FOE Preview Six Carthage and Iberia
Contents
Introduction
Carthage: Constitution Dido Building Carthage , Turner, 1815 (National Gallery, London)
Unlike the other Phoenician-Tyrian settlements in the west, Carthage had been created, or at least nurtured after c. 750 BC, for an explicitly political rather than mercantile purpose. That purpose was to serve as a Tyrian refuge for those Phoenician elements departing their homeland as it progressively succumbed to the violence and chaos that engulfed Phoenicia during the collapse of the Assyrian Empire and the ensuing contest between Egypt and Babylon, as well as to protect Tyre’s trade with the western Mediterranean from the encroaching waves of Greek colonists settling in Sicily and Magna Graecia (‘Greater Greece’, i.e. southern Italy). The developing Greek threat during 600-550 BC would explain Carthage’s development of a military role, and its determination to establish its role as a naval power in the Phoenician sphere of influence in the West. These factors, when considered together, explain how Carthage was able to assume, and was accepted, as the leader of the Phoenicians of the West when Tyre ceased to be able to provide either protection or legitimate authority after the siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar in 586-573 BC. Carthage was the legitimate inheritor of Tyrian hegemony over the old Tyrian enclaves in the West. Now, with the challenge posed by the Phocaean Greeks in the northern Tyrrhenian Sea and land-hungry Greek colonists encroaching on western Sicily, the Phoenicians of the West felt threatened and sought leadership from Carthage.
Although the foundation myth of the city-state of Carthage features the royal princess Elissa/Dido, by c. 500 the city was clearly governed as a republic. Punic epigraphic sources always mention republic-type magistracies. Carthage had stable institutions with many Greek-like features; elected magistrates, a senate and a citizen assembly. Aristotle observed that “The Carthaginians also are regarded as managing their constitution successfully, and in many respects in a distinctive manner, though in some particulars closely resembling the Lacedaemonians [i.e. Spartans]” (Aristotle, Pol. 2.11, 1272b24). The government of Carthage was highly regarded by ancient writers; Strabo declared that the Carthaginians could not be considered “barbarians” because they were well governed, and Polybius declared the Carthaginian constitution the best outside Greece. Aristotle deemed the Carthaginians “governed, from many points of view, in a way superior to other people.” Aristotle approved of the oligarchic quality of the Carthaginian government; it was ‘aristocratic’, meaning government by the best men.
At the head of the Carthaginian republic were two annually elected magistrates, the “suffete” (Punic: sptm or shouphetim, suffete in the Latin, a kin-word to the Hebrew shopet, meaning ‘Judge’), who convoked and presided over the Carthaginian senate. The magistracy of suffete is often named as basileus by the Greek sources; they are equated with Roman consuls by Livy (Livy, 30.7.5). Robert Drews even suggests that the Phoenician double-magistracy of suffete may have inspired the Spartan dyarachy (double-kingship). “When we recall that the Spartan basileus had no palaces, wore no royal garb, and ate at the common messes (no matter that they received larger portions of food) we may be readier to admit their status was not much different from that of the basileus in republican Carthage” (Robert Drews, ‘Phoenicians, Carthage and the Spartan Eunomia’, The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 100, No. 1, Tekmhpion. A Special Issue in Honor of James Henry Oliver, Spring 1979, pp. 45-58).
Carthaginian coin, 4th century BC
Unusually, however, the suffetes were not entrusted with military responsibilities, this responsibility instead being delegated to influential public figures who were elected as generals. Certainly by the third century BC we do not hear of suffete’s also being elected as generals. These generals were elected by the citizens for particular theatres of campaigning or a specific military task, and their tenure was not annual, but rather for the duration of the campaign. It appears that Punic generals had ‘kingly’ (i.e. absolute) authority while they were on campaign; the record shows that generals could make pacts with foreign states (although these were required to be ratified at Carthage). These extensive powers were matched by the risk they ran if they failed. Unusually in a republic, a defeated general was liable to be recalled and executed: this was the fate of Hanno who lost the decisive sea battle of the Aegates Islands in 241 BC.
