Carthage and the lost Libyan War

[CountofDooku]

Conquest of Hesperia, Battle of Rhodes (Roses) and Emporion, Part 2:

Hannibal's plan was simple, he wanted to break the wall between the city and the harbor. No long siege, no long fight, just cutting the city of Emporion from it's supplies and at the same time directly storming the streets. A dangerous strategy, especially when the enemy had Hoplite troops that could easily build spear and shield walls to prevent him from advancing trough the streets. But Hannibal was confident, that his Hoplites could do the same, while his Falcatesair weakened the enemy Hoplites with throwing spears and his tribal Hesperian warriors and mercenaries (mostly spearman and swordsman) would clean up what was left of them after that. But that was just the plan and who knew if it would work like that in the real battle.

When Hannibal arrived at Emporion the city had already been prepared for his assault. A wooden palisade and extra fortifications were build right before the stone wall of the city and they extant between the stonewall gap between in the cape of an L that extended between the city itself and it's harbor. Hannibal positioned his army around the whole city, so the enemy would be unsure where he would directly attack. Since he outnumbered his enemy, Hannibal could easily do so without risking to spread his men to much. The Messilians had heard of Hannibal's previous battles and were unwilling to directly confront Hannibal outside the city. So they set up their defenses inside the city, where his numbers would not count. Since the Messilian Commander knew he could not hold the wall between the city and it's harbor part, he abandoned this wall in favor of protecting the rest of the main city.

Hannibal's troops attacked this part of the wall directly and managed to take it for Carthage, but this battle was far from over. Hannibal then destroyed a part of the wall to let a large part of his army enter the city directly. Most of his tribal warriors then turned down to the harbor, where they only encountered a few enemy troops from their ships and after finishing them plundered the harbor and it's goods. Without the same moral and command some of these troops focused on plundering and looted rather than returning north to help Hannibal in the rest of his siege. As Hannibals troops reached the main city he was immediately stopped by the positions the Messilian's had took at the outer city houses. The Messilian Hoplites and warriors stopped Hannibal's massed troops and threw spears and stones at them and fired arrows.

Hannibal on the other hand held back his war elephants and cavalry as they couldn't do much against this defense inside the small streets of the city. Carthaginian troops stopped right before the defense line of Messilia and counterattacked them with rocks and javelin, as well as arrows to break their moral, numbers and positions. Slowly but steady Hannibal's Falcatesair managed to break the Messilian Phalanxes and pushed them back inside the city, conquering streets and houses on their way. At the same time the Messilians and Carthaginian were beginning to fight inside and over the single houses, as spear and stone throwers as well as archers were now using them, to assist their troop in the streets by raining down death to their enemies.

The fight continued until the night and Carthage was gaining more and more ground, while heaving great causalities just like the Messilian, who were also heaving enormous losses in this battle. Hannibal was worried about his main infantry and now tried to focus on pushing through some single streets to flank or surround the Messilian lines of defense while sparing his own troops. In the middle of the night Hannibal ordered his cavalry and elephants to now finally break and outmaneuver the already weakened enemy and succeed in doing so. As the new day was coming Hannibal controlled most of the city, while Messilian troops were escaping trough the second harbor, to regroup in Rhodes. But with Emporion gone there was little the remaining enemy troops could now do against Hannibal's superior army, even less so now that the Carthaginian Iberian fleet was coming from the south over Tarraco with some fresh troops and supplies. The Messilian Commanders of both cities used their remaining trade an warships to evacuate the rest of their army, fearing that Hannibal would turn further north to the homeland of Messilia and that these troops would be needed defending their hometown instead of some already surrounded and outnumbered colonies in Iberia.

After the battle was over Hannibal who had lost just over 4,000 men marched to Rhodes, where some of his Commanders had already build bridges to assault the city as his siege of Emporion was still going. Messilia put up quiet a fight but had to retread thanks to them being totally outnumbered after Hannibal's troops managed to capture the hill position above the city and the fortification and castle there under own heavy losses. Another 1,000 troops were lost for Hannibal but he also had destroyed the enemy holdout in Hesperia and made a few thousand slaves from enemy soldiers alone. His allied Hesperian tribes and some wounder mercenaries, soldiers and their families gained the right to settle on the conquered land. Hannibal ordered 20,000 of his troops to garrison newly conquered region. Later at the Pyrenees, he released 11,000 Hesperian troops who showed reluctance to leave their homeland and also let them settle in the eastern conquered part of the former coast of the Iberian Leage. Hannibal then entered Gaul with a new structured army of 40,000 foot soldiers, 12,000 horsemen and a total 50 war elephants. Hannibal recognized that he still needed to cross the Pyrenees, the Alps, and many significant rivers. Additionally, he would have to contend with opposition from the Gauls, whose territory he passed through. So Hannibal crossed the Pyrenees and marched towards the Rhone and Messilia by conciliating the Gaulish chiefs along his passage before the Romans could take any measures to bar his advance. His next step into Gaul would be the City of Agathe or Agde under Messilian control in southern Gaul after crossing the Pyrenees, but unlike in Hesperia Hannibal's did not plan on taking it to guard or control it for his expanding empire yet. He was sure that his sheer force would be enough to get supplies and money out of the city so that he could march on into Messilian territory without a fight yet. He was eager to not let his march be halted anymore now that the Messilian force was already weakened enough to not be any more danger for Carthaginian Hesperia and now that their weakened fleets were no longer a match for their own in the western Mediterranean without Rome. With the captured trade and transport ships from Eporion and Rhodes Hannibal strengthened Hasdrubal's defense of Hesperia, as well as sending some troops further south to protect the Baleares, Libya or the newly needed supply lines for the invasion troops in Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 51: Mare Tyrrhenum:

The Romans had to change their plans. Now that Carthage ruled all of Iberia, their priority had to be securing their ally Massilia instead of attacking the peninsula once again. So a Roman army was ordered to southern Gaul, to defend Massilia and the southern Alps from Hannibal, while the fleet tat should have transporter this army to Iberia was used to protect a transport fleet for Corsia. Instead of using one reserve army for another attack on Iberian holdings of Carthage the senate had ordered that retaking all of Corsica, Sardinia and Sicily should have priority, because Carthage could use this Islands as bases for raiding and invading the Italian coast, that was simply to big to patrol it everywhere. So a new Roman Commander was send as a Consul from Populonium, to relief and liberate the islands of Corsica and Sardinia that had become so important for Rome, because Corsica provided wax and Sardinia provided very much grain for the mighty Roman Republic. Gaius Samnion Pulcher was to lead the Roman fleets and the army to Corsica. While the fleets simple should cover their invasion and prevent the Carthaginian fleets from intercepting like in the reinforcement of Sardinia, Gaius himself planned to use the army to invite Aleria and retake the rest of Corsica from there, kicking the Punics out of the Island and the Roman province of Corsica and Sardinia. In the meantime, the army under Tiberius Sempronius Longus was reordered from Malta with his Quinqueremes and his army, that was originally intended to support the invasion from Lilybaeum into Libya, to take Carthage and force the enemy to surrender now returned to Sicily. The invasion of Libya could not succeed if the supports from Italy over Sicily would be cut off thanks to the Carthaginian foothold and conquest of the island. That and the loss and evacuation of Lilybaeum were the main reason the army from Malta under Tiberius was ordered back, to secure the south part of Sicily. Originally they intended to land in Selenius, but the city had already switched sides with the Punic barbarians, so the army instead landed in Heraclea and communicated with Syracuse and the other towns, cities and Roman garrisons and commanders in Sicily to get a overall view of the current Situation. When they heard of the loss of the northern Roman Army in the Second Battle of Soloeis shortly after the First Battle of Soloeis, Tiberius ordered his troops to retread to Agrigentum (Acragas), so he could counter any further Carthaginian advance in the north by countering their attack, or threatening their supply if they would advance further than Termini Imerese and Himera. Tiberius also send some of his troops to Enna and Petra to guard and watch these passes, so the Punics could not use them without his knowledge and surround his troops in the south of Sicily. But as long as Thermae was not secured, he did not dare to attack Selinus and Mazara to march to Lilybaeum and retake the important Carthaginian supply base and garrison there. Little did he knew that after the Second Battle of Soloeis the Carthaginian had not enough men left in the north to attack and take Thermae, or even defend Soloeis for another time. But even if he had known he could not spare own troops for the defense of Thermae and another attack on Soloeis as long as no other Roman army arrived, because Hanno the Short and his southern Carthaginian army could attack his position along the road of Heraclea and Acragas at any time on their conquest march towards Syracuse. So Tiberius had little chance than to be prepared for an attack of Hanno from the west or the supposed second Carthaginian army from Soloeis from the north until another Roman arm arrived at Himera to secure his northern flank so that he could deal with the southern Punic army. If the north soon had another Roman army arrive, maybe then Tiberius could advance trough Entella and cut of their supply route to Lilybaeum, while a part of his army besieged or hold the Punic steady at Selinus.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 52: Carthaginian pluralism:

