10-30-2019, 11:26 AM
In addition to forces that Scipio would have been obliged to leave at his camps and operational base, there was, of course the detachment made assigning a small body of troops to Massinissa to secure the immediate area and Massinissa kingdom.
It would appear that around 6,000 infantry and cavalry were detached
Polybius Book 15.4
"For Massanissa, as I above stated, immediately on the conclusion of the treaty left with his own forces, taking with him besides ten cohorts of Roman cavalry and infantry, and p473 legates on the part of Scipio, in order not only to recover his paternal kingdom, but with the assistance of the Romans to add that of Syphax to it, which he ultimately succeeded in doing."
Polybius says that this happened sometime before Scipio decided to march west along the Bagradas and so initiating the Zama campaign.
Jumping forward to Polybius` battle of Zama itself he outlines the approximate strenghts of Massinissa`s combined force and this is echoed later by Livy.
Polybius 15.5
"Next day Massanissa arrived with six thousand foot and four thousand horse. Scipio received him kindly, congratulating him on having brought under his dominion all the former subjects of Syphax."
Livy 30.29
"After asking them whether they had examined all to their satisfaction, he sent them back with an escort to Hannibal. The report they gave was anything but pleasant hearing for him, for as it happened Masinissa had on that very day come in with a force of 6000 infantry and 4000 cavalry. What gave him most uneasiness was the confidence of the enemy which he saw too clearly was not without good grounds."
For the Roman force, if two cavalry "cohorts" were amongst the ten quoted this would be 960 cavalrymen, and the
eight infantry cohorts remaining would be have 3,840 men. But the 6,000 infantry in both Polybius and Livy includes Roman velites. The light infantry in the cohort would be 40 Velites x 6 centuries would be 240 men and so there would be 1,920 in the 8 infantry cohorts.
We have then 3,840 Hastati/Pricipes/Triarii + 1,920 Velites = 5,760 and this was rounded up to 6,000. But the total of Romans including cavalry originally attached to Massinissa`s command would have numbered 6,720.
So the question is, with more than 10,000 of his troops detached, why would Scipio risk a major engagement ?
It would appear that around 6,000 infantry and cavalry were detached
Polybius Book 15.4
"For Massanissa, as I above stated, immediately on the conclusion of the treaty left with his own forces, taking with him besides ten cohorts of Roman cavalry and infantry, and p473 legates on the part of Scipio, in order not only to recover his paternal kingdom, but with the assistance of the Romans to add that of Syphax to it, which he ultimately succeeded in doing."
Polybius says that this happened sometime before Scipio decided to march west along the Bagradas and so initiating the Zama campaign.
Jumping forward to Polybius` battle of Zama itself he outlines the approximate strenghts of Massinissa`s combined force and this is echoed later by Livy.
Polybius 15.5
"Next day Massanissa arrived with six thousand foot and four thousand horse. Scipio received him kindly, congratulating him on having brought under his dominion all the former subjects of Syphax."
Livy 30.29
"After asking them whether they had examined all to their satisfaction, he sent them back with an escort to Hannibal. The report they gave was anything but pleasant hearing for him, for as it happened Masinissa had on that very day come in with a force of 6000 infantry and 4000 cavalry. What gave him most uneasiness was the confidence of the enemy which he saw too clearly was not without good grounds."
For the Roman force, if two cavalry "cohorts" were amongst the ten quoted this would be 960 cavalrymen, and the
eight infantry cohorts remaining would be have 3,840 men. But the 6,000 infantry in both Polybius and Livy includes Roman velites. The light infantry in the cohort would be 40 Velites x 6 centuries would be 240 men and so there would be 1,920 in the 8 infantry cohorts.
We have then 3,840 Hastati/Pricipes/Triarii + 1,920 Velites = 5,760 and this was rounded up to 6,000. But the total of Romans including cavalry originally attached to Massinissa`s command would have numbered 6,720.
So the question is, with more than 10,000 of his troops detached, why would Scipio risk a major engagement ?
