The Republic of Gadir: a Punic utopiAAR

[Abirami aka Pete]

VI. Bomical Baal “the African” (242-210 BCE)

VI.1 The election and the end of the third Punic war

After Shanya had been elected supreme suffete in 254 BCE, Bomical had taken her place in the Academy of Gadir, in an effort by the new suffete to keep him as an ally, in spite of having frustrated his ambitions. Luckily, the two democrats found a way to coexist and worked together in matter of Punic foreign relations. Bomical wasn’t simply doing Shanya’s old job, he was also very similar to her in character and virtues: a powerful orator, a gifted scholar, a man of reason more than faith.

Note: the portrait is from several years later. Bomical was 46 when he was elected.​

Differently from Shanya, though, Bomical had become a pragmatic politician, a schemer that did not think of himself as being above the most mundane aspects of politics. He spent his years at the Academy building the support he would need when the opportunity had presented itself. When it finally did at the end of 242 BCE, Bomical was ready. While his election passed rather smooth within the halls of the Adirim, Bomical had not the same popular support that Shanya had twelve years earlier, having been de facto endorsed by Abirami. When his authority was questioned and some critics refused their oath of allegiance, daring Bomical to retaliate and expose himself to further criticism, the new suffete decided to prove right away how serious he was. He had these ‘traitors’ tried and executed, in effort—he said—to “protect the sacred authority of this office.”[1]

Having settled the matter of the succession at home, Bomical refocused everyone’s attention on the ongoing war effort. In February 241 Qartan was captured, while at the end of May it was the turn of Iol. In June, Bomical decided to take a significant risk, and sent half of his troops to Sardinia, which the Carthaginians had left mostly unguarded as they were battling the Romans in the fields of Africa. Indeed, Carthage had so far chosen to focus on the Roman invasion, since it threatened the richest and most populous part of her dominions. By the first days of September 241, Gadirite troops entered Sulki: Bomical, who had joined the expedition, decided to reinforce Gadir’s propaganda by sparing the city from looting and posing as a liberator.

Bomical's strategy was surprising to some: he did not join Rome to give Carthage the coup de grace, but instead only guarded Gadir’s position in Numidia and focused on acquiring control of Sardinia. His effort was partly frustrated by Roman operations near Olbia Rasna, but by June 240 he had taken all main strongholds in southern Sardinia, and moved to the north. At the same time, however, Carthage had managed to send a mercenary force to Mauretania which defeated the small Gadirite contingent that guarded the fort of Zaidia. To counter this unforeseen threat, Bomical dispatched an 11,000 men army to the area: the navy that Abirami had built proved essential for quickly containing the problem. At the end of October 240 BCE the army led by Tabnit Mashhid landed at Shalat, and quickly took care of the situation.

It took several more months to fully control northern Sardinia, and start peace negotiations with Carthage. Carthage’s standing in Africa was dire, as Rome was about to obtain a total victory over Gadir’s Punic rival. This was the occasion for Bomical’s diplomatic genius and negotiation skills to shine bright. He made to the Carthaginians an offer they could not decline: Gadir would gain all the territories that it currently occupied, but Carthage’s heartland would remain intact. This essentially amounted to denying Rome any gain for taking part in the war, though it had borne the brunt of the military effort against Carthage.

However, this was exactly the reason why Bomical’s proposal worked. Carthaginian resentment at Rome’s victories made them more willingly to concede land to Gadir; and the exhaustion on the Roman side meant that they could not afford to continue battling Carthage if she had been freed from managing her western front. Bomical also made clear that if Rome did not cease hostilities, he was willing to break their alliance and side with Carthage to keep Rome out of Africa. The treaty was signed on August 19th 239 BCE.

The scale of Bomical’s victory was unparalleled, not only in Gadir’s history, but in the Western Mediterranean more generally. So far, Gadirite expansion had been gradual, though its pace had accelerated. This time, about half of the Carthaginian empire changed hands, and it was achieved at minimal effort on Gadir’s part. Bomical had effectively pushed the Romans in a strategic corner and more than avenged Rome’s unscrupulous past behavior toward Gadir. Of course, the increase in Bomical’s domestic popularity as well as Gadir’s loss of diplomatic reputation were proportional to the magnitude of this victory. The Gadirite people adored him, while most foreigners denounced him.

