Chapter 23 Ancient History Terms
Xanthippus was a
Greek (possibly
Spartan) mercenary general hired by the
Carthaginians to aid in their war against the
Romans during the
First Punic War. He trained Carthaginian soldiers and led them into the
battle of Tunis, where Carthaginian forces routed the Roman expeditionary force and captured the Roman consul
Marcus Atilius Regulus in
255 BC.
Xanthippus is credited with the Carthaginian formation, cavalry split between the two wings, mercenary infantry on their right, with a hastily raised phalanx of civilians in the centre and a line of elephants in front of the infantry, which defeated the Romans formed in their normal formation, with the outnumbered cavalry on the wings and legionary infantry in the centre. He also realised the mistakes the Carthaginians were making by avoiding open ground (because of the Romans' superior infantry) which restricted the Carthaginian cavalry and elephants (the strongest parts of their armies).
MARCUS ATILIUS REGULUS, Roman general and
consul (for the second time) in the ninth year of the First Punic War (256 B.C.). He was one of the commanders in the Punic naval expedition which shattered the Carthaginian fleet at Ecnomus, and landed an army on Carthaginian territory (see
Punic Wars). The invaders were so successful that the other consul, L.
Manlius Vulso, was recalled to
Rome, Regulus being left behind to finish the war. After a severe defeat at Adys near
Carthage, the Carthaginians were inclined for peace, but the terms proposed by Regulus were so harsh that they resolved to continue the war. In 255, Regulus was completely defeated and taken prisoner by the Spartan Xanthippus. There is no further trustworthy information about him. According to tradition, he remained in captivity until 250, when after the defeat of the Carthaginians at Panormus he was sent to Rome on
parole to negotiate a peace or exchange of prisoners. On his arrival he strongly urged the
senate to refuse both proposals, and returning to Carthage was tortured to death (Horace, Odes, iii. 5). This story made Regulus to the later
Romans the type of heroic endurance; but most historians regard it as insufficiently attested,
Polybius being silent. The tale was probably invented by the
annalists to excuse the cruel treatment of the Carthaginian prisoners by the Romans
Hamilcar Barca or Barcas (
~270 –
228 BC) was a
Carthaginian general and statesman, leader of the
Barcid family, and father of
Hannibal.
Milcar is perhaps the same as Mel karth, the
Tyrian god. Baraq means "
lightning" in
Canaanite.
He distinguished himself during the
First Punic War in
247 BC, when he took over the chief command in
Sicily at a time when the island was almost completely in the hands of the
Romans. Landing suddenly on the north-west of the island with a small mercenary force he seized a strong position on Mt. Erote (Monte Pellegrino, near
Palermo), and not only maintained himself against all attacks, but carried his raids as far as the coast of south
Italy.
In
244 BC he transferred his army to a similar position on the slopes of
Mt. Eryx (Monte San Giuliano), from which he was able to lend support to the besieged garrison in the neighbouring town of Drepanum (
Trapani). By a provision of the peace of
241 BC Hamilcar's unbeaten force was allowed to depart from Sicily without any token of submission.
Upon returning to
Africa, his troops, which had been kept together only by his personal authority and by the promise of good pay, broke out into open mutiny when their rewards were withheld by Hamilcar's opponents among the governing aristocracy, starting the conflict later named
Mercenary War. The serious danger into which Carthage was brought by the failure of the aristocratic generals was averted by Hamilcar, whom the government in this crisis could not but reinstate. By the power of his personal influence among the mercenaries and the surrounding African peoples, and by superior strategy, he speedily crushed the revolt (
237 BC).
After this success Hamilcar enjoyed such influence among the popular and patriotic party that his opponents could not prevent him being raised to a virtual dictatorship. After recruiting and training a new army in some
Numidian forays he led on his own responsibility an expedition into
Hispania (
236 BC), where he hoped to gain a new empire to compensate Carthage for the loss of Sicily and
Sardinia, and to serve as a base for a campaign of vengeance against the Romans.
In eight years by force of arms and diplomacy he secured an extensive territory in Hispania, but his premature death in battle (
228 BC) prevented him from completing the conquest. Hamilcar stood out far above the Carthaginians of his age in military and diplomatic skill and in strength of patriotism; in these qualities he was surpassed only by his son
Hannibal, whom he had imbued with his own deep hatred of
Rome and trained to be his successor in the conflict.
He is sometimes confused with
Hamilcar, another Carthaginian general.
Hannibal Barca (
247 BC –
c. 183 BC;
[1][2][3][4][5] sometimes referred to as Hǎnnibal Barca) was a
Carthaginian politician and
statesman who is popularly credited as one of the finest military commanders in history. He lived in a period of tension in the
Mediterranean, with both
Carthage and
Rome (then the
Roman Republic) vying for control of the region. Considered by many as the greatest hero of Carthage, he is best known for his achievements in the
Second Punic War, when he marched an army, which famously included
war elephants, from
Iberia over the
Pyrenees and the
Alps into northern
Italy.
During his invasion of
Italy he defeated the Romans in a series of battles, out of which the most famous included the
Battles of Trebia,
Trasimene and
Cannae. After Cannae he seized the second largest city in Italy,
Capua, but he lacked the strength necessary to attack the city of Rome itself. He maintained an army in Italy for more than a decade afterward, never losing a major engagement, but never able to push the war through to a conclusion. During that period of time, the Roman armies regrouped. A Roman counter-invasion of
North Africa forced him to return to Carthage, where he was defeated in the
Battle of Zama. The defeat forced the Carthaginian Senate to send him into exile. During this exile, he lived at the
Seleucid court, where he acted as military advisor to
Antiochus III in his war against Rome. Defeated in a naval battle, Hannibal fled again, this time to the
Bithynian court. When the Romans demanded his surrender, he preferred to commit suicide rather than submit.
Hannibal is universally ranked as one of the greatest military commanders and tacticians in history. Military historian
Theodore Ayrault Dodge once famously christened Hannibal the "father of strategy"
[6] for the reason that even his greatest enemy, Rome, came to adopt elements of his military tactics in their strategic canon. This praise has earned him a strong reputation in the modern world and he was regarded as a "gifted strategist" by men like
Napoleon Bonaparte and the
Duke of Wellington. He has also been the basis for a number of films and documentaries.