The senate’s formal name was ‘The Mighty Ones’ (Punic: h’drm or hadirim), and it was comprised of representatives of Carthage’s noble families. The senate was the centre of Carthage’s government, and served as its legislature. The senate promulgated laws, established foreign policy, waged war and made peace, received foreign delegations and kept watch over the conduct of the city’s generals. The senate had a inner council of thirty, which Livy names the sanctius consilium, and which likely acted as an executive committee of senior senators. Powerful bodies known as Boards of Five (named “pentarchies” by Aristotle) appear to have played an important administrative function within the republic; they were likely subcommittees of the senate. There were various minor magistracies and officials attested within the republic, such as rab (a title much attested on Punic inscriptions, perhaps responsible for finances, though its functions are not clear), public scribe (sprm) and market inspector.
One of the responsibilities of the Boards of Five was to select from among the senators the membership of a tribunal known as “The Hundred and Four” or simply “The Hundred”. It appears that such an appointment was irrevocable and for life. This body had been established in the fifth century BC to serve as a high court of justice whose primary task was to check the conduct of Carthage’s generals, but later expanding its prerogatives to include civil justice, and scrutinizing the work of other magistrates, including the suffetes. By the third century BC “The Hundred” ruled the public life of the city, so that Livy speaks of the “reign” of its members.
Although the government of Carthage was dominated by these oligarchic institutions, it is also reported that there was an assembly of Carthaginian citizens too. If the suffetes and the senate agreed on referring a matter to the people, this was done. Likewise, if the suffetes and the senate could not agree on a matter, it would be resolved by the citizen assembly. In this way, the oligarchic institutions of the republic were under pressure to reach agreement or else the matter would be settled by the assembly. It is unclear which Carthaginians were regarded as citizens; clearly women and slaves were excluded, and so too perhaps were Punic men of low economic status. Inhabitants of other Phoenician cities like Utica were not citizens; nor were the subject Libyans. It was the citizen assembly that elected suffetes, generals, and even on occasion passed laws.
“What procedures were followed and what determined a candidate’s eligibility for office are predictably unknown, but the lavish spending which our informants insist was taken for granted meant that only rich men could compete. This in turn is a clue, both to sharply marked patron-client relationships between the powerful few in public life and many if not most ordinary voters, and at the same time to constantly fluctuating political cliques and followings – the great men manoeuvring for allies and against opponents; friendships, enmities (and clientships) very changeable; and voters on the lookout for the biggest or most ingratiating offers” (Dexter Hoyos, Hannibal’s Dynasty. Power and politics in the western Mediterranean, 247-183 BC, Routledge, 2005, Oxon, p. 31).
Hannibal Barca
While in theory Carthaginian generals were elected by the citizen assembly, in practice it seems that the assembly merely ratified the army’s own choice. This may have always been the case but the Xanthippus incident in the First Punic War may have marked the beginning of a change:
“But the troops, eager as they were for battle, collecting in groups and calling on Xanthippus by name, clearly indicated their opinion that he should lead them forward at once. The generals when they saw the enthusiasm and keenness of the soldiers, Xanthippus at the same time imploring them not to let the opportunity slip, ordered the troops to get ready and gave Xanthippus authority to conduct operations as he himself thought most advantageous” ( Polybius, 1.33.4-5.)
After this incident there are several occasions where the Carthaginian army selected their general. During the Mercenary War the generals Hamilcar Barca and Hanno quarrelled, and the Carthaginian army was asked to reject one of them (Polybius, 1.82.5, 12). This may reflect the unusual situation of there being a high proportion of citizens in the Carthaginian army at that time, but later, when Hamilcar was killed in Iberia, Hasdrubal was “acclaimed as general by the army and by the Carthaginians alike”. When Hasdrubal was killed Polybius records that the Carthaginians:
“at first waited for a pronouncement on the part of the troops, and when news reached them from their armies that the soldiers had unanimously chosen Hannibal as their commander, they hastened to summon a general assembly of the commons, which unanimously ratified the choice of the soldiers” (Polybius, 3.13.3-4).
