannibal's Celtic guides purposefully misguided

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6678-808: The Mercenary War and the Punic conquest of the Iberian Peninsula . After Carthage's defeat in the First Punic War , Hamilcar set out to improve his family's and Carthage's fortunes. With that in mind and supported by Gades , Hamilcar began the subjugation of the tribes of the Iberian Peninsula (Modern Spain and Portugal). Carthage at the time was in such a poor state that it lacked a navy able to transport his army; instead, Hamilcar had to march his forces across Numidia towards

6837-566: The Pavia cathedral from 1497 is also exhibited inside the picture gallery. The university's museum network is very vast, consisting of the University History Museum of the University of Pavia, divided between the Section of Medicine, where anatomical and pathological preparations, surgical instruments are also exhibited (the surgical paraphernalia of Giovanni Alessandro Brambilla ) and life-size anatomical waxes, made by

6996-517: The Pillars of Hercules and then cross the Strait of Gibraltar . According to Polybius , Hannibal much later said that when he came upon his father and begged to go with him, Hamilcar agreed and demanded that Hannibal swear that he would never be a friend of Rome as long as he lived. There is even an account of him at a very young age (9 years old) begging his father to take him to an overseas war. In

7155-531: The Ponte Coperto . The humidity of the area is quite high (75–80% is the annual average), and this causes the typical fog, starting mainly during late autumn and winter. Pavia's most famous landmark is the Certosa , or Carthusian monastery, founded in 1396 and located eight kilometres (5.0 miles) north of the city. Among other notable structures are: Pavia possesses a remarkable artistic treasure,

7314-598: The Roman Republic during the Second Punic War . Hannibal's father, Hamilcar Barca , was a leading Carthaginian general during the First Punic War . His younger brothers were Mago and Hasdrubal ; his brother-in-law was Hasdrubal the Fair , who commanded other Carthaginian armies. Hannibal lived during a period of great tension in the Mediterranean Basin , triggered by the emergence of

7473-435: The Times Higher Education among the top 10 in Italy and among the 300 best in the world ), which together with the IUSS (Institute for Advanced Studies of Pavia), Ghislieri College , Borromeo College , Nuovo College, Santa Caterina College, and the Istituto per il Diritto allo Studio (EDiSU), belongs to the Pavia Study System. The 15th-century Policlinico San Matteo is one of the most important hospitals in Italy. Pavia

7632-430: The Visconti court from 1365 to 1413. Pavia is the capital of the fertile province of Pavia , which is known for a variety of agricultural products, including wine , rice , cereals, and dairy products. Although there are a number of industries located in the suburbs, these tend not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the town. It is home to the ancient University of Pavia (founded in 1361 and recognized in 2022 by

7791-443: The diocese of Pavia since the tenth century. The Centro per gli studi sulla tradizione manoscritta di autori moderni e contemporanei (Formerly the "Research Center on the Manuscript Tradition of Modern and Contemporary Authors", also known as the "Manuscript Center"), founded by Maria Corti in 1980, is responsible for the conservation and to the study of modern and contemporary archival and bibliographic heritage. The center, among

7950-495: The strategy named after him , avoiding open battle while placing several Roman armies in Hannibal's vicinity in order to watch and limit his movements. Hannibal ravaged Apulia but was unable to bring Fabius to battle, so he decided to march through Samnium to Campania , one of the richest and most fertile provinces of Italy, hoping that the devastation would draw Fabius into battle. Fabius closely followed Hannibal's path of destruction, yet still refused to let himself be drawn out of

8109-440: The university (then the only one of all the Duchy of Milan ) to promising young people, but with scarce economic resources. In 1754, by the will of Empress Maria Theresa , the Biblioteca Universitaria was created, the most important in terms of book heritage in the city, which also preserves 1,404 manuscripts, 702 incunabula , 1,153 parchments (from 1103 to 1787), the 3,592 old prints, and 1,287 old geographical maps. In 1887

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8268-406: The 12th century, Pavia acquired the status of a self-governing commune . In the political division between Guelphs and Ghibellines that characterized the Italian Middle Ages, Pavia was traditionally Ghibelline, a position that was as much supported by the rivalry with Milan as it was a mark of the defiance of the Emperor that led the Lombard League against the emperor Frederick Barbarossa , who

8427-410: The 13th century: a red banner with a white cross. This symbol, probably derived from blutfahne, the original flag of the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire , had a clear political meaning: to underline Pavia's belonging to the Ghibelline faction. The coat of arms of the municipality also depicts the cross which, starting from the end of the 16th century, began to be represented in an oval shape and within

8586-410: The 15th century, when Elijah ben Shabbetai, personal doctor of Filippo Maria Visconti and professor at the University of Pavia and, above all, Joseph Colon Trabotto , who was a 15th-century rabbi who is considered Italy's foremost Judaic scholar and Talmudist of his era, and in the same university a Hebrew course was activated in 1490. Also in the fifteenth century, by the will of the Dukes of Milan,

8745-403: The Alps into northern Italy defeating the Lombard army commanded by king Desiderius (r. 757–774). Between the autumn of 773 and June of 774 Charlemagne laid siege to Pavia first and then Verona, capturing the seat of Lombard power and quickly crushing any resistance from the northern Lombard fortified cities. Pavia had been the official capital of the Lombards since the 620s, but it was also

8904-431: The Archivio Storico Civico (established in 1895), which also contains collections containing the archives of many aristocratic families from Pavia and of city personalities, such as Gaetano Sacchi, Benedetto Cairoli and Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti . The Archivio di Stato (founded in 1959) also collect funds from noble archives (Beccaria, Bottigella, Belcredi, Malaspina ) and more, such as the Mori collection, which collects