Born in 250 BC Mhararpiles (later called the Older, or Mhararpiles of Tingis) was a Carthaginian philosopher that was fascinated by the history of the Barcid Dynasty in Hesperia and later traveled the lands of Carthaginian Hesperia together with is friend, the Punic historian Bodinelqart, after Hanno was killed and Hannibal had become Shophet of Carthage. While Bodinelqart later traveled to Italy with Hannibal's army, to write about a man just like Alexander the Great, Mhararpiles studied the common and different aspects of Hesperian and Punic life, culture, religion and traditions.The strength of the Barcid state and Hannibal's army came from diversity that much was clear for Mhararpiles after his travels to Hesperia. Mhararpiles later added Numidian life to it as he traveled to Carthage and later he even visit the eastern Mediterranean for his studies. His book "Pluralia Punic" would become one of the most read and best known books of the ancient world. Mhararpiles took the principles of the four elements fire, air, water and earth, as the "root"or "element" from witch association (philia) and separation (neikos) of these indestructible and unchangeable root elements, all other things came to be in a fullness (pleroma) of ratio (logos) and proportion (analogos). He argued that these physics could be projected onto man, society and even the state himself. First man had created trade and communities thanks to the gods and thanks to their need of exchange between the elements (or themselves) to become something new in their exchange (trade). Mhararpiles argued that this slow process of interacting and creation of new things was what changed the world and drove men themselves. But his work was also a work of propaganda and ideology warfare against Carthage's worst enemy; Rome. Mhararpiles argued that the Punic and Carthaginian trade culture and pluralism (later mostly state pluralism) followed the natural order and the will of the gods. He compared these nature ordained by god, the own political/cultural pluralism as a "doctrine of multiplicity" with the similar but not so enlightened dualism "doctrine of duality" in other states, as well as the ungodly system of monoism "doctrine of unity", or in this case doctrine of forced unity in Italy and the surrounding Roman ruled Mediterranean as Mhararpiles called it. His thought became quit popular under the Greek states in the eastern Mediterranean too.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 53: Old and New Gods:

The philosophy of Mhararpiles and the politics of Hannibal changed the former Punic/Greek rivalry into a solid trust and friendship. Greek traders and philosophic travels to Carthage more often as well as other tribes that lived within the Carthaginian Republic or traded with them. With this exchange of goods and ideas also came the exchange of faith and how people pictured the deities. Quiet Simular to the god Seapis, that Ptolemy I of Egypt introduced to unite Greek and Egyptian faith and people in his Empire new gods were born in Carthage itself. The Punic Melqart and his Greek pendant Hercules/Heracles were merged into the god Melcules (picture above). In a similar manner Ba'al Hammon and Cronus were merged into Bahanus and Tanit (also called Tinnit, Tannou or Tangou) was merged with her pendant Astarte to Tastarte. For all tree gods the symbols and iconography of Punic, Greek, and later Hesperian and Numidian were combined into the new cult. Hannibal himself ordered the building of a immense Melculeseum (any temple or religious precinct devoted to Melcules) in Carthago itself. From this primal temple other temples emerged all around the Carthaginian Republic and even some Hesperians and Numidian soon adopted the new faith. Likely the most important victory for the new faith in the Mediterranean was the building of a Herquart temple in the Ptolemaic Kingdom 's capital of Alexandria, another Melcules temple in the Seleucid Empires capital of Antioch and the Macedon Kingdom's capital of Pella, where the Macedonian Sun was arranged like a golden crown above the giant statue of the god. Melcules statues and pictures all along the Hellenised world (now including Carthage) featured the famous club, the skin of the Nemean Lion and sometimes even a bow and arrows.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 54: Carthaginian economy and trade, or all sea routes lead to Carthage:

The Carthaginian commerce extended by sea throughout the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic as far as the Canary Islands, and by land across the Sahara desert. According to Aristotle, the Carthaginians and others had treaties of commerce to regulate their exports and imports. The empire of Carthage depended heavily on its trade with Tartessos (later conquered by Hannibal) and with other cities of the Iberian peninsula, from which it obtained vast quantities of silver, lead and copper and even more importantly tin ore, which was essential for the manufacture of bronze objects by the civilizations of antiquity. Carthaginian trade-relations with the Iberians, and the naval might that enforced Carthage's monopoly on this trade and the Atlantic tin trade, it the sole significant broker of tin and maker of bronze in its day. Maintaining this monopoly was one of the major sources of power and prosperity for Carthage; Carthaginian merchants strove to keep the location of the tin mines secret. In addition to its role as the sole significant distributor of tin, Carthage's central location in the Mediterranean and control of the waters between Sicily and Tunisia allowed it to control the eastern peoples' supply of tin. Carthage was also the Mediterranean's largest producer of silver, mined in Iberia and on the North African coast; after the tin monopoly, this was one of its most profitable trades. One mine in Iberia provided Hannibal with 300 Roman pounds (3.75 talents) of silver a day. This monopoly on tin and silver only grew after Hannibal's conquest of all of Hesperia. Carthage's economy began as an extension of that of its parent city, Tyre. Its massive merchant fleet traversed the trade routes mapped out by Tyre, and Carthage inherited from Tyre the trade in the extremely valuable dye Tyrian purple. No evidence of purple dye manufacture has been found at Carthage, but mounds of shells of the murex marine snails from which it derived have been found in excavations of the Punic towns at the coasts of northern Libya. Strabo mentions the purple dye-works of the ancient city of Zouchis. The purple dye became one of the most highly valued commodities in the ancient Mediterranean, being worth fifteen to twenty times its weight in gold. In Roman society, where adult males wore the toga as a national garment, the use of the toga praetexta, decorated with a stripe of Tyrian purple about two to three inches in width along its border, was reserved for magistrates and high priests. Broad purple stripes (latus clavus) were reserved for the togas of the senatorial class, while the equestrian class had the right to wear narrow stripes (angustus clavus). Carthage produced finely embroidered silks, dyed textiles of cotton, linen, and wool, artistic and functional pottery, faience, incense, and perfumes. Its artisans worked expertly with ivory, glassware, and wood, as well as with alabaster, bronze, brass, lead, gold, silver, and precious stones to create a wide array of goods, including mirrors, furniture and cabinetry, beds, bedding, and pillows, jewelry, arms, implements, and household items. It traded in salted Atlantic fish and fish sauce (garum) and brokered the manufactured, agricultural, and natural products of almost every Mediterranean people. These enormous economical might and wealth allowed Hannibal to pay his mercenaries and to maintain a modern war fleet of triremes, quadriremes and quinqueremes as well as a transport fleet that was more then ten times larger and able to maintain trade, military transports and Carthaginian invasions trough out the Second Roman War.

In addition to manufacturing, Carthage practiced highly advanced and productive agriculture,using iron ploughs, irrigation, and crop rotation. Hannibal himself promoted agriculture to help increasing Carthage's economy and independence, he could immediately pay (10,000 talents or 800,000 Roman pounds of silver) for his military orders, recruiting and other public projects at the start of the Second Roman War. Carthage developed viticulture and wine production before the 4th century BC,and even exported its wines widely, as indicated by distinctive cigar-shaped Carthaginian that were traded all around the western Mediterranean. Carthage also shipped quantities of raisin wine, the passum of antiquity. Fruits including figs, pears, and pomegranates, as well as nuts, grain, grapes, dates, and olives were grown in the extensive hinterland, while Carthaginian olive oil was processed and exported all over the Mediterranean. Carthage also raised fine horses,the famous Carthaginian Libya-Nubian horses, later topped by the breed with the Carthaginian Hesperia horses to the Carthaginian Shophet horses. Carthage's merchant ships, which surpassed in number even those of the cities of the Levant, visited every major port of the Mediterranean, as well as Britain and the Atlantic coast of Africa. These ships were able to carry over 100 tons of goods. Carthage also sent caravans into the interior of Africa and Persia. It traded its manufactured and agricultural goods to the coastal and interior peoples of Africa for salt, gold, timber, ivory, ebony, apes, peacocks, skins, and hides.Its merchants invented the practice of sale by auction and used it to trade with the African tribes. In other ports, they tried to establish permanent warehouses or sell their goods in open-air markets. They obtained amber from Scandinavia, and from the Celtiberians, Gauls, and Celts they got amber, tin, silver, and furs. Sardinia and Corsica produced gold and silver for Carthage, and Phoenician settlements on islands such as Malta and the Balearic Islands produced commodities that would be sent back to Carthage for large-scale distribution. The city supplied poorer civilizations with simple products such as pottery, metallic objects, and ornamentations, often displacing the local manufacturing, but brought its best works to wealthier ones such as the Greeks and Etruscans. Carthage traded in almost every commodity wanted by the ancient world, including spices from Arabia, Africa and India, and slaves (the empire of Carthage temporarily held a portion of Europe and sent conquered white warriors into Northern African slavery).