Saguntum During the
5th century BC, the
Celtiberian built a walled settlement on the hill overseeing the plain; a stretch of cyclopean limestone slabs from the former temple of
Diana, survives, close to the modern church of Santa Maria, but the settlement site is still older. The city traded with
Greek and Phoenician coastal colonies, and under their influence, minted its own
coins. By (
219 BC) Saguntum was a large and commercially prosperous town, which sided with the local Greek colonists and
Rome against
Carthage, and drew
Hannibal's first assault, his siege of Saguntum, the opening move of the
Second Punic War. After a harsh resistance of several months, related by the Roman historian
Livy, Saguntum was captured in
218 by the armies of Hannibal.
Tiberius Sempronius Longus may refer to:
Tiberius Sempronius Longus (consul 218 BCE), who fought Hannibal's forces in the Second Punic War
His son,
Tiberius Sempronius Longus (consul 194 BCE), who defended Roman settlements from the Gauls
Gaius Flaminius Nepos was a
politician and
consul of the
Roman Republic in the
3rd century BC. He was the greatest popular leader to challenge the authority of the
Senate before the
Gracchi a century later.
In the aftermath of the
First Punic War, Flaminius, a
novus homo, was the leader of a reform movement which sought to reorganize state land in
Italy. As
tribune of the plebs in
232 BC, he passed a
plebiscite which divided the land south of
Ariminum, which had been conquered from the
Gauls decades before, and gave it to poor families whose farms had fallen into ruin during the war. The Senate was opposed to this and he did not consult them, contrary to the constitution and tradition.
Flaminius was governor of
Sicily in
227. Meanwhile, the reorganization of the land contributed to a renewed attack on Roman territory by the Gauls, whom the Romans finally defeated at the
Battle of Telamon in
224. In
223 Flaminius was elected consul for the first time, and with Publius Furius Philus he forced the Gauls to submit to Rome, creating the province of
Cisalpine Gaul.
In
221 Flaminius was
magister equitum to Marcus Minucius Rufus, then in
220 chosen as
censor along with
Lucius Aemilius Papus. During his term he arranged for the
Via Flaminia to be built from
Rome to Ariminum, established colonies at
Cremona and
Placentia, reorganized the
Centuriate Assembly to give the poorer classes more voting power, and built the
Circus Flaminius on the
Campus Martius. In
218, while serving in the
Senate, he was the only senator to support the
Lex Claudia, which prohibited senators from participating in overseas trade.
In
217, during the
invasion of Italy by
Hannibal, he was re-elected consul with Gnaeus Servilius, in what was considered a rebuke of the Senate's prosecution of the war. Flaminius raised new legions and marched north to meet Hannibal, but was ambushed at
Lake Trasimene. The army was destroyed and Flaminius was killed. His supporters in the Senate began to lose power to the more aristocratic factions, and the Romans feared Hannibal would besiege their city. The Senate appointed as
dictator Fabius Maximus.
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (c. 275 BC-203 BC), called Cunctator (the Delayer), was a Roman politician and soldier, born in
Rome around 275 BC and died in Rome in 203 BC. He was
consul five times (233 BC, 228 BC, 215 BC, 214 BC and 209 BC) and was twice
dictator in 221 and again in 217 BC. He reached the office of
censor in 230 BC. His epithet Cunctator (akin to the
English noun cunctation) means "delayer" in
Latin, and refers to his
tactics in deploying the troops during the
Second Punic War. His cognomen Verrucosus means warty, a reference to the wart above his upper lip.
Gaius Terentius Varro was a
Roman consul and commander. Along with his colleague,
Lucius Aemilius Paullus, he commanded at the
Battle of Cannae during the
Second Punic War, in
216 BC, against the
Carthaginian general
Hannibal. The battle proved to be a decisive Roman defeat.
Prior to being consul, he had been a
praetor in
218 BC. He was elected
proconsul in
Picenum from
215–
213 BC, and in
208–
207 BC, as
propraetor he held
Etruria against Hannibal's younger brother
Hasdrubal Barca. He went to
Africa, in
200 BC as ambassador.
The Battle of Zama, generally accepted to have been fought on or around
October 19 of
202 BC, was the final and decisive battle of the
Second Punic War. A
Roman army led by
Scipio Africanus defeated a
Carthaginian force led by
Hannibal Barca. Soon after this defeat on their home ground, the Carthaginian
senate sued for peace, ending the 17-year war.
Marcus Porcius Cato (
Latin: M·PORCIVS·M·F·CATO
[1]) (
234 BC,
Tusculum–
149 BC) was a
Roman statesman, surnamed the Censor (Censorius), Sapiens, Priscus, or the Elder (Major), to distinguish him from
Cato the Younger (his great-grandson).
He came of an ancient
plebeian family, noted for some military services, but not ennobled by the discharge of the higher civil offices. He was bred, after the manner of his Latin forefathers, to
agriculture, to which he devoted himself when not engaged in military service. But, having attracted the notice of
Lucius Valerius Flaccus, he was brought to
Rome, and became successively
quaestor (204 BC),
aedile (199 BC),
praetor (198 BC), and finally
consul (195 BC) together with his old patron.
Suffet In the various independent city states constituting
Phoenicia proper (coasts of present Lebanon and Syria) and its "Punic" Mediterranean colonies such as a shofet (in
Punic, suffet or suffete) was a non-royal magistrate granted control over a city-state, sometimes functioning much in the same way as a
Roman dictator.
Following the overthrow of its monarchy in the
400s BC,
Carthage, a former colony but the only Phoenician state that had kept full control over its own colonies and thus build up the only 'empire' (but republican and depending on mercenaries) able to threaten Rome's hegemony, was ruled by a number of aristocratic councils presided over colleagially by two suffetes, who served in similar capacity to Roman
consuls.
Corsica (
French: Corse;
Corsican: Corsica) is the fourth largest
island in the
Mediterranean Sea (after
Sicily,
Sardinia, and
Cyprus). It is located west of
Italy, southeast of
France, and north of the island of
Sardinia.
