Chapter IX

The First Punic War and the Battle of Telamon

Tension in the Strait

When Pyrrhus of Epirus finally left Italy after his defeat, he left Rome as the dominant power in the Italian peninsula. Now, the remaining independent Greek city-states in southern Italy fell under the control of the Roman Republic. In the north of Italy, the enormous Alps Mountains acted as a natural barrier against any large invading army. The Padua River, now called the Po, ran down from the Alps into a fertile plain just south of the mountains. The Etruscans, who had such influence and power in northern Italy in former centuries, were either absorbed into the Roman Republic or had their lands taken over by the Gauls who encroached into the Po Valley region south of the Alps. The Samnites, who lived in the mountainous Apennines of central Italy, and all the Greeks of the south, were now under the protection of the Roman Republic.

Carthages Origin
According to the Greek historian Timaeus, Carthage (Punic1 for New City) was founded in 814
BC, evidenced by radiocarbon-dating of archeological finds. The city was a colony from the Phoenician

city-state of Tyre, which later would fall to Alexander the Great. According to Vergils Aeneid, it was Aeneas who stopped at Carthage to see Queen Elissa (Dido was what the Romans called her) when the city was first being constructed. However, theres an obvious date discrepancy between the flight from Troy (1184 BC) and the archeological evidence (814 BC). It must be remembered, though, that the origin myth did not have to fit an actual timeline, so the two are not necessarily in contradiction for an ancient reader. As the Roman historian Livy commented in his history of Rome (Ab Urbe Condita):

Events before Rome was born or thought of have come to us in old tales with more of the charm of poetry than sound historical record, and such traditions I propose neither to affirm nor refute. There is no reason, I feel, to object when antiquity draws no hard line between the human and the supernatural: it adds dignity to the past.2

1 2

The word punic comes from the Latin word for Phoenician (punicus) Book 1.1 (Penguin Classics)

Livy states that founding myths are just thatmyth. Just because it was myth did not mean that it was not important or valid in an ancients eyes. In a modern world where history means verifiable facts, it must be remembered that history in the ancient world was not so much about validity, but a good story. That is not to discount historians like Herodotus, Appian or Livy, but events before the 6th or 7th centuries BC are more myth than actual records. In contrast to Timaeus, the historian Appian claimed the Phoenicians settled Tyre fifty years before the capture of Troy. Whatever the true founding date, it is generally believed that Queen Elissa fled Tyre when her brother, King Pygmalion, killed her husband in a dispute over the throne. She, and those wishing to join her, sailed to Tunisia, the North African promontory that is closest to Sicily. The native inhabitants who owned the land laughingly agreed to give Queen Elissa as much land as she was able to enclose with the hide of an ox. Cutting the hide into very thin strips, she laid them in a large circle end-to-end and claimed the land within that enclosed space. This, according to the myth, is how Carthage was first settled. As Phoenicians, the Carthaginians were skilled in maritime trade and naval warfare. The citys position, along the trade routes between it and Sicily, quickly made Carthage a powerful city-state. By the 6th century BC, the Carthaginians power stretched along the African coast to Egypt, the western part of Sicily, and the coasts of Sardinia and Corsica.3 As Carthages power expanded on Sicily, they were challenged for supremacy of the island by the Greek city of Syracuse. For over two centuries Carthage fought against Syracuse and its allies on the island. As the Second Persian War was raging with Xerxes in 480 BC, Carthaginian forces tried to take over the island, but were unsuccessful. Over the 5th century, as Greece was rocked by the Peloponnesian War, there were a constant series of battles and plagues between the Carthaginians and Syracusans. It was during this time that Syracuse also managed to defeat the Athenian force that was send to take the city in 415 BC. The Athenian loss at Syracuse, you may remember, was an influential factor in bringing down the Athenian Empire during the Peloponnesian War. By 310 BC the Carthaginians had managed to conquer a great portion of Sicily, but the tyrant of Syracuse, Agathocles, in response sent an army across the sea to Carthage itself. This chess-like move by the Syracusans forced the Carthaginians to recall their army to Africa and protect the city. Agathocles forces were defeated, but he managed to escape back to Syracuse and negotiated a peace with Carthage. Pyrrhus of Epirus then came to Syracuses aid against Carthage (278-276 BC), but did not manage to drive them from the island. Carthage, long since independent of its mother colony, Tyre, was prophetically drawn into conflict with the Romans after the Pyrrhic War.
3

In 509 BC, Rome established a merchant treaty with Carthage shortly after they established the Republic. The treaty does not survive, but it shows that there was at least mercantile contact between the two city-states, even at this early period.

Harbors and Walls

Carthage was very famous for two things: its harbors and the defensive fortifications around the city. There were two harbors that greatly aided Carthages ability to become a merchant and naval superpower; one was strictly for trade, while the other had specially designed docks for warships of the time. Looking at the image below, you can see in this computer rendering the long, rectangular harbor that was for merchant ships. Two towers protected the entrance, and a large iron chain could be stretched across the mouth of the harbor to stop ships from entering or leaving. The Carthaginians had 220 warships at her disposal in the other harbor. Both the inner island and circular docks maintained battle-ready warships, which could be quickly launched for the citys defense.