Herodotus wrote an account about 430 BC of Carthaginian trade on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. The Greek version of the Periplus of Hanno describes his voyage. Although it is not known just how far his fleet sailed on the African coastline, this short report, dating probably from the 5th or 6th century BC, identifies distinguishing geographic features such as a coastal volcano and an encounter with hairy hominids. Archaeological finds show evidence of all kinds of exchanges, from the vast quantities of tin needed for a bronze-based metals civilization to all manner of textiles, ceramics and fine metalwork. Before and in between the wars, Carthaginian merchants were in every port in the Mediterranean, trading in harbors with warehouses or from ships beached on the coast. The Etruscan language is imperfectly deciphered, but bilingual inscriptions found in archaeological excavations at the sites of Etruscan cities indicate the Phoenicians had trading relations with the Etruscans for centuries. There also was a a political and commercial alliance between Carthage and the Etruscan ruler of Caere that would corroborate Aristotle's statement that the Etruscans and Carthaginians were so close as to form almost one people. The Etruscan city-states were, at times, both commercial partners of Carthage and military allies.

The merchant harbor at Carthage was developed, after settlement of the nearby Punic town of Utica. Eventually the surrounding countryside was brought into the orbit of the Punic urban centres, first commercially, then politically. Direct management over cultivation of neighboring lands by Punic owners followed. A 28-volume work on agriculture written in Punic by Mago, a retired army general (c. 300 BC), was translated into Latin and later into Greek. Olice trees, fruit trees, viniculture, bees, cattle, sheep, poultry, implements and farm manegement were amoungst his topics. In Punic farming society, according to Mago, the small estate owners were the chief producers. They were, not absent landlords. Rather, the likely reader of Mago was "the master of a relatively modest estate, from which, by great personal exertion, he extracted the maximum yield." Mago counselled the rural landowner, for the sake of their own 'utilitarian' interests, to treat carefully and well their managers and farm workers, or their overseers and slaves. Yet elsewhere these writers suggest that rural land ownership provided also a new power base among the city's nobility, for those resident in their country villas. By many, farming was viewed as an alternative endeavour to an urban business. Another modern historian opines that more often it was the urban merchant of Carthage who owned rural farming land to some profit, and also to retire there during the heat of summer. It may seem that Mago anticipated such an opinion, and instead issued this contrary advice: "The man who acquires an estate must sell his house, lest he prefer to live in the town rather than in the country. Anyone who prefers to live in a town has no need of an estate in the country. ...One who has bought land should sell his town house, so that he will have no desire to worship the household gods of the city rather than those of the country; the man who takes greater delight in his city residence will have no need of a country estate." Mago's agricultural manual was also a record of the farming knowledge of North Africans, namely Berbers (Amazighs). Mago's long work (it was divided into 28 books) has indubitably incorporated local Berber and Punic traditional practices, Carthage being a Phoenician colony, and North Africa the attic of the Mediterranean region, the Amazigh knowledge of Agriculture and Veterinary was extensive. It is obvious that Mago would have been, if not of Amazighe (Berber) origin, at least amazighophone: writing such a work on the agricultural and veterinary practices of the inhabitants of the local countryside (all Amazighophoones at the time!) would have been Impossible without the perfect knowledge of that language. It began with general advice like this: "One who has bought land should sell his town house so that he will have no desire to worship the household gods of the city rather than those of the country; the man who takes greater delight in his city residence will have no need of a country estate."

Mago wrote about the following topics among others:

• If buying a farm, sell your town house.
• The most productive vineyards face north.
• How to plant vines.
• How to prune vines.
• How to plant olives.
• How to plant fruit trees.
• How to harvest marsh plants.
• Preparing various grains and pulses for grinding.
• How to select bullocks.
• Notes on the health of cattle.
• Mules sometimes foal in Africa. Mules and mares foal in the twelfth month after conception.
• Notes on farmyard animals.
• Getting bees from the carcass of a bullock or ox.
• The beekeeper should not kill drones.
• How to preserve pomegranates.
• How to make the best passum (raisin wine).

The issues involved in rural land management also reveal underlying features of Punic society, its structure and stratification. The hired workers might be considered 'rural proletariat', drawn from the local Berbers. Whether or not there remained Berber landowners next to Punic-run farms is unclear. Some Berbers became sharecroppers. Slaves acquired for farm work were often prisoners of war. In lands outside Punic political control, independent Berbers cultivated grain and raised horses on their lands. Yet within the Punic domain that surrounded the city-state of Carthage, there were ethnic divisions in addition to the usual quasi feudal distinctions between lord and peasant, or master and servent. This inherent instability in the countryside drew the unwanted attention of potential invaders. Yet for long periods Carthage was able to manage these social difficulties.

The many amphorae with Punic markings subsequently found about ancient Mediterranean coastal settlements testify to Carthaginian trade in locally made olive oil and wine. Carthage's agricultural production was held in high regard by the ancients, and rivaled that of Rome—they were once competitors, over their olive harvests. Under Roman rule, however, grain production (wheat and barley) for export increased dramatically in Libya. Visitors to the several growing regions that surrounded the city wrote admiringly of the lush green gardens, orchards, fields, irrigation channels, hedgerows (as boundaries), as well as the many prosperous farming towns located across the rural landscape. A agricultural system, that Hannibal and Mago would expand over all of Carthaginian Libya.

Accordingly, the Greek author and compiler Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC), who enjoyed access to ancient writings later lost, and on which he based most of his writings, described agricultural land near the city of Carthage circa 310 BC: "It was divided into market gardens and orchards of all sorts of fruit trees, with many streams of water flowing in channels irrigating every part. There were country homes everywhere, lavishly built and covered with stucco. ... Part of the land was planted with vines, part with olives and other productive trees. Beyond these, cattle and sheep were pastured on the plains, and there were meadows with grazing horses."

The Chora (farm lands of Carthage) encompassed a limited area: the north coastal tell, the lower river valley (inland from Utica), the cap and the adjacent sahel on the east coast. Punic culture here achieved the introduction of agricultural sciences first developed for lands of the eastern Mediterranean, and their adaptation to local Libyan conditions. The urban landscape of Carthage is was built on 'virgin' land, and situated at the end of a peninsula (per the ancient coastline). Here among "mud brick walls and beaten clay floors" (recently uncovered) were also found extensive cemeteries, which yielded evocative grave goods like clay masks. "Thanks to this burial archaeology we know more about archaic Carthage than about any other contemporary city in the western Mediterranean, historicans would later say." Already in the eighth century, fabric dyeing operations had been established, evident from crushed shells ofmurex (from which the 'Phoenician purple' was derived). Nonetheless, only a "meager picture" of the cultural life of the earliest pioneers in the city can be conjectured, and not much about housing, monuments or defenses. The two inner harbors (called in Punic cothon) were located in the southeast; one being commercial, and the other for war. Their definite functions are not entirely known, probably for the construction, outfitting, or repair of ships, perhaps also loading and unloading cargo. Larger anchorages existed to the north and south of the city. North and west of the cothon were located several industrial areas, some for metalworking and pottery, which could serve both inner harbors, and ships anchored to the south of the city.

