 After the defeat of Antiochus III at the Battle of Thermopylae (191 BC), Heraclea was besieged by the Roman consul Acilius Glabrio, who divided his army into four bodies, and directed his attacks upon four points at once; one body being stationed on the river Asopus, where was the gymnasium; the second near the citadel outside of the walls ("extra muros"), which was almost more thickly inhabited than the city itself; the third towards the Maliac Gulf; and the fourth on the river Melas, opposite the temple of Diana.The country around was marshy, and abounded in lofty trees.After a siege of twenty-four days the Romans succeeded in taking the town, and the Aetolians retired to the citadel.