The walls of Carthage were perhaps the finest defensive fortification in the entire ancient world, stretching some 23 miles around the city, even on the seaward side. There were a series of three walls on the landward side, while the seaward were not nearly as strong since the Carthaginians relied on their navy to protect themselves from a seaborne attack. In all the years of warfare between Carthage and Rome, the landward walls would never be breached.

Ships of the War

Warships had been evolving ever since the days of the Trojan War, when perhaps 50 men were crewed on each ship. During the Persian Wars of the 5th century BC, warships had evolved into triremes with a crew compliment of roughly 200 men each. By the 3rd century, ships had evolved into the quadrireme and the largest to date, the quinquereme. The tri-, quad-, and quin-, refer to the number of oarsmen or oars per row on each ship. How the oarsmen were arranged on each design is still a subject of debate by modern historians. Even though quinqueremes were the most advanced design of that period, with a crew of about 420 men, smaller quadriremes and triremes were still produced as the need required. So, for example, a small fleet of 150 warships consisted of 63,000 sailors and soldiersthe equivalent of a large army. The maintaining of a large naval force was a considerable expense for Carthage, but it was that naval force which gave her dominion over a huge area of the Mediterranean Sea. However, it is somewhat ironic that the design of the quinquereme has been credited to Dionysius I, tyrant of Syracuse at the beginning of the 4th century
BC.
A Roman Quinquereme

Messina and Rhegium

In the narrow Strait of Messina, barely 2 miles separates the toe of Italy from the northeastern tip of Sicily and the coastal town of Messina. In 288 BC, a group of mercenaries called the

Mamertines occupied Messina (called Messana in antiquity) and killed all the men and took the women as their wives. At the same time, across the strait, a body of Roman soldiers seized the city of Rhegium without orders.4 The Mamertines eventually fell into conflict with the Syracusans, and had their army destroyed by King Hiero II of Syracuse. The remains of the Mamertine force fled back to Messina and appealed to Carthage for aid against their common foe. Seeing an opportunity, Carthage sent a force and garrisoned Messina, and Hiero II backed down. The Mamertines now had a change of heart and send a deputation to Rome, asking them for aid instead. Debate raged in the Roman Senate over sending troops, since this would be the first conflict outside of Italy, and the Romans had no navy to take on Carthage. However, the prospect of the Carthaginians controlling all of Sicily, and therefore the Strait of Messina and the trade routes, was something they did not wish to see. The Mamertines expelled the Carthaginian garrison, and the Romans landed two legions in Sicily under the command of Appius Claudius Caudex, the grandson of Appius Claudius Caecus, the consul who built the first Roman highway, the Via Appia in 312 BC. The Romans defeated the Carthaginian force when they tried to retake Messina, as well as the Syracusans who now saw Rome as a threat. Appius quickly marched on Syracuse, forcing Heiro II to make peace with Rome and became an ally. The Romans now began preparations to continue the war against the Carthaginian forces in Sicily. The First Punic War had begun.

Questions and Reflection

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Name the three main powers that the Romans conquered by 270 BC. What was the Latin name for Queen Elissa? What was the mother city of Carthage? How many men were on a quinquereme? What two cities face each other across the Strait of Messina?

Reflection Essay 1. Give an example of one myth from early American history that is widely known and told.

Rhegium, a Greek colony, had allied itself with Athens during the Peloponnesian War, but was taken by the Syracusans in 387 BC, since Syracuse had allied themselves to Sparta.

Battle of Agrigentum
With Syracuse and Messina now secured as allies, the Romans began the process of securing cities in Sicily one by one with land warfare. In 262 BC the Romans besieged the Carthaginians strongest city on the southern coast, Agrigentum, in response to a Carthaginian build-up of forces on the island. Situated on a high plateau a few miles from the coast, Agrigentum (Acragas in Greek) was easily defensible and posed a difficult target for the Romans.

The two consuls for the year, Lucius Postumius Megellus and Quintus Mamilius Vitulus took their combined consular armies and marched on Agrigentum. The inhabitants, not wishing to risk a battlefield engagement, retreated behind the walls and put their faith in the strong defensive position

that the city held. The Romans were caught off guard by the determination of the Carthaginians resistance. Skirmishes and 5 months of starvation followed. As the siege dragged on, a Carthaginian relief force, under the command of Hanno, landed at the city of Heraclea (Minoa) and cut the Roman supply line. Hanno pursued the Romans to their camp, and now they found themselves under a state of siege by the Carthaginian relief army. After another 2 months, both those Carthaginians who were inside Agrigentum and the Romans inside their camp were growing desperate. The consuls decided, since they were close to starvation, to offer battle. The historian Polybius, wrote:

For two months both sides remained in these positions without attempting anything more decisive than skirmishing actions every day. But all this while Hannibal (the commander of Agrigentum) was making fire-signals and sending messages to remind his colleague that the population could not endure the famine any longer, and that more and more of his men were deserting to the enemy for lack of food. As last the Carthaginian commander determined to risk a battle, whie the Romans for the reasons which I have explained were no less eager, and so both armies advanced into the space between the camps and engaged. The fighting was long and drawn-out, but in the end the Romans succeeded in driving back the front line of Carthaginian mercenaries, and as they retired on to the elephants and the other units stationed behind them, the whole Punic army was thrown into confusion.5 In the aftermath, the remains of Hannos army fled west to Heraclea, while Hannibal6 and what was left of his mercenaries escaped under the cover of darkness from Agrigentum, leaving the city to be sacked by the Romans. Its 25,000 remaining inhabitants were sold into slavery.