9063-423: The Biblioteca Civica Carlo Bonetta was established, the main seat of the library system of the city which is divided into eight loan and reading points distributed evenly over the entire municipal area. Among the university libraries we should mention the Library of Humanistic Studies, born from the amalgamation of several libraries of the university's humanistic faculties, such as that of archeology (built in 1819),

9222-407: The Calvenza) and by the Vernavola. The two valleys tend to converge just behind the area of the ancient city, so that primitive Pavia found itself on an almost isolated and difficult to reach trunk or stump of terrace, almost triangular in shape, which Ticino had to the south, the Calvenza and then the Navigliaccio to the north-west and the Vernavola to the north-east. From an elevation point of view,

9381-419: The Carthaginian general. Most recently, W. C. Mahaney has argued Col de la Traversette closest fits the records of ancient authors. Biostratigraphic archaeological data has reinforced the case for Col de la Traversette; analysis of peat bogs near watercourses on both sides of the pass's summit showed that the ground was heavily disturbed "by thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of animals and humans" and that

9540-404: The Carthaginian heavy cavalry and the Numidians attacked the legions from behind. As a result, the Roman army was fully surrounded with no means of escape. Due to these brilliant tactics, Hannibal managed to surround and destroy all but a small remnant of his enemy, despite his own inferior numbers. Depending upon the source, it is estimated that 50,000–70,000 Romans were killed or captured. Among

9699-574: The Carthaginians ancestral homeland of Phoenicia in Western Asia. Its precise vocalization remains a matter of debate. Suggested readings include Ḥannobaʿal , Ḥannibaʿl , or Ḥannibaʿal , meaning "Baʿal/The lord is gracious", "Baʿal Has Been Gracious", or "The Grace of Baʿal". It is equivalent to the fellow Semitic Hebrew name Haniel . Greek historians rendered the name as Anníbas ( Ἀννίβας ). The Phoenicians and Carthaginians, like many West Asian Semitic peoples, did not use hereditary surnames, but were typically distinguished from others bearing

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9858-400: The Florentine ceroplast Clemente Susini and the Physics Section which houses the physics cabinet of Alessandro Volta (where hundreds of scientific instruments from the 18th and 19th centuries are exhibited, some belonging to Alessandro Volta). The University's Museum of Archeology was established by Pier Vittorio Aldini in 1819 and houses prehistoric, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan (including

10017-418: The Holy Roman Emperor had shifted to one between a French party (allied with the Pope) and a party supporting the Emperor and King of Spain Charles V . Thus, during the Valois - Habsburg Italian Wars , Pavia was naturally on the Imperial (and Spanish) side. The defeat and capture of King Francis I of France during the battle ushered in a period of Spanish occupation. In the same years, he studied at

10176-463: The Library of Science and Technology, where the library also merged of the Botanical Garden (established in 1773), the Law Library (1880), The Science Library, which also houses the volumes of the Medical and Surgical Society of Pavia (founded by Camillo Golgi in 1885), the Area Library Medica Adolfo Ferrata, the Political Science Library (built in 1925 ), the Economics Library and the Giasone del Maino College Library (born in 2000). Capital of

10335-408: The Libyan mercenaries on the wings, swung around by the movement, menaced their flanks. The onslaught of Hannibal's cavalry was unstoppable. Hannibal's chief cavalry commander, Maharbal , led the mobile Numidian cavalry on the right which shattered the Roman cavalry opposing them. Hannibal's Iberian and Gallic heavy cavalry on the left, led by Hanno, defeated the Roman heavy cavalry after which both

10494-491: The Po Valley. Even before news of the defeat at Ticinus had reached Rome, the Senate had ordered Consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus to bring his army back from Sicily to meet Scipio and face Hannibal. Hannibal, by skillful maneuvers, was in position to head him off, for he lay on the direct road between Placentia and Arminum, by which Sempronius would have to march to reinforce Scipio. He then captured Clastidium, from which he drew large amounts of supplies for his men. But this gain

10653-419: The Po plains" taken together with "massive radiocarbon and microbiological and parasitical evidence" from the alluvial sediments either side of the pass furnish "supporting evidence, proof if you will" that Hannibal's invasion went that way. If Hannibal had ascended the Col de la Traversette, the Po Valley would indeed have been visible from the pass's summit, vindicating Polybius's account. By Livy's account,

10812-492: The Pyrenees, the Alps, and many large rivers. Additionally, he would have to contend with opposition from the Gauls , whose territory he passed through. Starting in the spring of 218 BC, he crossed the Pyrenees and, by conciliating the Gaulish chiefs along his passage before the Romans could take any measures to bar his advance, was able to reach the Rhône by September. Hannibal's army numbered 38,000 infantry, 8,000 cavalry, and 38 elephants, almost none of which would survive

10971-426: The Risorgimento museum, dedicating particular space to the social, economic and cultural life of Pavia between the 18th and 19th centuries, the collection of African objects collected by Luigi Robecchi Bricchetti during his explorations and the numismatic collection, which houses more than 50,000 coins, most of them belonging to Camillo Brambilla, which cover a chronological period between the classical Greek issues and

11130-461: The Roman Republic as a great power with its defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War. Revanchism prevailed in Carthage, symbolized by the pledge that Hannibal made to his father to "never be a friend of Rome". In 218 BC, Hannibal attacked Saguntum (modern Sagunto , Spain), an ally of Rome, in Hispania , sparking the Second Punic War. Hannibal invaded Italy by crossing the Alps with North African war elephants . In his first few years in Italy, as

11289-552: The Romans pre-emptively invaded the Po region in 225 BC. By 220 BC, the Romans had annexed the area as Cisalpine Gaul . Hasdrubal was assassinated around the same time (221 BC), bringing Hannibal to the fore. It seems that the Romans lulled themselves into a false sense of security, having dealt with the threat of a Gallo-Carthaginian invasion, and perhaps knowing that the original Carthaginian commander had been killed. Hannibal departed Cartagena, Spain (New Carthage) in late spring of 218 BC. He fought his way through

