"thureophoroi in the punic wars?" Topic
5 Posts
All members in good standing are free to post here. Opinions expressed here are solely those of the posters, and have not been cleared with nor are they endorsed by The Miniatures Page.
In order to respect possible copyright issues, when quoting from a book or article, please quote no more than three paragraphs.
For more information, see the TMP FAQ.
Back to the Ancients Discussion Message Board
Areas of InterestAncients
Featured Hobby News Article
Featured Link
Featured Ruleset
Featured Profile ArticleGet these inexpensive dinos while you can.
|
Please sign in to your membership account, or, if you are not yet a member, please sign up for your free membership account.
Das Sheep | 15 May 2015 1:19 p.m. PST |
thureophoroi were pretty popular as mercenaries. Do we know if Carthage or Rome used them during the punic wars? |
Nikator | 15 May 2015 2:32 p.m. PST |
Interesting question which I for one cannot answer directly, except to point out that thureophoroi had yet to come into common use at the time of the First Punic war. They were certainly common in Greece during Hannibal's grand tour of Italy, but I have never heard of either side hiring Greek mercenaries during that conflict (Second Punic War). OTOH, the Romans did employ a few mercenaries/peltasts (likely to have been thureophoroi in fact) during their wars in Greece and against Antiokos III, so it's possible they also used some in the Third Punic War. I defer on that point to someone more knowledgeable on that point. |
GurKhan | 16 May 2015 12:49 p.m. PST |
Carthage used plenty of Greek mercenaries during the first Roman war, but unfortunately we have no idea how they were equipped. Fewer or no Greeks in the second war; Syracuse was a Carthaginian ally for a few years, but there seems to be no firm evidence for the thureos spreading to Greek Sicily. |
olicana | 17 May 2015 8:11 a.m. PST |
Syracuse provided Rome with a few hundred mercenary Cretan archers early in the 2nd PW. My understanding is that they were probably wiped out at Lake Trasimene. By the 2nd Punic War Carthage had access to so many mercenaries in Spain and from the Gallic territories, and later southern Italy, that I doubt she had need to ship infantry from Greece. Remember that Rome had an almost total control of the sea – which is why Hannibal went over the Alps in the first place. |
Marcus Brutus | 18 May 2015 8:00 a.m. PST |
Plus with the First Macedonian War in Greece paralleling the 2nd Punic War it is likely that any surplus Greek mercenaries were being employed closer to home. |
|