5 6

Polybius, Book 1.19 Hanno, Hannibal and Hasdrubal were extremely common names for Carthaginians and can cause confusion. The famous Hannibal of the Second Punic War was Hannibal Barca, son of Hamilcar.

Polybius
Before any further account of the war is discussed, a brief mention must be made about the one truly reliable source we have for this war. The Greek historian, Polybius, was born in the city of Megalopolis at the end of the 3rd century BC when the war between Rome and Carthage would be at its height. The city of Megalopolis was founded in 371 BC by the Theban general Epaminondas in an attempt to counter Spartan supremacy in the Peloponnesus. Polybius lived an aristocratic and educated life, and by 180 BC he held some distinction among the Greeks. However, when Rome eventually came into conflict with the Macedonians and Greeks, he was sent to Rome as a hostage. By chance, he became friends with Scipio Aemilianus, a general of distinction in the later years of the Punic Wars. Polybius traveled the Mediterranean and provided both political and military advice to Scipio. Later in his life, Polybius would serve as an intermediary for peace between Greece and Rome. His opinions are somewhat blunt, but honest, about the mistakes that Rome made on its way to becoming and empire. However, he comments with admiration on the balanced political system that the Romans had at that time. He was an eye witness to the very end of Romes wars with Carthage, and stood alongside his friend Scipio. It is his account that is the only reliable source of the First Punic War.

Mercenaries and Shipwrecks

Like the Greeks, the Carthaginians took it as a point of pride that their citizens rowed their own ships. Their armies, however, were composed of mercenaries but commanded by Carthaginians, and were usually a mix of North African, Celt-Iberian (Spanish Celts) or other allied peoples. Unlike the Romans, who saw it as an honor to serve in the army, the Carthaginians did not. The opening years of the 23-year-long First Punic War were predominantly fought on land, subjugating cities by traditional siege warfare. Rome felt, with the capture of Agrigentum, that Carthage could be pushed completely from the island of Sicily. There was a problem, since the Romans had practically no fleet whatsoever. The Romans were shown to be completely inadequate in naval warfare when they went against the Tarentines at opening stages of the Pyrrhic War twenty years before, and had no fleet at the outbreak of the First Punic War.

After Agrigentum, many of the inland Sicilian cities went over to Rome. However, many coastal cities instead threw in their lot with the Carthaginians, seeing the power of their fleet, which was also raiding the Italian coast unchallenged. Polybius speaks with admiration at how the Romans made their first real venture upon the sea:

When the Romans first ventured to transport their forces to Messina, not only had they no decked ships, but no warships at all, not so much as a single galley. They merely borrowed penteconters7 and triremes from the Tarentines, the Locrians and the people of Elea and Neapolis, and ferried the troops across at great risk. It was on this occasion that the Carthaginians sailed out to attack them as they were crossing the straits, and one of their decked ships, in their eagerness to overtake the transports, ventured too near the shore, ran aground, and fell into the hands of the Romans. It was this ship which they proceeded to use as a model, and they built their whole fleet according to its specifications; from which it is clear that but for this accident they would have been prevented from carrying out their programme for sheet lack of the necessary knowledge.8

In other words, the Romans found a Carthaginian warshipa quinqueremeand reverseengineered its design to produce 100 warships and 30 triremes in order to challenge the Carthaginians. The Romans were so unfamiliar and ill-prepared for naval warfare that crews rowed on land, practicing the movements on logs. Nevertheless, the Romans managed to do fairly well against the Carthaginian forces around Sicily, the Italian coast and Sardinia. Both sides threw themselves into a contest for mastery of the sea, which would result in the largest naval battle the world has ever seen.

Battle of Ecnomus
In 256 BC, after six years of indecisive land warfare, Polybius says the Roman consul Marcus Atilius Regulus led a fleet of 330 warships along the eastern coast of Sicily. They sailed around Cape Pachynus to the southern city of Ecnomus, where their land forces were stationed. The Carthaginians,
7 8

A penteconter was the earliest type of warships from the Archaic Period, with 50 oarsmen. Book 1.19

in response, had a fleet of 350 ships sailing from Heraclea to meet them. The Roman intent was to launch an invasion of Africa and bring the war to Carthages doorstep, much the same way that the Syracusans had done years before. The Carthaginians sent their fleet with the intention of stopping the invasion before it even started. The result was the Battle of Ecnomus. With an average of 420 men per ship, Polybius estimated the overall force of both the Romans and Carthaginians at nearly 300,000 men. While the Persia Empire had more ships two centuries before during the Persian Wars, the newer ships carried at least twice the crew of the older design. Go back even further to the Iliad, and the supposed 1000 ships of the Greeks would have been able to carry roughly only 50,000 men. The sheer human element in this naval battle outstrips the size of almost any land battle in history. As the Roman fleet lined up for combat, they distinctly choose a multiple line formation as a kind of echo of their manipular legions. Their most vulnerable ships, the transports, were placed in the center of their fleet with the first two lines forming a shape like an arrowhead. In the rear of their fleet they stationed their triarii in a single line, forming the solid base of the arrow, like the bottom of a pyramid turned on its side. While the Carthaginians showed superior seamanship, being faster than their Roman counterparts, they were unprepared for the Roman corvus (Latin for crow). The Romans had modified their ships with a boarding bridge, affixed to the front of their warships. The corvus could swivel and pivot, and when a Roman warship got close to a Carthaginian, they would drop it onto the enemy deck. On the end of the corvus was
A Roman corvus

