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The third century before the common era was a time of empire-making and empire-breaking especially in the western Mediterranean, where a conflict was brewing that would shape the future of the known world. |
First Punic War (264-241BC)
(- threads, 26 posts)
 Xanthippus
Historical Thread
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"Quite soon after the battle he [Xanthippus] sailed off home, and by this action proved that he was a man of rare wisdom and good sense; for the truth is that it is precisely the most brilliant and exceptional achievements which give rise to the most intense jealousies and the most poisonous slanders."
By 255BC, the First Punic War was not going too well for the Carthaginians. Syracuse had switched sides, Agrigentum had fallen and the Romans had won numerous naval engagements around Sicily. Worse than that, a Roman army had invaded Africa and won a major victory at Adys and was camped at Tunis, just over a days travel from Carthage itself. During the winter, a group of Greek mercenaries were recruited, including the Spartan-trained Xanthippus. The Spartan was openly critical of Carthaginian commanders for fighting on unfavourable ground or using their obvious advantages in cavalry and elephants. He was given a special military command to aid in training the army. With the confidence of the Punic army renewed, they moved out to face the Roman commander, Marcus Atilius Regulus. The subsequent battle of Tunis was the conflict that most resembled the pitched battles of the Second Punic War and it was to be the only major Carthaginian land victory. By using his elephants to disrupt the Roman formation and then to flank them with horse and missile cavalry, Xanthippus was able to achieve a total victory, with barely two thousand Romans escaping. This Carthaginian victory enabled them to continue fighting for a further fourteen years but for Xanthippus it was the end of his participation in the war as, being aware of the threat of assassination posed by the jealous Carthaginian nobility, he left the west and is thought to have served in Egypt under the Ptolemies.
