This war had lasted for three years and four months and featured atrocities by both protagonists, hence Polybius’ description as the “Truceless War”. Polybius wrote that the success of the Roman forces at Panormus revitalised their confidence, particularly in the context of facing elephants. 213, Bolis the Cretan Agrees to Rescue Achaeus, Fall of He left the task of demobilizing his mercenaries to the same Gesgo who had conducted the negotiations with Catulus. Summaries of missing sections are encoded as inline notes with "resp=ess." Mantinea, Scipio in The Mercenary War (240 BC – 238 BC), also called the Libyan War and the Truceless War by Polybius, was an uprising of mercenary armies formerly employed by Carthage, backed by Libyan settlements revolting against Carthaginian control.. Not uncharacteristically, the Roman People decided that the terms were too lenient and a senatorial commission was sent to Sicily to modify the treaty. Placentia, A General Must Know his Enemy's Character, Fertility and Beauty of the Plains Near Eryx, Why along with Diophanes, on the question of the war with Sparta, 4 and to Ptolemy Epiphanes in B.C. 205 However, multiple languages within an army could amplify tensions in period of negotiations with one employer, as, for example, during the Mercenary War in Carthage, where Polybius suggests that four or five different languages were spoken (1.67.9–10). Their inexperience of command at this level added to the already major practical difficulties in co-ordinating the movements of hundreds of oared warships and was perhaps another factor in denying the Carthaginian navy the advantages it ought to have derived from the superior skill of its crews. In fact, Hamilcar, eager to disassociate himself from any admission of defeat, acted through one of his subordinate officers, Gesgo. Acarnania, Thebes Bithynia, The War between Should Have Allied Herself with the Macedonians, Sparta Must Be On Guard Against Attack from , to Ptolemy, The Hannibalian War — The Recovery of line to jump to another position: The First Punic War; Plan of the First Two Books, Misrepresentations of Philinus and Fabius, The Roman Fleet Sails for In addition the Romans seem to have acknowledged the differences between the Italian Peninsula and lands separated from their own by sea. Of the forty-seven consuls elected during the twenty-three years of war - the odd number a result of the death of Quintus Caecidius soon after taking office in 256 and his replacement by Regulus - eleven had held the office before, all but two during the war itself. Your current position in the text is marked in blue. With hindsight it is difficult to see any occasion during the course of the war when the Carthaginians came close to victory. In addition, all Punic prisoners not yet ransomed according to the treaty of 241 were immediately returned without charge. When Rome and Carthage made peace in 241 BCE, Rome secured the release of 8,000 prisoners of war without ransom, and furthermore, received a considerable amount of silver as a war indemnity. The final reason that Polybius gives us is the fact that Carthaginian enterprise in to Spain was so successful. The First Punic War (264 BC–241 BC), conducted by a network of alliances in Sicily, ended up with Rome prevailing over Carthage. The Romans were not like Pyrrhus, who would abandon his offensive when he failed to gain widespread support from the Greek communities of Sicily, nor was their power as precarious as that of the successive tyrants of Syracuse. Carthage in its sheer size, territories and economic prosperity was on an utterly different scale to the states of Italy with whom Rome had dealt in the past. Current location in this text. The groups based around the stronger families were loose and rarely espoused a consistent policy on anything, whilst the influence of individual senators fluctuated gready from year to year. Polybius, Histories ... Extension of the First Plan of the Work The True Theory of Historical Causes Causes of the Second Punic War Fabius Pictor on the Cause of the Punic War The Credibility of Fabius Pictor First Cause of the Second Punic War Second Cause of the War Hannibal ... at the conclusion of this mercenary B.C. Byzantium River, Embassy from Source: Polybius, The Histories. 