11448-455: The University of Pavia experienced a phase of great development: it began to attract students from both Italy and other European countries and taught teachers of great fame, such as Baldo degli Ubaldi , Lorenzo Valla or Giasone del Maino . The Battle of Pavia (1525) marked a watershed in the city's fortunes, since by that time, the former schism between the supporters of the Pope and those of

11607-626: The Visconteo Sforzesca Library, established in the second half of the fourteenth century by Gian Galeazzo Visconti in the Visconti Castle , where the precious illuminated manuscripts of the dukes of Milan were kept. In 1499, with the fall of Ludovico il Moro , the king of France Louis XII took most of the manuscripts from the castle and they are now kept in the Bibliothéque Nationale de France in Paris . Of

11766-476: The army and confirmed in his appointment by the Carthaginian government. The Roman scholar Livy gives a depiction of the young Carthaginian: "No sooner had he arrived...the old soldiers fancied they saw Hamilcar in his youth given back to them; the same bright look; the same fire in his eye, the same trick of countenance and features. Never was one and the same spirit more skilful to meet opposition, to obey, or to command[.]" Livy also records that Hannibal married

11925-668: The behaviour of Rome's allies; before that fateful day, their loyalty remained unshaken, now it began to waver for the simple reason that they despaired of Roman Power." During that same year, the Greek cities in Sicily were induced to revolt against Roman political control, while Macedonian King Philip V pledged his support to Hannibal— initiating the First Macedonian War against Rome. Hannibal also secured an alliance with newly appointed tyrant Hieronymus of Syracuse . It

12084-604: The besiegers were unable to conquer the city. The Spanish period ended in 1706, when Pavia was occupied, after a short siege, by the Austrians led by Wirich Philipp von Daun during the War of the Spanish Succession and the city remained Austrian until 1796, when it was occupied by the French army under Napoleon . During this Austrian period the university was greatly supported by Maria Theresa of Austria and oversaw

12243-630: The building of the Certosa , built at the end of the Visconti Park, which connected the Certosa to the castle of Pavia. The church, the last edifice of the complex to be built, was to be the family mausoleum of the Visconti. In 1389, by the will of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, some families of German Jews settled in Pavia, mainly active in financial activities. The Jewish community of Pavia grew in

12402-636: The building of the Roman-styled amphitheatre and bath complex in Pavia; in the seventh century these would be among the few still functioning bath complexes in Europe outside of the Eastern Roman Empire . Near the end of Theoderic's reign the Christian philosopher Boethius was imprisoned in one of Pavia's churches from 522 to 525 before his execution for treason. It was during Boethius's captivity in Pavia that he wrote his seminal work

12561-539: The capital implies the residence of the royal court, the presence of the central administrative structure of the kingdom, and the city's pre-eminence over the other urban centres in the military organization of the seasonal wars. The city of Pavia played a key role in the war between the Lombard Kingdom of Pavia and the Franks led by Charlemagne. In 773, Charlemagne king of the Franks declared war and invaded across

12720-533: The capitulation of the Ostrogothic leadership in 540 more than a thousand men remained garrisoned in Pavia and Verona dedicated to opposing Eastern Roman rule. Since 540 Pavia became the permanent capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom , stable site of the court and the royal treasury. The resilience of Ostrogoth strongholds like Pavia against invading forces allowed pockets of Ostrogothic rule to limp along until finally being defeated in 561. Pavia and

12879-487: The cities of Campania . The forces detached to his lieutenants were generally unable to hold their own, and neither his home government nor his new ally Philip V of Macedon helped to make up his losses. His position in southern Italy, therefore, became increasingly difficult and his chance of ultimately conquering Rome grew ever more remote. Hannibal still won a number of notable victories: completely destroying two Roman armies in 212 BC, and killing two consuls, including

13038-491: The city has various heights. The highest point is located in the area of the Visconti Castle , about 80 m (260 ft) above sea level, and then slowly declines. From an altitude of 80 m (260 ft), you pass to 77 m (253 ft) in about 500 m (550 yd; 1,600 ft). Downstream from Piazza Vittoria, where the cardo and decumanus of the Roman city crossed, the slope becomes more pronounced, up to just under 60 m (200 ft) above sea level near

13197-455: The city on April 30, 1945. At the institutional referendum of 2 June 1946 Pavia assigned 67.1% of the votes to the Republic, while the monarchy obtained only 38.2%. The symbols of Pavia are the coat of arms, the banner and the seal, as reported in the municipal statute. The banner used by the modern city of Pavia faithfully reproduces the one used by the municipality of Pavia at least since

13356-560: The collections of zoology, comparative anatomy and paleontology. Then there is the Golgi Museum, located in the same environments in which both Camillo Golgi and his students worked, rooms and laboratories that preserve both the original furnishings and the scientific instruments of the time, in order to allow the visitor to enter inside a 19th-century research center; while the Museum of Electrical Technique, built in 2007, illustrates

13515-476: The combat area. Hannibal drew up his least reliable infantry in the centre in a semicircle curving towards the Romans. Placing them forward of the wings allowed them room to fall back, luring the Romans after them, while the cavalry on the flanks dealt with their Roman counterparts. Hannibal's wings were composed of the Gallic and Numidian cavalry. The Roman legions forced their way through Hannibal's weak centre, but

13674-409: The command of one of his officers named Odoacer , rebelled and killed Orestes in the city of Pavia in 476. The rioting that took place as part of Odoacer's uprising against Orestes sparked fires that burnt much of Pavia to the point that Odoacer, as the new king of Italy, had to suspend the taxes for the city for five years so that it could finance its recovery. Without his father, Romulus Augustulus

