Chapter 732: Theonia v Carthage (II)
Chapter 732: Theonia v Carthage (II)
At the start, both sides remained at peace as they enjoyed the cool and refreshing river water.
But in the upper part of the lower Platani, where the river is just over ten metres wide at its widest, the soldiers of Agrigento drew water on the eastern bank (their camp was nearby). On the other hand, the soldiers of the Carthaginian Sacred Band on the opposite bank (originally the Numidian troops were stationed to the north. But because the upper end of the Platani was close to the mountains, the Numidians would often get flustered when the Sikeloi harassed them. So Muntebaal was forced to move his most trusted Sacred Band to this area).
Known as the Sacred Band of Carthage and the Hammer of Baal to the Carthaginians, the Sacred Band was made up of soldiers selected from the oldest and most prestigious Carthaginian clans who had received exceptional equipment and training. Currently, these proud, wealthy sons of noble birth were wiping their muscular bodies with clean white cloths while ordering their Numidian slaves to go further upstream to draw clean water for them to drink. While passing the time, they watched the Greek soldiers on the other side of the river, some soaking in the water and others lying down to drink, making the Carthaginians look at them with contempt and laugh, ‘Those Greeks are so poor they don’t even care about hygiene!…’
Unaware that the Greek soldiers on the other side were citizens of Agrigento.
Agrigento was once the second most powerful Greek city-state in Sicily after Syracuse, with a history far older than Syracuse’s. Even Gelon, who contributed significantly to Syracuse’s prosperity, was from Agrigento, and it was with Agrigento’s help that he could sit on Syracuse’s throne as its tyrant.
Almost twenty years earlier, when the Athenian expedition to Sicily had weakened the power of the Greek city-states on the island, the Carthaginians took the opportunity to put Hannibal, the then-head of the Magonids, in charge of the army and launch an attack on eastern Sicily. And to avenge his ancestors, Hannibal massacred Himera. Then, Hermocrates, Dionysius’ father-in-law and a strategos of Syracuse, led a coalition of Sicilian Greek city-states and repelled the Carthaginian army. But not long after, the Syracusan democrats killed Hermocrates by inciting the people to kill him, telling them that Hermocrates wanted to be a dictator.
Soon after Hermocrates’ death, the Carthaginians attacked again. But this time, the newly appointed head of the Magonids and Hannibal’s cousin, Himilco, served as the commander of the Carthaginian army. But this time, he targeted Sicily’s second-largest Greek city-state, Agrigento.
Agrigento faced Himilco’s army; although the enemy outnumbered them, they weren’t afraid. After all, the people of Agrigento had much more rigorous military training than the ordinary citizens of the Greek city-states because they admired the Spartans and had a Spartan army stationed in the city.
The Carthaginian siege lasted more than eight months, during which Agrigento scored some small victories, but the Carthaginians’ advantage was too great. Himilco also threatened and bribed the Greeks, which caused Agrigento’s reinforcements and mercenaries to abandon their defence and defect, including Syracuse and Sparta.
In the end, the Agrigentines despaired, and most fled to Gela in the dark of the night. When the Carthaginians finally entered the city, they slaughtered all who remained, plundered the entire city and burned the temple, even deciding to destroy the city completely and rebuild a Carthaginian city, but their defeat in the battles that followed prevented Himilco from doing so.
When Dionysius led his army to attack western Sicily, the exiles of Agrigento were finally able to return to their hometown. But those twenty years had allowed the previous generation of exiled children to grow into pillars of the city-state, and their hatred grew stronger with time rather than diminishing. And these Agrigentines, even though they didn’t understand the language the Carthaginians spoke, could tell by their reckless laughter and contemptuous looks that the other side was laughing at them, resulting in the anger in their hearts bursting.
So when an Agrigentine soldier picked up a stone from the river and threw it at the Carthaginian’s Sacred Band, his comrades nearby followed suit.
After being attacked, the Carthaginians immediately responded by throwing stones.
Although the stones haven’t caused any fatal injuries, they still hurt when they hit the body, especially as most of them only wear loincloths or are naked. And the intense pain was enough to fuel the anger of these young and energetic soldiers, so instead of throwing stones, some simply rushed across the river, clenched their fists and punched each other… Then the clash between the two sides quickly turned from stone-throwing to a physical conflict which escalated quickly that the soldiers near the river joined in the fight.
On the other hand, the clever Numidian slaves ran back to the camp to call for help from the rest of the Sacred Band’s soldiers while carrying the weapons and equipment their master had left in the tent to the river.
Thus the conflict escalated to a new level with the addition of the fully armed soldiers of the Carthaginian Sacred Band.