About the Byrsa, the citadel area to the north, considering its importance our knowledge of it is patchy. The Byrsa was the reported site of the main Temple of Eshmun (the healing god), at the top of a stairway of sixty steps. A temple of Tanit (the city's queen goddess) was likely situated on the slope of the 'lesser Byrsa' immediately to the east, which runs down toward the sea. Also situated on the Byrsa were luxury homes, of the Senators and rich Carthaginian families. South of the citadel, near the cothon (the inner harbors) was the tophet, a special and very old cemetery, then begun lay outside the city's boundaries. Here the Salammbô was located, the Sanctuary of Tanit, not a temple but an enclosure for placing stone stelae. These were mostly short and upright, carved for funeral purposes. Evidence from here may indicate the occurrence of child sacrifice. Probably the tophet burial fields were "dedicated at an early date, perhaps by the first settlers." Between the sea-filled cothon for shipping and the Byrsa heights lay the agora (Greek: "market"), the city-state's central marketplace for business and commerce. The agora was also an area of public squares and plazas, where the people might formally assemble, or gather for festivals. It was the site of religious shrines, and the location of whatever were the major municipal buildings of Carthage. Here beat the heart of civic life. In this district of the Carthage, more probably, the ruling suffets presided, the council of elders convened, the tribunal of the 104 met, and justice was dispensed at trials in the open air. Early residential districts wrapped around the Byrsa from the south to the north east. Houses usually were whitewashed and blank to the street, but within were courtyards open to the sky. In these neighborhoods multistory construction later became common, some up to six stories tall according to an ancient Greek author. These homes made up the city blocks. Stone stairs were set in the streets, and drainage was planned, in the form of soakways leaching into the sandy soil. Along the Byrsa's southern slope were located not only fine old homes, but also many of the earliest grave-sites, juxtaposed in small areas, interspersed with daily life.

Artisan workshops were located in the city at sites north and west of the harbors. The location of three metal workshops (implied from iron slag and other vestiges of such activity) were found adjacent to the naval and commercial harbors, and another two were further up the hill toward the Byrsa citadel. Sites of pottery kilns have been identified, between the agora and the harbors, and further north. Earthenware often used Greek models. A fuller's shop for preparing woolen cloth (shrink and thicken) was evidently situated further to the west and south, then by the edge of the city. Carthage also produced objects of rare refinement. During the 4th and 3rd centuries, the sculptures and sarcophagi became works of art. "Bronze engravng and stone-carving reached their zenith." The elevation of the land at the promontory on the seashore to the north-east, was twice as high above sea level as that at the Byrsa (100 m and 50 m). In between runs a ridge, several times reaching 50 m; it continues northwestward along the seashore, and forms the edge of a plateau-like area between the Byrsa and the sea. Newer urban developments lay here in these northern districts. Surrounding Carthage were walls "of great strength" said in places to rise above 13 m, being nearly 10 m thick, according to ancient authors. To the west, three parallel walls were built. The walls altogether ran for about 33 kilometers (21 miles) to encircle the city. The heights of the Byrsa were additionally fortified.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 55: Hasdrubal the Navigator II:

Hasdrubal now in control of all Hesperia had a quietly secured position. The former enemy tribes where shattered, those tribes that allied with Carthage supplied him with a major pool of manpower, tributes and other resources and riches. The whole Hesperia Megalos, the great province of Carthaginian Hesperia with all it's riches and up to 3,4 million inhabitants. That was as much as Rome had in Italy and way more than Carthago itself had in northern Libya at the moment. Since the west coast of Mauretania and it's tribes had allied with Hannibal and Carthage, (only the tribes on the other side of the mountain in the desert were still raiding Berber nomad's) but Mago's Libyan Strategy slowly kept them out of the rich coastal land under Carthaginian rule. Hanno himself had gathered a two expedition fleets at Gades, one to turn north to search for more riches and trade opportunities beyond the islands of Hesperia Ultima Nova Major (Britonia) and Hesperia Ultima Nova Minor (Hibernia). The southern fleet had the goal to follow his former expedition down the coast of Libya even further down south for the same reasons than the northern expedition. Both expedition were merely trade ships with goods and only a few soldiers, since Carthage couldn't manage to spare much of it's warships in this war if it wanted to beat Rome in the Mediterranean and secure it's trade.

The first Phoenician traders arrived on the North African coast around 1,100 BC. The Phoenicians were not looking to conquer or settle, but simply for places to anchor their ships along the trading route towards Hesperia, which was a big source of silver and tin. Because of lack of manpower, the Phoenicians didn't hope to establish large colonies. Most of their settlements were small islands off the coast or easily defensible spots along the coast. Later the Carthaginians took over the existing Phoenician settlements and expand them to own cities. The Carthaginian empire was, like the Phoenicians, more commercially oriented than territorial focused. Thus, Carthage never excised political control except along the coastal port cities. Carthage's political plan was thus: assimilate the sedentary people who lived in these colonial cities into society and try and push the nomadic people who dwelt nearby beyond the borders of the colonies. Because things didn't go according to plan, three situations resulted. First was the chora, the nodal territories that Carthaginian land owners farmed by using Berber slaves which had been acquired by trade or conquest. The second situation was the dependent territories which were farmed by tax-paying Berber slaves, who often revolted against the Carthaginians. And third, there was the frontier, the independent territories where resistant nomads gathered, settled and began to imitate the Carthaginians ways in their farming, weapons, literacy, religious ideas, political ideas and making alliances with the imperial rivals.

Hasdrubal ordered his fleet to sail south along the coast from Gades over Mauretania, where they exchanged trade goods in the own ports of Tingis, Zilis, Lixus, Tyhmiaterium and Sala. Part of Hasdrubals fleet was sailing to a group of island's in the middle of the Atlantis thalassa. The islands had before been visited by the Phoenicians and the Greeks as well as Hanno's expedition. Hanno had found no inhabitants, but large ruins of great buildings seen by his expedition and now by Hasdrubals fleet too implied that the island was once inhabited. Hasdrubal's fleet commander identified this archipelago beyond the Pillars of Hercules as Atlantis, the island of Atlas, that according to Plato was sunk in the waves for thousand of years. That part of Hasdrubal's fleet that had arrived at the Atlantis Islands (as the would be called from now on) had animals, plants and settlers for the islands aboard to establish small colonies and and ports for their future trade and military operations along the Atlantis thalassa and along the whole west coast of Libya.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 56: Mago's new strategy for Libya/Numidia:

While Hasdrubal ordered his second expedition Mago in Libya had his own plans and strategy how to deal with the enemy Masaesyli. Not only was he working on his strategy of the Monopáti as a fortified boarder, Mago also recruited and trained more Massylii and Hesperian cavalry, to form a mobile army that could intercept any nomadic raids and in addition start counter attacks against their tribal lands. Mago knew that the nomadic tribes had very few towns and other urban settlements. So Mago came up with another strategy than just fortifying the boarder and colonize the land from the coast towards the mountains with new settlers from Hesperia. So Mago created smaller, faster cavalry groups stationed in the near of some groups of fortified farms, mansions and towns. Unlike normal garrisons all of these new troops were equipped with horses, mostly light cavalry. Mago called these troops the Astrapí/Barcids (Lightning), because they came out of nowhere, were fast and stroke fear into the hearts of their enemies. Since these mobile troops proved to be fast and strong enough to fight the nomads fast enough to intercept their raids, the Astrapi allowed Mago to guard more territory and borderland with lesser troops than before when the Carthaginian mostly used infantry. A set of watch tower with lightning signals was build and allowed the fast communication of troops and settlements in case of an attack. Carthaginian settlers could use this time to return to the safety of their fortified homes and towns, were they could arm themselves and prepare for the nomadic tribal attack, while the nearby Astrapi were send towards the direction where the nomads attacked. Needless to say this tactic combined with the fortification let the raids drop. But Mago was not satisfied with this outcome, he wanted -just like Hanno the Great- for Carthage to rule all of Libya without any competition for their power. So Mago decided that attacking was the best defense strategy and led his Astapi raid the nomads land, where they burnt their tent camps and killed the herds and families left behind, before the nomads raiders would return home. Mago was sure that this new strategy would teach the nomads how it felt to be on the other side of the raids and force them to stop raiding Carthaginian lands. Some smaller tribes and groups indeed stopped raiding the Punic lands and traveled down south of the mountains, raiding other people, while some small tribes even surrendered to Mago, willing to give up their aggression, before the Carthaginian destroyed what little was left of their herds and families after the raids of the Astrapi. Mago accepted these terms and even led these tribes use the rich grassland and oasis in Carthaginian territory under the term that they had to secure their weapons inside Carthago's territory and be at all time watched and guarded by Astrapi and other cavalry troops and guards. This strategy even if only used by these few, small tribes, that had surrendered to Mago's forces, wasn't popular among many of the settlers in Libya that had previously been raided by these people. Mago managed to convinced some of these surrendered nomadic tribes to resettle in Hesperia, where they behaved, some even believing that the Punic and their Gods had brought them to the great grasslands and forests of heaven, where it was green every day. The rest was forced to leave the Carthaginian territory because they caused unrest for the settlers they had raided before, but some that behaved fine could stay. These nomads that stayed were resettled to small colonial towns were Hesperian settlers, eager for own wide farmland were located. These new Hesperians had no hate with the nomads that had former raided the towns in Libya because they hadn't been there yet. While they heard some stories, they also tried to work thinks out because some of these Hesperian tribes and people had previously also been enemies of Carthage, but were given a new chance as their tribal lands now were part of the Republic of Carthage. The call for new land had made them travel to Libya, sometimes whole towns were coming and resettling in the new, wide land. While most of the nomads were not convinced to give up their lifestyle and settle at only one place, they soon discovered that their caravans could make good money out of the trade between these territories instead of just raiding them. That also prevented them from getting attacked themselves by the Carthaginians again. Over the next hundred years these tribes would marry into the Libyo-Punic and Punic people and be part of the Senate in Carthage as one of the richest Libyan trader dynasties on african land. It was a better future than these the other tribes faced that continued to fight against Carthage over the next decades.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 57: Battle over Sardinia:

