Carthaginian Army of the 3rd Punic War

[Paul Innes]

A question for the esteemed collective.  Our Empire campaign is about to come to an end, and it looks as though we are going to play forward for as long as we last using a more detailed approach.  One of the first conflicts will be the 3rd Punic War, and I'm thinking that the Carthaginian army should be pretty average in terms of troop composition and weight.  Enough to make the Romans take them seriously, but perhaps not a real threat to the hegemony of the hordes in red.  This would mean average massed infantry and cavalry; some reasonable light infantry and light cavalry; and the usual skirmishers.  No good quality heavy foot or horse, although we may allow one unit of Punic aristocrats or something like that.  Also, probably no elephants - Numidia is a Roman ally and would make sure the Carthaginians don't have access to any.

The question is whether or not this seems like a reasonable representation of the Carthaginian forces of the period (at least before another pesky Scipio appears).  I'm having problems finding any more detail than this, but it seems to fit in okay with what I remember from various army lists.

Hope this is making sense...

Paul

[Justin Swanton]

You want to ask Patrick about how good the Libyan veterans were once they dumped their spears and adopted Roman equipment and tactics. At least as good as the best Roman foot. But I'll let him take the floor....

[Paul Innes]

Hi Justin, fortunately for Rome that has already taken place, and after a tough time of it, Hannibal was defeated.  We're now moving toward approximately 150 BC (give or take a bit).  I do know that the resurgent Carthaginians gave the Romans a hard time until Scipio Aemilianus took command.  I'm just not sure about the troop types available to Carthage at such a late date, but my feeling is that average types would do the job.  Unless anybody else has any ideas!?

Cheers again
Paul

[Patrick Waterson]

Our best source is Appian, Punica, XI-XX.

The Romans, expecting a tough time overcoming Carthage, cheated.  First, they let Masinissa pick a fight with Carthage.  Then they accused Carthage of making war in Africa without Rome's permission.  Then they said they would let the Carthaginians off if they agreed to Rome's demands.  The Carthaginians agreed, but the Romans made their demands by stages.  First they said the Carthaginians must give up their warships and elephants - the Carthaginians did.  Then they said the Carthaginians must surrender their arms - the Carthaginians, with reservations, did.  Then the Romans said that by decree of the senate the Carthaginians had to evacuate Carthage and move elsewhere.  This low cheating infuriated the Carthaginians and even disgusted Rome's ally Masinissa, who took no further part in events (and died shortly thereafter).

Cue the Third Punic War.  The Carthaginians begin totally disarmed, and set themselves to turning out weapons, which seem roughly evenly split between infantry equipment and wall defence ballistae.  They repulse the first Roman attempt to take the city, put an army in the field and - against all the odds - actually start to win the war.  The Romans think this will not do at all, and put Scipio Aemilianus in charge (Polybius comes along for the campaign and sees a Roman army in action for real).  Scipio gradually re-establishes Roman ascendancy and Carthage is doomed, perishing in a vicious assault after a brutal siege.

Carthaginian infantry seem to have been configured along the Roman pattern (as was just about every civilised power's army in the mid-2nd century BC), their performance in the recent fight against Massinissa being less than outstanding, but they proved to be very quick learners under better leadership.  I would rate them as average capability with good morale for the early clashes (with the Romans the same) but with an increasing veteran element as the war proceeded.  Appian has the initial Roman army composed of "80,000 infantry and about 4000 cavalry, all the very best", but their performance against the scratch Carthaginian forces was unimpressive, the first battle going thus:

"Thereupon Manilius, who had not had much experience in war, crossed the river and on the other side encountered Hasdrubal. There was great slaughter on both sides. Finally Hasdrubal took refuge in his strong-hold, where he was safe and from which he could watch his chance of attacking the Romans as they moved off. The latter, who already repented of their undertaking, retired in good order till they came to the river. As the crossing was difficult on account of the fewness and narrowness of the fords, it was necessary for them to break ranks. When Hasdrubal saw this he made a most brilliant attack, and slew a vast number of them who were more intent upon flight than upon defending themselves. Among the killed were three of the tribunes who had been chiefly instrumental in urging the consul to risk the engagement."

