#punic wars

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

>Be Publius Claudius Pulcher. No, not THAT one, you're his ancestor during the First Punic War.

>Be so sexy (pulcher) that all your descendants are named the Sexy Claudii after you.

>So sexy. But so stupid.

>Nevertheless you are Hot, Rich and Famous Enough to get elected consul for 249 BCE, just in time to lead Rome's navy against the Carthaginians in battle.

>Hold up. "Navy?" Boats are for LOSERS. How are you supposed to look cool shanking Carthaginians if they're on another boat?

>You and a hundred other smelly unwashed dudes are crammed onto a dumb pointy boat with some fucking chickens. Sacred chickens. Because birds are messengers of the gods or some shit like that.

>You can see the enemy ships right there but nooo you're not allowed to attack them until the chickens are cool with it, and the chickens won't fucking eat.

>You did not spend oodles of sesterces to become consul and blow lunch over the side of a stinky boat just for chickens to tell you what to do.

>If they will not eat then let them DRINK. You hurl the chickens off the boat and command the fleet to plow full speed ahead.

>Carthage beats your ass so bad Rome doesn't attempt to fight a sea battle for seven years, and the Carthaginians comfortably put most of their ships in reserve.

>You are hauled in front of the Senate, charged with treason and sacrilege, exiled, and die soon afterward.

>Your sexiness, however, lives on.

[illustratus]

Hannibal Crossing the Alps by Francisco Goya

[lionofchaeronea]

Hannibal Crosses the Alps on an Elephant, Nicolas Poussin (attribution contested), ca. 1625-26

[mapsontheweb]

The Second Punic War (218 - 201 BCE).

[memories-of-ancients]

The Forgotten Battle of Silva Litana, Autumn 216 BC

The year 216 BC was certainly a bad year for Roman civilization and perhaps the worst year of the Roman Republic’s history. Two years into the Second Punic War Hannibal Barca and his Carthaginian Army had crossed the Alps and marched deep into Italy. 

In the summer of 216 BC the Romans assembled the largest Roman army in their history up to that point in order to stop Hannibal once and for all. The two armies met on August 2nd near Cannae in southern Italy. Despite being heavily outnumbered, the Carthaginians managed to surround and annihilate the Roman Army, leaving only 15,000 survivors out of an army of 85,000. The Battle of Cannae would go down in history as Hannibal’s greatest victory, and one of Rome’s worst defeats. In the aftermath another embarrassing and devastating defeat would occur which today is little known, being overshadowed by the horrors of Cannae. Yet the massacre at Silva Litana was in many ways just as devastating and the tactics used would rival the best of Hannibal in terms of ingenuity and brilliance.

Merely a few months after the Battle of Cannae, the Roman Consul Lucius Postumius Albinus raised an army of 25,000 men in order to retaliate against the Boii, a Celtic tribe living in Cisalpine Gaul (Northern Italy) who had allied with and given support to Hannibal. The route took the army through a heavily wooded forest called Litana.

Unfortunately for the Romans, the Boii had predicted this route and had readied a clever ambush.  The only way through the forest was a single small road. Along the road the Boii had cut large notches in the trees so that they would remain standing if unsupported, but could be easily knocked over. Once the Roman army had march deep within the forest, the Boii sprang from their hiding places and began pushing dozens of trees onto the Romans. The large trees easily crushed men, horses, and wagons, and broke apart Roman formations leading to panic and chaos among the Romans. The Roman army broke and scattered in terror as the Boii attacked, allowing the Boii to easily pick off scattered groups of soldiers. The Boii took no prisoners, executing all who surrendered. Out of the 25,000 Romans who marched into the forest, only 10 are said to have escaped, a survival rate that was far worse than even Cannae.

The disaster at Silva Litana only added more bad news for Rome, sending the city into a panic. In desperation the Romans resorted to human sacrifice to appease the gods while recruiting criminals and slaves in order to rebuild the Roman Army. Fortunately for Rome, this was a time in history when the Roman military machine could take a lot of punishment but still keep fighting. After the disasters at Cannae and Litana the Romans changed strategy, preferring to avoid direct battle with Hannibal, instead opening up new fronts in the war to spread out Carthaginian resources. Instead of trying to defeat the Carthaginians with a few decisive battles, the Roman’s settled on slowly grinding down the enemy through long attrition. Hannibal would never conquer Italy or Rome, and while the Romans could afford to lose tens of thousands of men, the Carthaginians could not. While the Romans had the resources to play the long game, the Carthaginians did not. As for the Boii, the Romans retaliated in 193 BC and defeated them at the Battle of Mutina and forced the entire tribe to flee from northern Italy. 

[historynerdj2]

History memes #28

[catilinas]

no ship wars <- rome putting restrictions on the carthaginian fleet at the end of the second punic war

[ancientorigins]

The ancient world was a deadly time to be alive. Plagues, epidemics, venereal disease, and war amongst others kept mortality rates high and life expectancy low. Death in ancient Rome and Greece was an everyday thing.

[i-bring-crack]

*48 hours after being introduced with a punic war hyperixation* There needs to be a Second Punic War Musical for god's sake WHERE IS HOLLYWOOD---

[jacobpking]

The Evolution of Scipio and Hannibal Two of the most fascinating characters in antiquity. Their rivalry and eventual respect is the stuff of legend, so I just had to draw them.

[xinanigans]

HES ALIVE!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!!

[just-late-roman-republic-things]

I'm not even into military history but the Second Punic War goes so hard:

A cycle of revenge across two continents

Tactical and strategic brilliance

Deadly ramifications of colonialism and toxic masculinity

Gender-nonconforming Scipio Africanus

Hannibal the child soldier with generational trauma

Defense of the realm allocated to a man named Mr. Bean

Mr. Bean refuses to actually fight Hannibal and it WORKS

Motherfucking elephants crossing the motherfucking Alps

Scipio letting his arch-nemesis go free because, after twenty years of war, they've developed a grudging mutual respect, and have more in common with each other than with their own governments

Where is the enemies to lovers lesbian fanfiction??

[illustratus]

Hannibal recognises the head of his brother Hasdrubal

by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

[geekysteven]

Them: you'll get more conservative as you get older

Me:

[Image description illustration of Cato the Elder addressing the Roman Senate. Text with a gradient matching the trans flag reads "Furthermore, trans kids must be protected"]

[mapsontheweb]

The Punic Wars, 3rd century BC.

by LegendesCarto

[itswilliamleonard]

it's Study Hell Comix but not as we know it,