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The following year, Hannibal advanced southward. In 217 BC, he encountered Roman forces near Lake Trasimene. Hannibal positioned his army in the hills overlooking a narrow road along the lake. As Roman troops marched through thick morning fog, Carthaginian forces attacked from all sides. The ambush was devastating. Thousands of Romans were killed. The Roman commander Gaius Flaminius died in the fighting. Panic spread in Rome. The Republic appointed Quintus Fabius Maximus as dictator. Fabius adop