Corsica is one of the 26
régions of
France, although strictly speaking Corsica is called a "territorial collective" (collectivité territoriale) by law. As a territorial collective, it enjoys powers slightly more important than other French régions, but for the most part its status is quite similar to the status of the other régions. Corsica is referred to as a "région" in common speech, and is almost always listed among the other régions of France. Although the island is separated from the
continental mainland by the
Ligurian Sea,
politically Corsica is considered part of
Metropolitan France.
Corsica is famed as the birthplace of
Napoléon Bonaparte.
Hiero II, tyrant of
Syracuse from
270 to
215 BC, was the illegitimate son of a Syracusan noble,
Hierocles, who claimed descent from
Gelo. He was a former general of
Pyrrhus of Epirus and an important figure of the
First Punic War.
On the departure of Pyrrhus from
Sicily (
275 BC) the Syracusan army and citizens appointed him commander of the troops. He strengthened his position by marrying the daughter of Leptines, the leading citizen. In the meantime, the
Mamertines, a body of
Campanian mercenaries who had been employed by
Agathocles, had seized the stronghold of
Messana, and proceeded in harassing the Syracusans. They were finally defeated in a pitched battle near
Mylae by Hiero, who was only prevented from capturing Messana by
Carthaginian interference. His grateful countrymen then made him
tyrant (270).
In
264 BC he again returned to the attack, and the Mamertines called in the aid of
Rome. Hiero at once joined the Punic leader
Hanno, who had recently landed in Sicily; but being defeated by the
consul Appius Claudius Caudex, he withdrew to Syracuse. Pressed by the Roman forces, in
263 he was compelled to conclude a treaty with Rome, by which he was to rule over the south-east of Sicily and the eastern coast as far as
Tauromenium (
Polybius i. 8-16;
Zonaras Viii. 9).
From this time till his death in
215 BC he remained loyal to the Romans, and frequently assisted them with men and provisions during the Punic wars (
Livy xxi. 49-51, xxii. 37, xxiii. 21). He kept up a powerful fleet for defensive purposes, and employed his famous kinsman
Archimedes in the construction of those engines that, at a later date, played so important a part during the siege of Syracuse by the Romans
Appius Claudius Caudex was a
patrician member of the
Claudii. He was the grandson of
Appius Claudius Caecus through his father Gaius, and served as
consul in
264 BC.
In that year, he drew
Rome into conflict with
Carthage over possession of
Sicily. In
265 BC,
Hiero II of Syracuse had attacked
Messina in an attempt to recapture it from the
Mamertines, mercenaries from
Campania who had taken it from him some years before. The Mamertines allied with a nearby Carthaginian fleet and held off the
Syracusans, but when the Carthaginians did not leave, the Mamertines appealed to Rome in 264 BC.
Some
senators were opposed to helping them, but Appius Claudius persuaded the citizens to support them. He led a force to Messina, and as the Mamertines had convinced the Carthaginians to withdraw he met with only a symbolic resistance. The Mamertines handed the city over to Appius Claudius, but the Carthaginians returned to set up a blockade. The Syracusans, meanwhile, were also stationed outside the city. Claudius tried to send ambassadors to both the Carthaginians and the Syracusans, but he was ignored. He then led his troops outside the city defeated the Syracusans in battle, and Hiero retreated back to Syracuse. The next day Claudius also defeated the Carthaginians.
This dispute was one of the immediate causes of the
First Punic War.
His son was
Publius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 249 BC.
A corvus (meaning "raven" in
Latin) was a
Roman military boarding device used in naval warfare during the
First Punic War against
Carthage.
In the Book III of his History,
Polybius describes the corvus like a bridge 1.2
m (4
ft) wide and 10.9 m (36 ft) long, with a small
parapet on both sides. The engine was probably used in the
prow of the ship, where a system of
pulleys and a pole allowed the bridge to be raised and lowered. There was a heavy spike shaped as a bird's
beak on the underside of the device, hence the name "raven". The spike was designed to pierce the enemy ship's deck when the corvus was lowered. This allowed a firm grip between the vessels and a boarding route for the
legionaries.
In the
3rd century BC, Rome was not a naval power and had little or no experience in war at sea. In fact, before the first Punic war, the Roman Republic had not campaigned outside the Italian Peninsula. The Republic's military strength was on land, and her greatest assets were the discipline and courage of her soldiers. The corvus allowed her to use her army against the superior Carthaginian navy. The Romans' application of boarding tactics worked; they won several battles, most notably those of
Mylae,
Sulci,
Tyndaris, and
Ecnomus. Despite its advantages, the corvus had serious drawbacks: modern enactments show that its weight on the prow compromised the ship's navigability. Romans lost almost two entire fleets to storms in
255 and in
249 BC, largely due to the instability caused by the device. These losses were probably the main reason for the abandonment of the corvus in ship design by the end of the war. As Roman
Naval tactics improved and her crews became more experienced, the advantage of the corvus in battle no longer outweighed the risk involved in using it. It is not mentioned in period sources after the battle of Ecnomus and apparently the
battle of the Aegates Islands that decided the first Punic war was won without them; however an evolution of the corvus, called arpax, was used in the
battle of Naulochus.
Numidia was an ancient
Berber kingdom in
North Africa that later became a
Roman province, and is no longer in existence today. It was located on the eastern coast of modern day
Algeria, bordered by the Roman province of
Mauretania (west coast of modern Algeria) to the west, the Roman
province of Africa (modern day
Tunisia) to the east, the
Mediterranean Sea to the north, and the
Sahara Desert to the south.
Hasdrubal the Fair (d.
221 BC) was a
Carthaginian leader.
He was a son-in-law of
Hamilcar Barca, who followed the latter in his campaign against the governing aristocracy at Carthage at the close of the
First Punic War, and in his subsequent career of conquest in
Hispania. After Hamilcar's death (
228 BC) Hasdrubal, who succeeded him in the command, extended the newly acquired empire by skilful diplomacy, and consolidated it by the foundation of
Carthago Nova (
Cartagena) as the capital of the new province, and by a treaty with the
Roman Republic which fixed the
Ebro as the boundary between the two powers. He was killed by a
Celtic assassin.
Hasdrubal Barca (d.
207 BC) was a
Carthaginian general in the
Second Punic War. He was the second son of
Hamilcar Barca, and younger brother of
Hannibal.