By c. 500 BC the city-state of Carthage had established its political leadership over its Phoenician kin in the colonies of North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Iberia and the Balearic Islands. It appears that the various Phoenician settlements of the West also possessed civic institutions similar to that existing at Carthage. Suffete magistracies existed up until Roman times in many Punic cities of North Africa, and epigraphic sources attest the presence of this sort of public institution both in Sicily (Eryx) and in Sardinia (Bithia, Sulcis, Tharros). For Malta and Gades in Iberia, the existence of suffetes is deduced from, respectively, a Greek inscription mentioning two “archons” (the Greek equivalent of a suffete magistrate) and a passage from Livy. The existence of a senate is attested at not only Carthage, but also at Utica, Sulcis and Malta, and a citizen’s assembly is documented both in North Africa (at Leptis) and in the overseas territories (Gozo in the Maltese archipelago, Bithia and Olbia in Sardinia). The evidence strongly suggests that while Carthage extended its hegemony over the whole Phoenician world of the West, the individual centres maintained their traditional forms of civil independence.
Carthage: Empire and Aristocracy Carthage and territories, circa 264 B.C. (before the First Punic War)
The ‘traditional’ picture of the Carthaginians being fundamentally peaceful seafarers and merchants, keenly interested in exchange and political stability, rather than war and conquest, is a dramatic oversimplification of the truth. While it is true that Carthaginian citizens appear to have been exempt from military service, and Carthage relied upon mercenary, allied and levy troops throughout the First and Second Punic Wars, this is not to say that the Carthaginian aristocracy were not as militaristic as other Mediterranean states. There was clearly a tradition of military command among many Carthaginian aristocrats, such as the Mago family in the fifth century BC and the Barcid family in the third century BC. In the fifth century we hear of formations of heavy infantry such as the Sacred Band that were reputedly recruited from among Carthaginian noblemen. Aristotle observed that “In some places there are also laws designed to foster military virtue, as at Carthage, where men reputedly receive decorations in the form of armlets to the number of campaigns in which they have served” (Aristotle, Pol. 7.2, 1324b5). Further, it should be remembered that the oarsmen, sailors, marines and officers that crewed the Carthaginian fleet were mostly recruited from among the Carthaginian citizens themselves, and in a fleet of 120 quinqueremes this would have totalled more than 50,000 men. Given that Carthage had a total population that likely did not exceed 400,000 men, women and children, to launch such a fleet was a very great commitment of manpower indeed! Hence, the notion that the Carthaginians were largely peaceful traders and merchants that hired others to fight their wars should not be exaggerated.
In both Sardinia and much of modern Tunisia the Carthaginians ruthlessly annexed the most fertile lands from the native Sardinian (Nuragic Phase IV) and Libyan chiefdoms through ruthless military conquest. Carthaginian grandees were installed as the privileged landowners of large agricultural estates, estates worked by native serfs. The frequency of Libyan revolts informs us as to the popularity of these aristocratic Carthaginian overlords.
This system of Punic conquest in Sardinia and Libya segregated the interior from the coastal exterior, and controlled the principal lines of communication between the two worlds, the largely but not exclusively pastoral world of the interior (i.e. Numidian and Nuragic Phase V chiefdoms), from the agricultural and maritime world of the Carthaginians. The forts of this system served as centres of control and as points of contact between the two civilizations, the urban civilization of the Carthaginians and the village and tribal-centre world of the Nuragic folk and Numidian tribes. The enormous wealth and prosperity of the Carthaginian aristocracy was derived from the agricultural produce that was ruthlessly extracted from native serfs and great estates, together with tax and tribute, as much as it was derived from the commercial and trading activities of its merchants and seafarers.