With Corsica secured, Hampsicora archived news from his son Josto, that the invasion of Sardinia hadn't quiet gone as good as planned, or as good as the Invasion of Corsica. Luckily for Hampsicora the Roman supply route after the loss of Corsica and the evacuation of their army was longer than that of the Carthaginians. Part of the Roman, evaluated army managed to land in Olbia, helping the defense of the City. They were less than 1,849 infantry and 174 cavalry, army and ship crews together, but they helped to secure the roman northeast of the island of Sardinia and held a second boarder open for supplies and fresh troops that could later open up a new front against the Punic presence on the Island in the north. Despite this the roman commander Quintus Mucius Scaevola was still waiting for another Roman army and fleet to start a new offensive in Sardinia, while the Carthaginian fleet tried to prevent this, while at the same time was shipping own troops to the island.

Hampsicora, who was well known and popular among the inhabitants if Sardinia, managed to convince many of them to create weapons and fight for their independence from Rome instead of just letting the few own soldiers, garrison and the Carthaginian army fight for them. After the arrival of fresh Carthaginian troops Hasdrubal the Bald started a new offensive against the Roman holdings in the south. When he could manage to take Carales his own supply lines would be way shorter and then he could easily take out the rest of the Roman presence in the south and soon after the whole Island, since Sarcapos and Olbia couldn't hold out on their own any longer then. Hasdrubal managed to take Othoca and met the advancing Roman army halfway between Othoca and Carales. Hasdrubal the Bald was sure, thanks to his scouts, that his army was greater than that of the Romans and that he would beat them in open field battle. Hasdrubal even managed to convince the Roman commander that his army was smaller, because he had hidden most of it in the forests.

The Romans under Quintus Mucius Scaevola were marching in two lines and had a strong defense. They didn't knew about the superior numbers of the Punic forces, so they tried to engage them in a normal battle. Then the superior roman infantry could deal with the enemy and his mercenary army. It was nearly to late that Quintus realized that the Carthaginian troops were far greater in numbers and now advancing over his flanks in a semicircle, to surround him. Sadly Hasdrubal's troops took to much time with their flanking maneuver and spread to thin at the sides of the Carthaginian line. The Roman infantry managed to stop the enemy at the center and the roman cavalry managed to counterattack one of the flanks. As the Romans pushed the Punic troops back, they accidentally opened a gap between their own lines and Hasdrubal immediately pushed between this hole in the enemy line with his war elephants and cavalry. The battle became messy and the Romans tried to shoot the elephants from the distant with javelin, arrows and short trowing spears, but the Carthaginian cavalry intercepted them. The former organized battle turned more and more into a mess with no clear front-line any more. The Roman army managed to turn another Carthaginian cavalry attack around, but to many own troops were routing at this moment and the Punic elephants trampled many fleeing troops, causing even more fear and panic. While Hasdrubal the Bald was victorious in the battle it was a Pyrrhic victory because he lost so many troops that another attack on the Romans, or even an attempt to besiege Carales was beyond his possibilities at the moment. While Othoca was captured, many nearby towns openly switched alliance to Carthage, but since Hasdrubal had lost so many troops he couldn't guard and defend them all. As the Romans send some of their troops to deal with these new rebels, they managed to retake some of this towns and massacred parts of their population as an example. An Example not only for Sardinia, but for other towns in Corsica, Sicily or Italy too, that would greatly influence Hannibal's later tactic and strategy in Italy itself as well as the Romans.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 58: Business Unusual:

Gennadios of Bithynia arrived in Carchedon (as the Hellenes called Carthage) with his trade ship Dytikós Ánemos (Western Wind) where he visited his old friend Bomilkar in his villa for a meal. He had traveled the eastern Mediterranean and was now returning home with money for his business partner Eshmunamash. While Gennadios as a Metic had archived many new rights under the rule of Hannibal, business was still easier with a Punic friend. While Gennadios traded Libyan goods to the east, Eshmunamash used the Talents of Gennadios to buy rich farmland in Libya. These farms were managed by local landlords and run by slaves and peasant mostly recruited from the local population.

"Gennadios it's good to see you return safely in this time of war." the Punic man said at the harbor of Carthage said in bad Punic idiom.

"It's good to be back to, we made ten Talent on this tour with our goods." the Hellene Gennadios that also felt as a Punic in Carchedon said in way better Punic than his friend spoke Greek.

"That much? Where have you been all this months?" asked Eshmunamash interested.

"Mostly in the Eastern Mesogeios (Mediterranean) between Alexandria and Athens." the Hellene laughed because he had been on some adventures ton these travels.

"It's fantastic you made this much Talents, because now that Hesperia is secured thanks to Shophet Hannibal i was thinking about investing in some mining operations there old friend. The Romans may have damaged our economy and state, but the Shophet has given us more and wealthier land to compensate this in Hesperia." Eshmunamash said happily and proud of the Senate and the Shophet that ruled the Carthaginian Republic at the moment.

"A good businesses opportunity indeed we should invest in Hesperian mines. I also heard that thinks were working quiet well with themselves liberation of the lost territories in Corsia, Sardinia and Sicily?!" Gennadios asked and his old friend was nodding with a big smile. It was great news for the Hellene too, because just like many of his fellow countryman he hoped that the Roman Invaders could soon be expelled from Hellas and Illyria.

"Our current wealth and business also brought us a voting voice in the Senate, two to be accurate thanks to the rights Shophet Hannibal has offered these Metic that worked and lived here for over a decade." the Punic Eshmunamash told Hellenic friend Gennadios as he poured him some more wine.

"Even more wonderful news, I think we should repay the great Shophet Hannibal for his good service to the people of the Carthaginian Republic." Gennadios said as a toast.

"What do you have in mind old friend?" the Punic man asked interested.

"Hannibal will soon be in need of more transports for troops and trade. How about we buy a whole fleet of such ships for low costs in the Eastern Mesogeios before other traders realize how much money we could make from this. We can even use them on the way along the Libyan coast to Carchedon to transport goods and mercenaries to the city." the Hellene said raising his amphorae.

"And after we rent them to Hannibal for a good price we can use them again for our own trade between Carthaginian Hesperia, Carthaginian Libya, as well as the rest of the Mediterranean and Atlantis Thalassa after this was!" Eshmunamash agreed, now also raising his amphorae, as his slaves began to serve the meal.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 59: Sicily, Battle of the Halycus River:

(Hanno the Short crossing the Halycus)

The Halycus (Salty) river was located near Heraclea and positioned between the Roman Army in Agrigentum (Acragas) and Hanno the Short's army in Selinus. After hearing from the defeat of the northern Carthaginian army under Melqartpilles at Soloeis, Hanno was shocked and feared that the Romans would reconquer the lost cities of the North. Hanno already feared that the Romans could surround him and that he had to return to Lilybaeum to defend the important supply city before the Roman army would arrive. However, the more accurate full report of the messenger told him that while the army in Soloeis was annihilated, the Roman siege was also stopped and the remaining Roman Army had retreated to Himera. Since no new Roman army attack had already taken Soloeis and the left soldiers and residents of the city had starting to repair the broken wall defenses as good as they could with their remaining resources. Hanno realized that the Romans must have taken heavy causalities too and feared that splitting his troops again would endanger his position in the whole island of Sicily. So with Soloeis remaining for the moment and the allied cities of Segesta and Selinus, Hanno decided to take a risky plan. He started to march on Agrigentum and hoped if he could take the city, the pass trough the mountains over Mitrístrato would allow him to secure Panormus from the south. It would also enable him to threaten Enna inside the island, Himera in the north and the southern route to Syracuse, so that the Romans had to split their army around all these locations, just to confront his one army in Agrigentum. The already conquered north of Carthaginian Sicily would be secured by doing so and the Romans would be pressured in the whole eastern rest of Sicily even without any new Carthaginian army in the North of the island.