9.1", "denarius"). Greece New Carthage, Medea and the Palace at Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License. Following the disaster at Drepana in 249, the Senate certainly did select a commander on the basis of experience as well as his political influence, when it took the very rare step of appointing a military dictator to take charge of the operations in Sicily. Macedon, Messene -192, Antiochus in Arabia, B.C. : Works of Art Taken To Rome, Cleomenes Tries to Take Force was combined with diplomacy, for instance when Navaras, a Numidian prince, offered to defect with his followers and was rewarded by marriage to Hamilcar's daughter. His works include a now-lost manual on military tactics, but he is known today for The Histories, written sometime after 146 BC, or about a century after this war. The above is a very bare-boned account of the Mercenary War. Polybius commented that the war was, at the time, the most destructive in terms of casualties in the history of warfare, including the battles of Alexander the Great. The mercenary war, B. C. 241. ("Agamemnon", "Hom. Phigalia, The People of Lepreum Evict the Garrisons, Chilon's Fruitless Attempts In . The forces which they were able to raise, composed of still loyal mercenaries who felt no particular bond with the unfamiliar Sicilian veterans, and newly raised citizen soldiers, were heavily outnumbered by their enemies. The disgruntled mercenaries had become aware of their own strength and steadily increased their demands, forcing one concession after another out of their former masters. and 218, Aristophanes the Acarnanian Joins Forces with Philip, The Present Philip Compared to his Ancestors, Position of The Mercenary War (240 BC – 238 BC), also called the Libyan War and the Truceless War by Polybius, was an uprising of mercenary armies formerly employed by Carthage, backed by Libyan settlements revolting against Carthaginian control. Rome, Investment of Ecbatana, Difficulty of Making Good Use of a Victory, Affairs in Spain, Scipio Suppresses A Mutiny in Throughout the conflict they consistently assumed the offensive, methodically expanding the territory which they controlled in Sicily, continuing to do so even when their armies' morale reached a low ebb after the defeat of Regulus. ... Polybius. line to jump to another position: Robert B. Strassler provided support for entering this text. Hippo Zarytus However, pitched land battles were rare during the conflict and it was the subtie manoeuvring in the days before these which offered most opportunity for a divided command to lead to confusion. translator. , and Prusias Treaties, Polyrrhen and The Carthaginians soon realized that the negotiations were not succeeding and, aware that they would have difficulty in controlling 20,000 well-equipped veteran soldiers, agreed to pay the full amounts the men were due, but it was too late. , B. C. 18, 53, 54 Pédech, P., La Méthode historique de Polybe (Paris, 1964), 141. by Philip, Nature of the Just about the same time they found themselves confronted by three enemies at once, their own mercenaries, the Numidians, and such Libyans as joined the former in their revolt. Within months of the end of the war, Carthage was plunged into a conflict which, if shorter than the struggle with Rome, seemed to pose a far greater threat to her very existence. Sparta [citation needed] Units were … Historyden 7,500 views. A continuation of the war until one or the other side was destroyed as an independent political entity was simply not feasible. However, the term 'mercenary' is misleading when applied to the African and Iberian recruits, i.e. It was a small-minded decision they were soon to regret. English: This map covers the Mercenary War in overall, starting from the mercenary revolt, and ending with the battle of Leptis Magna. Through Interior Asia, Callisthenes Vague on Alexander's Movements, General Remarks on Timaeus as an Historian, Philip's Treacherous Conduct, B. C. The war began as a dispute over the payment of money owed the mercenaries between the mercenary armies who fought the First Punic War on Carthage's behalf, and … In part this was a reflection of the reality of the situation. Yet it was extremely difficult for squadrons of galleys to block a stretch of water and the Punic forces in Sicily in 264 were utterly inadequate to achieve such a quick victory over a Roman consular army. Unlike most modern historians, Polybius allots a generous degree of coverage to the Mercenary War fought between Carthage and its mercenaries after the First Punic War. On the whole Roman commanders performed fairly well. Acts of Hostility Against Macedonia, Hamilcar and Hannibal. Alternatively the anarchy in Sardinia may have been seen as a potential threat to Italy's maritime trade, but our sources lack any detailed discussion of the reasons for the Roman change of heart.16 However, most, and especially Polybius, agreed that the action was morally indefensible.17, Sardinia did not prove an easy conquest and for much of the 230s fierce campaigning continued there, with both of the year's consuls active there in 232 and 2 31.18 Whether or not there was truth in the