Was Vermina defeated at Simutthus?

[Michael Collins]

I have suspected for a while that the monument at Chemtou (Roman Simitthus) was dedicated to the victory over Vermina, for which Livy gives Gnaeus Octavius the credit.



Livy 30.36

...He then sailed back to Utica and recalled Octavius thither also. As the latter was on his way to Tunis he was informed that Vermina, the son of Syphax, was coming to the aid of the Carthaginians with a force consisting mainly of cavalry. Octavius attacked the Numidians whilst on the march with a portion of his infantry and the whole of his cavalry. The action took place on December 17, and soon ended in the utter rout of the Numidians. As they were completely surrounded by the Roman cavalry all avenues of escape were closed; 15,000 were killed and 1200 taken prisoners, 1500 horses were also secured and 72 standards. The prince himself escaped with a few horsemen.



The similarities between the two monuments.

Facing west, the Kbor Klib monument overlooks the possible battlefield of Zama at the junction of the Siliana and Sers valleys.

 (google image)





 

Ferchiou`s reconstruction of Kbor Klib`s west fascade:







 

The Simitthus monument faced east with a view of a potential battlefield where the Bagradas flowed close to the hills, causing a choke point and possible ambush site that conforms to Livy`s description above,

 

(google image)

 
Reconstruction of the monument in the Chemtou Museum:


https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:...hemtou.jpg

There is a map at: https://mapcarta.com/W274188296

 

So, Livy gives the date of the battle that Gnaeus Octavius defeated Vermina as the 17th December, the first day of Saturnalia and a day of public festivities.

A Numidian tradition of holding an annual ceremony at the Simitthus monument in mid-December may have been appropriated and adapted by Roman colonists after 146 BC when they dedicated the structure as a shrine to Saturn.  

[Michael Collins]

In Monumental Power, Josephine Crawley Quinn describes the simialarities bewteen the Kbor Kilb and Chemtou sites.

page 201
"...features of the monuments imply on-going local activity at the sites, perhaps hero- or ruler-cult.91 As well as the altars or cult buildings associated with the round tombs, Kbor Klib has an altar to the west of the monument that is contemporary with the original construction, and although there are no archaeological traces of cult buildings in the vicinity of the tower-tombs, the graffiti representations of them on the walls of contemporary rock-cut tombs in northern Tunisia associate them with
flaming altars... The Simitthus monument also has an altar (to its east) in its reincarnation as a Roman temple, but no pre-Roman phase or version has been found."

https://josephinecrawleyquinn.files.word...lpower.pdf

It`s possible that the Chemtou monument was originally designed to have an altar on its eastern side; a feature that would mirror that of Kbor Klib. It is interesting that an altar was added at a later date - possibly retained to carry on a traditional Numidian ceremony at the location after the Roman temple extension which was dedicated to Saturn.

[Michael Collins]

To give you more of a feel for the Chemtou site, here`s a link to the archaeological museum:
http://www.chimtou.com/

Just a thought whilst reading the description on the page regarding the monument. It is described as an altar, it was solid so it was not a mausoleum. And if it was an altar dedicated to Massinissa, why would it be placed there, before the development of the town took place? More probable that it was built to commemorate a military victory involving King Massinissa and Numidian forces and it was only made possible with Micipsas` control of the upper Bagradas valley from around 150 BC onwards.

[Michael Collins]

https://www.academia.edu/5978981/Orienta...est_Africa is a very useful publication and Simuthus and Kbor Klib are both included even though they are generally classified as altars and not as a temples.

As I have mentioned earlier, the Simmuthus monument was re-used and built upon in Roman times and dedicated as a temple to Saturn, and so I decided to delve a little more and check the orientation of all temples dedicated to Saturn in Africa.

As you`ll see from the article, on pages 68-69, the range of azimuth (the angle at the geographical point between true north and the bearings that the face of the buildings have) at the temples is between 52.5 and 134 degrees, and so, although generally aligned towards the east, the exact orientation of these buildings was not significant to the function and the dedication to the deity.