Hasdrubal Barca
Hasdrubal was present when the Spanish ambushed the Carthaginian forces at Acre Luce. He along with his brother Hannibal escaped, Hamilcar led the Spanish in the opposite direction and drowned in the River Jucar.
Hannibal, when he set out for Italy, left a force of 13,000 infantry, 2,550 cavalry and 21 elephants in Spain. The Punic navy had a fleet of 50
Quinqueremes and 5
Triremes stationed there. However, only 32 Quinqueremes were manned at the start of the
Second Punic WarLeft in command of
Hispania when Hannibal departed to Italy in
218 BC, Hasdrubal was destined to fight for six years against the brothers
Gnaeus and
Publius Cornelius Scipio. The expedition Gnaeus Scipio in 218 BC had caught the Carthaginians by surprise, and before Hasrdrubal could join Hanno, the Carthaginian commander on the North of Ebro River, the Romans had fought and won the
Battle of Cissa and established their army at
Tarraco and their fleet at
Emporiae. Hasdrubal raided the Romans with a flying column, which inflicted severe losses and on their naval crews and reduced the fighting strength to 35 ships. This loss was offset by the arrival of an allied Greek contingent from the city of
Massilia.
In the spring of 217 BC, Hasdrubal led a joint expedition north to fight the Romans. Gnaeus Scipio surprised the Carthaginian fleet under Himilco and crushed it at the
Battle of Ebro River. Hasdrubal retreated without fighting. The year 216 was spent quelling an uprising of Spanish tribes, possibility the Trudenani around the area near
Gades.
Hasdrubal was reinforced by 4,000 infantry and 500 cavalry and was ordered by the Carthaginian senate to march to Italy in the same year. He left Himilco in charge at
Cartagena and marched for the Ebro river, but was heavily defeated in the
Battle of Dertosa in the spring of 215 BC. This defeat prevented reinforcements reaching Hannibal from both Spain and Africa at a critical moment of the War, when the Carthaginians held the upper hand in Italy. The Carthaginians were forced to contest the Romans in the area between the Ebro and Jucor rivers.
This defeat also led to
Hanno the Great,
Mago Barca and
Hasdrubal Gisco arriving in Spain with three armies and ending the undisputed command of the
Barcid family in Spain. The Carthaginains fought the Scipio brothers and had on the whole the worst of the conflict between 215 and 212 BC. At the instigation of the Romans,
Syphax, one of the kings of the Numidian tribes, attacked Carthaginian territories in 213/212 BC. The situation in Spain was suffuciantly under control, because Hasdrubal crossed over to Africa and crushed the threat of Syphax. The aid of
Masinissa, a Numidian prince, was invaluable during this episode, and he crossed over to Spain with Hasdrubal after the African expedition ended with 3,000 Numidian cavalry.
In late 212 BC Hasdrubal acted with imagination and initive, and with timely cooperation from Mago and Hasdrubal Gisco, completely routed his opponents at the
Battle of the Upper Baetis, destroying the majority of the Roman army in Spain and killing both the Scipios. Carthaginians gained control of Spain up to the Ebro as a result of this vicory. Lack of cooperation between the Carthginian generals after the battle led the surviving Roman force of 8,000 surviving north of the river Ebro. The Romans reinforced this detachment with 10,000 troops under Cladius Nero in 211 BC and with another 10,000 soldiers under
Scipio Africanus Major in 210 BC, who spent the year training his army and improving his diplomatic contacts.
Hasdrubal was subsequently outgeneralled by
Scipio Africanus Major, who in 209 BC captured Carthago Nova and gained other advantages. Hasdrubal was defeated by Scipio at the
Battle of Baecula, but managed to retreat with 2/3 of his army intact.
In the same year he was summoned to join his brother in Italy. He eluded Scipio by crossing the
Pyrenees at their western extremity, and, making his way thence through Gaul and the Alps in safety, penetrated far into Central Italy in 207 BC. He was ultimately checked by two Roman armies, and being forced to give battle was decisively defeated at the
Battle of the Metaurus. Hasdrubal himself fell in the fight; his head was cut off and thrown into Hannibal's camp as a sign of his utter defeat, in stark contrast of Hannibal's treatment of the bodies of fallen Roman Consuls.
It is hard to judge the true ability of Hasdrubal Barca as a general, as we know more about his defeats than his successes.
The Ebro (
Catalan: Ebre) is
Spain's most voluminous and second longest
river. It starts at
Fontibre (in the province of
Cantabria) and passes
Miranda de Ebro,
Logroño,
Zaragoza,
Flix,
Tortosa, and
Amposta before ending in a
delta on the
Mediterranean Sea in the province of
Tarragona.
Publius Cornelius Scipio (died
211 BC) was a general and statesman of the
Roman Republic.
A member of the
Cornelia gens, Scipio served as
consul in
218 BC, the first year of the
Second Punic War, and sailed with an army from
Pisa to
Massilia (today Marseille), with the view of arresting
Hannibal's advance on
Italy. Failing, however, to meet his enemy, he hastened to return by sea to
Cisalpine Gaul, having sent his army on to
Hispania under the command of his older brother
Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, with instructions to hold the Carthaginian forces there in check.
On his return to Italy he at once advanced to meet Hannibal. In a sharp
cavalry engagement near the
Ticinus, a tributary of the
Po river, he was defeated and severely wounded. In December of the same year, he again witnessed the complete defeat of the Roman army at the
Trebia, when his fellow consul
Tiberius Sempronius Longus insisted on fighting contrary to his advice.
Despite the military defeats, he still retained the confidence of the Roman people: his term of command was extended and the following year found him in Hispania with his brother Calvus, winning victories over the Carthaginians and strengthening Rome's position in the Iberian peninsula. He continued the Iberian campaigns until
211 when he was killed in the defeat of his army on the
upper Baetis river, the same year Calvus and his army was destroyed at
Ilorci near
Carthago Nova. The details of these campaigns are not accurately known, but it seems that the ultimate defeat and death of the two Scipiones was due to the desertion of the
Celtiberians, bribed by
Hasdrubal Barca, Hannibal's brother.
He was the son of
Lucius Cornelius Scipio, and he was the father of
Scipio Africanus Major, whose original name was likewise Publius Cornelius Scipio.