13833-430: The crossing was accomplished in the face of huge difficulties. These Hannibal surmounted with ingenuity, such as when he used vinegar and fire to break through a rockfall. According to Polybius, he arrived in Italy accompanied by 20,000 foot soldiers, 4,000 horsemen, and only a few elephants. The fired rockfall event is mentioned only by Livy; Polybius is mute on the subject and there is no evidence of carbonized rock at

13992-514: The dead were Roman consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus , two consuls for the preceding year, two quaestors , 29 of the 48 military tribunes, and an additional eighty senators. At a time when the Roman Senate was composed of no more than 300 men, this constituted 25–30% of the governing body. This makes the battle one of the most catastrophic defeats in the history of ancient Rome , and one of the bloodiest battles in all of human history, in terms of

14151-407: The defensive. This strategy was unpopular with many Romans, who believed that it was a form of cowardice. Hannibal decided that it would be unwise to winter in the already devastated lowlands of Campania, but Fabius had trapped him there by ensuring that all the exit passes were blocked. This situation led to the night Battle of Ager Falernus . Hannibal had his men tie burning torches to the horns of

14310-611: The district beyond, Flaminius (partly for fear of popular reproach and partly of personal irritation) would be unable to endure watching passively the devastation of the country but would spontaneously follow him... and give him opportunities for attack." At the same time, Hannibal tried to break the allegiance of Rome's allies by proving that Flaminius was powerless to protect them. Despite this, Flaminius remained passively encamped at Arretium. Hannibal marched boldly around Flaminius' left flank, unable to draw him into battle by mere devastation, and effectively cut him off from Rome, executing

14469-437: The famed Marcus Claudius Marcellus in a battle in 208 BC. However, Hannibal slowly began losing ground—inadequately supported by his Italian allies, abandoned by his government, either because of jealousy or simply because Carthage was overstretched, and unable to match Rome's resources. He was never able to bring about another grand decisive victory that could produce a lasting strategic change. Carthaginian political will

14628-428: The first recorded turning movement in military history. He then advanced through the uplands of Etruria , provoking Flaminius into a hasty pursuit and catching him in a defile on the shore of Lake Trasimenus . There Hannibal destroyed Flaminius' army in the waters or on the adjoining slopes, killing Flaminius as well (see Battle of Lake Trasimene ). This was the most costly ambush that the Romans ever sustained until

14787-507: The first steamships began to operate in the Pavia dock and, between 1854 and 1859, the Österreichischer Lloyd organized a regular navigation line, again using steamships, between Pavia, Venice and Trieste . With the Second War of Italian Independence (1859) and the unification of Italy one year later, Pavia passed, together with the rest of Lombardy, to the Kingdom of Italy . In 1894 Albert Einstein 's father moved to Pavia to start

14946-594: The flanks. However, most or all of his war elephants had died of injuries or the cold that winter and none took part in the succeeding battles at Lake Trasimene and/or Cannae. Hannibal quartered his troops for the winter with the Gauls, whose support for him had abated. Fearing the possibility of an assassination attempt by his Gallic allies, Hannibal had a number of wigs made, dyed to suit the appearance of persons differing widely in age, and kept constantly changing them, so that any would-be assassins wouldn't recognize him. In

15105-474: The fortified camp, which at the time was the most forward Roman military outpost in the Po Valley , somehow survived the long Second Punic War , and gradually evolved into a garrison town. Its importance grew with the extension of the Via Aemilia from Ariminum (Rimini) to the river Po (187 BCE), which it crossed at Placentia ( Piacenza ) and there forked, one branch going to Mediolanum ( Milan ) and

15264-620: The fortified city of Pavia. Paul the Deacon 's History of the Lombards written more than a hundred years after the Siege of Ticinum provides one of the few records of this period: "The city of Ticinum (Pavia) at this time held out bravely, withstanding a siege more than three years, while the army of the Langobards remained close at hand on the western side. Meanwhile, Alboin, after driving out

15423-690: The government; Livy records that only Hanno II the Great spoke against him. In Rome, the Senate reacted to this apparent violation of the treaty by dispatching a delegation to Carthage to demand whether Hannibal had destroyed Saguntum in accordance with orders from Carthage. The Carthaginian Senate responded with legal arguments observing the lack of ratification by either government for the treaty alleged to have been violated. The delegation's leader, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus , demanded Carthage choose between war and peace, to which his audience replied that Rome could choose. Fabius chose war. This campaign

15582-487: The greatest general was", to which Hannibal replied "either Alexander or Pyrrhus, then himself". Hannibal was a common Semitic Phoenician-Carthaginian personal name. It is recorded in Carthaginian sources as ḤNBʿL ( Punic : 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋 ). It is a combination of the common Phoenician masculine given name Hanno with the Northwest Semitic Canaanite deity Baal (lit, "lord") a major god of

15741-458: The harsh conditions of the Alps. Hannibal outmanoeuvred the natives who had tried to prevent his crossing, then evaded a Roman force marching from the Mediterranean coast by turning inland up the valley of the Rhône. His exact route over the Alps has been the source of scholarly dispute ever since (Polybius, the surviving ancient account closest in time to Hannibal's campaign, reports that the route

15900-526: The history of electrical technology within five sections. Then come the Museum of Chemistry, that of Physics and the Museum of Mineralogy, founded by Lazzaro Spallanzani. Next to the Cathedral , inside the crypt of the ancient cathedral of Santa Maria del Popolo (11th century), is the Diocesan Museum of Pavia , inaugurated in 2023, which collects silverware and liturgical objects (among which

16059-459: The kingdom's capital, Pavia in the late seventh century also became one of the central locations of the Lombards' efforts to mint their own coinage. The bust of the Lombard king would have been etched on the coins as a symbolic gesture so that those who used the coins, mostly Lombard nobles, would understand that king had the ultimate power and control of wealth in the Kingdom of Pavia. The role of

