Siege of Tunis (Mercenary War)
Siege of Tunis | |||||||
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Part of the Mercenary War | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Carthage | Rebels | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Mathos | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
Approximately 20,000 | Approximately 20,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Significant | Unknown |
During the siege of Tunis in October 238 BC a rebel army under Mathos was besieged by a Carthaginian force under Hamilcar Barca and Hannibal. The Carthaginian army, which had served on Sicily during the First Punic War, mutinied in late 241 BC in the wake of Carthage's defeat, starting the Mercenary War. After three years of increasingly bitter war, the Carthaginians defeated the rebel field army at the Battle of the Saw, capturing its leaders. The Carthaginians then moved to besiege the rebels' strongest remaining stronghold at Tunis.
The Carthaginian commander, Hamilcar, split his forces to blockade the rebels from both north and south. At the northern camp, commanded by his subordinate Hannibal, he had the ten captured rebel leaders tortured to death and their bodies crucified before returning to his own base to the south of Tunis. Mathos organised a night attack against Hannibal's camp, which took the ill-disciplined Carthaginian defenders by surprise. It scattered their army, and Hannibal and 30 Carthaginian notables were captured. They were tortured, mutilated and crucified while still living. Hamilcar withdrew to the north with the remaining half of his army. Despite having broken the siege, Mathos abandoned Tunis and withdrew south. Hamilcar and fellow general Hanno followed the rebels and in late 238 BC wiped them out at the Battle of Leptis Parva.
Background
The
Mutiny
After the conclusion of the war in Sicily the Carthaginian army of 20,000 men there was evacuated in detachments to Carthage. Rather than promptly paying the several years' back pay they were owed and hurrying them home, the Carthaginian authorities decided to wait until all of the troops had arrived and then attempt to negotiate a settlement at a lower rate.[7][8] Freed of their long period of military discipline and with nothing to do, the men grumbled among themselves and refused all attempts by the Carthaginians to pay them less than the full amount due. Eventually, they forcibly took over the city of Tunis. Panicking, the Carthaginian Senate agreed to payment in full. The discontent seemed to have abated when discipline broke down. Several soldiers insisted that no deal with Carthage was acceptable, a riot broke out, dissenters were stoned to death, the Carthaginian negotiators were taken prisoner and their treasury was seized.[9][10][11]
War
Mathos ordered two groups of rebels north to
In early 240 BC Hanno was defeated while attempting to raise the siege of Utica at the Battle of Utica.[18] For the rest of the year Hanno skirmished with the rebel force, repeatedly missing opportunities to bring it to battle or to place it at a disadvantage; the military historian Nigel Bagnall writes of Hanno's "incompetence as a field commander".[19][20] At some point during 240 BC the Carthaginians raised another army, of approximately 10,000. It included deserters from the rebels, 2,000 cavalry, and 70 elephants, and was placed under the command of Hamilcar Barca,[note 1] who had previously led the Carthaginian forces in Sicily.[19]
Hamilcar defeated a large rebel force at the
Truceless War
Since leaving Carthage, Hamilcar had treated rebels he had captured well and offered them a choice of joining his army or free passage home. He made the same offer to the 4,000 captives from the recent battle.[27] Spendius perceived this generous treatment as the motivation behind Naravas's defection and feared the disintegration of his army; he was aware that such generous terms would not be extended to the rebel leaders. To remove the possibility of any goodwill between the sides, he had 700 Carthaginian prisoners tortured to death: they had their hands cut off, were castrated, their legs broken and were thrown into a pit and buried alive. The Carthaginians, in turn, killed their prisoners. From this point, neither side showed any mercy, and the unusual ferocity of the fighting caused Polybius to term it the "Truceless War".[25][28] Any further prisoners taken by the Carthaginians were trampled to death by elephants.[29][30]
At some point between March and September 239 BC the previously loyal cities of Utica and Hippo slew their Carthaginian garrisons and joined the rebels. Mathos and the rebels previously operating in the area moved south and joined their comrades in Tunis.[31] Having a clear superiority in cavalry, Hamilcar raided the supply lines of the rebels around Carthage.[28] In early 238 BC the lack of supplies forced Mathos to lift the close siege of Carthage; he maintained a more distant blockade from Tunis.[28][32]
While Mathos maintained the blockade, Spendius led 40,000 men against Hamilcar. After a period of campaigning, the details of which are not clear in the sources, the Carthaginians pinned the rebels in a pass or against a mountain range known as the Saw. Trapped in the mountains and with their food exhausted, the rebels ate their horses, their prisoners and then their slaves, hoping that Mathos would