The Battle of the Trebia (or
Trebbia) was the first major battle of the
Second Punic War, fought between the
Carthaginian forces of
Hannibal and the
Roman Republic in
218 BC.
The Battle of Lake Trasimene (
June 24,
217 BC, April on the
Julian calendar) was a Roman defeat in the
Second Punic War between the
Carthaginians under
Hannibal and the
Romans under the consul
Gaius Flaminius. The battle is perhaps one of the largest and most successful
ambushes in military history.
Lucius Aemilius Paullus (d.
216 BC) was a
Roman general. He was
consul twice, in
219 and
216 BC.
He served his first consulship with
Marcus Livius Salinator. During this year, he defeated
Demetrius of Pharos, in the
Second Illyrian War and forced him to flee to the court of
Philip V of Macedon. Upon his return to Rome, he was awarded a
triumph. He was subsequently charged, along with his colleague, with unfairly dividing the spoils, although he was acquitted.
During the
Second Punic War, he was made consul a second time and served with
Gaius Terentius Varro. He shared the command of the army with Varro at
Battle of Cannae. Varro lead out the troops against the advice of Paullus and the battle became a crushing defeat for the Romans. Paullus died in the battle while Varro got away.
He was the father of
Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus and his daughter, Aemilia Tertia, married
Scipio Africanus. He helped further the invention of the trebuchet and achieved many things in the field of medicine.
Cannae (mod. Canne della Battaglia), an ancient village of the
Apulia region of south east
Italy. It is situated near the river
Aufidus (mod. Ofanto), on a hill on the right bank, 9.6
km (6
miles) southwest from its mouth, and 9 km southwest from
Barletta.
It is primarily known for the
Battle of Cannae, in which the Romans were defeated by
Hannibal in
216 BC (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.
Publius
Cornelius Scipio Africanus Major (
Latin: P·CORNELIVS·P·F·L·N·SCIPIO·AFRICANVS
¹) (
235–
183 BC) was a general in the
Second Punic War and statesman of the
Roman Republic. He was best known for defeating
Hannibal of
Carthage, a feat that earned him the surname Africanus, the nickname 'the Roman Hannibal' and recognition as one of the finest commanders in military history.
Scipio (L., rod or staff) was born in
236 BC in
Rome into the
Scipio branch of the
Cornelii family. Several ancestors had been
consuls successively, and his great-grandfather, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Barbatus, had been patrician
censor in
280 BC. The Cornelii were counted among the five major patrician families —the others being the Fabii, the Aemilii, the Claudii, and the Valerii — and at the time Scipio Africanus lived, the Scipiones were probably its most prominent branch.
Scipio was the elder son of
Publius Cornelius Scipio, praetor and consul, by his wife Pomponia, who was apparently of a prominently knightly and plebian family. Scipio was known to have visited the temple daily as he took dreams about gods and omens seriously. He is also thought to have consulted with, or at least informed his mother before deciding to run for curule aedile, the most junior magistrate who was entitled to enter the Senate. Scipio ran for this office at the age of 24. His younger brother was Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus. Little else is known about his childhood.
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Early Military Service
At an early age, Scipio joined the Roman struggle against
Carthage in the
Second Punic War. At some point he is said to have promised his father to continue the struggle against Carthage all his life, showing similar dedication to that of his enemy, Hannibal.
The young Scipio survived the disastrous battles at
Ticinus,
Trebia and
Cannae. According to one tradition, he saved his
father's life when he was 18, at the Battle of Ticinus. Scipio's would-be father-in-law
Lucius Aemilius Paullus was killed in 216 BC at the third of these battles, the Battle of Cannae. Despite these defeats at the hands of the
Carthaginians, Scipio remained focused on securing Roman victory.
On hearing that
Lucius Caecilius Metellus and other politicians were at the point of surrender, Scipio gathered what his follower and stormed into the meeting, where at sword-point he forced all present to swear that they would continue in faithful service to Rome. Fortunately, the Roman Senate was of like mind and refused to entertain thoughts of peace despite the great losses Rome had taken in the war (approximately one-fifth of the men of military age had died within a few years).
Scipio offered himself as a candidate for the curule aedileship in the year
212 BC, apparently to assist his less popular cousin, Lucius Cornelius, who was also standing for election. The Tribunes of the Plebs (elected representatives from the Plebian Assembly) objected to his candidacy, saying that he could not be allowed to stand because he had not yet reached the legal age - curule aediles were automatically entitled to enter the Senate and the legal age for Senate membership was 30. Scipio's reply was, "If the quirites (the Roman citizens) are unanimous in their desire to appoint me Aedile, I am quite old enough..."[
citation needed] Scipio, already known for his bravery and patriotism, was elected unanimously and the Tribunes abandoned their opposition.
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Campaign in Hispania
Nicholas Poussin's painting of the Continence of Scipio, depicting his return of a captured young woman to her fiancé, having refused to accept her from his troops as a prize of war.
In
211 BC both Scipio's father, Publius Scipio, and uncle,
Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Calvus, were killed in battle against Hannibal's brother,
Hasdrubal Barca. In the following year Scipio offered himself for the command of the new army which the Romans resolved to send to
Hispania. In spite of his youth, his noble demeanor and enthusiastic language had made so great an impression that he was unanimously elected to be sent there as
proconsul. In the year of Scipio's arrival (
210 BC) all of Hispania south of the
Ebro river was under Carthaginian control. Hannibal's brothers Hasdrubal and
Mago, and
Hasdrubal Gisco were the generals of the Carthaginian forces in Hispania, and Rome was aided by the inability of these three figures to act in concert. The Carthaginians were also preoccupied with revolts in Africa.