16218-607: The last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, was actually a usurper of the imperial throne ; his father Flavius Orestes dethroned the previous emperor, Julius Nepos , and raised the young Romulus Augustulus to the imperial throne at Ravenna in 475. Though being the emperor, Romulus Augustulus was simply the mouthpiece for his father Orestes, who was the person who actually exercised power and governed Italy during Romulus Augustulus' short reign. Ten months after Romulus Augustulus's reign began, Orestes's soldiers under

16377-617: The leader of a Carthaginian and partially Celtic army, he won a succession of victories at the Battle of Ticinus , Trebia , Lake Trasimene , and Cannae , inflicting heavy losses on the Romans. Hannibal was distinguished for his ability to determine both his and his opponent's respective strengths and weaknesses, and to plan battles accordingly. His well-planned strategies allowed him to conquer and ally with several Italian cities that were previously allied to Rome. Hannibal occupied most of southern Italy for 15 years. The Romans, led by Fabius Maximus , avoided directly engaging him, instead waging

16536-545: The lectures in the school of Pavia. In 924, the Hungarians, led by the deposed Lombard king, Berengar I , besieged but did not conquer the city. With Otto II Pavia become the stable site of the court, first with queen Adelaide of Italy and then with the wife of Otto II Theophanum . During the Ottonian period Pavia enjoyed a period of well-being and development. The ancient Lombard capital distinguished itself from

16695-609: The main residence for the Lombard rulers. Under Lombard rule many monasteries, nunneries, and churches were built at Pavia by the devout Christian Lombard monarchs. Even though the first Lombard kings were Arian Christians, sources from the period such as Paul the Deacon have recorded that the Arian Lombards were very tolerant of their Catholic subjects' faith and that up to the 690s Arian and Catholic cathedrals coexisted in Pavia. Lombard kings, queens, and nobles would engage in building churches, monasteries, and nunneries as

16854-515: The meantime, the Romans hoped to gain success through sheer strength and weight of numbers, and they raised a new army of unprecedented size, estimated by some to be as large as 100,000 men, but more likely around 50,000–80,000. The Romans and allied legions resolved to confront Hannibal and marched southward to Apulia . They eventually found him on the left bank of the Aufidus River, and encamped 10 km (6 mi) away. On this occasion,

17013-688: The minting of the modern period. The Pinacoteca Malaspina (which is part of the Pavia Civic Museums) established by the Marquis Luigi Malaspina di Sannazzaro (Pavia 1754– 1834), houses works by important artists of the Italian and international scene, from the 13th to the 20th century, such as Gentile da Fabriano , Vincenzo Foppa , Giovanni Bellini , Antonello da Messina , Bernardino Luini , Correggio , Paolo Veronese , Guido Reni , Francesco Hayez , Giovanni Segantini and Renato Gottuso . The monumental wooden model of

17172-739: The most important of its kind in Italy, preserves collections of documentary material (manuscripts, typescripts, letters, first editions, libraries, photographs, drawings, furnishings, paintings and other objects) relating to writers, intellectuals, publishers, artists and scientists of the past two centuries. Among the archival collections preserved we remember those of Alberto Arbasino , Riccardo Bacchelli , Romano Bilenchi , Emilio De Marchi , Ennio Flaiano , Alfonso Gatto , Tonino Guerra , Claudio Magris , Luigi Meneghello , Eugenio Montale , Indro Montanelli , Salvatore Quasimodo , Mario Rigoni Stern , Amelia Rosselli , Umberto Saba and Roberto Sanesi. The library tradition of Pavia among its origins from

17331-545: The multitudes of other Carthaginians named Hasdrubal and Mago, but this practice is ahistorical and is rarely applied to Hannibal. Hannibal was one of the sons of Hamilcar Barca , a Carthaginian leader, and an unknown mother. He was most likely born in the city of Carthage, located in what is present-day northern Tunisia , one of many Mediterranean regions colonised by the Canaanites from their homeland in Phoenicia ,

17490-688: The nearly one thousand manuscripts that made up the library, only one codex remained in Pavia: I Trionfi di Francesco Petrarca kept in the Biblioteca Universitaria. In the second half of the 16th century, three historic libraries arose in the city: that of the Episcopal Seminary and the libraries of the Borromeo and Ghislieri Colleges, founded respectively by Charles Borromeo and Pope Pius V to allow access to

17649-550: The northern tribes to the foothills of the Pyrenees , subduing the tribes through clever mountain tactics and stubborn fighting. He left a detachment of 20,000 troops to garrison the newly conquered region. At the Pyrenees, he released 11,000 Iberian troops who showed reluctance to leave their homeland. Hannibal reportedly entered Gaul with 40,000 foot soldiers and 12,000 horsemen. Hannibal recognized that he still needed to cross

17808-404: The number of lives lost in a single day. After Cannae, the Romans were very hesitant to confront Hannibal in pitched battle, preferring instead to weaken him by attrition, relying on their advantages of interior lines, supply, and manpower. As a result, Hannibal fought no more major battles in Italy for the rest of the war. It is believed that his refusal to bring the war to Rome itself was due to

17967-517: The office of sufet . He enacted political and financial reforms to enable the payment of the war indemnity imposed by Rome. Those reforms were unpopular with members of the Carthaginian aristocracy and in Rome, and he fled into voluntary exile. During this time, he lived at the Seleucid court, where he acted as military advisor to Antiochus III the Great in his war against Rome. Antiochus met defeat at

18126-535: The only two-tier rockfall in the Western Alps, located below the Col de la Traversette (Mahaney, 2008). If Polybius is correct in his figure for the number of troops that he commanded after the crossing of the Rhône, this would suggest that he had lost almost half of his force. Historians such as Serge Lancel have questioned the reliability of the figures for the number of troops that he had when he left Hispania. From