accusation, the Romans certainly seem to have believed that Carthaginian agents actively encouraged Sardinian resistance to Rome and the island remained a continued source of friction between the two states during these years.19. The Roman attitude towards her recently defeated enemy at this time of crisis was at first scrupulously correct. Carthaginian commanders may have been more 'professional' than their Roman counterparts, and certainly remained in their posts for much longer periods, but few would have had much experience of commanding such large forces as were frequently employed during the war. Libya, Previous Histories of this March either False or Inconsistent, Cavalry Engagement on the Punic Wars > Mercenary War. Mercenary War displayed, quite catastrophically for the Carthaginians, the shortcomings of the system which did not guarantee the loyalty and discipline of its mercenaries. The Mercenary War (c.240 BC) — also called the Libyan War and the Truceless War by Polybius — was an uprising of mercenary armies formerly employed by Carthage, backed by Libyan settlements revolting against Carthaginian control.. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh. It is in these campaigns far more than the war in Sicily that we see evidence of Hamilcar's skill as a general, consistently outmanoeuvring the larger rebel forces. ）, A Meeting of the Achaean League Parliament, Apollonidas and Cassander Urge Rejection of Eumenes' Gifts, Caecilius Reports and Ambassadors Respond, Ostiagon Tries to Become King of All the Gauls, Philip and Perseus are Jealous of Demetrius, The Senate Refuses to Help Either Messene or Achaia, Character of P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus, Arguments For and Against Admitting Sparta, Treaty Between the Achaeans and the Messenians, Comparison Between Philopoemen and Aristaenus, The Dardanian Envoys Complain about Perseus, Affairs In Boeotia: The War with Perseus, Attalus Wants his Brother's Honours Restored, Marcius Declines Assistance from the Achaeans, Eulaeus Convinces Ptolemy to Give Up the Kingdom, Difficulty of Explaining the Intrigues of Perseus and Eumenes, Reasons to Suspect Intrigue between Eumenes and Perseus, Scipio Nasica and Fabius Maximus Volunteer to Outflank the Macedonians, A Cretan Deserter Brings Intelligence to Perseus, The Senate Makes an Example of the Rhodian Ambassadors, Perseus an Example of the Impermanence of Fortune, Shameless Conduct of the Supporters of Perseus, Statue-bases for Perseus Used by Aemilius, The Romanising Party Takes Command Throughout Greece, Public Hatred of Callicrates and His Faction, The Senate Suspicious of Eumenes and Antiochus, The Senate Breaks its Alliance with Ptolemy Philometor, Issa Complains of Raids by the Dalmations, The Senate Receives Ambassadors from Epirus, The Prienians Refuse to Give Orophernes' Funds to Ariarathes, The Senate Appoints Commissioners to Stop the War, Roman Commissioners Visit Attalus and Prusias, Roman Envoys Make Peace Between Prusias and Attalus, Crete and Rhodes Ask the Achaeans for Help, Eratosthenes a Better Authority than Artemidorus, Consummation of the Misfortunes of Greece, Unjust Misfortune Distinguished from Self-Inflicted Loss, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License, Pleiades ancient places geospacial dataset for this text, http://data.perseus.org/citations/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.perseus-eng1:1.65, http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.perseus-eng1, http://data.perseus.org/texts/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001, http://data.perseus.org/catalog/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0543.tlg001.perseus-eng1. Once there, each contingent should ideally have received their arrears of several years' backpay and been returned to their country of origin before the next group arrived, spreading the burden placed on the state treasury and preventing any problems arising from the presence of so many unruly foreign soldiers in Carthage at one time. Syracuse Hanno was later forced to resign by vote of the army, or perhaps the senior officers, and replaced by the more amenable Hannibal. Philip V. Wages War with Attalus, King of Pergamum, and the Rhodians. 