Scipio landed at the mouth of the Ebro and was able to surprise and capture
Carthago Nova, the headquarters of the Carthaginian power in Hispania. He obtained a rich cache of war stores and supplies, and an excellent harbor and base of operations. Scipio's humanitarian conduct toward prisoners and hostages in Hispania helped in portraying the Romans as liberators as opposed to conquerors. Livy tells the story of the capture of a beautiful woman by his troops, who offered her to Scipio as a prize of war. Scipio, astonished by her beauty, thanked his troops but discovered that the woman was betrothed to a local chieftain. He returned her to her fiancé, along with the money that had been offered by her parents to ransom her. While Scipio was long known for his great chivalry, Scipio doubtless also realized that the Senate's first priority was the war in Italy, and in the midst of the Carthaginian base in Hispania, he was to be outnumbered without much hope of reinforcement. It was paramount therefore that Scipio cooperate with local chieftains to both supply and reinforce his small army. The woman's fiance (who soon married her) naturally brought over his tribe to support the Roman armies.[
citation needed]
In
209 BC Scipio fought his first
set piece battle, driving back Hasdrubal Barca from his position at
Baecula on the upper
Guadalquivir. Scipio feared that the armies of Mago and Gisco would enter the field and surround his small army. Scipio's objective was, therefore, to quickly eliminate one of the armies to give him the luxury of dealing with the other two piecemeal. The battle was decided by a determined Roman infantry charge up the center of the Carthaginian position. Roman losses are uncertain but may have been considerable in light of an effort by the infantry to scale an elevation defended by Carthaginian light infantry. Scipio then orchestrated a frontal attack by the rest of his infantry to draw out the remainder of the Carthaginian forces.
Hasdrubal had not noticed Scipio's hidden reserves of cavalry moving behind enemy lines, and a Roman cavalry charge created a double envelopment on either flank led by cavalry commander
Gaius Laelius and Scipio himself. This broke the back of Hasdrubal's army and routed his forces -- an impressive feat for the young Roman versus the veteran Carthaginian general. Despite a Roman victory, Scipio was unable to hinder the Carthaginian march to Italy. Much historical criticism has been leveled at his inability to effectively pursue Hasdrubal, who would eventually cross the Alps only to be defeated by
Gaius Claudius Nero at the
Battle of the Metaurus.
One popular theory for Scipio's failure to pursue Hasdrubal is that Scipio merely wanted the glory of securing Spain, and an extended mountain campaign would have endangered that. Others cite the Roman soldiers' appetite for plunder as preventing him from rallying in pursuit. The most probable explanation from a strategic standpoint is Scipio's unwillingness to risk being trapped between Hasdrubal's army on one side and one or both of Gisgo's and Mago's armies, both of superior numerical strength. Mere days after Hasdrubal's defeat, Mago and Gisgo were able to converge in front of the Roman positions, bringing into question what would have happened had Scipio pursued Hasdrubal.
After winning over a number of Hispanian chiefs Scipio achieved a decisive victory in
206 BC over the full Carthaginian levy at
Ilipa (now the city of
Alcalá del Río, near
Hispalis, now called
Seville), which resulted in the evacuation of Hispania by the Punic commanders.
After his rapid success in conquering Spain, and with the idea of striking a blow at Carthage in
Africa, Scipio paid a short visit to the
Numidian princes
Syphax and
Massinissa. Numidia was of vital importance to Carthage, supplying both mercenaries and allied forces. In addition to supplying the Numidian cavalry (on which see the
Battle of Cannae), Numidia operated as a buffer for vulnerable Carthage. Scipio managed to receive support from both Syphax and Massinissa. Syphax later changed his mind, marrying the beautiful Carthaginian noblewoman
Sophonisba, daughter of Hasdrubal the son of Gisco, and fighting alongside his Carthaginian in-laws against Massinissa and Scipio in Africa.
On his return to Hispania, Scipio had to quell a mutiny which had broken out among his troops. Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal had meanwhile marched for Italy, and in
206 BC Scipio himself, having secured the Roman occupation of Hispania by the capture of
Gades, gave up his command and returned to Rome.
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African Campaign
In the following year,
205 BC, Scipio was unanimously elected to the
consulship at the age of 31. Scipio wanted to go to
Africa, but his jealous enemies in the
Roman senate only allowed him to go as far as
Sicily and did not grant him an army. Nevertheless, Scipio raised and trained a volunteer army while in Sicily.
By this time Hannibal's movements were restricted to the southwestern toe of Italy. Scipio was intent on transferring the war to Africa, and his great name drew to him a number of volunteers from all parts of Italy. Interestingly, among these volunteers were the shamed survivors of the fiasco at the Battle of Cannae, anxious to once again prove their worth as soldiers. Scipio began creating Sicily as a training camp and a staging point for his conceived invasion.
Scipio realized that the Carthaginian, and especially Numidian superiority in cavalry would prove decisive against the largely infantry forces of the Roman legions. In addition, a large portion of Rome's cavalry were allies of questionable loyalty, or noble
equites exempting themselves from being lowly foot soldiers. One anecdote tells of how Scipio pressed into service several hundred Sicilian nobles to create a cavalry force. The Sicilians were quite opposed to this servitude to a foreign occupier (Sicily being under Roman control only since the
First Punic War), and protested vigorously. Scipio assented to their exemption from service providing they pay for a horse, equipment, and a replacement rider for the Roman Army. In this way, Scipio created a trained nucleus of cavalry for his African campaign.
The Roman Senate sent a commission of inquiry to Sicily and found that Scipio was at the head of a well-equipped and trained fleet and army. Scipio pressed the Senate for permission to cross into Africa. The conservative branch of the Roman Senate, championed by
Fabius Maximus, the Cunctator (Delayer), opposed the mission. Fabius still feared Hannibal's power, and viewed any mission to Africa as dangerous and wasteful to the war effort. Scipio was also harmed by some senators' disdain of his Hellenophile tastes in art, luxuries, and philosophies. The introduction (
205 BC) of the
Phrygian worship of
Cybele and the transference of the image of the goddess herself from
Pessinus to
Rome to bless the expedition may have affected public opinion against Scipio as well. All Scipio could obtain was permission to cross over from Sicily to Africa if it appeared to be in the interests of Rome, but not financial or military support.
At the commissioners' bidding Scipio sailed in
204 BC and landed near
Utica. Carthage, meanwhile, had secured the friendship of the
Numidian Syphax, whose advance compelled Scipio to abandon the siege of Utica and dig in on the shore between there and Carthage. The following year he destroyed the combined armies of the Carthaginians and Numidians by approaching by stealth and setting fire to the Carthaginian-Numidian camp, where the combined army became panic stricken and fled only to be destroyed by Scipio's army. Though not a "battle," both Polybius and Livy estimate that the death toll in this single attack exceeded 40,000 Carthaginian and Numidian dead, and more captured.
