08-05-2006, 10:46 PM
Okay, I must have been sleeping when I wrote this initial post. Here's what Polybius says (1.26): 140,000 Romans and 150,000 Carthaginians. He says he arrived on these figures from counting the ships (330 and 350) and assuming that 300 rowers and 120 soldiers were on board.
In other words, he says that he believes that we can be reasonably confident that 290,000 men were present. Even accepting that the soldiers were also employed as rowers and Polybius counts them twice, we arrive at 330*300 plus 350*300 = 204,000 people.
I think this was the biggest battle of Antiquity, and suspect that we have to wait until the Napoleontic Wars to see something similar.
In other words, he says that he believes that we can be reasonably confident that 290,000 men were present. Even accepting that the soldiers were also employed as rowers and Polybius counts them twice, we arrive at 330*300 plus 350*300 = 204,000 people.
I think this was the biggest battle of Antiquity, and suspect that we have to wait until the Napoleontic Wars to see something similar.
