The Carthaginians 6th-2nd Century BC

by Andrea Salimbeti, Raffaele D'Amato, Giuseppe Rava (Illustrator)

Overview

Carthage became Rome's greatest and most legendary enemy under the generalship of Hannibal in battles like Cannae. During the Punic Wars, Carthage's elite mercenary-professional army was ultimately defeated by Roman endurance and Scipio's genius.

Carthage, the port-city in Tunisia first settled by Phoenicians from Tyre, grew to extend a competitive maritime trading empire all over the Western Mediterranean and beyond, increasingly defended by the best navy of the period. In the 6th century BC this came into confrontation with Greek colonists in Sicily, starting major wars that lasted through the 5th and 4th centuries, and involved much interaction with different Greek forces. During the 3rd century Carthage first clashed with Roman armies, and in the course of three wars that raged over Spain, Sicily and Italy the Romans suffered the greatest defeats in their early history (e.g. Lake Trasimene and Cannae, 217 and 216 BC) at the hands of Hamilcar, Hannibal and Hasdrubal Barca, leading multinational armies of North Africans and Europeans.

It was 202 BC before Hannibal was decisively defeated by Scipio Africanus at Zama, and 146 BC before Carthage itself was finally captured and destroyed. The victors tried to wipe the memory of Carthage out of the historical record, and while Hannibal himself has attracted fascinated study, little work has been done on trying to explain the character and reconstruct the appearance of Carthaginian armies. The authors of this study present a careful synthesis of all available literary, archaeological and iconographic evidence, in the most up-to-date attempt to do so. Their findings are dramatized in a portfolio of detailed and animated color plates by Giuseppe Rava.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781782007760
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	04/22/2014
Series:	Elite , #201
Pages:	64
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.20(d)

About the Author

Dr RAFFAELE D'AMATO is an experienced Turin-based researcher of the ancient and medieval military worlds. After achieving his first PhD in Romano-Byzantine Law, and having collaborated with the University of Athens, he gained a second doctorate in Roman military archaeology. He currently works as vice-head of the Laboratory of the Danubian Provinces at the University of Ferrara, under Professor Livio Zerbini.

Born in 1962, Andrea Salimbeti has had a life-long interest in ancient military history, in particular the Bronze Age in Greece and the Middle East. He served as a paratrooper in the Italian Army in Beirut and attended the Space Academy and flight training in USA. He now works for the space programme, and is also author of various articles on aerospace technology and flight equipment. His hobbies include modelling military figurines. The author lives in Frossasco, Italy.

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Historical background

Historical Reputation 9

Cruel executions

Human sacrifice

Chronology 12

Organization 16

Command

Citizen militia

Libyo-Phoenicians

Mercenaries & allies: advantages and dangers of reliance on mercenaries

North Africans - Iberians - Celts

Non-infantry troops: Cavalry - Chariots - Elephants - Artillery

Tactics 28

Heavy and light infantry

Evolution of mercenary tactics in Punic service: Iberian cavalry - Celts

Arms & Equipment 32

Carthaginian & Libyo-Phoenician infantry and cavalry: Armour

Shields

Weapons

North African cavalry and infantry - Iberians: the Pozo Moro burial - Balearic slingers - Celts - Insignia & standards

Clothing & Physical Appearance 46

The Navy 48

Selected Campaigns & Battles 52

The conquest of Sardinia, 545-C.509 BC

The battle of Himera, 480 BC

The mercenary revolt, 240 BC

Select Bibliography 61

Index 64