Carthage
Yet there was no such conquest in southern Iberia. The Phoenicians (and Liby-Phoenicians?) of the ‘Gaditanean sphere’ did not embark upon any such conquest into the hinterland of the Iberian Peninsula. Instead, the;
“…population of Punic origin lived on the coast, sponsored an open market for a variety of commodities, and maintained a different cultural personality from the natives of the interior. The natives, in turn, took advantage of this foreign presence and developed control over the means of production and transport of those commodities. If problems arose between and within the indigenous groups they jostled for control of a system more complicated than anything that had been seen before in the Iberian Peninsula” (Teresa Chapa Brunet, ‘Models of Interaction between Punic Colonies and Native Iberians: The Funerary Evidence’, in Miriam S Balmuth & Lourdes Prados-Torreira (eds.), Encounters and Transformations. The Archaeology of Iberia in Transition, Sheffield Acadmic Press, Sheffield, 1997, p. 149),
Hence, the Phoenician-Punic population in Iberia largely interacted peacefully with the neighbouring native polities. There is evidence of Iberian populations actually living within the Punic-Phoenician settlements in Iberia. Important Phoenician settlements like Balsa (named after ‘Baal Saphon’, the Phoenician deity of thunder and sea, at modern Tavira, in the Algarve, Portugal) and Dona Blanca (modern Castillo de Santa Maria, Cadiz) were protected by strong defensive systems, including fortifications, bastions and ditches. Indeed, Balsa was destroyed by violence in c. 550 BC (during the ‘Crisis of Tartessos’?), and refounded as an indigenous Tartessian centre, before the site was finally abandoned at the end of the fourth century BC, and the population relocated to a nearby fortified hill of Cerro do Cavaco. Hence, there is evidence of episodes of violence between the Phoenicians and native Tartessians, but these were symptoms of the unequal exchange and collaboration between the Phoenicians and warlike native elites, rather than evidence of any Phoenician conquest of ancient Tartessos. Certainly, the Phoenicians employed native Iberian mercenaries for service in their armies in Sicily, and perhaps even interfered in native conflicts. There was, however, no colonial conquest or territorial annexation by the Phoenicians in the Far West.
“Unlike the policy that it pursued in the islands of Sardinia and Sicily, Carthage does not seem to have maintained direct and tight control over the internal development of these so-called ‘Punic colonies’ in Spain. Although Carthaginian policy in Iberia and Eivissa [i.e. Ibiza] might have been developed in response to a strategy focused on military campaigns [in Sicily], there was no Carthaginian war in the Iberian Peninsula, nor any evidence of hostilities until Hamilcar Barca took the initiative and began his conquest, once Carthage had been defeated in the first Punic war (241 BC)” (Maria Cruz Fernandez Castro, Iberia in Prehistory, Blackwell Publishers Ltd, Cambridge, 1995, p. 250; see also C R Whittaker, ‘Carthaginian imperialism in the fifth and fourth century’, in P D A Garnsey & C R Whitttaker (eds.), Imperialism in the Ancient World, University Press, Cambridge, 1978, pp. 83-84).
The Phoenician colonies of the Iberian Peninsula and Ebusus (modern Ibiza) became a part of Punic trade system directed by the city-state of Carthage from c. 500 BC. Punic monopoly trade in its zone of influence was recognised by the polities of the Western Mediterranean, including Rome and the Etruscan city-states, through formal treaties from at least the fourth century BC. The Phocaean Greeks of Massalia and Emporion maintained a strong trading network that interacted with the Iberian polities of the Iber river valley (modern river Ebro) and the Levantine coast of Iberia, as well as southern Gaul. These Phocaean Greeks were both rivals and participants in trade with the Punic sphere; there is ample evidence of trade between Gades and Emporion, and between Massalia and the Punic city of Tharros, in western Sardinia.
Carthage: Government System in RTR: FOE
B1 Occupation
Requirements - None (Buildable anywhere)
Build Time 1
The occupation of a settlement marks the establishment of Carthaginian Martial power over the province. Here the conqueror is left to impose whichever conditions he pleases upon the vanquished. No established form of government is in place and thus the occupying power has no organizational means to develop or otherwise administer the province until this first step is taken.