But the few Agrigentine soldiers watching by the river didn’t join the battle after seeing the arrival of the fully armed enemy as they weren’t foolish enough to resist the fully armed Carthaginians while unarmed, even though the flames of anger burned in their hearts. Instead, they shouted for their comrades to retreat quickly, but none of them listened due to the chaotic situation.
And it was difficult for the Agrigentines to end the conflict since they were the ones to provoke it. On the other hand, the proud Carthaginian Sacred Band refused to let the enemy go, especially since they had weapons in their hands and the enemy was like lambs to be slaughtered just a short distance away! So, with shields and spears in hand, they entered the river Platani.
Then their comrades, who were fighting furiously, voluntarily stepped back to make way for them while the armed soldiers pressed forward and thrust their spears at the Agrigentine soldiers who were trying to flee…
At this point, on the upper part of the lower Platani, nearly a thousand soldiers from both sides were crowding the river, trying to fight each other. So when the first Agrigentine soldier saw that the situation was deteriorating and tried to escape, the people behind him didn’t realise what was happening and couldn’t move away in time, allowing the Carthaginian soldiers’ spears to pierce the almost naked Agrigentine soldier’s body easily.
But as the screams continued and the blood stained the river Platani, panic overwhelmed the anger in the hearts of the Agrigentine soldiers as they began to flee in terror. And as they pushed each other, some lost their footing and fell, and they were then either stabbed or drowned.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, Milkpilles had just finished reporting to Muntebaal in the command tent about why the Carthaginian fleet had failed to appear. But on his way to his camp, he heard from his adjutant about the situation on the Platani.
So he immediately rode towards the Platani, just in time to see the fully armed Sacred Band soldiers rush to the opposite bank and begin killing the fleeing Greeks.
But the young and hot-blooded Milkpilles didn’t sound the retreat nor ordered the soldiers under his command who had disobeyed the order and provoked the battle to retreat immediately to the west bank. Instead, he sent heralds to inform the remaining soldiers and cavalry of the Sacred Band in camp to rush to the Platani at once. At the same time, he ordered the naked soldiers on the riverbank to don their armour, take up their weapons and line up.
After giving his order, Milkpilles ordered the herald beside him, “Go to the central camp and report to Lord Muntebaal that the Greeks have taken the initiative to challenge our Sacred Band, resulting in a battle. Now the entire Sacred Band infantry and cavalry have fully engaged the Greeks!”
The herald was about to leave when Milkpilles stopped him and said, “Slow down, don’t rush!”
The herald immediately understood what he meant and moved slowly towards the central camp.
The young and impulsive Milkpilles lied about the military situation because he was unsatisfied with Muntebaal’s conservatism and cowardice. Especially since he needed to prove himself with brilliant achievements, he didn’t want others to think that his father-in-law Hanno was responsible for his becoming the leader of Carthage’s most elite Sacred Band at such a young age. And now he finally saw an excellent opportunity.
After crossing the river, the Sacred Band soldiers pursued and killed the Agrigentine soldiers who had fled along the riverbank.
The Agrigentines, who returned to the camp earlier after noticing the situation worsening, had called for reinforcements. Soon, the fully armed Agrigentine soldiers and some soldiers from other city-states arrived.
Seeing their arrival, the Carthaginian Sacred Band stopped their killing. But even though more Greek soldiers arrived, the Carthaginian soldiers fighting on the eastern shore didn’t flee even when outnumbered. Instead, they switched from attack to defence and began to retreat to the west bank and slowly go into formation.
Although the Carthaginian Sacred Band soldiers were proud of their status, they were indeed a well-trained army. So not long after Milkpilles issued the order, they had already arranged into a phalanx formation of more than a half-kilometre long and seven columns thick on the west bank.
They wore open helmets similar to those of Theonia’s heavy infantry, with no visor and only a cheek guard, with long red and white plumes on top of the helmet. They wore thick linen armour that they could have covered with fine mail armour, but these soldiers preferred a layer of leather armour with bright colours and beautiful patterns rather than wearing dark mail armour that spoiled their appearance. They also wore shiny bronze greaves on their legs and high-quality leather sandals on their feet. Then their weapon is a sharp spear more than two metres long in their right hand and a large copper shield more than a metre in diameter in their left, painted with exquisite patterns that the soldiers often use to boast or compare with each other. In addition, since these soldiers had wealthy families to provide them with plenty of nourishment, it allowed them all to grow tall and robust, so the phalanx they formed was both majestic and colourful.
On the right flank of the infantry were a thousand cavalry of the Sacred Band, known as the Noble Cavalry of Carthage. They are also composed of sons of the Carthaginian nobility, wearing the best armour and carrying extra-long spears over three metres long and short swords of the highest quality. They selected their mounts from the most tenacious Iberian warhorses.
“Attack!” Milkpilles eagerly ordered.