Download Scipio Africanus _ Zama

Scipio Africanus the Elder
Scipio Africanus Major (so named because of his military victories in Africa which
won the Second Punic War, also known as Scipio the Elder) was born Publius
Cornelius Scipio in 236 BCE. His family was of Etruscan descent and of
the Patrician upper class. His father, also Publius Cornelius Scipio, was a
Roman consul and, in 218 BCE, brought his son along with him on campaign to face
the great Carthaginian general Hannibal in northern Italy. Although ancient writers
have reported that, in his later years, Scipio wrote an autobiography and many other
works, these have been lost and all that we know of his life are the details of his military
victories and his actions as a statesman.
HANNIBAL'S VICTORIES
At the Battle of the Ticinus River, Hannibal’s troops so out-maneuvered the Roman
forces that his father was surrounded. His son rode into the battle, shaming the Roman
troops who were hesitating, and rescued his father. At the Battle of Cannae in 216
BCE, a disastrous defeat for the Romans, Scipio experienced first-hand the brilliance of
Hannibal’s tactics as the Carthaginian army surrounded and decimated over 44,000
Roman troops. Believing that Hannibal could not be defeated by traditional arts of war,
his father thought it the best strategy to cut off Hannibal’s supply line from Spain. He
therefore took his son and joined with his brother, Gnaeus Scipio, who was fighting
Hannibal’s brother, Hasdrubal, at the border of the Spanish territories
of Rome and Carthage. Both his father and Gnaeus were killed in action at the Battles
of Baetis Valley and Scipio returned to Rome.
THE SECOND PUNIC WAR
The Carthaginians under Hasdrubal now held Spain without contest and the Roman
senate could not tolerate such a situation. Hannibal had started the Second Punic War
through his attack on the city of Saguntum, a Roman ally, situated south of the Ebro
River in Spain, and now it seemed his brother was free to do as he pleased throughout
the region. The senate needed a general of considerable ability to send against
Hasdrubal but no one wanted the job as the campaign seemed to be a death sentence.
Though only twenty-four years old, thought too young to command, Scipio volunteered
for the position and left Rome with 10,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry to meet
Hasdrubal’s forces numbering over 40,000 strong.
Scipio landed in Spain at the mouth of the Ebro River and immediately took action. He
laid siege to the city of Carthago Nova which was thought impregnable owing to the
strong fortifications and also the natural defense of a lagoon which prevented attack
from one whole side of the city. Through intelligence reports, Scipio learned that the
lagoon was subject to a significant drop in level owing to the ebb of the tide at night.
Leading a column of soldiers through the shallow water at night, Scipio breached the
walls and took the city. The Roman historian Livy tells the story that, presented with a
beautiful woman as a war prize by his troops, Scipio graciously refused her and sent her
back to her fiancé along with the ransom money which her family had paid for her
release. He would continue to maintain this practice of clemency and graciousness
throughout his campaigns, portraying himself and Rome as liberators instead of
conquerors.
BATTLE OF BAECULA
At the Battle of Baecula, Scipio defeated Hasdrubal’s superior forces and drove him
from the field using tactics he had learned from Hannibal. Hasdrubal, hoping to cross
the Alps and join his brother in Italy, was met again by Scipio’s forces at the Metaurus
River in 207 BCE where he was killed in battle and his forces scattered. Spain was now
a colony of Rome.
Scipio then asked the Roman senate for supplies and an army to march on Carthage
itself, believing, rightly, that if Carthage were threatened then Hannibal would be
recalled from Italy to defend it. The Roman senate refused the request and so Scipio
raised an army himself. According to the historian Durant, “The people admired him not
only because he was handsome and eloquent, intelligent and brave, but pious,
courteous, and just.” Scipio then threatened the Roman senate with an appeal to the
Roman people for support of his campaign and they, fearing his popularity, gave him
command of Sicily. Using Sicily as his base of operations, Scipio invaded North Africa
in 205 BCE. Allied with the Numidian King Masinissa, Scipio defeated Carthage’s ally
Syphax and took the city of Utica. As he had expected, Carthage recalled Hannibal from
Italy to save the city.
BATTLE OF ZAMA
By the year 203 Carthage was in great danger of attack from the forces of the Roman
general Publius Cornelius Scipio, who had invaded Africa and had won an important
battle barely 20 miles (32 km) west of Carthage itself. The Carthaginian
generals Hannibal and his brother Mago were accordingly recalled from their campaigns
in Italy. Hannibal returned to Africa with his 12,000-man veteran army and soon
gathered a total of 37,000 troops with which to defend the approaches to Carthage.
Hannibal arrived too late to prevent Masinissa from joining up with Scipio, leaving Scipio
in a position to choose the battle site. That was a reversal of the situation in Italy, where
Hannibal had held the advantage in cavalry and had typically chosen the ground. In
addition to utilizing 80 war elephants that were not fully trained, Hannibal was also
compelled to rely mostly upon an army of Carthaginian recruits that lacked much battle
experience. Of his three battle lines, only his seasoned veterans from Italy (between
12,000 to 15,000 men) were accustomed to fighting Romans; they were positioned at
the rear of his formation.