While the news of peace was still spreading, Bomical gathered the Massaesysilian nobility in Shigan. He addressed them: “We came here to answer the cry for help of our Punic brothers and sisters, and to free them from the yoke of perfidious Carthage. This we accomplished in large part. Yet, we do not ignore your plight. Our Republic is a tool of liberty in the hands of the gods: we meet today not as mortal master and servants, but as free people under the same sky.” And thus, Gadirite citizenship was extended to all free Massaesysilian men, just as Abirami had done with the Turdetani and the Bastetani before.

Bomical’s speech was, of course, full of rhetoric. Plenty of people under Gadir’s authority had no political rights, from the Mauri to the Lusitanian tribes. But Bomical thought that Abirami’s strategy applied now just as it did seventy years earlier: just as the scale of Gadir’s power increased, so did its challenges and responsibilities and thus its need for a large pool of citizens—soldiers, taxpayers, merchants and scholars that had a distinct interest in the success of the Republic’s cause.

By the end of the summer of 239 BCE Bomical was back to Gadir, where he presided over long days of religious ceremonies: to celebrate the victory, to honor the fallen and to appease the gods, always inclined to punish hybris. But his rest did not last long. The suffete was particularly concerned with Sardinia, as he had not managed a full conquest: the north of the island had both Carthaginian and Roman garrisons. He thus decided to fortify Sulki and to found a new city in Cornus. Lastly, he had Milkyaton Chelbes, leader of the oligarchic faction, tried, arrested and executed for corruption: while the allegations were real, the active role that Bomical took in the process singaled that he wanted to settle scores with his political opponents, since Milkyaton had been secretly working to undermine the suffete.

---

[1] This forceful consolidation of power cost him even more discontent among the traditionalist faction of the Adirim. By the end of 241 BCE the situation was so critical that Bomical decided to cut a deal with his main opposers, which mostly entailed granting them private land to buy their loyalty, at least temporarily.

 

[Abirami aka Pete]

VI.2 The long truce

The aftermath of the third Punic war was relatively calm, yet very busy. The integration of the Massaessyli and the city of Cornus in Sardinia were the first order of business. Of course, traditionalists’ xenophobia was an inevitable byproduct of Bomical’s decision to immediately extend citizenship to the Numidian people. And since history is bound to repeat itself, the main critic of Bomical’s integration policy was the reactionary Chelbes Chelbes, a grandson of the same Danel Chelbes that had long harassed Abirami on the same issue. Next, in 235/236 BCE Bomical turned to piracy, resuming Shanya’s war on pirate settlements. In April 234 BCE the suffete ordered the founding of a new city, Rutubis, less than five years after having conquered the area from Carthage.

However, Bomical’s main preoccupation was military modernization. He recognized that the old formula, a mixture of loosely trained levies and experienced mercenaries, was not up to the task of defending and expanding Gadir’s new empire. He also acknowledged that he wasn’t a brilliantly general and that while he could engineer the grand strategy to win a war, he was much less able to win an equal enemy on an open field. Therefore, he moved to professionalize training and ultimately war-fighting itself: in the summer of 233 BCE he had the Adirim pass a new law giving him the power to recruit a professional army of free men that would directly depend on the Republic—Gadir’s first legion, piously named “The Guard of Melqart”.

Indeed, the supreme suffete’s vision was that of a Gadirite Republic that covered the entirety of the Punic world and included the most prominent Numidian and Iberian populations as partners in a prosperous society. This plan, of course, required the absorption of the Carthaginian state, for which Bomical had never stopped working. It was clear that the next conflict between Gadir and Carthage would be the fatal one, and that this time Bomical could not have someone else fight in his place: it was going to be either total victory or total ruin, and the suffete was not willing to share the prize with anyone else. That is, Rome could not be involved.