an iron spike, like the beak of a crow, from which it got its name. The heavy iron would crash through the enemy deck from its weight and momentum, and lock the two ships together. The Romans would then take their marines, essentially legionaries transferred to the ships, and race across and capture it. Essentially, the Romans turned a sea battle into a land battle. The Battle of Ecnomus went to the Romans, who lost twenty-four ships, while the Carthaginians had sixty-four captured and thirty sunk. If we assume that Polybius numbers were correct, then the 88 ships which were lost account for over 35,000 dead, while the captured Carthaginian ships were an additional 26,000 sailors and soldiers lost for Carthage.

Questions and Reflection

6. What was the name of the powerful Carthaginian city along the southern coast of Sicily that fell to the Romans? 7. What is the name of the Greek historian who is the primary source for the First Punic War? 8. What type of ship did the Romans find washed up on their shore? 9. How long was the First Punic War? 10. What was the corvus? Reflection Essay 2. What is genius behind the Roman use of the corvus?

Regulus Folly
After repairing his ships, the consul Regulus sailed on to Africa and disembarked his troops in the spring of 255 BC. The Romans began sacking nearby towns and soon met the hastily arranged Carthaginian defense, routing them. For Carthage, things were now desperate since they had met defeat on both sea and land, and now found the enemy outside their walls. Regulus was eager to settle the conflict with Carthage, since his term as consul was ending and hed have to retrun to Rome. Under the Roman political system, the new consul would sail to Africa and replace Regulus and finish his campaign, thereby robbing him of his glory. Regulus felt that the city was pretty much his already, and his peace terms were harsh. The Carthaginians rejected them and resolved to fight on.

As Polybius wrote:

(The Carthaginians) resolved that they would suffer any extremity and try every resource rather than submit to a settlement which was so ignoble and so unworthy of their past achievements. 9

It was at this time that a Spartan officer named Xanthippus showed up in Carthage, recruited by the city for its defense. Even though Spartas power was broken over a century before by Thebes, nonetheless their skill in warfare was still legendary. Xanthippus did an inspection of the forces available for Carthage and determined the Roman victory was not because of their superiority of arms, but because of the Carthaginians inexperience. He set about re-organizing the Carthaginian forces, training them, and making the citizens themselves fight for their own citys defense. In short order Xanthippus molded the Carthaginians into a fighting force of 12,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry and nearly 100 elephants and marched out to meet the enemy at the Battle of Tunis in May, 255 BC. The Romans on the other hand had a force of about 15,000 infantry but only about 500 cavalry. Regulus, as a countermeasure to the elephants, compressed the ranks of his legions. As the battle began the Roman cavalry were quickly driven from the battlefield, and the Carthaginian elephants rammed into the main body of the legions. Regulus battle plan of massing his infantry succeeded in doing nothing but limiting his troops mobility and making it easier for the elephants to make Roman pancakes out of the legionaries. Those that survived the mauling of the elephants now faced the main body of the Carthaginian citizenry, armed in phalanx style and ready for battle. Regulus was captured, along with a small body of soldiers. About 2,000 Romans managed to extricate themselves and flee back to the coast and the security of the Roman camp; the rest were annihilated and were stripped of their armor. He once demanded their surrender, and now as a prisoner the consul Marcus Atilius Regulus was led into Carthage and pleaded for his life.10 Polybius comments on Regulus actions, and reflects on what anyone canand shouldlearn from his example:

Book 1.32 Regulus will be held hostage until 250 BC, when hes sent back to Rome to seek a peace treaty. Instead of asking for a settlement, Regulus gave a moving speech to the Senate to continue fighting. Bound by his oath to return, Regulus went back to Carthage and was executed for his actions.
10

I have recorded these events in the hope that the readers of this history may profit from them, for there are two ways by which all men may reform themselves, either by learning from their own errors or from those of others; the former makes a more striking demonstration, the latter a less painful one. For this reason we should never, if we can avoid it, choose the first, since it involves great dangers as well as great pain, but always the second, since it reveals the best course without causing us harm. From this I conclude that the best education for the situations of actual life consists of the experience we acquire from the study of serious history. For it is history alone which without causing us harm enables us to judge what is the best course in any situation or circumstance.11

History, according to Polybius, was not just the study of facts but an acquisition of knowledge and experience gained without harm. From this we might better ourselves and gain a greater understanding of the world around us. I greatly agree with the Greek historian.