Law 5%
B2 Epikrateia I
Build Time 2
The ancient Greeks referred to the Carthaginian zone in western Sicily as Carthage’s Epikrateia (Greek: 'Predominance'); meaning its sphere of influence. The Epikrateia is where local communities submit to Carthaginian authority in matters of trade and foreign policy, and effectively join the Punic confederacy of allies and subjects that are coordinated from Carthage. Local communities remain autonomous, governed by their own laws and rulers, but they are obliged to provide Carthage with levies in times of war, and to subordinate their own trade interests to Carthage
Happiness +5%
Income -5%
Limited AOR Recruitment
B3 Epikrateia II
Build Time 6
The Epikrateia is now a trusted friend and ally of Carthage. The native rulers are clients of the republic of Carthage; while they enjoy local autonomy, it is Carthage that speaks for them in matters of trade and war, the former nation effectively stripped of all political identity. Local rulers and aristocrats in the Epikrateia, while holding no formal legislative or constitutional sway over the policies of Carthage, are linked to the Carthaginian aristocracy through ties of marriage and hospitality as well as formal alliance. The children of the local elites are often educated at Carthage as youths and become future citizens.
Happiness 5%
Law 5%
Improved AOR recruitment
B4 Hegemonia I
Build Time 4
The beginning of Carthaginian hegemonic rule also commences the annexation of the province and the overthrow of indigenous government. The settlement must give its populace for obligatory military service and pay large tributes and suffer heavy tax on trade. Carthaginian authority is given the power to create laws and conduct all internal affairs. Many cities under such government were forced to destroy their walls and submit to harsh military rule under large garrisons. However, even though military service is obligatory for subjects, it is difficult to draw upon local fighting elites, other than mercenaries, due to the resistance they provide.
Happiness -15%
Growth -5%
Income +10%
Limited AOR Recruitment
B5 Hegemonia II
Build Time 8
The establishment of hegemonic government marks the end of the grim phase of harsh suppression resulting from rapid change, having one power stripped and another established, and the beginning of a concrete system of government. The general disregard for the needs, desires and rights of the local populace still remains as they are still considered subjects of the city of Carthage. Likewise the harsh penalties on trade are still present; all local wealth being heavily taxed and a tribute usually demanded. However a proper taxation and judicial system, now well enforced and policed by Carthaginian officials, is set up allowing more complete control over the public. Nevertheless the military force drawn from this province remains only as that from conscription, usually being to provide little more than organized levies.
Happiness -10%
Law +5%
Growth -5%
Income +15%
Improved AOR Recruitment
B6 Punic Colony
Requires the Liby-Phoenician HR to be present
Build Time 4
During the period 900-750 BC the cities of Phoenicia – particularly Tyre – established a trade network anchored with trading posts and settlements throughout the central and western Mediterranean, in Sicily, Italy, Sardinia, Spain and North Africa, accessing, connecting with and even monopolizing indigenous trade systems. The magnet that drew the Phoenician seafarers into the West was the precious metals in the Iberian Peninsula. It is for this reason that the earliest Phoenician foundation was made in the far west, at Gadir on the Atlantic coastline of Spain.
Phoenician urban foundations were typified by the establishment of a temple to Melkart, the chief Tyrian deity, and the consecration of a ‘tophet’, an open air sacred enclosure lying at the edge of colonial centres, in which sacrifice was practised and very young children were cremated. The ‘tophet’ was the site where the ‘molk’ ritual was conducted, whereby young children were sacrificed to the Phoenician-Punic deities by fire. Carthage possessed the most impressive tophet, at Salammbo, which was in continuous use for 600 years, and for the period between 400 and 200 BC has yielded more than 20,000 cremation urns. Interestingly, the Phoenician-Punic settlements in southern Spain are unique in not having a ‘tophet’.
The Phoenicians drew the most profit from trade with backward tribes, from whom gold, silver, tin and iron were acquired in exchange for articles of small value. Phoenicians were also carriers of others trade goods, and the western Mediterranean trade included Greek pottery, olive oil, wine, cereals and Egyptian goods.
In contrast to Greek colonization, the Phoenician foundations did not form independent political communities. Instead, the Tyrian foundations supported and sustained Tyre’s prosperity – and enabled its rulers to make payment of large tributes to their Assyrian overlords.
The tradition in the ancient sources is that the first Phoenician establishments in the west were at Lixus, Gadir and Utica, all founded in around 1100 BC. Archaeology, however, suggests these places were established in the eighth century BC. This discrepancy can be readily explained by the fact that our ancient sources – Greek and Roman historians – have made every effort to place the foundation dates into the chronology of Homer and the legendary Trojan War.
