Gauda had slipped into the role with an ease and grace that made Juba shake his head in wonder. So comfortably did the mantle of command fit him that not only did Juba sometimes forget his exalted position, Gauda often seemed unaware of it himself. First, last and always, Gauda was unchangeable.
He would not wear Masinissa’s colorful robe, but he had resurfaced his shield with a fine calfskin. He had bleached it until it was a blinding white. Upon it, he had painted a crimson cross. When held aloft, it could be seen for miles. Like Masinissa’s robe, it made an excellent rally point for the troops, even though it made the bearer a target.
“I will not get killed,” he assured Juba. Juba did not doubt it. Some men were indestructible. Gauda was one of those. War would not touch him.
War had touched Juba. He wore it on his face and he wore it in the fleshy stump of his ear. He wore it in his heart. He had gotten used to people gazing at him fearfully as he walked in the street, for the scar on his face gave him a grim and evil countenance. The people could not peer into his heart, however, and the scars there were uglier still.
Now, the two men sat on their horses in the shade of a tree atop the ridge overlooking the vast landscape below them. The Carthaginian army camped to the north, at Panormus. A Roman army marched toward them from the east. The two men could see the dust clouds rising for endless miles in the distance.
The war, of course, would never end. No one had asked for peace, not after Mylae and not after Sardinia. Hanno, the general who had been defeated before Acragas, was reinstated, sent to replace Hannibal Gisgo. Initially surprised by the news, Juba considered it for all of a single heartbeat before putting it out of his mind. It mattered little that Hannibal Gisgo was dead. More generals arrived, more ships were built, more troops were levied, and more Romans marched.
“Did Pyrrhus ever attack Panormus?” Gauda wondered as they watched the rising dust.
“He attacked Eryx,” Juba said. “Gelon fought at his side there.”
“The Romans come to attack Panormus,” Gauda observed. “I guess they don’t care what Pyrrhus did.”
“They were enemies,” Juba said. “The Romans defeated him. On top of that, Pyrrhus was crazy.”
“See them coming? How many, do you think?”
Juba shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. Let them come. They will never take Panormus.”
Gauda raised an eyebrow and looked at his friend.
“The Carthaginians will not come out to fight them,” Juba explained. “They will remain inside and the Romans will go away.”
Gauda snorted. “The Romans will never go away,” he said. “They have ships now.”
“Probably not,” Juba agreed. He had begun to understand that it was not in the Roman nature to stop a thing once it had begun.
“Well,” Gauda said after a pause, “what do you say we assemble your troop and go have a closer look at them?”
His troop had always been called “Juba’s troop,” even when Gauda had commanded it. He rode down the hill and told the men of the approaching Romans. As he spoke, they listened grimly, with an air of calm confidence. He knew they had no fear of the Romans, for the Romans had never bested them. Gauda rode up alongside him and, with a word from Juba, the eleven of them — Gauda and the men of Juba’s troop — rode off to the east to scout the Roman columns to find out how many they were.
THE END
Historical Note
So how much of what you have just read is true? At least as it pertains to the major events in the book, the answer is: most of it. Like the historical characters, however, many of the main events described in The War God’s Men are merely single line mentions in the historical record. As a novelist, I have embellished them and fleshed them out to fit the story. How each of these events are handled by history and in the novel is detailed below.
Characters
Confusingly, Carthaginian generals all seemed to have the same handful of names. Accounts of the war are overrun with various Hannos and Hannibals and Hamilcars. It can be difficult to keep them all straight.
It is important to note that the Hannibal in this war is not the famous Hannibal Barca, he of the elephants crossing the Alps, with whom most people are familiar. Our Hannibal is Hannibal, son of Gisgo, known in the novel as Hannibal Gisgo. Our Hamilcar is not Hannibal Barca’s famous father, either, but a different Hamilcar.
Most of the high-level military characters in the novel are real people — or at least are those whose names appear in history, even though little else is known about them.
Juba and the Numidians, Gelon, and the Liparian and Celtic characters are all complete fabrications.
Crossing the Strait, 264 B.C.
The historical record concerning the initial Roman crossing of the strait is a muddled mess. Below is a simplified list of the primary stories.
Appius Claudius Caudex crosses unopposed with his army at night.
Appius Claudius Caudex is attacked while crossing. The Carthaginians lose a ship that the Romans will later use as a model for their own fleet.
The tribune Gaius Claudius crosses in a small boat to negotiate. Unsuccessful, he then tries to transport the army across but is turned back by a combination of Carthaginian action and bad weather. Wishing to avoid war, the Carthaginians offer to return the captured ships and prisoners to Rome. When Rome refuses, the Carthaginians tell them that they will not allow Romans to even “wash their hands in the sea.” The tribune finally crosses with the army unopposed.
As a novelist, story 1 is a non-starter. I have therefore chosen a combination of 2 and 3, even though some historians doubt the account of the Romans using the Carthaginian ship as a model for their own fleet.
It should also be noted that the Hanno who occupied Messana at this time was a different Hanno from the one in the novel. The real Hanno in Messana was “tricked” somehow into leaving the city. For this, he was crucified by Carthaginian authorities, a common punishment for unsuccessful generals.
