Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The performance of the Carthaginian elephant corps was rather mixed, illustrating the need of proper tactics to take advantage of the elephant's strength and cover its weaknesses. At Adyss in 255 BC, the Carthaginian elephants were ineffective due to the terrain, while at the battle of Panormus in 251 BC the Romans' velites were able to terrify ...
Mathos ordered two groups of rebels north to blockade the two main cities – other than Carthage – that had not already come over: the major ports of Utica and Hippo (modern Bizerte). [27] Hanno, as the commander of Carthage's African army, took the field with an army of 8,000–10,000 men and 100 war elephants. [23]
Roman bronze statue of a war elephant. Carthaginian frescoes [10] and coins [5] minted by whoever controlled North Africa at various times show very small elephants, perhaps 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) at the shoulder, with the large ears and concave back typical of modern African elephants.
Several Roman writers give accounts of Surus, a large elephant with a tusk broken. According to Plautus, Surus wore a red cloth, and may also have carried a red shield and a howdah (a construction on the animal's back), which served as a platform for Hannibal, who had difficulties overlooking the battlefield after losing one eye from an infection.
The elephant battery in Peshawar During World War I, elephants pulled heavy equipment. This one worked in a munitions yard in Sheffield. An elephant pulling a Supermarine Walrus aircraft, India, June 1944. With the advent of gunpowder warfare in the late 15th century, the balance of advantage for war elephants on the battlefield began to change.
Battle of Zama Part of the Second Punic War Date 202 BC Location Zama, North Africa (near modern Siliana, Tunisia) 36°17′56″N 9°26′57″E / 36.29889°N 9.44917°E / 36.29889; 9.44917 Result Roman victory Belligerents Rome Carthage Commanders and leaders Publius Cornelius Scipio Hannibal Strength c. 30,000 c. 24,000 infantry c. 6,000 cavalry 40,000 or 50,000 36,000 or 46,000 ...
After the final Carthaginian naval defeat at the Aegates Islands, [3] the Carthaginians surrendered in the First Punic War. [4] Hamilcar Barca (Barca meaning lightning), [5] a leading member of the patriotic Barcine party in Carthage and a general in the First Punic War, sought to remedy the losses that Carthage had suffered in Sicily to the Romans.
The idea that mercantile business and warlike spirit are contradictory dates to the Age of Enlightenment [23] and is generally not shared by ancient sources, such as Virgil, who writes in Aeneid 1,444f. on Carthage: for this reason shall the people be glorious in war and acquire food easily for centuries (sic nam fore bello / egregiam et ...