Opposing armies
Carthaginian armies were nearly always composed of foreigners; citizens only served in the army if there was a direct threat to the city of Carthage. Roman sources refer to these foreign fighters derogatively as "mercenaries", but the historian Adrian Goldsworthy describes this as "a gross oversimplification". They served under a variety of arrangements; for example, some were the regular troops of allied cities or kingdoms seconded to Carthage as part of formal arrangements.[35] The majority of these foreigners were from North Africa.[13]
At Tunis, the Carthaginians had approximately 20,000 men and the rebel army was roughly the same size.[44]
Siege
After their victory at the Saw the Carthaginians marched on the main rebel force at Tunis around October 238 BC, accepting the surrender of many towns and villages on the way.[45] The city was difficult to access; the sea lay to the east, while an approach from the west was hampered by a large salt marsh. Hamilcar occupied a position to the south with half the army, and his deputy Hannibal[note 4] was to the north with the balance. The historian Dexter Hoyos notes that this is difficult to explain: Hamilcar was dividing his forces in the face of an equally large enemy army and he risked defeat in detail. In addition, the rebels' camp was outside of Tunis to the north and the salt marsh and the hilly terrain made speedy mutual support by Hannibal and Hamilcar impossible. Hoyos suggests that situated in fortified camps and fresh from their victory at the Saw, Hamilcar and Hannibal were confident of victory, and that they believed that their elephants and their cavalry superiority would continue to deter any rebel attack.[46]
Hamilcar then travelled to the northern camp with the ten rebel leaders captured at the Saw. There they were tortured and mutilated in a similar way to the 700 Carthaginian prisoners and their bodies crucified to the south of the camp, in clear sight of the rebels' camp. Observers were encouraged to travel from Carthage to view the bodies, a concrete sign of the successes of their generals. Hamilcar, satisfied that the constant sight of their dead leaders would complete the demoralisation of the rebels, returned to his camp to the south.[47]
Instead, the reminder that they would receive no mercy from the Carthaginians steeled the rebels for desperate measures. Hamilcar kept his force at a high state of readiness, in case of a rebel assault. Hannibal was more confident and laxer in ensuring that his men were effective in their patrols and sentry duties. Observing this, Mathos determined to strike north in an attempt to break the siege. He organised a large-scale night attack. Although only a part of the rebel army participated, it surprised the Carthaginians and their northern camp was overrun. They suffered heavy casualties in dead and captured and lost all of their baggage and most of their troops' personal equipment.[48] In addition, Hannibal and a delegation of 30 Carthaginian notables who were visiting the army were captured.[49]
Mathos removed his colleagues' bodies from their crosses for burial. Hannibal and the 30 senior Carthaginians were brutally tortured and then crucified, still breathing; Hannibal was nailed to the cross previously occupied by Spendius. They were then killed as part of Spendius's funeral rites.[49] When news reached Hamilcar of the attack, he set out to support Hannibal, but returned once he heard that the northern camp had been overrun. With half of his army lost and no blocking force to the north of the rebel camp his position was untenable. He abandoned the siege and withdrew to the north.[50][51] Mathos let him go unmolested, possibly because he was afraid to oppose the Carthaginian elephants in an open battle.[52]
Aftermath
Despite the siege being lifted, few supplies arrived and Mathos decided that he could not maintain his position. He led the army 160 km (100 mi) south to the wealthy port city of
Most of the towns and cities which had not already come to terms with Carthage now did so, with the exceptions of Utica and Hippo, whose inhabitants feared vengeance for their massacre of Carthaginians. They attempted to hold out, but Polybius says that they too "quickly" surrendered, probably in late 238 BC or very early 237 BC.[58] The surrendered towns and cities were treated leniently, although Carthaginian governors were imposed on them.[59]
Notes, citations and sources
Notes
- ^ Father of Hannibal Barca, who won fame during the Second Punic War by crossing the Alps to invade Roman Italy.[21]
- ^ "Shock" troops are those trained and used to close rapidly with an opponent, with the intention of breaking them before or immediately upon contact.[36]
- ^ These were typically about 2.5-metre-high (8 ft) at the shoulder, and should not be confused with the larger African bush elephant.[40] The sources are not clear as to whether they carried towers containing fighting men.[41]
- ^ Not to be confused with Hannibal Barca, of Second Punic War fame.