The "great slaughter on both sides" suggests both had good morale and little if any qualitiative difference.  The Romans remained unsuccessful until Scipio took charge, by which time the Carthaginians, despite the defection of Phameas, their principal raider, had an elite force of "6000 foot-soldiers and 1000 horse well trained and seasoned" (Punica XVII/section 114) to supplement whichever local force was engaged.

Troop types I would assess as follows:

Cavalry: Carthage had stables for 300 elephants and 4,000 horses plus barracks for 4,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry (Punica XI/section 95).  The elephants had been handed over before hostilities began, but Himilco Phameas, with an unspecified number of cavalry mounted on "small but swift horses that lived on grass when they could find nothing else", caused the Romans much trouble and on one occasion slew 500 of them (Punica XIV/section 97) so we can give him anything up to 4,000 cavalry of reasonable quality (in Punica XVI/section 108 2,200 desert with Phameas but Hanno the White keeps 'the rest' together).  Whether they should be rated 'heavy' or 'light' is another question, but the latter seems likely from their general behaviour.  In addition, the Carthaginians seem to have built up a smaller force of dedicated heavy cavalry, as noted above.

Infantry: the Carthaginians had, before handing them over to the Romans, 200,000 sets of armour (eikosi muriadas panoplion), which suggests the mobilisable manpower they had or expected to have.  Their efforts to rearm in Punica XIII/section 93 indicate that 'thureous' and 'saunia de kai logkhas' were made for their troops, indicating a large-shield-and-dual-heavy-javelin system akin to - and I would suggest identical with - the Roman.  We can to all intents and purposes treat these as legionaries.  Numbers are at discretion but 20,000 would seem a good starting-point: at the rates of production given they were arming 100 per day, so 700 per week and 3,000 per month, hence as a 'quick fix' count the number of months the war has been going, multiply by 3,000, deduct say 10% for various forms of attrition, add back a similar amount for captured Roman equipment, and that is the maximum number of troops the Carthaginians can field (they seem to have actually fielded at a guess perhaps 20,000 or so, the balance presumably being in garrison somewhere). 

[Paul Innes]

Thanks, Patrick, that is very comprehensive.  I've printed it out for reference.

Cheers
Paul

[Duncan Head]

Patrick's got the heart of it. Appian's account is online at livius.org : start at http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_punic_14.html, which begins the story of Masinissa's aggressions between the two Roman wars. Note at the start of http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_punic_23.html some Numidians in Carthaginian service even this late in the day.

Note also that the re-armament included each day "1,000 missiles for catapults ... and as many catapults as they could. For strings to bend them the women cut off their hair for want of other fibers." Now as far as I remember, there is no reference to the catapults being used in the field, so they were presumably only mounted on the city walls: but it's up to you if you want to allow the option.

Marsden in Greek and Roman Artillery points out the large number of stone shot found at Carthage, but as he says, the stone-throwing engines were handed over to Rome, and unlike the bolt-shooters there is no mention of new ones being built.

In the Carthage museum on the Byrsa there is a case of bits of weapons believed to date from the sack of the city. There are lots of sling missiles: the museum identifies the lead bullets as Roman, and the larger terracotta bullets as Carthaginian. So your light troops may well include numbers of slingers from the Carthaginian lower classes.

[Paul Innes]

Thanks, Duncan, I was thinking that skirmishers would be armed with javelins and slings.  The campaign will abstract the effects of sieges on a few specified major citadels, of which Carthage is one.  Basically, the game is meant to be a battle generator, and sieges will be dealt with by the attacking army spending army points to keep going and increase the chances for the citadel to fall.  This is intended to be costly...

Thanks again
Paul