The War Drags On

After the Battle of Tunis the Carthaginians repaired and built a fleet of 200 vessels and started patrolling the coast in order to stop any further Roman invasions. A Roman relief force of 350 ships was launched at the beginning of summer, and met the Carthaginian fleet near Cape Hermaeum east of Carthage. The Romans won again, capturing an astonishing 114 ships and their crews. What was left of Regulus army was then picked up, and they sailed back to Sicily. Near Camarina on the southern coast the Roman fleet ran into a fierce storm, and only 80 of the 364 ships survived. The loss of life would have been around 100,000 men, higher if the ships were at full capacity. Polybius squarely blames the destruction of the fleet not on Fortune, but on the commanders. The native captains had advised against sailing along the southern shore of Sicily, with its rocky coastline and few good harbors. Any survivors would have been bashed up against the rocks in the storm, or would have gone down with their ship. The Romans used slaves to row their vessels, and frequently they were chained together and to the ship itself.

11

Book 1.35

The Carthaginians now felt emboldened by this reversal of fortune and built yet another 200 ships and transported a force across to their stronghold of Lilybaeum.12 The Romans were not willing to surrender, and built a new fleet of 220 ships in an astonishing three months and then set sail for Sicily. The consuls for that year, Aulus Atilius and Gnaeus Cornelius, met the surviving ships from Regulus fleet in the Strait of Messina in the summer of 254 BC. The combined Roman fleet sailed along the north coast and laid siege to the city of Panormous (modern Palermo), took it, put a garrison in it and then set sail for Rome. The following year the new consuls took a fleet once again to Africa, but this time they were nearly destroyed when their ships approached the shoals. They were forced to throw many heavy items overboard in order to lighten their ships. Barely escaping danger, the Roman fleet sailed back to Sicily and around the western coast through hostile waters to Panormous. After that, the Roman fleet attempted to sail across the open water directly for Rome, but were once again caught in a storm and lost 150 ships. Polybius states that at this point the Romans grew tired of the losses to their fleet, and resolved to continue the war on land and use the fleet only for transport and re-supply in Sicily. Carthage now ruled the sea, and for the next two years the Romans did not engage the enemy forces in open battle, since they still feared the charge of the Carthaginian elephants. In 251 BC the Romans managed to defeat a Carthaginian force under the command of Hasdrubal who was raiding the territory around the city of Panormous. Feeling emboldened, the Romans built another fleet of 200 ships and set sail for Sicily. Arriving on the west coast, the Roman force began an assault on Lilybaeum, which was the only other remaining Carthaginian port besides the city of Drepana. The Carthaginians realized the importance of this battle as well, and committed themselves to the citys defense. As the Romans began the bitter siege of Lilybaeum, a Carthaginian fleet set sail from Africa with a 10,000 man relief force. To the shock of the Romans anchored off Lilybaeum, the Carthaginian fleet, loaded with troops, skillfully sailed past them into the harbor. The Roman navy couldnt stop them because of the winds direction, because they feared being swept into the harbor themselves. The next morning the Carthaginians, under the direction of the garrisons commander, Himilco, rushed from the defenses with nearly 20,000 men in many different locations. The Romans were expecting this bold move, and met it with superior numbers and with great speed. A fierce battle broke out all around the Roman siege works, but not with any discipline. Polybius describes the struggle as something of the

12

Lilybaeum is now known as Marsala, the region from which the red wine is produced for some of the most popular Italian recopies.

spirit of single combat pervaded the whole battlefield.13 Himilco feared that the battle was about to be lost and called for a retreat back into the city, which was a relief to the Roman forces who were about to breakunknown to Himilco. However, some weeks later a very strong storm blew with tremendous force upon the Roman siege towers, nearly knocking them over. The Carthaginians saw an opportunity, and attacked the Roman towers with fire and a general assault from the walls of the city. The wind drove the smoke and debris onto the Roman lines, blinding them. In the end, the destruction was so complete that the towers and battering rams were ruined. The legions now decided starvation was a better tactic against the enemy, and dug a moat and fortifications all around the city, while the fleet blocked the harbor, not altogether successfully.14

Sacred Chickens
In 247 BC the consul Publius Claudius Pulcher15 set sail with the fleet from Lilybaeum to surprise the Carthaginians fleet in Drepana. Pulcher set out with his fleet in the middle of the night and hugged the coastline, approaching Drepana from the south at dawn. His chance of surprise was gone, however, when Carthaginian scouts spotted the Roman fleet on the horizon. Conditions were hazy, and the Romans didnt notice that the Carthaginian fleet had scrambled to battle and slipped out another passage of the harbor. Finally realizing what was happening, Pulcher hastily tried to turn around and reorder his fleet for battle, since the Carthaginian ships were now rounding the small islands outside the harbor and were now bearing down on the Roman fleet.

13 14

Book 1.45 A Carthaginian captain, called Hannibal the Rhodian, brazenly sailed multiple times through the Roman blockade. In the beginning the Romans attempted to chase him, but could not match his speed. Hannibal stopped his ship and waited, to see if any Romans would continue the chase, before he continued on his voyage to Drepana. He served as a messenger between these two remaining Carthaginian strongholds, but he was eventually caught when the Romans used a captured Carthaginian ship to overtake him. 15 Brother to Appius Claudius Caudex, the consul of 264 BC who landed the first forces in Sicily.

