The sword used by Scipio’s army in Spain in the Second Punic War was the famous gladius Hispaniensus (“the Spanish sword”), usually referred to as simply the gladius. It has been called the weapon that won an empire. It was Read more…
The key to a legionary’s survival was the shield. It was called a scutum. Polybius describes it as being rectangular and 2 ½ foot wide and 4 feet tall. “It consists of two layers of wood fastened together with bull’s-hide Read more…
The army of the Second Punic is sometimes called the manipular army or the Polybian army. The word legion comes from the Latin word for a gathering or a levy. This was a reference to the method of forming Read more…
In 249, Rome lost another entire fleet to a storm. Carthage returned to mastery of the sea. Were there any trees left in Italy to build another fleet and enough plebeians to man it? You would think the Romans Read more…
Xanthippus was a Spartan who fortunately arrived in Carthage at just the right time to buck them up. He proceeded to make no secret of his disdain for Punic generalship. Put up or shut up, he was told. He Read more…
Here is the story of one of the great naval battles of the First Punic War. In 256 B.C., Rome sent a huge fleet of 330 galleys and transports to pick up most of its Sicilian army and drop it Read more…
The First Punic War began in 264 B.C. and early on it became apparent it would be a war fought for control of Sicily. Since Sicily is an island, Carthage was confident it would win because of its powerful navy. Read more…
In the First Punic War, all warships were wooden, oared galleys. The standard tactic was called the diekplus (“break through”). Fleets advanced line abreast (the galleys would approach in a side by side line). A few of the galleys would Read more…
The quinquereme was the dominant oared galley in the Punic Wars. Dionysius of Syracuse is credited with inventing it. Five referred to the five oarsmen that rowed a bank of oars. It is believed that this meant two oars (the Read more…
The return of Pyrrhus from his Sicilian adventure found Rome in bad straits. It was war-weary (constant warfare can do that to you) and suffering from a plague. In spite of that, Rome was still Rome. In 275 B.C., it Read more…