Sardinians in the Second Punic War

[Jim Webster]

We know from Livy that the Sardinians revolted, the Carthaginians sent a force, and the Romans also sent a force and 'restored order.'
(Livy 23  34)

Some of the Sardinians were 'Sardi-Pelliti (clothed in skins). These may have been 'irregulars or guerrillas'
But according to Livy
Hampsicora himself [The leader of the revolt] happened to be absent; he had paid a visit to the Pelliti-Sardinians in order to arm the younger men amongst them so as to increase his own strength.

So according to this, the main rebel force was not these Sardi-Pelliti. Hampsicora was apparently raising a force based at the city of Cornus which was apparently a Punic settlement originally.
So are the forces he is leading going to look like 'Carthaginian' citizen infantry either with spear and round shield or with a thureos and a couple of javelins?
Also the Nuragic culture still hung on, so had they fallen under Punic influence or had they influenced the Punic inhabitants?

[Duncan Head]

Again, Sardo produces the rams that grow goat-hair instead of wool; they are called, however, "musmones,"⁠(mouflons) and it is with the hides of these that the people there make their cuirasses. They also use a light shield (pelte) and a small dagger (xiphidio).

- Strabo 5.2.7

The short swords, light shields, and hide cuirasses do sound quite like the equipment of some of the nuraghic figurines, so there would seem to have been some degree of continuity.

[Dave Knight]

The most recent WSS (139)  has a scenario for the battle of Cornus on Sardinia in this period.  I have no idea how accurate it is but I expect to give it a run through with Wars of the Republic

[Jim Webster]

Another issue is the initial garrison of Sardinia. Some people talk about there being only one legion. All I've been able to find in Livy is "The army, too, which was quartered there, though strong enough for the occupation of a peaceable province, was quite inadequate for the war which seemed likely to break out. "

OK so what have I missed?

[DBS]

It may well be an inferred garrison of one legion, rather than an explicit statement anywhere: the governor who fell ill just before the rebellion in the Second Punic was Quintus Mucius Scaevola, a propraetor, (his predecessor was a propraetor as well) and they usually commanded single legion armies.  Presumably but not necessarily with an allied ala, or possibly even wholly composed of allies, if Livy was correct in reporting the deployment of an Etruscan "legion" as an independent force during the Telamon campaign.  Scaevola was appointed a year after Cannae, so unless Rome particularly suspected pro-Punic unreliability, it would not have been the highest priority for forces at a time when even the Romans were struggling for manpower.

[Jim Webster]

It's trying to get the numbers to work 

We have the 'end point'. We know that the senate decided that "Fulvius Flaccus should raise a force of 5000 infantry and 400 cavalry and arrange for its immediate transport to Sardinia."
We then know that
"T. Manlius hauled ashore his war-ships and furnished the seamen and rowers with arms, so that they might be available for service on land; with these and the army he had taken over from the praetor he made up a force of 22,000 infantry and 1200 cavalry."


So working out on my fingers that means that 17,000 infantry were either members of the original garrison, or armed rowers etc.

Looking at the cavalry, he brought with him 400 and then deployed 1200. So I would assume he didn't convert rowers into cavalry, which means there were 800 on the island.
So that would look to be the cavalry of two legions, or perhaps one allied ala with a strong cavalry arm?

If we assume two weak formations (combined between 6000 and 8000). Given that the Roman commander, "had been affected by the unhealthy climate and impure water and had fallen into an illness which was tedious rather than dangerous, and would make him for some considerable time unfit to bear the responsibilities of war." it seems a bit strange that none of his men were also suffering.

So if we guess the garrison at 8,000 infantry and 800 cavalry due to illness etc, this means that 9000 infantry have come from the ships.

So we don't know how many ships there were. Which is useful.    But the commander was told to get his own men across. So let us assume he just manned ships that were laid up.
So 5000 legionaries would provide the marines for between 40 and 50 ships.
If we assume you could strip somewhere between 200 and 300 rowers etc off a ship (I'm not entirely convinced that everything was a quinquereme) the rowers from 36 ships would give you the number of 'extra infantry' that were raised.
So if we guess 40 ships plus some horse transports etc, and this means we have

Two weak 'legions'
One reasonably strong legion but given it was raised after Cannae, what proportion of debtors and slaves it contained and how much armour men wore is open to discussion.
9000 oarsmen and sailors.

When it comes to kitting out these oarsmen and sailors, we do know that Legions carried spare shields  (because they were 'disposable' because in the past the Romans had handed out shields to lesser 'troops' to pass them off as legionaries.
Also there would probably be some store of weapons in Roman bases in Sardinia.
So I'd suggest a high proportion of these oarsmen had a legionary scutum, probably a sword, doubtless javelins, and some would have other shields that were lying about.

So there you are, spurious accuracy and guesswork, I apologise for a total lack of sophistry 

[DBS]

Not unreasonable at all...  given the existing force was a garrison, a type of Roman force on which the annalists are disappointingly vague but which often seem to have been mostly or wholly allied in source, it may well be that it did not fit a neat Polybian model.  And whilst no Republican Roman would ever admit it, extra cavalry might well have been a benefit in patrolling an island, just as long as no Roman equites were being employed on such menial and tedious tasks away from home for a protracted period.

Running about the hills and forests was probably better suited to more lightly armed chaps, whether oarsmen or debtors, anyway.

[Jim Webster]

Cavalry patrolling makes a lot of sense in the South West which was the important, fertile, grain growing area. This is one bit the tourists probably never see

You cannot view this attachment.


Indeed when you look at the physical map of the island, yes a lot of mountains, but the important bit both Carthaginians and Romans wanted was the fertile grain exporting bit
The campaign seems to have happened in that long green 'valley'You cannot view this attachment.

None of the Imperial powers had tried to do too much in the north and away from the coast.

[stevenneate]

Jim - I can see a JW Slingshot article in this discussion....

[stevenneate]

The most recent WSS (139)  has a scenario for the battle of Cornus on Sardinia in this period.  I have no idea how accurate it is but I expect to give it a run through with Wars of the Republic.

And write about it for Slingshot I hope? The Forum recently had a discussion about rule sets and games not being written about in Slingshot!

[Jim Webster]

Jim - I can see a JW Slingshot article in this discussion....

The initial idea was as a campaign for the club but a slingshot article seems fair 

[stevenneate]

Yes! Sardinia's part in the Punic Wars is a subject I have never looked at or read about, so I will be enlightened at the very least.

[DBS]

Funnily enough, when I was in my mid teens I seriously considered a Punic War Sardinian campaign, reckoning that one could keep forces quite limited to a legion or two on the Roman side and a hodge podge of Carthaginian mercs on the other, but I was stymied by the problem of finding a good, large map of the island that was not covered in modern towns and roads.  Forty and some years on, maybe should revisit if my Punic armies ever take shape again...

[Jim Webster]

Ironically both sides are something of a hodge podge 

[Jon Freitag]

The 215BCE Battle of Caralis has been a frequent fixture on our gaming tables in both 6mm and 28mm using the C3i scenario for Commands & Colors.