The Phoenician network grew, as the Tyre-Gadir route flourished, and addition Phoenician colonies were founded in Malta, Sardinia, western Sicily, the Balearic Islands, and, of course, Carthage itself in North Africa. These settlements were conveniently located so that they could strengthen the Tyre-Gadir sea route, while also accessing rich hinterlands and new markets. The greatest of these was Carthage in North Africa.
In around 580 BC Tyre succumbed to the power of the Babylonian Empire, and so the Phoenician trading network in the western Mediterranean came under the authority of the Carthage, which then emerged as a Mediterranean political power in its own right.
Founded in around 700 BC by aristocratic elements from the city of Tyre in Phoenicia, Carthage constituted the most important Phoenician settlement in the central Mediterranean.
Between c. 580-500 the Phoenician enclaves throughout the western and central Mediterranean were brought together into a “Punic confederacy” led by Carthage. Unlike the Phoenicians, however, seafaring, transit trade and the procurement of metals no longer formed the exclusive focus. Instead, the aristocracy of Carthage sought to acquire land for agriculture, and replace the ancient Phoenician trade in luxuries and prestige goods with a bulk commodity trade. Throughout the Punic zone, particularly in Sardinia and North Africa, the Punic period is marked by a new colonial expansion into the agriculturally desirable lands, at the expense of indigenous peoples, and the establishment of a cereal monoculture therein. Punic North Africa and Sardinia were famous for the large-scale exploitation of agricultural resources, cereal production in particular.
Law +5%
Cultural Integration: Eastern Mysticism +10%
B7 Carthaginian Military Administration
Requires the Liby-Phoenician HR to be present
Build Time 40
A large number of Carthaginians and Liby-Phoenicians are now found in this region, drawn to it through service to the state, the opportunity to work the land, or to exploit the natural resources found here. This new populace is mostly exempt from the harsh measures imposed on the locals and are allowed to form a strong upper class in the new Carthaginian society. Punic culture also has taken root here, in matters of religion, architecture and material culture. The region is now Punic/West Phoenician in both terms of population and by way of life. The military can now be controlled more readily; drawing both upon the incorporation of indigenous mercenaries and fighting styles from the local populace as well as Punic levies.
Happiness -5%
Law +10%
Income +10%
Cultural Integration: Eastern Mysticism +5%
Limited Faction Recruitment
Improved AOR Recruitment
B8 Carthage (Capital)
Can only be built in the settlement of Carthage (where the Liby-Phoenician HR is present)
Requires Capital HR
Build Time 8
The city of Carthage herself has full authority and privilege in all the affairs of the Republic and the Confederacy of Punic cities. She may draw the full extent of Punic citizen military prowess, commands considerable trade monopolies and controls vast amounts of fertile land both in Africa and abroad.
The city of Carthage consisted of a middle class of Liby-Phoenician citizens who had under them considerable wealth; the more opulent middle class families often even owning their own estates, trade enterprises and a large number of African subjects. Furthermore this middle class citizen body also had the power to elect legislators, hold town meetings and form trade unions. In turn they were ruled by an upper class politically represented by a council of one hundred members and two Sophets; likened by Livy to the Roman Senate and Consuls, and by Aristotle to the Spartan Gerousia and King.
The members of the Carthaginian Senate were chosen from a number of wealthy and long-standing noble Phoenician families whose fortune extended from as far back as the city’s origins as a colony of Tyre. According to Aristotle this task was done by the Pentarchies, a set of five legislators given the privilege of holding office longer than other magistrates and cooperating on and conducting important affairs of the state, perhaps equivalent to a modern supreme court.
The Senate then in turn elected two Sophets, from the Semitic word meaning judge and likened by Livy to Roman Consuls, from amongst its number. The two Sophets held highest amount of political and juridical sway within the Senate and outside of it, however, if the two bodies could not reach an agreement unanimously the matter was taken before the citizens who then decided the final outcome by referendum. A matter, according to Aristotle, was often taken to the public even when it was not necessary to do so. Polybius stated that the Carthaginian public held more sway over the government than the people of Rome held over theirs.
