"How big was Scipio`s army at the battle of Zama?" Topic

It is generally accepted that the Second Punic War was brought to a grand and dramatic conclusion at the battle of Zama in the autumn of 202 BC when Publius Cornelius Scipio defeated Hannibal Barca.
Scipio`s crushing victory was the decisive, knockout blow of the war; confirming Rome's hegemony over the western Mediterranean and as a consequence, the once great power of Carthage was finally reduced to an impotent client state of Rome.
The battle is seen as one of history's greatest pivotal moments and most modern historians understand it to be a large pitched battle involving up to 75,000 infantry, 11,000 cavalry and 80 elephants. Without much question, this is widely believed to be the true scale of the battle. But there may be some good reasons to doubt that these numbers are correct and so the purpose of this paper is to estimate the effective strength of Scipio`s field army at the battle of Zama.

In this estimation allowances will be made for the missions that Scipio`s army would have been obliged to carry out in exerting pressure upon the city of Carthage and also Scipio`s need to support his Numidian ally, Massinissa to maintain the security of his kingdom against the threat of Carthage's Numidian allies commanded by Prince Vermina.

continue reading at:
link
(a free download)

Actually, I should have been a tad more sensational with this thread title…it should have read:

"Scipio only had 10,000 men at Zama!"

I couldn't seem to get the full pdf version. So not much to comment on.

Just did a test download – seems to be working ok.
Did you add to basket and complete the sales form etc…?

Anyway, it`s also here:
link

I doubt that there were any over six feet tall.

My Republican Romans are only 15 millimetres high Henry.

Standing straight or hunched over and to the eye or the top of the head?

I say this with nothing but love; I'd rather not read the article if the price is handing over personal information for a ‘free' article. Just my suspicious mind at work.

I pay my annual subscription to the Information Commisioner`s Office in the United Kingdom (perhaps the British equivalent of the Federal Trade Commission?) every year and make absolutley no illegal use of my customer`s information and neither do I release that information to a third party.

But do check my member profile, if I was involved in an illegal activity, and promoting it publicly here on TMP and FB, why on earth would I be using my real name?