Before the battle, Hannibal and Scipio met personally, possibly because Hannibal,
perceiving that battle conditions did not favour him, hoped to negotiate a generous
settlement. Scipio may have been curious to meet Hannibal, but he refused the
proposed terms, stating that Carthage had broken the truce and would have to face the
consequences. According to Livy, Hannibal told Scipio, “What I was years ago
at Trasimene and Cannae, you are today.” Scipio is said to have replied with a message
for Carthage: “Prepare to fight because evidently you have found peace intolerable.”
The next day was set for battle.
As the two armies approached each other, the Carthaginians unloosed their 80
elephants into the ranks of the Roman infantry, but the great beasts were soon
dispersed and their threat neutralized. The failure of the elephant charge can likely be
explained by a trio of factors, with the first two being well documented and most
important. First, the elephants were not well trained. Second—and perhaps even more
vital to the outcome—Scipio had arranged his forces in maniples (small, flexible infantry
units) with broad alleys between them. He had trained his men to move to the side
when the elephants charged, locking their shields and facing the alleys as the elephants
passed by. That caused the elephants to run unimpeded through the lines with little, if
any, engagement. Third, the loud shouts and blaring trumpets of the Romans may have
disconcerted the elephants, some of which swerved to the side early in the battle and
instead attacked their own infantry, causing chaos on the front line of Hannibal’s
recruits.
Scipio’s cavalry then charged the opposing Carthaginian cavalry on the wings; the latter
fled and were pursued by Masinissa’s forces. The Roman infantry legions then
advanced and attacked Hannibal’s infantry, which consisted of three consecutive lines
of defense. The Romans crushed the soldiers of the first line and then those of the
second. However, by that time the legionnaires had become nearly exhausted—and
they had yet to close with the third line, which consisted of Hannibal’s veterans from his
Italian campaign (i.e., his best troops). At that crucial juncture, Masinissa’s Numidian
cavalry returned from their rout of the enemy cavalry and attacked the rear of the
Carthaginian infantry, who were soon crushed between the combined Roman infantry
and the cavalry assault. Some 20,000 Carthaginians died in the battle, and perhaps
20,000 were captured, while the Romans lost about 1,500 dead. The Greek
historian Polybius states that Hannibal had done all that he could as a general in battle,
especially considering the advantage held by his opponent. That Hannibal was fighting
from a position of weakness does not in any way diminish Scipio’s victory for Rome,
however. With the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal, it is likely that Zama awakened in
Rome a vision of a larger future for itself in the Mediterranean.
The Battle of Zama left Carthage helpless, and the city accepted Scipio’s peace terms
whereby it ceded Spain to Rome, surrendered most of its warships, and began paying a
50-year indemnity to Rome. Scipio was awarded the surname Africanus in tribute of his
victory. Hannibal escaped from the battle and went to his estates in the east
near Hadrumetum for some time before he returned to Carthage. For the first time in
decades, Hannibal was without a military command, and never again did he lead
Carthaginians into battle. The indemnity Rome set as payment from Carthage was
10,000 silver talents, more than three times the size of the indemnity demanded at the
conclusion of the First Punic War. Although the Carthaginians had to publicly burn at
least 100 ships, Scipio did not impose harsh terms on Hannibal himself, and Hannibal
was soon elected as suffete (civil magistrate) by popular vote to help administer a
defeated Carthage.
Conclusively ending the Second Punic War with a decisive Roman victory, the Battle of
Zama must be considered one of the most important battles in ancient history. Having
staged a successful invasion of Africa and having vanquished its canniest and mostimplacable foe, Rome began its vision of a Mediterranean empire
SENATE INDICTMENTS & RETIREMENT
Back in Rome, Scipio’s political enemies sought to harass him through petty legal
means such as accusing his brother Lucius of accepting bribes and misappropriating
funds. Scipio tore up the account books as well as the indictment and, on the floor of the
senate, asked why there was so much concern over so small an amount of money
when he had negotiated the peace with Carthage and brought so much treasure to
Rome. Senatorial persecutions continued in further small measures against him and, in
c. 185 BCE, he retired to his estate in Liternum, dying in 183 BCE (the same year in
which Hannibal died). Disgusted with the Roman government’s ingratitude, he left
instructions that he be buried near his estate and, according to ancient writers, had
`Ungrateful fatherland – You will not even have my bones’ inscribed on his tomb.
Scipio Africanus is remembered, along with Alexander the Great, Hannibal,
and Julius Caesar, as one of the greatest military minds of the ancient world. He never
lost a single engagement while the army was under his command and behaved
chivalrously toward those whom he defeated. In negotiating the peace with Carthage,
he left her those holdings she had in Africa, pardoned Hannibal (which was largely the
cause of his later persecutions by upper class Romans) and let the city keep ten
warships to protect her trade in the Mediterranean region. In doing so, he followed the
policy which he had initiated in Spain of defeating hostile forces and then initiating
healing through clemency. Scipio believed that he was favored by the gods and that he
should return that favor by living an impressive life. The record of history shows that he
more than succeeded in doing so and left a lasting name as a great general and an
honorable man.
1. What heroic feat did a young Scipio perform at the Battle at the Ticinus River?
2. How did Scipio receive his command in Spain?
3. How was he able to capture the city of Carthago Nova when he arrived in Spain?
4. What advantage helped Scipio to win the battle of Zama?
5. Why was Scipio given the surname Africanus?
6. Why do you think Scipio did not impose harsh terms on Hannibal or Carthage?