06-08-2007, 05:27 PM
It is interesting, I think, how relatively easy it is to find information and depictions of Carthaginian mercenaries - Spanish, Gaulish, and Numidian troops - but aside from a few busts of Hannibal there is practically nothing for native Carthaginian troops.
Much the same is true of Carthage itself - most of ruins are Roman or later. Of the original city, a city that existed for some 600 to 700 years, there is virtually nothing left.
Even the elephants used by Carthage are extinct.
It speaks volumes as to the extent of Rome's military power that they were essentially able to erase the Carthaginians from the face the Earth, don't you think?
I read somewhere that one of the ancient historians, Polybius I think, refers to the Carthaginian phalanx as being a "light phalanx" and continues to do so even after they are reequipped with Roman armor. In theory then, the light designation might refer to the type of pike used by the phalanx rather than the armor in which case we might infer that the pikes used by Carthage were perhaps shorter than the pikes used by other phalanx armies at the time - perhaps something in the 12 to 15 foot range?
The sword possibilities are rather large in number - basically anything of a Greek, Spanish, or Celtic style.
Actually just by changing out a few items in the kit it would be possible to portray any one of a variety of troop types.
I already have a good start on a caetrati and as you mentioned Paullus if I added a helmet (a montefortino would be the best bet I think), a saunion (it would be nice to have one of those anyway), a spear, and a flat scutum I could be a scutarii. I could drop the scutum, the spear and the saunion and put on some linen armor, pick up a pike and a round shield and be a Carthaginian pikeman. I could put the pike down, maybe upgrade to metal armor, and be a Carthaginian officer.
Much the same is true of Carthage itself - most of ruins are Roman or later. Of the original city, a city that existed for some 600 to 700 years, there is virtually nothing left.
Even the elephants used by Carthage are extinct.
It speaks volumes as to the extent of Rome's military power that they were essentially able to erase the Carthaginians from the face the Earth, don't you think?
I read somewhere that one of the ancient historians, Polybius I think, refers to the Carthaginian phalanx as being a "light phalanx" and continues to do so even after they are reequipped with Roman armor. In theory then, the light designation might refer to the type of pike used by the phalanx rather than the armor in which case we might infer that the pikes used by Carthage were perhaps shorter than the pikes used by other phalanx armies at the time - perhaps something in the 12 to 15 foot range?
The sword possibilities are rather large in number - basically anything of a Greek, Spanish, or Celtic style.
Actually just by changing out a few items in the kit it would be possible to portray any one of a variety of troop types.
I already have a good start on a caetrati and as you mentioned Paullus if I added a helmet (a montefortino would be the best bet I think), a saunion (it would be nice to have one of those anyway), a spear, and a flat scutum I could be a scutarii. I could drop the scutum, the spear and the saunion and put on some linen armor, pick up a pike and a round shield and be a Carthaginian pikeman. I could put the pike down, maybe upgrade to metal armor, and be a Carthaginian officer.
Dan Zeidler
Legio XX
Legio XX
