"The Rebellion of Carthage's Mercenaries" Topic

"Carthage had fought hard for 23 years against Rome and, exhausted, finally sued for peace in 241 BC. Sicily was surrendered to the Romans and the Punic troops stationed there, who had resisted for so long through fierce battles and exhausting sieges, were withdrawn. The renowned general Hamilcar Barca was removed from his post and replaced with the Carthaginian Gisco, who was to organise the evacuation and pay of the mercenaries. For, unlike the Roman army, the Punic army consisted of few genuine citizens, being composed instead of as many warriors from numerous warlike tribes as the recruiters of the rich city were able to enlist.

The mercenaries slowly began arriving in Carthage by ship, expecting to receive their promised rewards for their many years of service. Among them were heavily armed Libyan infantry, Numidian and Mauretanian light cavalry, barbaric Celts, light-armed Iberians, armoured Greeks and Campanians, Ligurian and Balearic slingers. There were also Roman deserters, Lybo-Phoenicians, Half-Hellenes, half-breeds and outcasts from all the Punic and Greek cities in Sicily and North Africa. These mercenaries did not form a coherent army, but rather resembled a horde of nomads on the move. Many were accompanied by their women and children or slaves. Some carried only a few personal belongings, others dragged on pack horses, donkeys or even carts the booty of years of conquest. After 23 years of war, many of the surviving veterans were now old men and some of their sons, born in the camps and on the march, filled the ranks. Originally they had worn the traditional costumes and weapons of their people and tribes, but over the course of the long war their weapons had been replaced with better Roman equipment and the tattered clothes with whatever could be looted or found in the markets of Sicily. All the languages of the known world could be heard among them; the Africans were probably able to communicate in rudimentary Phoenician, whereas others knew some Greek. Nonetheless, there were many who depended on interpreters or on their hands…"
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