Total War Rome: Destroy Carthage (44 page)

Scipio's absorption of Greek culture was undoubtedly shaped and restrained by Polybius – himself, of course, a Greek but by no means an uncritical philhellene. Polybius' admiration for the Roman character is revealed in his account of Scipio's reputation for temperance, at that time something that marked him out in Rome, owing to ‘the moral deterioration of most of the youths. For some had abandoned themselves to amours with boys, others to prostitutes and musical pleasures and drinking bouts … Scipio, however, setting himself to pursue the opposite course of conduct … established a universal reputation for self-discipline and temperance' (Polybius, 31.25). Polybius' attitude towards history was of a practical bent, seeing how it could be used to further present-day campaigns and strategies, and Scipio's passion for the
Cyropaedia
suggests that his interest in Greek literature was driven by the same imperative. It is possible, therefore, to see a young man strongly schooled in the
mos maiorum,
the Roman ways of the ancestors, and open to new influences from Greece, yet with those influences mediated by Polybius in such a way that they reinforced the Roman virtues of honour and fidelity that Polybius himself so admired.

The image of a serious and somewhat austere young man is offset by his passion for hunting, something that Scipio shared with Polybius, and by his exceptional prowess as a warrior. Following the Battle of Pydna, he spent time hunting in the Macedonian Royal Forest, given to him by his father as a victory present. At Pydna he had distinguished himself in battle, fighting deep into the Macedonian phalanx and then returning from the pursuit ‘with two or three companions, covered with the blood of the enemies he had slain, having been, like a young hound of noble breed, carried away by the uncontrollable pleasure of the victory' (Plutarch,
Aemilius Paullus,
22.7–8). When he is next heard of in battle, some seventeen years later in Spain, we are told that he killed an enemy chieftain who had challenged him to single combat, and earned the
corona muralis
for being the first on the wall in the assault on the fortress of Intercatia; some two years later in Africa, still only a military tribune, he earned the even more coveted
corona obsidionalis
for rescuing some Roman troops from near-certain annihilation by a Carthaginian force (Appian,
Iberica
53 and
Libyca
102–104; Livy,
Periocha
48-9 31.28.12–29).

It seems likely that Scipio and his contemporaries would have learned basic fighting skills together while they were still boys in Rome, under the guidance of veterans entrusted with their training in weapons. Whether or not such an ‘academy' would have provided instruction in the higher arts of war – in strategy and tactics – is unknown, but the concerns of some of the older generation about the military preparedness of future officers, as well as the availability of Greek professors who could teach military history – some of them, like Polybius, former soldiers with combat experience – suggests the possibility. Polybius would certainly have been well suited to the task, not only because of his background but also because of his fascination with all things military, including the ‘Polybius square' and telescope for battlefield signalling (Polybius, 10.45–6). Others in the Senate, possibly the majority, would probably have opposed such training, fearing the professionalization of an officer corps, so I have imagined the academy operating discreetly behind the walls of the Gladiator School, a place where weapons training and practice on live victims could have been conducted. In Rome today, the visible ruins of the Gladiator School beside the Colosseum date to a later period, but the archaeological evidence suggests that there may have been an earlier training ground on this site to the south of the Forum in the second century
BC.

The relationship between Scipio and Polybius was one of the great friendships of antiquity, one that nevertheless was complicated by the fact that Polybius was, strictly speaking, a prisoner of the Romans, a Greek nobleman obliged by circumstances to accept a request to be mentor to the younger Scipio in Rome. Scipio had an elder brother, Fabius (a name resulting from his adoption into the
gens
Fabii), also a pupil of Polybius; I have used his
praenomen
and his relationship with Polybius in the creation of my fictional legionary Fabius Petronius Secundus, the bodyguard and companion of Scipio whose relationship with him in the novel is in some ways akin to that of brothers.

I have speculated that Polybius was in Rome by 168
BC
and was present on the Roman side at the Battle of Pydna, so had surrendered himself as a captive somewhat earlier than most of his contemporaries, consistent perhaps with his admiration for Rome. He certainly became a great proponent of Rome, and found in Scipio a young man who fell outside the usual parameters, sensitized by the opprobrium that may have been heaped on him by his adoptive family in the
gens
Scipiones for his failure to show due interest in the law courts and social niceties of Rome. Like Polybius, he was bookish and intellectual but also a passionate hunter and warrior, one who above all relished the idea of war and a destiny that was to lead him in 146
BC
to stand astride the walls of Carthage and contemplate the momentous possibilities that lay ahead of him and of Rome.

