The Sacred Band of Carthage

[Pyrrha]

Chairete, oh connoisseurs of ancient history!
In my research of elite military formations of the the Ancient World I came across a narrow topic which is so elusive there's almost nothing written about it. Perhaps you could help me out? I might return the favour one day or another... I apologise if this was already discussed on the forum, but I've browsed it and could not find an answer.

Diodorus and Plutarch report a certain 4th century BC Sacred Band of Carthage, which consisted of citizen soldiers and was annihilated at Krimissus:

In the end, even the Carthaginians who composed the Sacred Battalion,1 twenty-five hundred in number and drawn from the ranks of those citizens who were distinguished for valour and reputation as well as for wealth, were all cut down after a gallant struggle. (Diod.Sic.16.80.4)

A gallant battle developed, and Hanno, who had fighting under him the Sacred Band of selected men and was intent upon gaining the victory by himself, pressed heavily upon the Greeks and slew many of them. (Diod.Sic.20.12.3)

Plutarch in Timoleon.27 mentions 10 000 Carthaginian hoplites with white shields. Eventually the Carthaginians lose the battle and the Band is destroyed after putting up fierce resistance. Plutarch attests 3000 fallen (Tim.28) noble men, presumably citizens, but does not refer to the Sacred Band per se.

What I'm most interested is this:
- Are there any other primary sources that discuss the Sacred Band of Carthage, or good secondary sources?
- Is anything known about the equipment of the Sacred Band of Carthage from our primary sources? I came across detailed descriptions of their outfit in Wikipedia, in miniature and reconstruction forums and even in a quote from a scholarly book by Duncan Head which I could not get a hold of. But where does this information come from?

I am fascinated with the idea that they wore white as colour of death and therefore may provide ancient parallels to kamikaze-type-of-troops, but there is NOTHING about it in primary sources and at this point I am so desperate I am ready to cry. If anyone can at least direct me to primary sources other than those quoted above, or to secondary sources, I'll be very-very grateful!

P.S. Perhaps I should stress the fact that this is NOT about the more well-known Sacred Band of Thebes.

[ParthianBow]

even in a quote from a scholarly book by Duncan Head which I could not get a hold of. But where does this information come from?
I am so desperate I am ready to cry. If anyone can at least direct me to primary sources other than those quoted above, or to secondary sources, I'll be very-very grateful!
P.S. Perhaps I should stress the fact that this is NOT about the more well-known Sacred Band of Thebes.

Welcome to the forum. You should know that you need to use your real name here, by the way.

The Duncan Head book is outstanding and I recommend that you buy a copy. It's available here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Armies-Macedoni ... 399&sr=8-1
And here, at half the price: http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookD ... %26sts%3Dt
You could also try The Book Depository, who do not charge postage and packing to anywhere in the world.

Welcome to the club about not being able to find out much information about such things. The usual reason that there's no information available about Carthage is that none has survived. That period of Carthaginian history is not my field, so I'm not able to tell you if there is more information available. I've looked at my textbooks about Carthage (and I have every single one that I have heard of on here) and haven't found anything else about the Sacred Band other than what you've mentioned. However other members may be able to provide more information for you.

Regarding your P.S. Ahem. Many of the members on this forum are more well-informed about the Ancient World than entire departments of universities. I quickly stress that I would not classify myself as one of those. However, the fact that you titled your post 'The Sacred Band of Carthage' will alert all of us to the fact that you do not mean the Sacred Band of Thebes. Otherwise you would have entitled your post 'The Sacred Band of Thebes'.

[Dutchhoplite]

I think they're also mentioned by Diodorus Siculus in his account of Carhage's war with Agathocles in North Africa. Book xx if i'm correct

[Pyrrha]

Parthian Bow,
I apologise for breaking any forum rules, it is unintentional and I will do my best to be good. And I did not mean to doubt or slander in any way the expertise of forum members by my post scriptum about the Theban Band, but I had too many precedents of very knowledgeable people also being very helpful and verifying every time I am talking about the Carthaginian band and not the Theban... Sorry, it' was out of my own annoyance which I shouldn't have brought here.

Thank you so much for the information about Duncan Head's book and for going through your own! That there is really noting else about them strengthens my opinion that perhaps the detailed description of their armour and 'sacred' arms is perhaps a product of imagination, alas. And true, it is such a shame that Carthage has been razed to the ground and so much ancient literature, in general, is lost...

Dutchhoplite,
Thank you for the reference, I will look into it right now (it it is different from the passage cited above).

[ParthianBow]

Pyrrha - no worries! You need to put your real name at the bottom of your posts, though. Just go to 'User Control Panel' at the top left of the screen and follow the buttons.

I've been back into Duncan Head's book, and found a reference which I don't think you mentioned - it's Diodoros XVI, 79-80, and refers to the battle of Krimisos. I think it's this one which mentions their arms and armour.

Head's book also states on p. 140: 'At the Krimisos in 341 the Sacred Band of Carthaginian citizens fought as a well-drilled phalanx with iron cuirasses, bronze helmets and large white round shields. Stelae from Carthage, many of them unpublished, are described as showing similar troops in muscled cuirasses with pteruges, conical helmets and round shields.'

From all that, I doubt the weapons have been made up. I'm no expert, though!

I can confirm Greek Hoplite's ref. too - re. the battle of Tunis, 310 BC - Diodoros XX, 22-23. After that, the Sacred Band - of Carthage ( :lol: ) disappears from history, I think. There doesn't seem to be any mention of them in any of the Punic Wars, which I'm deeply into at the moment.

Hopefully, other members of the forum might help some more. Good luck!

[Justin of the New Yorkii]

ParthianBow is right about the lack of contemporary evidence for the appearance of Carthaginian soldiers.

An enigmatic painting was discovered on a wall in Kef el-Blida about 100 years ago which shows soldiers who look a lot like Greek hoplites. I read about it in a book and wish I could find a better image online for you, but this version that made it onto a Tunisian stamp is the only one I could find:
http://www.poppe-stamps.com/?t=6&stamp_ ... 5b82a35f57

Unfortunately you can't see much, we don't know exactly when this painting was made and we can't even be certain that the soldiers depicted are Carthaginians. Note that the bearded guy on the prow is holding a double-headed axe, and he seems to be dumping a guy with a helmet or spiked headdress off the boat.

[ParthianBow]

I found this on another thread:

[barcid]

I will add that they may have had shorter broad blade spears . if we think of sicily as the hub of med. trade with spokes going to all points .many types of heavy infantry arms in use at the time are plausable .

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

To me the helmets on the stamp look very like the Villanovian one? With the metal triangular ridge.

[Hochelus]

Hey, here are some Carthaginian coins with helmets which I found, maybe that can help:

(Chalkidian ?)

(Thracian ?)

(something which looks like some kind of Etrusco-Corinthian helmet.


And much older Phoenician coin to show that they used to fight as hoplites in phalanx:


Hope I've helped