CANNAE (mod. Canne)  , an ancient village of Apulia, near the river Aufidus, situated on a hill on the right bank, 6 m . S.W. from its mouth . It is celebrated for the disastrous defeat which the Romans received there from Hannibal in 216 B.C . (see PUNIC WARS) . There is a considerable controversy as to whether the battle took place on the right or the left bank of the river . In later times the place became a municipium, and unimportant Roman remains still exist upon the hill known as Monte di Canne . In the middle ages it became a bishopric, but was destroyed in 1276 . See O . Schwab, Das Schlachtfeld von Canna (Munich, 1898), and authorities under PUNIC WARS .