Hannibal de nouveau vainqueur après Cannes ? Incertitudes sur les activités militaires du dictateur M. Iunius Pera en Campanie (216 av. J.-C.)

An in-depth study of the narratives concerning military events occurred a few months after the battle of Cannae (216 BCE) reveals an interesting contradiction in relation to the loss of Roman’s influence in Campania. If Livy does not record a Roman military setback, three ancient authors, Frontinus, Polyaenus and Zonaras note the dictator M. Iunius Pera was defeated by Hannibal. If this curiosity has occasionally been noted in studies of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, this question has never been the subject of a specific and detailed study. This paper proposes to examine the coexistence of two historical versions of the dictator’s activities in Campania in order to try and find out if M. Iunius Pera was really defeated in 216 BCE.