The Siege of Acragas
Acragas is better known to history as Agrigentum, the modern Agrigento. Acragas was the Greek name for the city. It would not become Agrigentum until it was finally conquered by Rome during the Second Punic War, some fifty years after the events of this book.
The siege began in June of 262 B.C. and ended in Roman victory in January of 261. It is not clear what sort of troops Hannibal Gisgo had under his command inside the city. They might have been a collection of garrison troops from throughout Sicily. I have made them the advance elements of Hanno’s mercenary army.
It is true that the Romans approached the city lackadaisically and the Carthaginians within the city attacked them. The Romans, though shocked by the attack, prevailed in this small battle.
It is also true that the town housing the Roman army’s supply stockpile, Herbesos (actual whereabouts unknown), was betrayed to Carthage when Hanno’s army arrived in October. It is true that Hanno’s Numidian cavalry defeated the Roman cavalry using tactics similar to those detailed in the novel. It is true that Hanno’s army took up a position on a hilltop called “Toros”.
Once the Carthaginian army had captured the Roman supply stockpile at Herbesos, the Roman army itself suffered from hunger. Only the efforts of their ally, King Hiero II of Syracuse, kept it supplied and the siege intact.
The Battle of Acragas
Ancient historians tell several different versions of the battle, some of which include sallies by Hannibal’s troops inside the city and various ruses, all of which seem improbable. I have largely followed the story told by the Greek historian Polybius, that of a standard set-piece battle. He makes no mention of any sally from inside the city. He says that Hanno had placed his elephants behind his first line of infantry. When the Romans drove the infantry back on the elephants, the rampaging beasts caused the rout of the entire army. This battle represents Carthage’s first use of war elephants, and this inexperience may be reflected in their deployment of the animals where they co
uld do little good.
In any case, the Carthaginian army was routed and fled to Heraclea Minoa.
Hannibal’s Escape and the Massacre of the Celts
Hannibal and his army escaped during the night after the battle by filling large baskets packed full of straw and using them to cross the Roman ditches.
It is true that a group of Celtic mercenaries were intentionally sacrificed by the Carthaginians about this time. However, the Celts, some 4,000 of them, were in Hanno’s army and not inside the city. They complained about a not having been paid and were planning to desert to the Romans. Either Hanno or his successor, Hamilcar, sent them out to forage, secretly informing the Romans. The Romans massacred them.
The Fate of Acragas
Having defeated Hanno’s relief force, the Romans sacked Acragas and enslaved the entire population. The people were bought by Hiero, who restored their freedom.
The Roman Fleet
The Romans actually built their fleet in 260 B.C., and not 261 as the novel has it. (In reality, a year passed between the Battle of Acragas and the Roman decision to build their fleet. It was a year of largely fruitless effort, not exactly the stuff of high drama.) It is true that the fleet consisted of 100 quinqueremes and twenty triremes and was built in sixty days. It is true that the Romans trained their inexperienced rowers on land, in a method similar to that described in the novel.
The training exercises conducted in Syracuse is a fabrication of this author. Scipio actually took the first twenty ships directly to Messana from Italy.
The Corvus and Archimedes
History does not record the inventor of the corvus, although historians speculate that it might have been a Syracusan, perhaps even Archimedes, who would have been a very young man at this time.
When it came to identifying the inventor for the novel, this was an easy decision to make. Who could resist Archimedes?
Battle off the Cape of Italy
According to Polybius, Hannibal encountered the Roman fleet off the “cape of Italy” and lost most of his fifty ships.
The first question is the location of the “cape of Italy,” Supposedly, it refers to the Cape of Vaticano in southern Italy. This is where I suppose the “battle” to have occurred.
Many historians doubt that this battle actually took place at all, or was exaggerated or was even a garbled account of the Battle of Mylae. I am in the doubters’ camp. Shortly after this supposed engagement, Hannibal, during the Battle of Mylae, is said to have held the Roman fleet in such contempt that he attacked over-confidently and without regard to formation. It is hard to believe that he could have lost “most” of fifty ships to them just weeks before and not have approached them with greater caution and respect.
Furthermore, if the inexperienced corvi-less Roman fleet had won such a resounding victory over the Carthaginians in their first engagement, the corvus would not have been considered such a necessity to their eventual victory at Mylae.
For these reasons, I have made the engagement at the cape a chance encounter in the fog, lessening its impact on Hannibal’s perception of the Romans.
The Lipara Incident
While in Messana, Scipio received an offer to have the Carthaginian city of Lipara betrayed to him. Whether this was a legitimate offer or a Carthaginian trick is not known. In any case, word reached Hannibal of the plot and he dispatched Boodes to thwart it.
Scipio was indeed captured by the Carthaginians. He must have been ransomed or exchanged, however, for, interestingly, he was made consul again six years later, despite the nickname “She-ass”.
Boodes
Boodes is one of the more intriguing characters in this war. He is mentioned exactly once by Polybius, who calls him “a member of the Senate”.
Unlike Roman consuls, Carthaginian generals were not also members of the ruling Council (Polybius’ “Senate”), but professional soldiers, though they were selected from the aristocratic class. Carthage often sent representatives of the Council to accompany generals in the field as overseers. This sounds like what Boodes might have been. But, if this is true, it seems odd that Hannibal would have sent him on a military mission to capture Scipio’s fleet at Lipara.
There may be a simpler explanation for the identity of Boodes than the one offered by this novel. It could be that Boodes’ mission to Lipara was not intended to be a military one, itself an intriguing possibility. Once it became known in Lipara that Rome was building a fleet, the Liparians must have known they had a big target painted on their chests. It may be that Hannibal became aware that Liparian allegiance to Carthage was wavering and sent the nobleman Boodes to steel their spines. The twenty ships that accompanied him were a show of force intended to either reassure or intimidate. A military expedition, knowing the size of Scipio’s fleet, would have comprised more than twenty ships, in my opinion. Therefore, this may even be the most likely explanation for Boodes’ mission to Lipara. That he encountered Scipio’s fleet in the harbor was a happy accident.
However, historians do not address the issue. Boodes’ identity as a “nobleman” or “member of the Inner Council” or whatever is offered without question.
In fact, it was this mystery that prompted me to write The War God’s Men in the first place. When I found in Brian Caven’s The Punic Wars the line that Hannibal must have “possessed considerable influence at Carthage” to escape punishment for Mylae, I was intrigued. Could our mystery-man Boodes have provided this influence?
Thermae and Macella
Polybius says that Duilius took Macella “by assault”. The exact manner of the taking was left up to this author’s imagination.
The capture of Thermae, on the other hand, is based on factual detail, with some important alterations.
In the novel, the Carthaginians capture the Thermaeian gatekeeper when he is relieving himself outside the walls. In exchange for his life, he offers to betray the city to them. When the Carthaginians attempt to occupy the city, many of their soldiers are massacred by treachery.
This is basically a true account, except that it occurred a couple of years later to the Romans. When the gatekeeper opened the gates to them, 1,000 Romans entered the city and closed the gates behind them, hoping to keep all the booty for themselves. When the people of Thermae saw how few Romans there were, they massacred them. Shortly afterward, when the Romans captured Thermae for good, they found it deserted, the populace having been evacuated by the Carthaginians. There is no record of the fate of the gatekeeper, though he is responsible for one of the most celebrated urinations in all of ancient history.
Gaius Caecilius
According to Polybius, when Duilius left the army to take over command of the fleet after Scipio’s capture, he left his military tribunes in charge. The historian Zonaras (as detailed in J. F. Lazenby’s indispensable book The First Punic War) says that Hamilcar destroyed a Roman force near Segesta commanded by a tribune named Gaius Caecilius. The manner and extent of the destruction is this author’s invention.
The Battle of Mylae
Hannibal lured the Romans to battle by ravaging the area around Mylae. When the Roman fleet arrived, Hannibal, knowing of the inexperienced and unskilled Roman crews, attacked so confidently that he paid no heed to formation. The corvi came as a complete shock to the Carthaginians. Hannibal lost his flagship and escaped in the ship’s boat.
The Massacre of the Syracusans
Polybius says that the Romans and their allies (I made them Syracusans) were camping separately due to an argument over who had most distinguished themselves in their battles. Hamilcar, hearing of this, surprised the allies in their camp and killed 4,000 of them.
The Captains of Repute and Hannibal’s Execution
Even though Hannibal escaped punishment for his defeat at Mylae, Carthage sent him back to Sicily with “some of the captains of repute,” presumably some distinguished naval officers. Shortly after this, in Sardinia, Hannibal is defeated in a naval battle and is crucified by mutinous officers of hi
s fleet.
Although history does not link the “captains of repute” to Hannibal’s execution, I find it too much of a coincidence to ignore.
Pyrrhus of Epirus
Pyrrhus was the most famous soldier of his age. Hannibal Barca ranked him second only to Alexander and ahead of Hannibal himself. Presumably, much of his fame sprang from a book he had written on military tactics or strategy. Had this book not been lost to history, we would undoubtedly be more familiar with Pyrrhus today. His campaigns in the 270s B.C. in Greece, Italy and Sicily were marred by his inability or unwillingness to finish anything he had begun. While he may have had a short attention span, I think Juba’s assessment of him, that he was crazy, is probably a bit harsh.
The story Gelon tells about him is true, but it occurred in Italy against Italians and not at Eryx against Carthaginians as the novel has it.
The flagship of the Carthaginian fleet was indeed a septireme captured from Pyrrhus in 275.
Be sure not to miss
THE BLOOD GATE
The exciting new epic fantasy novel from
David Ross Erickson, author of The War God’s Men
Available Soon on Kindle
Please visit DavidRossErickson.blogspot.com for more info
Here’s a special preview
The Blood Gate
The men who remained behind with the Shadow Riders were the lucky ones. The two Menleco had brought to Irrylia with him were anything but.
The old general shivered at the notion. If it had not caused him such anguish to capture the pair, he might have felt pity for them. But the effort had cost him two of his Shadow Riders, and that he could never forgive. A dead Rider was an abomination. It gave people hope and made his job that much more difficult.
The War God's Men Page 40