As Hanno's troops marched onto Heraclea another positive side effect was that the city of Entella capitulatet/sided with him because now all of their trade routs to the coasts were controlled by Carthage and they were depending on Punic trade and good will for the future of their survival. The Roman Commander Tiberius Sempronius Longus had positioned his army and headquarters in Agrigentum as he heard of the advance of Hanno's army. He knew that his remaining warships could not raid the Punic supply routes to Sicily on their own. He ordered his remaining 25 warships to reunited with the remaining 34 from Lilybaeum in Syracuse, where they should await his orders to help him in retaking Lilibaeum when he had pushed the Punic enemy back to the western coast. But for his plan to be successful he had not only to stop, but to defeat Hanno's army. Since Agrigentum was conquered by the Carthaginians and the Greeks all over their wars in Sicily, Tiberius wasn't sure if he could hold the city alone, at least not if the northern victorious Carthaginian army of Soloeis would attack him to or even march on Himera to pressure the Roman's in the north. Tiberius only chance would be to stop Hanno and his troops before they lay siege to the city and outnumber him, so he marched west, ready for battle. Tiberius and Hanno arrived near Heraclea nearly at the same time and soon Hanno's troops tried to cross the river and advance onto the city. Tiberius himself figured they would do so and positioned one of his best Legionaries as well as most of his cavalry at the only nearby bridge. His plan was to cross the bridge fast and attack the Carthaginian troops from behind while they were still crossing the river at a shallow point and to simultaneously attack them with his main army at the other river side. A few well positioned Scorpions behind his troops should additionally fire death down on the enemy when he would be stuck in the river.

Hanno had a similar plan than Tiberius and positioned half of his cavalry and some if his best infantry near the bridge, so he could hold it against the Roman advance. Originally Hanno planned on crossing the bridge with his troops and flank the Roman army while his army was marching across the river since he didn't knew the Romans also planned on using the small bridge for their own troops. As the battle started Hanno the Short spotted Tiberius troops on the other side of the river, so he stopped his plan to cross the shallow as the Romans started firing rocks, arrows and javelins at his troops from the other river side. Hanno ordered his troops to stand back, while he waited for his smaller flank army to attack the Roman back. Then when they would be distracted he planned the main assault over the River. The Romans under Tiberius instead hoped for their cavalry to pass the bridge and arrive behind the Carthaginians so fast that they would be unable to react.

The fate of this day now was depending who could take the bridge for their own troops and flanking maneuver and luckily for Hanno his decision to use some Hoplites and Falcatesair together with his cavalry was the right decision. On the small bridge these heavily armored troops were able to withstand the advancing roman cavalry and some of their supporting infantry. Soon they even pushed them back, as the main army of the Romans under Tiberius started to cross the river themselves, realizing that the Punic army was not advancing out of fear of their superior infantry. Hanno ordered his heavy infantry to form a defense line outside of the Scorpions range but near the river so he could stop the Romans from crossing. On the bridge meanwhile the Carthaginian troops, their allies and mercenaries managed to push back the Romans thanks to a a phalanx line and slightly more and heavier troops than the Romans had with their cavalry. As the slaughter at the river crossing continued, the Carthaginian on the bridge managed to defeat and rout all remaining roman troops there and slowly but steady advanced towards the back of the roman main army.

At the same time Hanno was sure that the enemy would break trough at any moment, because his men were exhausted and the Romans were making ground with fewer causalities than himself. Some of his mercenaries already flew escaped from the battlefield and the rest would not hold out any longer. At this crucial moment the Carthaginian flank troops arrived. While the remaining Punic cavalry attacked the roman scorpion crew, the flanking infantry attacked the back of the Roman army that tried ti cross the river. The causalities were high on each side and the army of Hanno was also so exhausted, that he feared he would not be able to take the nearby city of Heraclea. But Tiberius defeated army only regrouped at Heraclea, fearing that Hanno would besiege his beaten troops with a part of his army and march onto Acragas with the rest. As soon as his troops were able to fall back into the better defender city of Acragas, Tiberius did so. Hanno was more then happy that he could take Heraclea even if they at the moment were to exhaust to fight any longer themselves. Because of that Hanno's cavalry missed out on following the routing roman troops and slaughtering them, maybe even arrive at Acragas before them too. But it was not a total defeat for Tiberius either, he managed to save the majority of his army for the next fight and still hold onto the most important southern city of Acragas. Even more important but at this moment unknown to Tiberius, the mountain towns of Ieta and Petra did not surrender to Carthaginian rule like Entella had done before. Because of that they blocked the direct pass from Agrientum to Soloeis and Panomus, that would have further shorten Hanno's line of supplies and possibilities to march to the north of Sicily even more so than the road from Entella already did over the southwest of Panomus and Soloeis. With new Roman troops on the march to Sicily Hanno immediately ordered fresh troops for his own losses and another army for the northern advance. His request would take time because Sardinia had just lost a majority of their own army and needed also supplies and Corsica was facing a roman invasion. All these places needed their own supplies and fresh troops as well as Hesperia and Libya itself.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 60: Naval Battle of Mariana:

In the first Roman War, the Romans had build 150 quinqueremes and triremes in a record two months. Hannibal knew if he wanted to keep his invasions and supply lines alive, he had to build a fleet as strong in the same time. Because of this need for ships Hannibal's expanded the Hesperian harbors and docks, because the supply with wood for these ships was easier in the peninsula than it was in Libya. On the downside this decision meant longer routes for this fleets till they arrived in the theater of war, the islands between Italy and Libya. One of the major naval battles of the Second Roman War would be the naval battle of Mariana, The native Corsicans spotted the Roman fleet that was coming from Populonium near Mariana and informed Mahar the Skilled, that the oppressors were coming to conquer the island once more. Mahar knew that he had no chance in defending Aleria against a Roman invasion fleet of 120 ships. So he contacted the Carthaginian supply fleets, that were now using Palla and Piantarella in the south of Corsica, instead of the further away harbor of Aliacum in the west of Island. The Carthaginian supply fleet in the south only had 80 ships to secure their transports and would need most of them to guard the fleet back on their way to Sardinia or Libya. Because of that chances didn't look good against the superior Roman fleet. Luckily for Carthage, this major fleet delayed many additional troop transports in southern Gaul and Hesperia, because some of the ships for them were needed in this invasion.

(the battle, coast is on the left)

The Carthaginians send 40 of their ship north, to engage the enemy fleet under the Roman Commander Gaius Samnion Pulcher and because they were faster without the transports, they engaged the Romans near the city of Mariana. The Carthaginian fleet was outnumbered and the Roman Commander used two frontal battle lines and one reserve to full take advantage of his greater numbers. The Carthaginian on the other hand tried to use the coast and a thinner but longer line to surround the Roman fleet and to push it against the coast. At first the Punic tactic was successful, but the longer the battle raged, the more the Roman were winning in the center. Finally the Roman fleet managed to push rough and split part of the left Punis flank from the fleeing center and the still ongoing fights on the right Punic flank. Soon the rest of the right Carthaginian flanking maneuver faced superior roman ship numbers and retreated just like the center before. The Carthaginian rest fleet on the coast was surround and destroyed or captured. The Roman fleet lost 14 ships at the battle, while the Carthaginian fleet lost 18 ships (7 sunken and the rest captured by the Romans). The Invasion of Cosica could not be stopped and the attack of the fleet on Aleria continued.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 61: Aleria liberated:

With the Roman fleet victorious, Mahar the Skilled, knew his remaining 8.000 infantry and 700 cavalry could not defend the coast or the city of Aleria against a Roman invasion. He and his Cosic allied tribes returned to the mountains and gave he eastern coast to roman hands without a fight. The Roman Commander used this opportunity to land 5,000 Legionaries, 300 cavalry and the same number of auxiliary troops near of Aleria and took the city soon after the landing on the same day. Gaius Samnion Pulcher then questioned the population of the city to knew more about the enemy army under Mahar. As he heard that the enemy had fewer troops than he had and that he had taken the longer route over the mountains, likely because otherwise thanks to the superior Roman fleet that could catch up to Mahar on the coastal road and maybe surround his fleeing troops by doing so the Punic troops had no other chance after his naval victory at Mariana, Gaius believed. Knowing that with his fleet his Romans would be faster than Mahars army, Gaius ordered his army to decide into four groups, 2,500 infantry and 150 cavalry each. Two of this groups traveled along the coast, one north, one south with 40 ships accompanying them, wile 37 ships remained in Aleria. 4,500 roman Legionaries and 250 cavalry also remained to defend the city, while a small group of 500 soldiers and 50 cavalry followed Mahar's army slowly over the mountain pass. They were ordered not to attack the Punic, but to convince them that the Romans were following them on the same route. Gaius hoped that Mahar would be forced not to re attack the city of Aleria when he believed the whole Roman army was following behind him over the mountains. More important Gaius hoped that this slowly following roman troops would give his two coastal armies and fleets enough time to liberate the coast of Corsica and to surround Mahar and his army in the middle of the island.

