Number of legions at Zama

[Aryaman2]

Regarding Aryaman2/Inaki's point about logistics.

Apart from the fact that Scipio had secure communications to Sicily and Sardinia ( both "bread baskets" in Roman times) thanks to Roman Naval superiority, and the fact that a single ship could transport many,many wagon loads of grain, North Africa then was not like North Africa now -the climate was different for a start ( shades of a modern topic !! ) and it was much more verdant with lush fields and abundant grain. After the Punic wars it supplemented Sicily as Rome's major grain supplier, until superceded in turn by Egypt when it became part of the Empire. Carthage had sophisticated agricultural techniques including advanced irrigation methods ( a fact commented on by Roman writers).There is a vast difference between logistics in N.E. Europe in the sevententh century and Punic North Africa. Even by Byzantine times and the vandal invasions, North Africa had changed significantly. Comparisons cannot therefore be made in any meaningful way......but hey, the study of logistics can give us some insight into the subject of army numbers, just not so in this case.

Paullus Scipio/ Paul McDonnell-Staff

Yes, Africa was relatively rich back then, however I doubt ancient armies could get the ammount of supplies TYW armies could get in central Germany, my points of comparison are
1) Supply systems were similar, as the regular use of supply lines were not still in use.
2) Transport systems were much more developed in the TYW, both land and water. Moving into Zama inland and away from his coastal base, Scipio had to rely basically on land transport for supply, or more probably on gathering supplies on the march.
3) Despite Africa being rich back then , agriculture was considerably more developed in Europe in the XVII century, and central Germany was a rich country with a high population density.
So, despite those comparative advantages, TYW armies struggled to keep forces over 40.000 so as to starve, I frankly doubt very much Ancient could do it so easily.