18285-479: The original state of the nature of the Po valley before the arrival of the Romans, before human settlement. In Roman times, Pavia was called Ticinum . It began to be called Papia , whence Pavia , only since Lombard times, one of the very few Roman municipia in Italy that changed their names during the early Middle Ages . The origin of the modern name is still uncertain today. Dating back to pre-Roman times,

18444-602: The other cities of the Po Valley for its fundamental function as a crossroads of important trade, both in foodstuffs and in luxury items. Commercial traffic was favored above all by the waterways used by the emperor for his travels: from Ticino the Po was easily reached, a direct axis with the Adriatic Sea and maritime traffic. Furthermore, with the advent of the Ottoni, Milan again lost importance in favor of Pavia, whose pre-eminence

18603-472: The other to Ticinum, and thence to Laumellum where it divided once more, one branch going to Vercellae – and thence to Eporedia and Augusta Praetoria – and the other to Valentia – and thence to Augusta Taurinorum ( Turin ). The town was built on flatted ground with square blocks. The " cardo Maximus " road corresponded to the current Strada Nuova up to the Roman bridge while the " decumanus " road corresponded to corso Cavour-corso Mazzini. Under most of

18762-415: The ownership of Domenico Libro. In 2022 this latest incarnation of Mateba was shut down, owing to allegations of fraud and violations of Italian firearms law. Pavia, Italy The city was a major political centre in the medieval period, being the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom from 540 to 553, of the Kingdom of the Lombards from 572 to 774, of the Kingdom of Italy from 774 to 1024 and seat of

18921-820: The papers of Cesare Mori . Also preserved in the archive are the acts of the notaries of Pavia (1256–1907), the maps of the Teresian Cadastre of the Pavia area (18th–19th centuries), and the archives of the university (1341–1897), of the San Matteo Hospital (1063–1900), the Prefecture, the Police Headquarters and the Court. Equally important is the Archivio Storico Diocesano, which houses the documentation of

19080-587: The paving stones that compose the cathedral's floor. Liutprand was a very devout Christian and like many of the Lombard kings was zealous about collecting relics of saints. Liutprand paid a great deal to have the relics removed from Cagliari and brought to Pavia so that they would be out of the reach and safe from the Saracens on Sardinia where St. Augustine's remains had been resting. Very little of Liutprand's original church of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro consecrated by Pope Zacharias in 743 remains today. Originally

19239-704: The peace party led by Hanno II the Great . Hanno had been instrumental in denying Hannibal's requested reinforcements following the battle at Cannae. Hannibal started the war without the full backing of Carthaginian oligarchy. His attack of Saguntum had presented the oligarchy with a choice of war with Rome or loss of prestige in Iberia. The oligarchy, not Hannibal, controlled the strategic resources of Carthage. Hannibal constantly sought reinforcements from either Iberia or North Africa. Hannibal's troops who were lost in combat were replaced with less well-trained and motivated mercenaries from Italy or Gaul. The commercial interests of

19398-522: The peninsula of Italy did not remain long under the rule of the Eastern Roman Empire, for in 568 CE a new people invaded Italy: the Lombards (otherwise called the Longobards). In their invasion of Italy in 568, the Lombards were led by their king Alboin (r. 560–572), who would become the first Lombard king of Italy. Alboin captured much of northern Italy in 568 but his progress was halted in 569 by

19557-479: The place upon where the Lombard Kingdom in Italy ended. Upon entering Pavia in triumph, Charlemagne crowned himself king of the lands of the former Kingdom of Pavia. The Lombard kingdom and its northern territories from then onwards were a sub-kingdom of the Frankish Empire, while the Lombard southern duchy of Benevento persisted for several centuries longer with relative independence and autonomy. There

19716-431: The regency of Galeazzo II and Gian Galeazzo the memory of the capital's role and the Lombard traditions of Pavia jointly entered the "propaganda" of the new masters of Pavia: Galeazzo II moved his court from Milan to Pavia and between 1361 and 1365 Galeazzo II built a large palace ( Visconti castle ) with a major Park ( Visconti Park ), which became the official residence of the dynasty. In 1396 Gian Galeazzo commissioned

19875-520: The region, in stone, brick and lime. In Pavia, Ibrāhīm al-Turtuši, was very impressed by the equestrian statue of Regisole , which he places near one of the doors of the Royal palace and by the 300 jurists working inside the palace. Also at the turn of the tenth and eleventh centuries, the city was the birthplace of Liutprand of Cremona , bishop, chronicler and diplomat in the service of Berengar II first and then of Otto I and Otto II and of Lanfranc ,

20034-507: The roof of its apse was decorated with mosaics, making San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro the first instance of mosaics being used to decorate a Lombard church. It is now a modern church with the only significant link to its antiquity being its round apse. The Lombards built their churches in a very Romanesque style, with the best example of Lombard churches from the period of Lombardic rule being the Basilica of San Michele still intact at Pavia. As

20193-493: The same name using patronymics or epithets . Although he is by far the most famous Hannibal, when further clarification is necessary he is usually referred to as "Hannibal, son of Hamilcar", or "Hannibal the Barcid", the latter term applying to the family of his father, Hamilcar Barca . Barca ( Punic : 𐤁𐤓𐤒 , BRQ ) is a Semitic cognomen meaning "lightning" or "thunderbolt", a surname acquired by Hamilcar on account of

20352-508: The seemingly impassable Arno, but he lost a large part of his force in the marshy lowlands of the Arno. He arrived in Etruria in the spring of 217 BC and decided to lure the main Roman army under Flaminius into a pitched battle by devastating the region that Flaminius had been sent to protect. As Polybius recounts, "he [Hannibal] calculated that, if he passed the camp and made a descent into