 

[CountofDooku]

Most may not know it but I'm quiet ahead of this in the grand plan of where this time-line is going along and after the war! ;D



Next planned updates are:

1. Hannibal arrives in Gaul and marches east.
2. The arrival of the second Roman army in northern Sicily.
3. The Carthaginian attack on the Roman allied mountain cities in Sicily.
4. A ambush in the mountains of Corsica.
5. The Turdetani revolting against Punic taxation (diplomatically backed by Rome).
6. A Celtiberian alliance and revolt against Carthage with the help of Roman money and Commanders.
   

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 62: He's coming:

Hannibal's army of 40,000 foot soldiers, 12,000 horsemen and a total 50 war elephants had just crossed the Pyrenees and entered Gaul. The coastal cities of Narbo and Agathe (Agde) while officially subjects of Messilia had not enough fortification or soldiers to stand in his way. So they payed tribute (they called it ransom) in form from sesterce and food for his army to pass without a fight. Some local mercenaries even let his ranks increase. Hannibal who didn't want to risk losing more time before he would arrive at the Alps and cross them simple accepted this “neutrality” from the cities and marched on to Nemausus. On his way he payed local Gallic tribes so he could pass their land without interfering when the sheer number of his big army wasn't enough to let them realist that messing with him was not the best idea. Little did Hannibal knew that a part of the Messilia was on their fleet along the coast to secure Agathe and Narbo, as well as to retake Rhodae and Emporiae if they could. The simple truth that Hannibal had already passed them and was marching towards the Rhone made the Messilian Commander turn his army back to defend his hometown. Messengers were send, to inform the Messilian and Roman armies near Messilia that Hannibal was already on it's way to them. Hasdrubal's meanwhile hat stationed allied and loyal tribesman and some of his own mercenaries and soldiers as guards of the newly conquered Emporiae and Rhodae, while his armies was ready to defend the east coast of Hesperia against any new invasion or the rest of the peninsula against any revolt or rebellion. In Messilia itself, the news of Hannibal's march towards them had lead to a panic inside the Council of Six Hundred. Messilia's Council of Six Hundred ordered the Roman Commander from the nearby army that he had to help them prepare the defenses of the city and hold it against Hannibal's army when they wished to continue the alliance between Roma and Messilia.

 

[CountofDooku]

Carthaginian Hesperia:

Carthaginian Hesperia Megalos (Punic Great Province of Hesperia, Capital: Carthago Nova, not inclding the Baleares), including:

Provinces (Eparchía):
- Carthago Nova (with the confederate tribe of the Bestetani, Capital: Carthago Nova, Carthaginian direct control - yellow)
- Barcida (with the confederate tribe of the Turdetani, Capital: Gades, Carthaginian direct control - yellow)
- Counei (with the confederate tribe of the Counei, Carthaginian/Confederate tribe control - gold)
- Oretani (with the confederate tribe of the Oretani, Carthaginian/Confederate tribe control - gold)
- Contestani (with the confederate tribe of the Contestani, Carthaginian/Confederate tribe control - gold)
- Celtici (with the conquered tribe of the Celtici, Carthaginian/military/ minor tribe control - orange)
- Turduli (with the conquered tribe of the Turduli, Carthaginian/military/ minor tribe control - orange)
- Vettones (with the conquered tribe of the Vettones, Carthaginian/military/ minor tribe control - orange)
- Carpetani (with the conquered tribe of the Carpetani, Carthaginian/military/ minor tribe control -orange)
- Vaccaei (with the conquered tribe of the Vaccaei, Carthaginian/military/ minor tribe control - orange)
- Cantabri (with the conquered/ now confederate tribe of the Cantabri, Carthaginian/Confederate tribe control - gold)
- Astures (with the conquered/ now confederate tribe of the Astures, Carthaginian/Confederate tribe control - gold)
- Callaeci (with the confederate tribe of the Callaeci, Carthaginian/Confederate tribe control - gold)
- Lusitani (with the conquered tribe of the Lusitani, Carthaginian/military/ minor tribe control - orange)
- Turduli (with the conquered tribe of the Turduli, Carthaginian/military/ minor tribe control - orange)
- Zakintho/Sarguntum (with the conquered tribe of the Edetani, Carthaginian/military/ minor tribe control - orange)
- Ilercavones (with the conquered tribe of the Ilercavones, Carthaginian/military/ minor tribe control - orange)
- Ilergetes (with the confederate tribe of the Ilergetes, Carthaginian/Confederate tribe control - gold)
- Vascones (with the confederate tribe of the Vascones, Carthaginian/Confederate tribe control - gold)
- Vardulli (with the confederate tribe of the Vardulli, Carthaginian/Confederate tribe control - gold)
- Caristii (with the confederate tribe of the Caristii, Carthaginian/Confederate tribe controll - gold)
- Autrigones (with the confederate tribe of the Autrigones, Carthaginian/Confederate tribe controll - gold)
- Celtiberi (with the conquered tribe of the Celtiberi, Carthaginian/military/ minor tribe control - orange)
- Lacetani (with the conquered tribe of the Lacetani, Carthaginian/military/ minor tribe control - orange)
- Turmodigi (with the confederate tribe of the Turmodigi, Carthaginian/Confederate tribe control - gold)
- Karakun/Qarakun former Tarraco/Tarakon (with the confederate tribe of the Ilergetes, Carthaginian/Confederate tribe control - gold)
- Emporia (with the conquered cities Emporiae, Rhodae and the conquered tribe of the Indiketes, Carthaginian/military/ minor tribe control - orange)

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 63: The Styx

"It's more of a Palace then a ship, isn't it?" asked Gennadios of Bithynia the merchant that now called himself a man of Carchedon before anything else. Actually it was more of a final statement then a question.

"I think it is fitting, Carthage's greatest son is coming home. A man that surpassed even Alexander the Great!" Bodinelqart said to his old friend as they watched how the corpse of Hannibal's was brought aboard the giant ship.

"Carthage's greatest son?" Gennadios asked, sounding quiet surprised.

"You don't think so?" questioned Bodinelqart his lifelong friend.

"Like the Phoenix he tried to rise from the ashes, to prevent the old world from getting erased by Rome and then erased it himself unwillingly!" the Hellene Gennadios believed.

"He did save Carthage!" the Punic Bodinelqart argued.

"A new Carthage, not the old one, he even recreated the whole city and build it a second time!" the Hellene laughed, interested if the war would have ended similar if thinks had been different.

"That may be true!" the Punic man laughed before he added.

"How is your book now that you finally knew all of my part in this story?" the Hellene asked interested.

"Finished, hundreds of rolls of Papyri, a lifetime of work!" the Punic Bodinelqart declared proud, it was the story of Hannibal's life as well as of the Second and Third Roman War. Bodinelqart had title his book "The lost Libyan War" as he was certain that is were the story of Hannibal and the Barca family began. "I would like you to bring it to Hannibal's family. Please join this death boat on his last travel and bring it to them!" Bodinelqart asked from his old friend proud.

"What about you now after all this is done?" the Hellene asked interested.

"Who knows, I'm old and I have not much time left. What would you do old friend?" the Punic man asked Gennadios.