Simmuthus, facing east, has an azimuth of 94 degrees, Kbor Klib (which I believe also commemorates a battle in 202 BC) faces west with an azimuth 280 degrees.

Using an online calulator such as: https://planetcalc.com/4270/ we can determine the dates and times for sunrise at Simmuthus and sunset at Kbor Klib this year:

The Simmuthus/Chemtou site is at: 36-29-34 N 08-34-37 E
azimuth 94.16 altitude 0.06 sunrise at 08:25 hrs 02/10/2019

The Kbor Klib monument is at: 36-00-45 N 09-13-07 E
azimuth 279.76 - altitude 0.36 sunset at 20:45 hrs 02/09/2019

Dates for the battles therefore would be the 2nd September 202 BC for the battle of Zama and the 2nd October 202 BC for Octavius` battle with Vermina at Simmuthus and these dates conform to the time of year that we could reasonably expect the Zama campaign to have taken place.

[Michael Collins]

Of course dear readers, if you`re following this, you`ll note the difference between Livy`s date of the 17th December (which is probably taken from Valerius Antias) and the date suggested by the orientation of the remains of the Simmuthus monument, the 2nd October do not match.
Livy`s date for the battle (the first day of Saturnalia) is about two and a half months later than October the 2nd; it is coincidentally similar to the period of misalignment between the earlier Roman calendar and the Julian calendar date for the battle of Pydna in 168 BC. I feel this could also be the case in 202 BC.
The date for the battle of Pydna is thought to be the 22nd June; the difference between the date in the Julian calendar and the event described in Livy using a date from Valerius, using a Flavian calendar is 71 days. Livy claimed that an eclipse took place on the 3rd of September 168 BC and that thirteen days later the battle was reported in Rome to have taken place thirteen days before, on the same day as the eclipse.

If we apply the same degree of misalignment between the two calendars for the date given for Vermina`s defeat and adjust this to the Gregorian calendar we get results that are very close to the 2nd of October.
Of course one or two factors in this calculation could be variable, but this is an example of how the date suggested by the orientation of the monument at Simmuthus could be corroborated:

Converting the Flavian date to a Julian one by applying a 71 day misalignment for the battle at Simmuthus on the 17th December 202.

Counting the days in each month.
month days
*December 17
*November 29
*October 25
= 6th October on the Julian calendar
-4 days to convert from Julian to Gregorian calendars = 2nd October.
This seems to fit reasonable well !

*In the republican calendar, September had 29 days, October 31, November 29 and December 29 days.

I suppose it's back to the texts to see how these earlier dates affect the sequence of events in the campaign as a whole and the end of the war - and maybe I`ll check the weather too perhaps?

[Michael Collins]

Just to correct myself, I missed out a minus sign, the Chemtou stats should have been:
azimuth 94.16 altitude -0.06 sunrise 08:25 hrs 02/10/2019

But to give you a better idea, here`s the values for the next 5 minutes
azimuth 94.91 altitude 0.91 sunrise 08:30 hrs 02/10/2019

So, roughly speaking (give or take refraction and hills getting in the way) the sunrise should be just less than a minute after 08:25.

FYI the site also has a converter for Julian to Gregorian calendars: https://planetcalc.com/505/

[Michael Collins]

I`ve just uploaded a paper on academia.edu. "Livy`s Lost Battle" at https://www.academia.edu/41183185/Livys_Lost_Battle

[Michael Collins]

Apologies if you`ve tried the link above, I found an awful error in my introduction, so I had to repost my paper; it`s here now https://www.academia.edu/41189843/Livys_Lost_Battle

[Michael Collins]

Seasonal best wishes to everyone !

As just a basic member of academia.edu my paper was only up for 20 days, but you can still download it from my Grand Manoeuvre website shop - it`s OK though folks, it`s free download !

go here: http://grandmanoeuvre.co.uk/shop/
and then click on "GM Rules"
It`s on page 8 at the moment, but the page number and address may change if I add, or remove more files.