The suffete kept amassing gold and preparing his home front politically, ensuring key domestic alliances. In September 230 BCE Gadir started hiring mercenaries and summoning its levies. By the fall of 229, he had fielded about 55,000 men. The command of Gadirite forces went to Hamilcar Baalhanno, a genial 27 years old official that Bomical had promoted to general of the “Guard of Melqart” legion, totalling about 15,000 men. 22,000 Onomastid and Mashhid mercenaries accompanied Hamilcar. Punicus Mandonus (a Turdetanian), Skarisker Korbidus (a Turdulian) and Hasdrubal Eshbaal were his tribunes. Astarte Hiram and the governor of Italia led about 7,000 men in Sardinia. A small contingent of 4,000 men guarded Qart Hadast, led by the local governor. 10,500 Mauretanian and Numidian levies spread from Rutubis to Iol to guard their home region.

On December 3rd 229 BCE, the Gadirite Adirim sent an ultimatum to Carthaginian leaders: they must voluntarily leave their city, order their garrisons to disband and peacefully accept Gadir’s authority. Not even waiting for a reply, Hamilcar crossed the tenuous border between Gadirite and Carthaginian Numidia, marching toward Qirtan. Thus, a terrible 16-years long conflict that game to be known as “The Great war” began.

 

[Abirami aka Pete]

VI.3 The Great War

VI.3.a The initial phase (229-221 BCE)

The Gadirite offensive enjoyed the first mover advantage: Carthage was unprepared, not having expected hostilities to reopen so soon. Olbia Rasna was the first city to fell, and northern Sardinia was speedily controlled. In Numidia, the Onomastid and Mashhid mercenaries were able to intercept the levies that the local Carthaginian governor had hastily assembled and was trying to send toward Carthage. The battle that unfolded at Milevum in February 228 was a massacre, a terrible omen of all the death that was about to flood the soil of Africa: Carthage lost more than 10,000 men, while Gadir lost around 2,500.

However, it wasn’t all good news. Hamilcar, general of the legion, was not at Milevum: he disobeyed his orders, and marched further inland. Bomical rushed to come to terms with him, but this incident also spelled trouble for the Gadirite cause. As for the reason for Hamilcar disloyalty, some say that he did not like to share power (and glory) with his fellow mercenary generals nor with the suffete; others point to his traditionalist background that made him dislike Bomical; likely both played a role, and probably the young general was just inebriated by his new power and delusional about his prospects.

In any case, the crisis was averted and a huge Gadirite army started to siege Qirtan, the main Massylian city of Numidia. However, at the end of May a small Gadirite contingent was surprised by a huge Carthaginian army of 32,000 troops that was trying to sneak past the main Gadirite army sieging Qirtan. This minor loss was soon followed by another crushing victory over the ill-prepared Carthaginians: at Mopth, Hamilcar led Gadir’s forces to slaughter almost 17,000 enemy troops, while suffering about 6,000 losses. Already in the span of a few months this war had been deadly than anything Gadir had seen before.

For a second time, the news of victory was tarnished by another small internal crisis: the governor of Mauretania had apparently been stirring up the local population, possibly with the intent of seeking autonomous power while all eyes were set on Cirtania. Bomical could not afford a direct confrontation, and resigned to just let it go for the moment. Again, this second incident foreshadowed the difficulties that the suffete would need to overcome in order to keep the Republic together and win the war.

The bulk of the Gadirite army spent the rest of the year sieging Qirtan, which fell in January 227 BCE, about a year after the war had started. After her two dramatic defeats, Carthage had managed to reorganize and hire plenty of mercenaries to beef up her armies. But Carthaginian generals made another terrible mistake when they fell in a trap set by Hamilcar, and split their army. Carthage had about 26,000 men around Sitensia and Machuria, an another 22,000 trying to reconquer Qirtan. In May 227 this allowed the 31,000 men commanded by Hamilcar to sneak back toward the city and inflict a third devastating loss to Carthage: about 13,000 Carthaginian soldiers lost their life, compared to about 7,200 Gadirites. It is worth noticing that, while winning, Gadir was also hemorrhaging men very quickly.

To escape the rest of the Carthaginian army, Hamilcar led his men to Rushikad: the city had long been under Roman control, and Rome was still formally allied to Gadir. Carthage could not risk direct Roman involvement, so it could not avoid that Hamilcar resupplied and received reinforcements in Roman territory. Bomical was worried about losing the upper hand, and thus ordered all his forces not yet deployed in Numidia (about 17,000 men) to join Hamilcar and he recruited 8,000 more Punic mercenaries.