"I will sail west after Carchedon, right trough the Pillars of Hercules, at first I thought about sailing north to see the northern white bears I heard so much about, but now I think otherwise. Since I'm now one of the richest man in the Mediterranean and Carthage I'm financier of a lot of important businesses. I will take course westwards, towards sunset, to the Atlantis Islands. Only the Shophet, his treasurer and the crew of eight chosen ships of the Senate of Carthage, with chosen man on each of them knew about this. We will sail west in the Atlantis Thalassa from the Atlentis Islands, the Lucky Islands and after many days we will arrive in green islands, together formed like a crescent. If you follow them south there will be a new part of the world, not part of Libya, not part of Asia and not part of Europe. As much as I hate to admit it as a Hellene, the Aegean Sea doesn't look like the center of the world anymore. You know I have seen the islands of Hesperia Ultima Nova in the North, India and Arabia in the East and the dark people of the other side of the coast in Libya. What else would be interesting for me that I have seen the whole World according to the Hellenes, than to see a part that no Hellene has ever seen before?" and as much as the Hellene inside Gennadios wanted to admit it, the Punic had finally beaten them in their maritime exploration.

"Interesting, a new part of the world with new wonders any of our fellow friends have ever seen or dreamed about, but what would I do in a land like that? How many time will we two man have left now that we're gray and old. Like hot glass our living fire is burn out and we soon will freeze cold and unable to move any longer forever!" Bodinelqart feared. Ofcorse he was very interested, but he had a feeling that he would not see all of this new world and live to tell about it.

"Maybe but we would be the first to actually write of this new land. Carchedon was already old when the Romans didn't even knew how to build stone houses and our part in Hannibal's and Carchedons history will always be only a small side note. But when we would be the first to write of this new world, weather or not we live long enough to see all these wonders, we will write our own great story. A story only similar to Queen Dido when she first reached the shore of Libya and founded Carchedon maybe!" the Hellene laughed and the smile on his friends face told Gennadios that he liked that idea very much.

"Good. Very Good indeed, then let's board Hannibal's last ship to Carthage too and travel on towards our own great expedition. Let's write from far away lands, like Hanno and Hasdrubal the Navigators!" smiled Bodinelqart to his friend and they followed the procession of the dead Hannibal to his death galley, that would bring over the Mediterranean Sea home to Carthage. They left the city of Quart Hannibal Barkas (Quart Hnba'al Brq, formally known as Byzantium or Byzantion) at the Hellespontos between Europe and Asia in the year 183 BC. Then they followed the procession of Hannibal's dead body to the Byrsa and later left on one of the eight chosen ships of the Senate of Carthage towards the Atlantis Islands, where they later sailed further westwards and arrived in the new, not yet named part of the world beyond the Atlantis Thalassa in 181 BC.

 

[CountofDooku]

Not very much revealed but a little bit foreshadowing, now we all know who's history and writing we follow for the first part of this timeline up until the death of Hannibal (don't worry it will continue after that too)!

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 64: Sicilia Reinforcement:

The Roman army of Tarentum was brought to Sicily with part of the Roman Fleet, that was escaping Lilybaeum before. The Romans still had Agrigentum and therefore the mountain road and pass to Thermae and Himera. The Roman fleet landed their troops in Syracuse, Catana and Messana. One third of the army was marching to Agrigentum to support the own army there and in the important mountain roads in the center of the island. The Romans still were holding all roads from the south to the north in Sicily and from the east into the island allowing them to support all o their front-lines faster than the Punic and with way less soldiers. Their northern Army marched from Messana over the northern road to Tyndaris, Agathynum, Caleacte, Halaesa, Cephaloedium to Himera and Therme Himeraae. The middle Roman army had the order advance trough the mountains from Catana to Hybla, Inessa,Centripe, Agyrium, Assortus to the crossroad of Enna. There they wold guard the city of Enna, the most important mountain city in Sicily, because it was in the center with roads northwest, southwest and east. From Enna pat of this army was ordered to march toward Petra, halfway to Himera in case the Pinuc army managed to take the city before the northern army would arrive along the coast. The smaller southern army part, that was landing in Syracuse was marching along the southern road to Halorus, Casmenae, Camarenia, Gela, Phinas, Inycum to Agrigentum. The original Roman plan was just to support the norther front on Sicily, but they feared the Punic army in the north (unknown to the Romans this army was already nearly destroyed in the siege of Solus) and south could take one of the mountain roads and passes, to reinforce each other. Because of that the Romans tried to hold troops along the major roads in the mountains and even build some fortifications and castles on easily to defend points along these roads.

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 65: Sicily, struggle over Halycus Pass:

(one of the forts at the Halycus Pass)

The Halycus Pass from Agrigentum to Thermae was heavily guarded and fortified by the Romans to secure their now most western line of supply and reinforcements in Sicily. Along the mountains the Romans had garrisoned some Legionaries inside some Casta fortifications out of wood, to guard he pass. These forts were elevated, with a wall on the upper hill around the Castrum, sometimes even with watchtowers. Hanno the Short knew it was dangerous to attack this mountain road with the Roman still in his back. So he sends the Greek Mercenary Proxiancos with a few hundred man elite troops (3,256 in total) of native Sicilian Mercenaries that were familiar with the terrain to cut of this western Roman road between the North and the South. Proxiancos and his mercenaries followed the on his western side Carthaginian controlled Halycus river to the mountains, where it shared a few miles right next to the road they wanted to block. The first roman Castrum the Greek mercenaries saw was well fortified and he feared his few men would be unable to conquer it. So Proxiancos used a trick, he sends a small troop, that said they were naive Sicilian refugees in Greek, escaping the Punic conquest of the western coast of Sicily over the mountain trails. The trick worked like a charm and Proxiancos small assault troop managed to surprise the Roman garrison once they were inside the Castrum. They had heavily causalities but managed to open the main gate, so that Proxiancos nearby hidden mercenaries could conquer the fort after storming inside. Some of the Roman defenders panicked and routed towards the mountains, Proxiancos was sure this trick wouldn't work again on the next Roman Castrum. So Proxiancos marched further north, to attack the next Roman Castrum but the survivors of his first attack had already warned them. So the next attack of Proxiancos and his mercenaries was not able to break the walls of the Castrum in their assault. They retreated for now, but destroyed parts of the trail they had already brought under their control to force the Romans to repair it over time or to use a other longer road.

(the Greek Mercenary Proxiancos, later commander of a whole Carthaginian army in the Second and Third Roman War)

 

[CountofDooku]

Chapter 66: Corsica, Battle of Rhotanus:

The Battle of Rhotanus occurred, as the roman army group of 500 soldiers and 50 cavalry that followed Mahar's army of 8.000 infantry and 700 cavalry over the mountains of Corsica from Aleria (Alalia) in the east to Aiacium in the west over the mountain road. Mahar the Skilled didn't knew that not all of the Roman Legion was following him, but he knew that he could not hold Corsica liberated from Roman rule when had to face this larger force in a open field battle. Along the river of Rhotanus, the road from Aleria trailed to the mountains up until the western coast of the island. All of the way the Romans were attacked by small skirmisher forces, that had simple one job, to delay their advance as long as possible. This skirmishers told Mahar that the Romans following him were just a small part of the whole invasion force. Mahar then decided to face this enemy force and crush them, before further retreading west. He knew that his plan was dangerous, as the rest of the Romans could surround him with their fleet along the coast and conquer Aiacium before he got there. But unknown to the Romans, Mahar who was married to one of the Corsican tribes and ally or friend with many others had already decided not to retread further west and maybe lose the island again, despite the Roman superior forces. He planned to live from the land with his army and allies and remain in the rough terrain of the mountains, where the Romans could not easily use their superior numbers thanks to small passages and trails. Mahar was willing to fight a guerrilla-war against Rome in Corsica, similar to that of some Hesperian and Numidian tribes against Carthage. As the 550 Romans marched westward they suddenly noticed that the path between the mountains was blocked. The Carthaginians army had build a barricade out of stone and wood, where their troops stopped the Roman advance. Then smaller, more mobile skirmisher troops and native Corsican tribesman with javelin, arrows, spears and stones attacked from the hills and mountainsides left and right of the road. The Romans soon realized that they were ambushed and had walked right inside a trap, but it was to late. The Corcsic and Carthaginian soldiers now closed the encirclement and also started to roll great stones down the hills. This caused a landslide and buried many of the Roman Legionaries under stones. The surviving Roman troops were now in pure chaos and were slaughtered one after the other. At the end of the day Mahar the Skilled had lost only a few man, while the Romans had lost over 300 infantry and 42 cavalry, the surviving Roman troops were hunted down by some Corsican and Carthaginian troops and nearly all killed. Mahar later used the captured weapons and armor of many dead Romans to equip and train some of his most loyal, allied Corsican tribes so that his own army in the mountains was slowly growing in numbers and skills.

(the Romans try to break trough)