Drepana (modern Trapani), Lilybaeum (Marsala) and the Aegates Islands (Aegadian Islands)

Google Earth view of modern Drepana

Polybius describes how desperate the Romans were:

Because of the abruptness of the turn, the result of this maneuver was to cause some of the ships inside the harbor to foul those which were entering it; it also created great confusion among the crews, and a number of vessels had the blades of their oars snapped as they collided with one another.16

The Carthaginians had the advantage of superior ship quality and better rowers, plus they werent hemmed in by the shoreline and could retreat to more open water if necessary. Pulcher, seeing the battle was lost, fled with 30 ships; the remaining 93 Roman vessels were captured along with their crews. The orator and senator, Marcus Tullius Cicero, writing about this event two-hundred years later, told a slightly different story in regards to Pulchers actions. Before the battle, the Roman commander took the sacred omens to determine the will of the gods. On board his flagship were chickens, which were supposed to eat some grain that was offered them. However, the chickens would not eat. Pulcher, who was irate at this delay, threw the chickens into the water in his frustration. He famously shouted, ut biberent, quando esse nollent ("let them drink, since they refused to eat"). Having escaped back to Rome, Pulcher was put on trial, condemned and fined for his religious transgression. He would die shortly afterwards, possibly by suicide.

Questions and Reflection

11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Where did Carthage get help from to defeat Regulus? What weapon was most effective against Regulus army? What was the biggest factor for the destruction of Roman fleets? What city was the most important Carthaginian stronghold in Sicily? What city was Pulcher trying to take when he lost his fleet??

Reflection Essay 3.
16

Pulcher was on trial for committing a religious crime. Could that happen today?

Book 1.50

Hamilcar Barca
The Carthaginians once again felt they had an opportunity and raided the Roman fleet, which was still anchored off Lilybaeum with their fleet from Drepana. A great amount of damage was done to the Roman ships, but instead of finishing the attack the Carthaginian fleet continued to sail down the coast.17 As the Carthaginian fleet sailed along the southern coast, they met two separate Roman fleets, including one that had left from Syracuse. Seeing the weather worsen, the Carthaginian admiral, Carthalo, took the advice of his pilots to seek the safety of a harbor around Cape Pachynus. The Romans, typically, did not. The Romans, as Polybius says, ...had never suffered such a total disaster since it was the loss of over a hundred warships and nearly 800 transports loaded with supplies. After this setback, the Romans once again decided to concentrate on land operations and not on naval warfare. The Carthaginians now appointed Hamilcar Barca, father to oversee the fight in Sicily, which was now in its 16th year. He showed extreme confidence and ability, and began harassing the Romans along the southern coast of Italy. He ordered raids by the Carthaginian fleet as far north as Cumae along the western coast of Italy. The Romans decided not to challenge the Carthaginians for supremacy of the sea. However, the Romans were still encamped outside Lilybaeum, concentrating on land operations.18 Hamilcar countered every Roman action with guerilla tactics, hitting and wearing down the Romans wherever he could for the next five years. When the Romans took the large and imposing Mount Eryx, Hamilcar countered their move by putting his own base of operations on very defensible hill near Panormous.
Hamilcar Barca

17

As the fleet left, a land battle now raged all around the city. The Romans in the camp tried to save their ships, while Himilco, seeing the confusion the Carthaginian ships were causing, rallied from inside the town to attack the Romans on two fronts. It would once again end in a stalemate. 18 Their siege of Lilybaeum was so long that the modern town of Marsala still shows the imprint of the Roman camp.

Mt. Eyrx

Polybius does not go into detail of Hamilcars actions, but describes the Romans and Carthaginians as two great boxers, bashing away at each other, using feints and hard blows to try and knock out their enemy. The two forces were evenly matched, and more importantly were deeply dug in to their positions. Neither had the strength to dislodge the other during the early years of Hamilcars arrival, and the battles near Mt. Eyrx were taking each of their forces to the breaking point. All the years of constant warfare, the loss of human life, and the disruption of trade were beginning to make both the Roman and Carthaginian Senate crack under the strain of the long and drawn-out war.

Battle of the Aegates Islands

In 242 BC, fearing Hamilcars success, the Romans decided to once again change tactics and build yet another fleet. However, the public treasury was empty, so the aristocrats of the Roman Senate reached into their own pockets to finance the building of another 200 warships. Under the command of the consul Gaius Lutatius Catulus, the Roman fleet sailed to Sicily in order to reinforce those ships that

were still laying siege to the ports of Drepana and Lilybaeum. Romes intent was to cut off any support to those cities, and more importantly, to Hamilcar. A fleet of 250 Carthaginian ships arrived at the Aegates Islands off the coast, but waited for a favorable wind in order to race into Lilybaeums harbor. Catulus, however, ordered all the unnecessary equipment removed off his ships, and lowered their masts in order to make his vessels faster. When the two fleets engaged, the Romans were lighter and faster, while the Carthaginians were laden with provisions and reinforcements for Hamilcar. The battle was never in doubt. Polybius explains:

The Carthaginians had assumed that the Romans would never again challenge their naval supremacy, and so in their contempt for their opponents they had neglected their own navy. The result was that immediately the battle was joined they were worsted at one point after another, and were swiftly put to flight: fifty ships were sunk outright and seventy captured with their crews.19

With the loss of this fleet, the supplies, and with no ability to help Drepana, Lilybaeum or Hamilcar, the Carthaginians decided to sue for peace. The 23-year-long First Punic War was finally over.