Much of the account in this novel of the final hours of Punic Carthage draws on Appian, particularly the fighting and slaughter in the old quarter of the city beneath the Byrsa. As for the fate of Hasdrubal, Appian tells us that he surrendered to Scipio, but that his wife slew her children and flung them and herself into the fire of the temple, ‘as Hasdrubal should have died himself' (Appian,
Libyca,
131); I have taken this cue from Appian as the basis for the final apocalyptic scene in the novel.

The coin used as an illustration in this novel is a beautiful example of the only Roman issue known to date from 146
BC
, as contemplated by Scipio in chapter 22; you can see a film of me handling this actual coin at
www.davidgibbins.com
, where you can also find more facts behind the fiction and imagery related to my archaeological work at Carthage and other sites mentioned in the novel.

Antestius coin

Photographs of the obverse and reverse of a denarius by the moneyer Antestius, minted in 146
BC
, have been used on the title pages of each Part of the novel. The obverse shows the goddess Roma in a helmet, and the reverse shows two armed horsemen and a dog with the inscription ROMA beneath.

Also by David Gibbins

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THE TIGER WARRIOR

THE MASK OF TROY

THE GODS OF ATLANTIS

PHARAOH

About the Author

David Gibbins is a
New York Times
and
Sunday Times
bestselling author whose novels have sold almost three million copies and are published in thirty languages. He is an academic archaeologist by training, and his novels reflect his extensive experience investigating ancient sites around the world, both on land and underwater.

He was born in Canada to English parents and grew up there, in New Zealand and in England. After taking a first-class honours degree in Ancient Mediterranean Studies from the University of Bristol he completed a PhD in archaeology at the University of Cambridge, where he was a research scholar of Corpus Christi College and a postdoctoral fellow in the Faculty of Classics. Before becoming a full-time author he worked for eight years as a university lecturer, teaching Roman archaeology and art, ancient history and maritime archaeology. As well as fiction, he is the author of more than fifty scholarly publications, including articles in
Antiquity, World Archaeology, International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, New Scientist
and other journals, in addition to monographs and edited volumes, including
Shipwrecks
(Routledge, 2001).

He has researched and excavated extensively in the Mediterranean region, from Turkey and Israel to Greece and Crete, Italy and Sicily, Spain and North Africa, as well as in the British Isles and North America. Over the years his work has been supported among others by the British Academy, the British Schools of Archaeology in Rome and Jerusalem, the British Institute at Ankara and the Society of Antiquaries of London, and by a Fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. For two seasons he worked at the ancient site of Carthage, leading an expedition to investigate offshore harbour remains. He learned to dive at the age of fifteen in Canada, and underwater archaeology has been one of his main passions; he has led expeditions to investigate shipwreck sites all over the world, including Roman wrecks off Sicily and elsewhere in the Mediterranean, as well as off the British Isles. He was an adjunct professor of the American Institute of Nautical Archaeology while he worked for two seasons on an ancient Greek shipwreck off the coast of Turkey.

He has a long-standing fascination with military history, partly stemming from an extensive military background in his own family. His wide-ranging interest in arms and armour has focused in recent years on collecting and shooting nineteenth-century British and East India Company firearms, as well as making and shooting reproduction American flintlock longrifles on the wilderness tract in Canada where he does most of his writing. His military interests are reflected in his previous novels, including Roman campaigning in the east (
The Tiger Warrior
), Victorian warfare in India and the Sudan (
The Tiger Warrior, Pharaoh
), and the Second World War (
The Mask of Troy
).

More biographical material is found on his website:

     
www.davidgibbins.com
.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

THOMAS DUNNE BOOKS.

An imprint of St. Martin's Press.

TOTAL WAR ROME: DESTROY CARTHAGE.
Copyright © 2013 by David Gibbins. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.thomasdunnebooks.com

www.stmartins.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gibbins, David J. L.

Total war Rome : destroy Carthage / David Gibbins.—1st U.S. ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-250-03864-7 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-250-03865-4 (e-book)

1. FICTION / Historical. 2. FICTION / Action & Adventure. 3. FICTION / Media Tie-In. I. Title.

PR6107.I225T68 2013

823'.92—dc23

2013020413

First published in the UK by Macmillan, an imprint of Pan Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

First U.S. Edition: September 2013

eISBN 9781250038654

First eBook edition: August 2013