Historians are roughly equal in their praise and condemnation for this act. Polybius said, "of all the brilliant exploits performed by Scipio this seems to me the most brilliant and more adventurous." On the other hand, one of Hannibal's principal biographers,
Theodore Ayrault Dodge, goes so far to suggest that this attack was out of cowardice and spares no more than a page upon the event in total, despite the fact that it secured the siege of Utica and effectively put Syphax out of the war. The irony of Dodge's accusations of Scipio's cowardice is the attack showed traces of Hannibal's penchant for ambush.
Scipio quickly dispatched his two lieutenants, Laelius and Masinissa, to pursue Syphax. These lieutenants ultimately dethroned Syphax, ensuring Prince Masinissa's corronation as King of the Numidians. Carthage, and especially Hannibal himself, had long relied upon these superb natural horsemen who would now fight for Rome and against Carthage.
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War with Hannibal, the Battle of Zama
With Carthage now deserted by her allies, and surrounded by a veteran and undefeated Roman army which Dodge states was the best ever fielded, Carthage began opening diplomatic channels for negotiation. At this Hannibal Barca returned to Carthage, and despite the moderate terms offered to Carthage by Scipio, Carthage suddenly suspended negotiations and again prepared for war. The army that Hannibal returned with is a subject of much debate. Apologists for Hannibal often claim that his army was mostly Italians pressed into service from Southern Italy, and that most of his elite veterans (and certainly cavalry) were spent. Scipio's advocates tend to be far more suspicious, and believe the number of veteran forces to remain significant.
Hannibal did have a trained pool of soldiers who had fought personally in Italy, as well as eighty massive war elephants. Hannibal could boast a strength of 58,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry, compared to Scipio's 34,000 infantry and 8,700 cavalry. The two generals met on a plain between Carthage and Utica on
October 19,
202 BC at the
Zama. Despite mutual admiration, negotiations floundered, due largely to Roman distrust of the Carthaginians as a result of to the Carthaginian attack on
Saguntum, the breach of protocols which ended the First Punic War (known as Punic Faith), and a perceived breach in contemporary military etiquette due to Hannibal's numerous ambushes.
The Battle of Zama itself is recounted elsewhere, but it is noteworthy to cite Scipio's contribution to its outcome. Hannibal had arranged his infantry in three phalangial lines designed to overlap the Roman lines. His strategy, so oft reliant upon subtle strategems, was simple: a massive forward attack by the war elephants would create vulnerable gaps in the Roman lines, and these would be attacked from lines of infantry, and supported by cavalry.
Rather than arranging his forces in the traditional manipular lines, which put the
velites,
principes, and
triarii in succeeding lines of 500 men groups, Scipio instead put the maniples in a chequer pattern, with his elite heavy infantry in diagonals. This was done to match the length of the Carthaginian line, but also as a strategem against the war elephants. When the Carthaginian elephants charged, they found well laid traps before the Roman position, and were greeted by Roman trumpeters which drove many back out of confusion and fear. Roman javelins were used to good effect, and the sharp traps caused further disorder among the elephant calvary. Many of the elephants were so distraught that they charged back into their own Carthaginian lines. The Roman infantry was greatly rattled by the elephants, but Massinissa's Numidian and Laelius' Roman cavalry began to charge the opposing cavalry off the field. Both calvary commanders pursued their routing Carthaginian counterparts, leaving the Carthaginian and Roman infantries to engage one another. The resulting infantry clash was fierce and bloody, with neither side achieving local superiority. The Roman infantry had driven off the 2 front lines of the Carthaginian army and in the respite took an opportunity to water. The Roman army was then drawn up in a long line a single soldier deep and then marched towards Hannibals veterans who had not yet taken part in the battle. The final struggle was bitter, and only won when the allied cavalry rallied and returned to the battle field. Charging the rear of Hannibal's army, they caused what many historians have called the "Roman Cannae."
Because of the exertions of Rome and her allies against Carthage many Roman aristocrats, especially Cato, expected Scipio to raze that city to the ground after his successful campaign. However, Scipio dictated extremely moderate terms in contrast to an immoderate Roman Senate. At Scipio's consent Hannibal was allowed to become the civic leader of Carthage as a byproduct of Scipio's moderation (which the Cato family did not forget). Despite his moderation towards the Carthaginians, he was cruel towards the Roman and the Latin deserters: the Latins were beheaded and the Romans crucified.
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Return to Rome
Scipio was welcomed back to Rome in triumph with the
agnomen of Africanus. He refused the many further honours which the people would have thrust upon him such as Consul and Dictator for life. In the year 199 BC, Scipio was elected Censor and for some years afterwards he lived quietly and took no part in politics.
In
193 BC Scipio was one of the commissioners sent to Africa to settle a dispute between Massinissa and the Carthaginians, which the commission did not achieve. This may have been because Hannibal, in the service of
Antiochus III of
Syria, might have come to Carthage to gather support for a new attack on Italy. In
190 BC, when the Romans declared war against Antiochus III, Publius offered to join his brother
Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, if the Senate entrusted the chief command to him. The two brothers brought the war to a conclusion by a decisive victory at
Magnesia in the same year.
Antiochus I Soter (i.e. "Saviour") (
324/
323-
262/
261 BCE), was an emperor of the
Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. He reigned from
281 -
261 BCE. He was half
Persian, his mother Apame being one of those eastern princesses whom
Alexander the Great had given as wives to his generals in
324 BCE.
On the assassination of his father
Seleucus I in
281 BCE, the task of holding together the empire was a formidable one, and a revolt in
Syria broke out almost immediately. With his father's murderer,
Ptolemy Keraunos, Antiochus was soon compelled to make peace, abandoning apparently
Macedonia and
Thrace. In
Asia Minor he was unable to reduce
Bithynia or the Persian dynasties that ruled in
Cappadocia.
In
278 BCE the
Gauls broke into Asia Minor, and a victory that Antiochus won over these hordes is said to have been the origin of his title of Soter (
Gr. for "saviour").