Post First Punic War

The Romans ratified the peace terms; the Carthaginians were instructed to evacuate all of Sicily, never to harm Hiero II and the Syracusans, and to free all prisoners incurred during the war. In addition, they were to pay 2,200 talents of silver,20 spread out in payments over the next twenty years. The scale of the forces lost in the First Punic War were gigantic. Polybius says that overall the Romans lost 700 quinqueremes while the Carthaginians, 500. He compares the loses to the wars between the Persians and the Greeks, and the Athenians and the Spartans, and states that never before in the history of the world had a war raged this long, and cost so much in human life, materials and money.

19 20

Book 1.61 Remember, ninety-two years before, when Alexander beat Darius at the Battle of Issus, the Macedonians found over 3,000 talents in Darius traveling treasury.

Polybius final lines of Book I are very telling:

In respect to individual courage the Romans were far superior, but the general who must be acknowledged as the greatest on either side, both in daring and in genius, was Hamilcar, surnamed Barca. He was in fact the father of that Hannibal who later made war on the Romans.21

After the war, Hamilcar Barca returned to Carthage to put down a rebellion by her mercenaries, who did not care if Carthage lostthey wanted to get paid. The rebellion was bloody and fierce, but no direct account of it survives to validate what happened. In 238 BC, while Carthage was embroiled with the Mercenary War, Rome annexed the islands of Sardinia and Corsica. in addition, they forced the Carthaginians to pay another 1,200 talents for the trouble. When the Carthaginians protested, Rome used the treaty as a smokescreen and threatened a renewal of hostilities. Carthage remained silent, for now. The following year Hamilcar finally crushed the Mercenary War and then set out with an army along the North African coast towards Spain.22 Crossing over into southern Spain, he set about expanding Carthaginian power, since their possessions in Sardinia and Corsica were now lost. For the next eight years Hamilcar fought against the native Celts in Spain, called Celt-Iberians. In 228 BC, Hamilcar was killed, however, his legacy as a general of extraordinary skill was assured. Before his death, he had founded the port of Barcino on the eastern coast of Spain, after his family name, Barca. Today the port city still survives, as does the derivation of Hamilcars family name: Barcelona.

Gallic Troubles Again

After the death of Hamilcar, command passed to Hasdrubal the Fair, who was skilled in diplomacy and military ability. He had commanded the fleet that followed Hamilcar initially into Spain nearly a decade before. During Hasdrubals command in 226 BC, Roman ambassadors visited him and completed a treaty between Rome and Carthage concerning Spain. It marked the Ebro River as the

21 22

Book 1.61 236 BC

dividing line between Roman controlled territory to the north, and Carthaginian territory to the south. The speed and necessity of this treaty quickly became evident, because an old foe was again on the move in the north of Italythe Gauls. Back in 390 BC, the Roman errors at Clusium prompted a Gallic army to quickly give up the siege of the city and march on Rome, destroying a Roman army that had come out to meet them. The city was sacked, and a humiliating bribe was paid to the Gauls for them to leave. From that moment on, Rome emerged as a defensive Republic, ever aware of the enemies on her frontier who might one day pose a threat. Now, unexpectedly, the northern Gallic tribes of the Boii, Insubres, and Gaesatae formed into one large army and marched south into Roman territory. Rome quickly assembled her forces to meet the renewed Gallic threat. In Sardinia, the consul Gaius Atilius Regulus set sail with his forces for Italy.23 He was the son of Marcus Atilius Regulus, the consul who had lost to Xanthippus and the Carthaginians during the failed invasion of Africa. The other consul, Lucius Aemilius Papus, was on the east coast of Italy near modern-day Venice. In central Italy an unknown praetor commanded an army directly in the path of the oncoming Gauls. The Gallic army descended through Etruria and set up camp, ironically, near the town of Clusium. The praetor and his army noticed the campfires of the enemy camp, and saw the Gallic cavalry hastily leaving at dawn the next day. Unknown to the Romans, the Gallic infantry had slipped out under the cover of darkness to a defensible hill about 8 miles away. The
23

Gaius brother, Marcus, held the consulship in 227 BC.

cavalry were left behind to light the campfires and give the impression to the Romans that the entire army was still encamped at Clusium. The Romans took the bait and pursued the cavalry, only to fall into the Gallic trap. The Gauls charged the Roman force and caught them by complete surprise. Despite the fight being hotly contested, the weight of Gallic arms and courage put the Roman army to flight. Around 6,000 Romans fell, while the survivors retreated to a nearby hill that offered a strong defense. However, the Gauls were tired from battle and did not pursue. The Gauls now held a council of war and decided that they had collected enough wealth from their raid into Etruria, and now started marching home. They also learned that Papus and his consular army was shadowing them, and they decided to avoid a direct conflict and head north. The consul hesitated against directly attacking the Gallic force, and was content at the moment to harass the rear of the enemy army and recover some of the plunder that they had taken. Unknown to the Gauls or even Papus, Regulus and his army had landed near Pisae in the north and were currently proceeding south towards Rome.