20511-470: The sheer size of the army required both generals to command a wing each. This theory is supported by the fact that, after Varro survived the battle he was pardoned by the Senate, which would be peculiar if he were the sole commander at fault. Hannibal capitalized on the eagerness of the Romans and drew them into a trap by using an envelopment tactic . This eliminated the Roman numerical advantage by shrinking

20670-467: The so-called " Karst spring 's belt", where there is the meeting, in the subsoil, between geological layers with different permeability, an aspect that allows the deep waters to resurface on the surface. The fluvial terrace on which Pavia stands appears engraved by two deep furrows due to the erosive action of two postglacial rivers, represented today by the Navigliaccio (originally occupied by

20829-407: The soil bore traces of unique levels of Clostridia bacteria associated with the digestive tract of horses and mules. Radiocarbon dating secured dates of 2168 BP or c. 218 BC, the year of Hannibal's march. Mahaney et al . have concluded that this and other evidence strongly supports the Col de la Traversette as being the "Hannibalic Route" as had been argued by Gavin de Beer in 1954. De Beer

20988-412: The soldiers, took possession of everything as far as Tuscany except Rome and Ravenna and some other fortified places which were situated on the shore of the sea." The Siege of Ticinum finally ended with the Lombards capturing the city of Pavia in 572. Pavia's strategic location and the Ostrogoth palaces located within it would make Pavia by the 620s the main capital of the Lombards' Kingdom of Pavia and

21147-579: The spring of 217 BC, Hannibal decided to find a more reliable base of operations farther south. Gnaeus Servilius and Gaius Flaminius (the new consuls of Rome) were expecting Hannibal to advance on Rome, and they took their armies to block the eastern and western routes that Hannibal could use. The only alternative route to central Italy lay at the mouth of the Arno . This area was practically one huge marsh, and happened to be overflowing more than usual during this particular season. Hannibal knew that this route

21306-470: The start, he seems to have calculated that he would have to operate without aid from Hispania. Hannibal's vision of military affairs was derived partly from the teaching of his Greek tutors and partly from experience gained alongside his father, and it stretched over most of the Hellenistic World of his time. The breadth of his vision gave rise to his grand strategy of conquering Rome by opening

21465-410: The story, Hannibal's father took him up and brought him to a sacrificial chamber. Hamilcar held Hannibal over the fire roaring in the chamber and made him swear that he would never be a friend of Rome. Other sources report that Hannibal told his father, "I swear so soon as age will permit...I will use fire and steel to arrest the destiny of Rome." According to the tradition, Hannibal's oath took place in

21624-533: The streets of the historic center there are still the brick ducts of the Roman sewer system which continued to function throughout the Middle Ages and the modern age without interruption, until about 1970. Pavia was important as a Military site ( near the city , in 271, the emperor Aurelian defeated the Juthungi ) because of the easy access to water communications (through the rivers Ticino and Po ) up to

21783-609: The swiftness and ferocity of his attacks. Barca is cognate with similar names for lightning found among the Israelites , Assyrians , Babylonians , Arameans , Arabs , Amorites , Moabites , Edomites and other fellow Asiatic Semitic peoples. Although they did not inherit the surname from their father, Hamilcar's progeny are collectively known as the Barcids . Modern historians occasionally refer to Hannibal's brothers as Hasdrubal Barca and Mago Barca to distinguish them from

21942-467: The thousand faces of this cereal. such as the Carthusian risotto, according to the legend created by the monks of the Certosa , based on crayfishes , carrots and onions, risotto with eye beans or the one with sausage and bonarda and risotto with common hops (ürtis in pavese dialect). Among the first courses, in addition to rice, the pavese soup also stands out, created, according to tradition, by

22101-646: The tombs of kings or queens. Then there is the Romanesque and Renaissance section which exhibits sculptural, architectural and mosaic. The Romanesque collection is very rich, one of the largest in northern Italy, which also preserves important oriental architectural dishes from the Islamic and Byzantine East that adorned the facades of churches and buildings. Works by Jacopino da Tradate , Giovanni Antonio Amadeo , Cristoforo and Antonio Mantegazza and Annibale Fontana are also exhibited. The Civic Museums also house

22260-484: The town of Peñíscola , today part of the Valencian Community , Spain. Hannibal's father went about with the conquest of Hispania . When his father drowned in battle, Hannibal's brother-in-law Hasdrubal the Fair succeeded to his command of the army with Hannibal (then 18 years old) serving as an officer under him. Hasdrubal pursued a policy of consolidation of Carthage's Iberian interests, even signing

22419-671: The town of Pavia was said by Pliny the Elder to have been founded by the Laevi and Marici , two Ligurian , or Celto-Ligurian, tribes, while Ptolemy attributes it to the Insubres , a Celtic population. The Roman city, known as Ticinum , was a municipality and an important military site (a castrum ) under the Roman Empire . It most likely began as a small military camp built by the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio in 218 BCE to guard

22578-419: The two armies were combined into one, the consuls having to alternate their command on a daily basis. According to Livy, Varro was a man of reckless and hubristic nature and it was his turn to command on the day of battle. This account is possibly biased against Varro as its main source, Polybius, was a client of Paullus's aristocratic family whereas Varro was less distinguished. Some historians have suggested that

22737-441: The upper Guil valley and the upper Po river is the highest pass. It is moreover the most southerly, as Varro in his De re rustica relates, agreeing that Hannibal's Pass was the highest in Western Alps and the most southerly. Mahaney et al . argue that factors used by De Beer to support Col de la Traversette including "gauging ancient place names against modern, close scrutiny of times of flood in major rivers and distant viewing of

22896-515: The war in the Iberian Peninsula. With a small detachment still positioned in Gaul, Scipio made an attempt to intercept Hannibal. He succeeded, through prompt decision and speedy movement, in transporting his army to Italy by sea in time to meet Hannibal. Hannibal's forces moved through the Po Valley and were engaged in the Battle of Ticinus . Here, Hannibal forced the Romans to evacuate the plain of Lombardy , by virtue of his superior cavalry. The victory

