Battle of Utica

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Utica


partof= Carthage's Mercenary War
date=238 BC
place=Utica, Tunisia
result=Carthaginian victory
combatant1=Carthage
combatant2=Rebel mercenaries Rebelling Libyan towns and cities.
commander1=Hanno the Great [Polybius [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/1*.html#73 1:73.1] .] , Hamilcar Barca [Polybius [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/1*.html#75 1:75.1] ] .
commander2=Uncertain: Spendius and Mathos are mentioned repeatedly as leading the mercenary mutiny, along with other minor commanders, but a specific commander is not mentioned for this engagement.
strength1=Hanno Uncertain. Forces included "no less than a hundred" war elephants [Polybius [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/1*.html#75 1:75.1-75.2] .] Hamilcar About 10,000 mixed militia and mercenaries with 70 war elephants [Polybius [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/1*.html#74 1:74.3] .] .
strength2=Unclear, an estimated 20,000. Total Mercenary and Libyan forces are accounted at about 70,000, although these were split among Utica, Hippacritae, and Tunis [Polybius [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/1*.html#73 1:73.4] ] .
casualties1=
casualties2=

:"For the battle occurring during Caesar's civil war, see Battle of Utica (49 BC)".The Battle of Utica (c.238 BC) was the first major engagement in the Mercenary War between Carthaginian forces and the combined forces of Carthage's former mercenary armies which it used to conduct the First Punic War and those of rebelling Libyan cities. The forces of Hanno the Great broke the siege of Utica, but failed to mount any meaningful defence of the city once they liberated it, or to maintain sentries. As a result, the Carthaginian forces suffered heavy losses when the mercenary forces counter-attacked, captured the Carthaginian baggage and equipment, and besieged the army of Hanno within Utica. The Carthaginian forces were rescued by an army under the command of Hamilcar Barca who broke the siege of Utica. This engagement was the first major conflict of the war. It had ramifications for the internal politics of Carthage: as the debacle under Hanno's command prompted the eventual transfer of supreme command of the Carthaginian armies from Hanno to Hamilcar Barca, thus increasing the influence and fortunes of the Barcid family, whose most famous member, Hannibal Barca, would go on to command the Carthaginian forces in the Second Punic War.

Background

The conditions of the treaty between Rome and Carthage which ended the First Punic War put Carthage in an economic and military dilemma. It found that, after paying Rome the indemnity which was part of the treaty [Polybius, [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/1*.html#62 1:62.8-63.3] .] , it could not easily pay the army of some 20,000 mercenaries it had employed to fight against RomePolybius, [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/1*.html#66 66.5] , and [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/1*.html#68 1:68.12] ] . Delays in dealing with the mercenaries eventually led to the gathering of the entire army in Sicca Veneria (modern El Kef), where they demanded payment from the Carthaginian negotiator Hanno the Great [Polybius, [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/1*.html#66 1:66.6-66.12] .] . When Hanno refused, and negotiations broke down, the mercenaries seized Tunis, and extorted a much higher settlement of their contract than they had originally demanded [Appian, [http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_sicily.html#%A74 2.7] ; Polybius, [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/1*.html#67 1:67.1-68.13] .] . Events may have ended there, but two mercenary leaders, Spendius and Mathos, fomented revolt among the Libyan troops, for their own personal reasons, and were able eventually to persuade the entire mercenary army to revolt. The mercenaries seized the Carthaginian negotiators, and called upon the Libyan towns and cities under Carthaginian control to join the revolt. This the Libyans did, except for the cities of Utica and Hippacritae and the rebels quickly besieged the two loyalist cities [Polybius, [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/1*.html#68 1:68.4-68.13] .] .

The Carthaginians raised an army under the command of Hanno the Great, who set out to raise the siege of Utica.

Battle

Aftermath

Bibliography

Note: The main source for information about "The Mercenary War" comes from Polybius, a Greek historian writing many years after the events portrayed here, because no Punic primary sources survived into modern times. It is likely that he based much of his account on now-lost works of prior Greek and Roman historians, who are unlikely to have had an unbiased view of Carthage.
* Polybius, [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Polybius/1*.html#70 "The Histories"] .
* Appian, "History of Rome: The Sicilian Wars".

Footnotes

External links