Carthage offered to its citizens the opportunity to expand and build their wealth outside of Carthage in the colonies. Once a new colony was established a family could migrate and attempt to form a new upper class and gain political influence and power in this manner. Aristotle mentioned that Carthaginian government “successfully escapes the evils of oligarchy by enriching one portion of the people after another by sending them to their colonies.”
Cultural Integration: Eastern Mysticism +5%
Cultural Integration: Eastern Mysticism +5% (Empire Wide)
Recruitment Full Faction (including elite units)
Carthaginian Generals
The Site of Carthage Today (NASA satellite photo, March 2008) The Liby-Phoenician HR
This hidden resource (HR) is only found in 12 regions on the FOE map. These are;
1. Baetis (Gadir)
2. Bastuli (Malaka)
3. Baleares (Ebusus)
4. Tingitania (Lixus)
5. Zeugei (Carthage)
6. Muxsi (Utica)
7. Metagonia (Hippo)
8. Byzacium (Hadrumentum)
9. Tripolitania (Lepcis Magna)
10. Sicilia Poeni (Lilybaeum)
11. Epikrateia (Panormus)
12. Sardinia (Karalis)
The Carthaginian "empire" is one whereby a single city-state rules a confederation of subordinate allies (Punic-Phoenician cities), client-kings and tyrants (Numidians, Iberians, and even Siciliot Greek tyrants prior to 241 BC). In some places the Carthaginians ruthlessly annexed the land, and had it worked by native serfs (Libyans and Sardinians).
At no time did the Carthaginians extend their citizenship from beyond the small population resident at the city of Carthage itself.
They were not interested in sharing political power with their allies - not even those that were closely linked culturally, such as at Gadir (modern Cadiz) or Utica. Carthage did not plant colonies of citizens either (as did Rome and the Greeks).
Carthaginians did not share.
So the Carthaginian player can only develop his/her empire on the basis of a very small citizen body in Carthage - and a small, fixed Punic-Phoenician population in places like North Africa, Sardinia, Balaeric Islands and southern Iberia.
Punic armies ony ever had tiny numbers of Carthaginian citizens in them, usually found as officers. The heart of the army was found in two sources; Africans and mercenaries. The 'Africans' were Libyan serfs conscripted as hoplites and javelinmen, Numidian cavalry, and Liby-Phoenician hoplites. The Mercenaries that were recruited included Greeks, Gauls/Keltoi, Ligurians, Italians (especially Campanians), Iberians, Balearic slingers and, on rare occasions, Sardinians and Etruscans.
After Hamilcar Barca conquered southern Iberia in 237 BC, the Carthaginians recruited great numbers of Iberian and Celtiberian levies and mercenaries.
This situation is covered by the "realism" we are creating for the Carthaginian player. Their armies will only ever have a few "Carthaginian" units (Sacred Band, Carthaginian Cavalry), which can only be recruited from Carthage itself, and so the player will heavily depend on regional levies (AOR) and mercenaries.
The Carthaginian player cannot extend his "culture" so that he can recruit Carthaginian units from outside Carthage; other units in the Carthaginian roster like Liby-Phoenician Hoplites can only be recruited in cities with a Liby-Phoenician population, just as elephants can only be recruited in Africa.
That is the challenge for Carthage.
Its different to the Romans. They have several concepts of "citizenship" that were alien to Carthage. Rome imagined that people who were not resident in Rome could still be "Roman citizens". And the Romans extended "citizenship" and land grants to people and communities that were planted in strategic locations, such as retiring veterans.
This is the "realism" behind the Carthaginian Faction building tree.
The player can't assimilate foreign people, barbarian or civilized, into being Carthaginians - or even Liby-Phoenicians.