23055-598: The west, where he stormed the Vaccaen strongholds of Helmantice and Arbucala. On his return home, laden with many spoils, a coalition of Spanish tribes, led by the Carpetani , attacked, and Hannibal won his first major battlefield success and showed off his tactical skills at the battle of the River Tagus. Rome, fearing the growing strength of Hannibal in Iberia, made an alliance with the city of Saguntum , which lay

23214-570: The winter, Hannibal found comfortable quarters in the Apulian plain. In the spring of 216 BC, Hannibal took the initiative and seized the large supply depot at Cannae in the Apulian plain. By capturing Cannae, Hannibal had placed himself between the Romans and their crucial sources of supply. Once the Roman Senate resumed their consular elections in 216 BC, they appointed Gaius Terentius Varro and Lucius Aemilius Paullus as consuls . In

23373-536: The works on the Naviglio Pavese were completed: the canal, conceived as a waterway between Milan, Pavia and Ticino and as an irrigation canal, contributed to the development of the city, so much so that a few years after its construction, in 1821, Borgo Calvenzano was built behind the Visconti Castle , a long series of arcaded buildings where there were warehouses, taverns, shipping and customs offices, hotels, stables, all in support of inland navigation. In 1820

23532-452: Was already debated). The most influential modern theories favour either a march up the valley of the Drôme and a crossing of the main range to the south of the modern highway over the Col de Montgenèvre or a march farther north up the valleys of the Isère and Arc crossing the main range near the present Col de Mont Cenis or the Little St Bernard Pass . Recent numismatic evidence suggests that Hannibal's army passed within sight of

23691-469: Was attempting to reassert long-dormant Imperial influence over Italy. Frederick I celebrated two coronations in Pavia (1155 and 1162) in the basilica of San Michele Maggiore and resieded in a new imperial palace near the royal monastery of St. Salvatore . Several times the Pavia army fought with the emperor against the forces of the Lombard League , participating in the sieges of Tortona , Crema and Milan and in other military operations. The city also had

23850-436: Was commissioned by king Liutprand (r. 712–744) and it would become the site of his tomb as well as two other famous Christian figures. In building San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro the unit of measurement used by the builders was the length of Liutprand's royal foot. The first important Christian figure interred at San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro was the previously mentioned philosopher Boethius, author of The Consolation of Philosophy , who

24009-406: Was embodied in the ruling oligarchy . There was a Carthaginian Senate, but the real power was with the inner "Council of 30 Nobles" and the board of judges from ruling families known as the " Hundred and Four ". These two bodies came from the wealthy, commercial families of Carthage. Two political factions operated in Carthage: the war party, also known as the " Barcids " (Hannibal's family name), and

24168-401: Was full of difficulties, but it remained the surest and certainly the quickest way to central Italy. Polybius claims that Hannibal's men marched for four days and three nights "through a land that was under water", suffering terribly from fatigue and enforced want of sleep. He crossed without opposition over both the Apennines (during which he lost his right eye because of conjunctivitis ) and

24327-412: Was minor, but it encouraged the Gauls and Ligurians to join the Carthaginian cause. Their troops bolstered his army back to around 40,000 men. Scipio was severely injured, his life only saved by the bravery of his son who rode back onto the field to rescue his fallen father. Scipio retreated across the Trebia to camp at Placentia with his army mostly intact. The other Roman consular army was rushed to

24486-400: Was not without loss, as Sempronius avoided Hannibal's watchfulness, slipped around his flank, and joined his colleague in his camp near the Trebia River near Placentia . There Hannibal had an opportunity to show his masterful military skill at the Trebia in December of the same year, after wearing down the superior Roman infantry, when he cut it to pieces with a surprise attack and ambush from

24645-407: Was occupied by the German army. In September 1944, the US air forces carried out several bombings on the city with the aim of destroying the three bridges over the Ticino, strategic for supplying men. Weapons and provisions the German units engaged along the Gothic line . These operations led to the destruction of the Ponte Coperto and resulted in the deaths of 119 civilians. Allied troops entered

24804-408: Was one of only three interpreters—the others being John Lazenby and Jakob Seibert—to have visited all the Alpine high passes and presented a view on which was most plausible. Both De Beer and Seibert had selected the Col de la Traversette as the one most closely matching the ancient descriptions. Polybius wrote that Hannibal had crossed the highest of the Alpine passes: Col de la Traversette, between

24963-526: Was originally planned by Hannibal's brother-in-law Hasdrubal the Fair, who became a Carthaginian general in the Iberian Peninsula in 229 BC. He maintained this post for eight years until 221 BC. Soon the Romans became aware of an alliance between Carthage and the Celts of the Po Valley in Northern Italy. When Hannibal arrived in the Po Valley, roughly 10,000 Celtic tribesmen joined his army. The Celts were amassing forces to invade farther south in Italy, presumably with Carthaginian backing. Therefore,

25122-476: Was powerless. Instead of killing Romulus Augustulus, Odoacer pensioned him off at 6,000 solidi a year before declaring the end of the Western Roman Empire and himself king of the new Kingdom of Italy. Odoacer's reign as king of Italy did not last long, because in 488 the Ostrogothic peoples led by their king Theoderic invaded Italy and waged war against Odoacer. After fighting for 5 years, Theoderic defeated Odoacer and on March 15, 493, assassinated Odoacer at

25281-423: Was sanctioned, among other things, by the minting of the Pavia mint. The importance of the city in those centuries is also highlighted by the account of the Arab geographer Ibrāhīm al-Turtuši, who traveled to central-western Europe between 960 and 965 and visited Verona, Rocca di Garda and Pavia, which he defined the main city of Longobardia, very populous, rich in merchants and entirely built, unlike other centers in

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