Battle of Telamon
As the Gauls approached the shore near the city of Telamon, some of the foragers were captured by the advance guard of Regulus army. They revealed the Gallic position amd strength, and Regulus realized that he was in the extraordinary position of trapping the Gauls between his army and Papus, who was still shadowing the Gallic enemy. Regulus wanted to occupy a prominent hill overlooking the battlefield, and he himself went forward with his advance cavalry to scout the position. However, the Gauls assumed that the cavalry they encountered ahead of them was Papus somehow, who had managed to get around them during the night. Quickly, though, the Gauls learned of the true identity of Regulus forces and decided on a bold strategy. The Gallic army, realizing that they were caught in a pocket between two Roman armies, changed their normal battle formation and faced the army in both directions, back to back. Papus, realizing the good fortune of running into Regulus forces, sent reinforcements to secure the hill that was being contested. The Gauls had 50,000 infantry and 20,000 cavalry against a Roman army of slightly more numerous infantry, but only 5,400 cavalry. The Gauls were a frightful sight, as Polybius explains:

The Insubres and the Boii wore their trousers and light cloaks, but the Gaesatae had been moved by their thirst for glory and their defiant spirit to throw away these garments, and so they took up their positions in front of the whole army naked and wearing nothing but their arms. They believed that they would be better-equipped for action in this state, as the ground was in places overgrown with brambles and these might catch in their clothes and hamper them in the use of their weapons.24

The fighting over the hill was fierce and Regulus lost his life in the melee. His head, according to Gallic custom, was cut off and brought to their king. However, possession of the hills went to the Romans, whose cavalry finally overcame the Gallic force there. Polybius continues:

By this time the infantry were almost in contact, and the battlefield provided a strange and marvelous spectacle, not only to those who were actually present, but to all those who could afterwards picture it in their imagination from the reports.25

The battle was between three armies in a confined space, and Polybius states the spectacle that was beheld by all those there:

For their part the Romans felt encouraged at having trapped the enemy between their two armies, but at the same time dismayed by the splendid array of the Celtic host and the ear-splitting din which they created. There were countless horns and trumpets being blown simultaneously in their ranks, and as the whole army was also shouting its warcries, there arose such a babel of sound that it seemed to come not only from the trumpets and the soldiers but from the whole surrounding countryside at once.26

24 25

Book 2.28 Book 2.29 26 Ibid.

The Gauls, whose warrior culture was based off individual glory, faced an enemy who was on two fronts, with little or no hope of escape if they lost. Each of the Gallic warriors believed in reincarnation, and that dying in battle was the best way for them to meet death. But death was only temporary since they knew theyd be born again. The release of death added to their courage. Think of a football stadium at full capacity, when a cheer goes up and reverberates and seems to echo from everywhere. Now double it, and you might get close to the noise that echoed on the battlefield at Telamon. When the infantry clashed, the Romans let loose volleys of spears, called pila, which caused the greatest havoc among the Gaesatae. Without shields, armor or clothes, the spears found their deadly mark, and those who did have shields found themselves encumbered by the Roman spear now stuck in it. Despite this, the Gauls fought fiercely. The Roman advantage in arms quickly became clear. The Gallic shield did not cover as much of the body as the Roman, and while the Gauls used a sword that was much longer than the gladius of the Romans, it could not be used effectively.. The Gallic sword was meant more for swinging and cutting, while the Romans was a thrusting sword. In the confined space of the battlefield, the Gauls could not swing their swords appropriately. The end came swiftly, as Polybius continues:

The end came when the Gauls were attacked by the Roman cavalry, who delivered a furious charge from the high ground on the flanks; the Gallic cavalry turned and fled, and their infantry were cut down where they stood.27

27

Book 2.30

In the end, the Gallic force was not just defeated, but annihilated. Around 40,000 were killed, including one of their kings, and about 10,000 taken prisoner. The captured Gallic armor was brought to Rome, and used to decorate the Capitoline Hill. Back in 390 BC, the Gauls said that they would not take off their armor until they had entered the Capitol after it had been captured. It never was, and now the Romans mockingly displayed them for all to see. The Gallic nightmare was over. The remains of the Gallic armya few thousand cavalryfled the battlefield to the safety of the north. The Romans lost about 10,000 men themselves, but it was nevertheless a clear victory for Rome. Afterwards, the Roman forces raided the territory of the Boii and pillaged it. Next, the Romans marched against what was left of the Insubres and subjugated other northern tribes. The Gallic tribes were quiet, for the moment.

Questions and Reflection

16. 17. 18. 19. 20. What type of tactics did Hamilcar Barca employ against the Romans? What made the Carthaginian ships so heavy in the Battle of the Aegates Islands? What did Carthage have to give up at the end of the First Punic War? Where did Carthage expand her power after she lost Sardinia and Corsica? Why did the Gaesatae fight naked at the Battle of Telamon?

Reflection Essay 4. After World War I, Germany was punished so hard for the war that it unintentionally bred the circumstances that would bring about World War II. How is that similar to the end of the First Punic War, when it should be no surprise that Carthage will again wage war on Rome?