Citations
- ^ Lazenby 1996, p. 157.
- ^ Bagnall 1999, p. 97.
- ^ Miles 2011, p. 196.
- ^ Hoyos 2015, p. 205.
- ^ Bagnall 1999, p. 114.
- ^ a b Eckstein 2017, p. 6.
- ^ Bagnall 1999, p. 112.
- ^ Goldsworthy 2006, p. 133.
- ^ a b Bagnall 1999, pp. 112–114.
- ^ a b Goldsworthy 2006, pp. 133–134.
- ^ a b Hoyos 2000, p. 371.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, p. 94.
- ^ a b Scullard 2006, p. 567.
- ^ Miles 2011, p. 204.
- ^ Warmington 1993, p. 188.
- ^ a b Hoyos 2015, p. 207.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, p. 88.
- ^ Hoyos 2000, p. 373.
- ^ a b Bagnall 1999, p. 115.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, pp. 92–93.
- ^ Miles 2011, pp. 240, 263–265.
- ^ Bagnall 1999, p. 117.
- ^ Miles 2011, pp. 207–208.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, p. 137.
- ^ a b Miles 2011, p. 208.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, pp. 150–152.
- ^ a b Bagnall 1999, p. 118.
- ^ a b c Eckstein 2017, p. 7.
- ^ Miles 2011, p. 210.
- ^ Goldsworthy 2006, p. 135.
- ^ Hoyos 2000, p. 374.
- ^ Hoyos 2000, p. 376.
- ^ Bagnall 1999, pp. 121–122.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, pp. 217–218.
- ^ Goldsworthy 2006, p. 33.
- ^ Jones 1987, p. 1.
- ^ a b c Goldsworthy 2006, p. 32.
- ^ a b Koon 2015, p. 80.
- ^ Bagnall 1999, p. 8.
- ^ Miles 2011, p. 240.
- ^ Scullard 1974, pp. 240–245.
- ^ Bagnall 1999, p. 9.
- ^ Lazenby 1996, p. 27.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, pp. 220, 229–230.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, p. 220.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, pp. 220–222.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, p. 222.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, p. 223.
- ^ a b Hoyos 2007, p. 224.
- ^ a b Bagnall 1999, p. 122.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, pp. 225–226.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, p. 227.
- ^ a b Scullard 2006, p. 568.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, p. 240.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, p. 241.
- ^ Hoyos 2007, pp. 241–242.
- ^ Miles 2011, p. 211.
- ^ Hoyos 2000, p. 377.
- ^ Hoyos 2015, p. 210.
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- ISBN 978-0-304-36642-2.
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- Hoyos, Dexter (2007). Truceless War: Carthage's Fight for Survival, 241 to 237 BC. Leiden, South Holland; Boston, Massachusetts: Brill. ISBN 978-90-474-2192-4.
- Hoyos, Dexter (2015) [2011]. "Carthage in Africa and Spain, 241–218". In Hoyos, Dexter (ed.). A Companion to the Punic Wars. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley. pp. 204–222. ISBN 978-1-1190-2550-4.
- Jones, Archer (1987). The Art of War in the Western World. Urbana, Illinois: ISBN 978-0-252-01380-5.
- Koon, Sam (2015) [2011]. "Phalanx and Legion: the "Face" of Punic War Battle". In Hoyos, Dexter (ed.). A Companion to the Punic Wars. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley. pp. 77–94. ISBN 978-1-1190-2550-4.
- Lazenby, John (1996). The First Punic War: A Military History. Stanford, California: ISBN 978-0-8047-2673-3.
- ISBN 978-0-141-01809-6.
- ISBN 978-0-500-40025-8.
- Scullard, H. H. (2006) [1989]. "Carthage and Rome". In Walbank, F. W.; Astin, A. E.; Frederiksen, M. W. & Ogilvie, R. M. (eds.). Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 7, Part 2, 2nd Edition. Cambridge: ISBN 0-521-23446-8.
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