Modern techniques are called upon to investigate the mysteries of the most legendary battles from ancient times. The Battle of Cannae was a major battle of the Second Punic War, taking place in August 216 BC near the town of Cannae in Apulia in south-east Italy. The Carthaginian army under Hannibal destroyed a numerically superior Roman army under command of the consuls Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro