The Rhone River valley which Hannibal was crossing was the land of the Volcae. This powerful tribe was not going to let Hannibal cross the river. They withdrew most of their people living on the west bank to the opposite bank. When Hannibal arrived, he faced a hostile host on Read more…
Publius Cornelius Scipio (Scipio Africanus’ father) crossed the Po River to try to make contact with Hannibal’s army which had recently completed its crossing of the Alps. Scouts reported that the Carthaginian army was at the Trebia River. He had a pontoon bridge constructed. He crossed and established a camp. Read more…
The Roman legion was organized into maniples. These were like loose phalanxes. The hastati and principes maniples had 120 men each and the triarii had 60. It is unclear how the men were placed in the hastati and principes maniples. It could have been 10 men across and 12 Read more…
The Romans were advanced in medicine and they knew that diet affected the health of the legionaries. We have information about the diet of the Roman Empire soldier. We will assume a legionary fighting in the Second Punic War would have eaten similarly. In forts, the cooks could make bread. Read more…
The Roman army provided excellent medical care. In fact, Roman medical care was not equaled until the 18th Century. As with other fields, the Romans built from a Greek foundation. In conquering southern Italy, the Romans came in contact with Greek doctors who were far ahead of Roman doctors. Read more…
In 1898, Morgan Robertson published a novel entitled Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan which was about the sinking of an ocean liner on a cold night in April, 900 miles from New York. His ship had a triple screw like the Titanic. It was 882 feet Read more…
The sword used by Scipio’s army in Spain in the Second Punic War was the famous gladius Hispaniensus (“the Spanish sword”), usually referred to as simply the gladius. It has been called the weapon that won an empire. It was probably adopted from the Iberians in the Second Punic War Read more…
The key to a legionary’s survival was the shield. It was called a scutum. Polybius describes it as being rectangular and 2 ½ foot wide and 4 feet tall. “It consists of two layers of wood fastened together with bull’s-hide glue; the outer surface of which is first covered with Read more…
The army of the Second Punic is sometimes called the manipular army or the Polybian army. The word legion comes from the Latin word for a gathering or a levy. This was a reference to the method of forming the army. When the two consuls were appointed, they called Read more…
In 249, Rome lost another entire fleet to a storm. Carthage returned to mastery of the sea. Were there any trees left in Italy to build another fleet and enough plebeians to man it? You would think the Romans had had enough of naval warfare and its meteorological capriciousness. Read more…