07-07-2011, 08:03 PM
Quote: Maybe so, but there's still about 1180 miles between the Atlas and the Senegal, and that's more or less in a straight line. Equivalent to marching from Constantinople to the Rhine - and then they'd have to do the same distance back again! Unless they had some pressing reason to do so, I doubt a Roman commander would take his men so very far.Why a pressing reason? Trade routes and/or exploration would be reason enough, about the same as travelling up the Nile I presume.
Quote:Your point about the Carthaginians having elephants also suggests that elephants were found much further north - in southern Morocco perhaps? - and that Paulinus wouldn't have had to go quite so far to find them.Does my point suggest that? I don't think so. I think that Carthage had trade routes to the south which provided them with elephants, although indeed I presume that they were found much further North than today. But in Marocco?
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