Carthage Faction Roster Punic "Homeland" Units Punic Peltasts (Skirmisher)
Liby-Phoenician Hoplite (Spearmen)
Punic Thureophoroi (Light Infantry)
Sacred Band (Elite Hoplites)
Carthaginian Cavalry (Heavy Cavalry)
Sacred Band Cavalry (Elite Heavy Cavalry)
African Only Punic Units Libyan Javelinmen (Skirmisher)
Libyan Hoplite (Spearmen)
Numidian Cavalry (Missile Cavalry)
Carthaginian African Elephants
Carthaginian Towered Elephant
Punic Reform/Other Units African Infantry (Heavy Infantry)
Roman Deserters
Roman Deserters formed small but highly valued contingents in the armies of Rome's enemies. They were equipped in the typical Roman panoply, but when fighting Roman troops they had a fanatical morale - they knew they would be scourged and beheaded if captured!
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Roman army of the early and middle republic was - in contrast to its Punic, Hellenic and barbarian enemies - an army comprised of conscripts. One of the disadvantages of having an army of conscripts, where savage discipline and heavy losses could be expected, was desertion. In search of refuge, many of these deserters joined the enemy, where they were valued. And for good reason. Well equipped and well trained, these troops fought to the death rather than risk capture, flogging and execution.
In addition, Rome often stubbornly refused to ransom or exchange prisoners to secure the release of captured Roman soldiers, and sometimes, in desperation, these Roman prisoners took service with Rome's enemies to avoid captivity and slavery.
There are many and varied mentions of Roman deserters in the ancient sources; as one reads through the sources telling of the wars of the Republican period, you find again and again references to units of Roman deserters serving in the armies of the enemies of Rome. "Desertion was always a problem for the Roman army. Enemy leaders as separated by time and geography as Jugurtha, Tacfarinas and Decebalus, recruited their best men from Roman deserters. According to Dio, men were even willing to desert and join the rebels within the city during the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 (Dio. 65.5.4). Treaties concluding wars in the second century often seem to have included provision for the return of Roman deserters and prisoners (Dio. 68.9.5)." [Adrian Goldsworthy, The Roman Army at War 100 BC-AD 200, Oxford University Press, 1996, p. 113]. As one historian has said, "... mutiny and insubordination were suprisingly prevalent in the Roman army." [William Stuart Messer, 'Mutiny in the Roman Army. The Republic', Classical Philology, Vol. 15, No. 2 (April 1920), pp. 158-175.
Some notable examples include;
Celtiberia - Historical Background
Celtiberia Faction Roster Celtiberian Slingers
Celtiberian Ambacti (Elite Swordsmen)
Celtiberian Caetrati (Skirmishers)
Celtiberian Scutarii (Swordsmen)
Celtiberian Cavalry (Heavy Cavalry)
Iberia - Historical Background
Iberian AOR Roster Caetrati Slinger
Caetrati Tribesmen (Skirmisher)
Caetrati Falcata (Swordsmen)
Scutarii Falcata (Swordsmen)
Iberian Elite Scutarii Warriors (Elite Swordsmen)
Cantabrian Cavalry (Missile Cavalry)
Caetrati Cavalry (Light Cavalry)
Iberian Scutarii Cavalry (Elite Heavy Cavalry)
Lusitanian Caetrati (Heavy Infantry)
Battle Images
Thanks to Brusilov for this excellent selection of battle images.
Afterword
So, after a journey lasting seven months, we finally come to the end of our last preview dedicated to the factions that you will be encountering in FOE. It's been really fun putting these together for you, and an education in what I've learnt from the amazing texts of our learned historians. It's also fascinating to look back at Preview One and recall what a shaky Alpha version of the game we were working with back then, one that would barely run three turns without falling over. Now we have a robust beta, which is only lacking a few of the new gameplay features before we can start the serious process of campaign balance testing.
While this may be the last big preview it certainly won't be last time that we will be updating you on progress in FOE. Keep an eye on the
RTR VII: Fate of Empires - Links to Previews and Beta Progress Reports thread, because we will be using it to bring you tidbits of news of what is happening, and we may very well run mini-previews to explain to you how some of the new gameplay elements work as well.
However, before I close I would like to mention something that may be of interest to modders, the RTRVII: Grand Campaign map, which is what FOE uses the western half of. After discussions within the team, we have decided to make the template available to you for use in your own mods. If this is something that interests you, contact me initially by PM and we'll take it from there.
So, until we meet again, happy gaming!
RTR: Fate of Empires - Preview Six
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