Xanthippus of Carthage

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   Xanthippus of Carthage

-"Just about this time there arrived at Carthage one of the recruiting-officers they had formerly dispatched to Greece, bringing a considerable number of soldiers and among them a certain Xanthippus of Lacedaemon, a man who had been brought up in the Spartan discipline, and had had a fair amount of military experience" (Polybius, 1.32.1).

-"the Carthaginians, considering that their misfortunes were due to bad generalship, asked the Lacedaemonians to send them a commander. The Lacedaemonians sent them Xanthippus." (Appian, 3.2).

-"... various allies came to the Carthaginians, among them Xanthippus from Sparta. This man assumed absolute authority over the Carthaginians, since the populace was eager to entrust matters to his charge and Hamilcar together with the other officials stepped aside voluntarily" (Zonaras, 8.13).

Xanthippus is a man very little is known about. Recruited in Sparta by Carthaginian handlers in their quest to find aid against the Romans in the First Punic War, Xanthippus led a contingent of 500 Greek mercenaries to the far off lands. Upon arrival, Xanthippus was given complete control over all mercenary forces in the employ of Carthage, as well as the reduced and suffering Carthaginian war machine when battle with the Roman Consul, Marcus Atilius Regulus, seemed inevitable.

Quickly noticing that the Carthaginians were not utilizing their cavalry and elephants properly due to a fear of open ground and the Roman foot soldier, Xanthippus quickly retrained and reorganized the way that each of these potentially devastating aspects of Carthage's military would be deployed. In addition, Xanthippus levied more citizen soldiers and ordered them trained in the current style of Greek phalanxes, and prepared them for the frontal assualt. His retraining and reorganizing of the soldiers under his command had them screaming to be led against the Romans, full of confidence in themselves and in their commander.

According to Polybius, Regulus was coming to be agitated that another may soon be sent from Rome, and the glory of ending this conflict would fall to him. He was spoiling for a fight, that would soon be his. He would get his fight as Xanthippus marched his men into the open ground they so used to fear. The two forces lined up, and at the end of the day, Regulus was a prisoner of Xanthippus, and the Roman army was wiped out.

For five years Regulus remained a "guest" of Carthage till he was paroled on the condition that he would seek peace in the Roman Senate. Upon his arrival to Rome, he denounced his parole and beseeched the Senate to continue fighting. Defeated yet honorable, Regulus was returned to Carthage to face his fate, execution by torture.

Xanthippus on the other hand went on to a second victory for Carthage. Deploying to Lilybaeum, which was under siege by the Romans, Xanthippus led them in battle breaking the siege and scattering the Roman forces. From this point the fate of Xanthippus becomes murky. One of possibly three outcomes have been reported for him. The first, he simply returned to Greece, waiting for further conflict, and further payment. The second, he was sent home by jealous members of the citizenry of Lilybaeum, on a sabotaged vessel which sank, killing all aboard including Xanthippus. The third, and the one I would like to think was true, especially after his performance against Rome, was that he lived out his days as a Govenor for Ptolemy III Euergetes in a newly obtained province. 

Some friends of mine have postulated that perhaps Xanthippus never truly existed. The idea is that since the primary source of his accomplishments comes from Polybius, a pro-Roman Greek, he may have been fabricated to cover the idea of a loss to Carthage. Any thoughts? 

Edited by okamido - 24-Oct-2011 at 17:53