At the end of
275 BCE the question of
Coele-Syria, which had been open between the houses of
Seleucus and
Ptolemy since the partition of
301 BCE, led to hostilities (the "First Syrian War"). It had been continuously in
Ptolemaic occupation, but the
house of Seleucus maintained its claim.
War did not materially change the outlines of the two kingdoms, though frontier cities like
Damascus and the coast districts of Asia Minor might change hands.
About
262 BCE Antiochus tried to break the growing power of
Pergamum by force of arms, but suffered defeat near
Sardis and died soon afterwards. His eldest son Seleucus, who had ruled in the east as viceroy from
275 BCE(?) till
268/
267 BCE, was put to death in that year by his father on the charge of rebellion. He was succeeded (
261 BCE) by his second son
Antiochus II Theos.
After the death of his father, Antiochus married his step-mother,
Stratonice, daughter of
Demetrius Poliorcetes, their son
Antiochus II Theos succeeded his father.
Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus (
185 -
129 BC) was a leading general and politician of the ancient
Roman Republic. As
consul he commanded at the final siege and destruction of
Carthage in
146 BC, and was a leader of the senators opposed to the
Gracchi in
133 BC.
He was born the younger son of
Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, the conqueror of
Macedonia, and fought when he was 17 years old by his father's side at the
Battle of Pydna, which decided the fate of Macedonia and made northern
Greece subject to Rome. He was adopted (see
Adoption in Rome) by Publius Cornelius Scipio, the eldest son of
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, and his name was changed to Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus.
In
151, a time of disaster for the Romans in Spain, he voluntarily offered his services in that province and developed an influence over the native tribes similar to that which Scipio Africanus, his grandfather by adoption, had acquired nearly 60 years before. In the next year an appeal was made to him by the Carthaginians to act as mediator between them and the Numidian prince
Massinissa, who, supported by a party at Rome, was incessantly encroaching on Carthaginian territory. In
149 war was declared by Rome, and a force sent to besiege
Carthage. In the early operations of the war, which went altogether against the Romans, Scipio Aemilianus, though a subordinate officer, distinguished himself repeatedly, and in
147 he was elected
consul, while yet under the legal age, in order that he might hold the supreme command. After a year of desperate fighting and splendid heroism on the part of the defenders he conquered Carthage, and at the
Senate's bidding levelled it to the ground. On his return to Rome he celebrated a splendid
Triumph, having also established a personal claim to his adoptive agnomen of Africanus. In 142, during his
censorship, he endeavoured to check the growing luxury and immorality of the period. In 139 he was unsuccessfully accused of high treason by
Tiberius Claudius Asellus, whom he had degraded when
censor. The speeches delivered by him on that occasion (now lost) were considered brilliant. In
134 he was again consul, with the province of Spain, where a demoralized Roman army was vainly attempting the conquest of
Numantia on the Durius (Duero) and the closing of the
Numantine War. After devoting several months to restoring the discipline of his troops, he reduced the city by blockade. The fall of Numantia in 133 established the Roman dominion in the province of Hither Spain. For his services Scipio Aemilianus received the additional agnomen of "Numantinus". Scipio Aemilianus himself, though not in sympathy with the extreme conservative party, was decidedly opposed to the schemes of the
Gracchi (whose sister Sempronia was his wife). When he heard of the death of Tiberius Gracchus, he is said to have quoted the line from the
Odyssey (i. 47), "So perish all who do the like again"; after his return to Rome he was publicly asked by the tribune
Gaius Papirius Carbo what he thought of the fate of Gracchus, and replied that he was justly slain. This gave dire offence to the popular party, which was now led by his bitterest foes. Soon afterwards, in
129, on the morning of the day on which he had intended to make a speech in reference to the agrarian proposals of the Gracchi, he was found dead in bed. The mystery of his death was never solved, and there were political reasons for letting the matter drop, but there is little doubt that he was assassinated by one of the supporters of the Gracchi, probably Carbo, whom
Cicero expressly accused of the crime.
Scipio looked over the city which had flourished for over seven hundred years since its foundation, which had ruled over such extensive territories, islands, and seas, and been as rich in arms, fleets, elephants, and money as the greatest empires, but which had surpassed them in daring and high courage, since though deprived of all its arms and ships it had yet withstood a great siege and famine for three years, and was now coming to an end in total destruction; and he is said to have wept and openly lamented the fate of his enemy. After meditating a long time on the fact that not only individuals but cities, nations, and empires must all inevitably come to an end, and on fate of Troy, that once glorious city, on the fall of the Assyrian, Median, and Persian empires, and on the more recent destruction of the brilliant empire of the Macedonians, deliberately or subconsciously he quoted the words of Hector from Homer--'The day shall come when sacred Troy shall fall, and King Priam and all his warrior people with him.' And when Polybius, who was with him, asked him what he meant, he turned and took him by the hand, saying: 'This is a glorious moment, Polybius; and yet I am seized with fear and foreboding that some day the same fate will befall my own country.
Scipio Aemilianus, great general and great man as he was, is forever associated with the destruction of Carthage. Although he dutifully carried out the will of the Senate, the horror he expressed at its fate speaks to his humanity. He was a man of culture and refinement; he gathered round him such men as the Greek historian
Polybius, the philosopher
Panaetius, and the poets
Lucilius and
Terence. At the same time he had all the virtues of an old-fashioned Roman, according to Polybius and Cicero, the latter of whom gives an appreciation of him in his De republica, in which Scipio Aemilianus is the chief speaker. As a speaker he seems to have been no less distinguished than as a soldier. He spoke remarkably good and pure Latin, and he particularly enjoyed serious and intellectual conversation. After the capture of Carthage he gave back to the Greek cities of
Sicily the works of art of which Carthage had robbed them. He did not avail himself of the many opportunities he must have had of amassing a fortune. Though politically opposed to the Gracchi, he cannot be said to have been a foe to the interests of the people. He was, in fact, a moderate man, in favor of conciliation, and he was felt by the best men to be a safe political adviser, but as often happens to moderate men in radical times he ended disliked by both parties.
Despite moderation in policy, his oratory was noted for its sharp witticisms, a number of which have been quoted in various sources (Astin, Appendix II). Astin suggests that while his biting comments were doubtless appreciated by the crowds, they could have also had the effect of making enemies out of political opponents.