204, Nabis, Tyrant of Sparta, B.C. This was one of the very few advantages the Carthaginians enjoyed in the conflict. Mediolanum The proportion of multiple consulships was much the same in the decades before the war and may well be more a reflection of the politics of the day and the dominance of a few aristocratic families than a desire on the part of the electorate to choose experienced commanders during a hard war. Like all Punic armies, the veterans from Sicily were a mixture of many races, Libyans, Gauls, Spaniards, Ligurians, Sicilian Greeks and half-breeds, runaway slaves and deserters. Your current position in the text is marked in blue. and Carthage Continue to Covet Sardinia and The Romans had traditionally expected defeated enemies to contribute to the costs of their war effort.2The only other change was the addition of a clause requiring Carthage to evacuate all of the small islands between Sicily and Africa.3, It is clear that the complete expulsion of the Carthaginians from Sicily had become the Romans' main war aim, whether or not we should follow Polybius and date this ambition to the fall of Agrigentum in 261. Roman strategy remained continuously aggressive, even if it sometimes lacked consistency. Opening with the Punic War in 264 BC, he vividly records the critical stages of Roman expansion: its campaigns throughout the Mediterranean, the temporary setbacks inflicted by Hannibal and the final destruction of Carthage. Thus ended the Truceless War, as it is sometimes called. It is unclear precisely when this occurred, but it may have been as late as c. 227, when the number of praetors annually elected was increased to four, quite probably to provide governors for Sicily and Sardinia where permanent Roman garrisons appear to have been established.4 Unlike the Italian allies, the communities within the Roman province had a different bond to the Roman State, their main obligation being to pay tax, rather than supply soldiers to fight with the Roman army. The scene: During the Mercenary War, an interlude between the first two Punic Wars, the Carthaginians fought against a rebellion of their Libyan troops. Grain from Sicily rapidly became a major source of food for Rome itself, and many Romans, especially equestrians, probably became wealthy from its exploitation.5. The mercenary ... Polybius is the main source, and the most reliable, 5 and this paper draws heavily from his work. London, New York. It was an act as shamelessly opportunistic as the initial intervention in Sicily in 265, an injustice which highlighted Carthage's weakness and was to create a far greater legacy of bitterness and resentment towards Rome than the initial defeat of 241. Sicily, History of Universal Supremacy Must Be a Universal History, Philip Takes Lissus in changes, storing new additions in a versioning system. Both of the major defeats of the war occurred when only one consul was in command and Agrigentum, the only land battie where command was shared, was a clear Roman success. , After the Battle of the Metaurus, Carthaginians Driven From , and I used him for the detail but used Wikipedia: Mercenary War for the chronology of events given Polybius is a bit vague on dates. Hamilcar Barca and Hanno, who was a better organizer than commander, did not get along with each other and the operations of their armies were hindered by the sort of disputes which are normally held to be more typical of the Roman than Punic military systems. Italy, Roman Camps Designed for Facility and Familiarity, The Cretan Constitution Compared to the Spartan, The Glorious Memory of Brave Men Kept Alive, Religion Keeps the Roman Commonwealth Together, Conclusion: Dangers Ahead for Some pages have notes of the form "line X: A should read B," which I believe are Walbank's; they have "resp=fww". A consequence of this conflict was the Mercenary War (240 BC–237 BC) between Carthage and its unpaid mercenaries, which Rome helped to … Cannae. Danube According to Polybius, there had been several trade agreements between Rome and Carthage, even a mutual alliance against Pyrrhus of Epirus. The Aetolians and Illyrians Invade Achaia, Why the Ancient Arcadians Turned to Music, Differences of Opinion Among the Lacedaemonians, the King Decides Not to Punish and Philip V. in B. C. : Philip Reduces Thessaly, Contrast Between Alexander and the Aetolians, Sparta And this war proved to be neither insignificant nor contemptible. With very few exceptions the Libyan communities declared for the rebels and swelled the size of their forces. , The Gauls, And Rhodians, Achaeus and Prusias I. of Carthage, No Reasonable Pretext for The First Punic War had scarcely been terminated before Carthage created for itself an impossible situation with its mercenaries, resulting in the so-called Mercenary War, which allowed the Romans the opportunity to seize Sardinia, an event that Polybius thought was the chief cause of the Second Punic War. In one respect the annual arrival of new Roman commanders may have proved an asset, for it ensured that the army and navy were commanded very aggressively, by men hoping to gain distinction in their short term of office. 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