In January 226 Hamilcar marched to Carthage and put it under siege, leaving a small garrison in Qirtan to fend against a Carthaginian counter-siege. Some Gadirite forces started to be weary of war, and the generals had to deal with several problems to the food supply and occasionally disobedient commanders. Gadir advanced but less orderly than Bomical would have hoped. In August 226 Carthage recaptured Qirtan, while Gadirite reinforcements defended Iol against Carthaginian attack—at a high cost. On September 28th Hamilcar managed to breach Carthage’s walls and entered the city. The Carthaginians, however, had mostly abandoned it, judging the mountainous regions of Numidia to be more safe. Thus, though highly symbolic, this victory did not shift the balance of the war. More worryingly for Bomical, Hamilcar let the troops pillage the city, though this contravened the suffete’s instructions. Once again, Bomical could do nothing but let it go.

After resupplying and resting, Hamilcar occupied Curubis and the region of Zeugitana and then sieged the Carthaginian ally of Adramat. In February 225, the army that had defended Iol, led by Mashhid, reached Sitifis. To reconquer Qirtan, Gadi hired more mercenaries, led by Eshbaal, and sent them to Rushikad to regroup safely. In the spring Mashidd managed to defeat several small Carthaginian contingents, while a major army of 22,000 men retook Curubis and marched to liberate Carthage from the Gadirite garrison.

Luckily, at the end of September Adramat finally fell, and Hamilcar slowly went back up to Carthage to break the couter-siege while reestablishing control over Zeugitana. At the same time, the newly recruited Eshbaal’s mercenaries tried to retake Qirtan. In March 224 Hamilcar finally engaged the Carthaginians outside their capital: while he won the battle, victory was achieved at huge cost—he lost about a third of his men, while killing almost 13,000 enemy troups.

In August Qirtan was recaptured by Gadir, and Bomical had most of his forces reach this city as Carthage had managed to bring about 30,000 men near Sitifis and threatened to reattack Qirtan. In June 523 virtually all active Gadirite forces, about 57,000 troops, attacked the 20,000 men strong Carthaginian army that surrounded the Massylian stronghold. A bloodbath won by Gadir followed. In October Hamilcar won another dramatic battle outside Ubon Massilia, which left some 10,000 men dead on both sides.

Another Carthaginian army was trying to reconquer their capital. In a desperate attempt to protect the siege, Carthaginian leaders sent two different contingents toward Gadirite forces. They engaged at Thugga and Tuniza, and Carthage lost both battles between December 223 and January 222 BCE. In May 222 the two armies dueled at Vaga in the battle that has the grim record of being the deadliest one of the whole war, more 10,000 troops losing their live on each side. The fight lasted many days, as a Carthaginian ambush of a small Gadirite contingent was prolonged by several delayed reinforcements making their way to the battlefield.

Bomical recruited more mercenaries in the summer of 222, to sustain the depleted Gadirite forces in Thabracania. Vaga fell in late November, while several small Carthaginians battalions kept delaying Gadirite conquest of Sitifensia and the Massylian hinterland. In the summer of 221, Hamilcar marched south in the hope of breaking Carthaginian communications between the African coast and internal Numidia. While he managed to obtain a marginal victory at Tabira, his location allowed fresh Carthaginian troops to enter Byssatis, some sieging Adramat, some recapturing Curubis and a third contingent of 13,500 men marching toward Hamilcar.

 

[Abirami aka Pete]

A look at the situation during the battle of Tabira

 

[Idhrendur]

A lot of updates today! It looks like Gadir will soon have no rival but Rome!

 

[Abirami aka Pete]

VI.3.b The reversal (221-217 BCE)

In October 221 Bomical could have obtained a generous peace treaty if he had sought one, but he didn’t. The suffete was fighting for a total victory, and could not be content with anything less. It would have been probably even riskier to end the war early and give Carthage another chance to recover, than to keep pressing for a mortal blow. Tellingly, in spite of all their defeats and the loss of life, not once had Carthage approached Gadir for a truce or peace negotiations. Clearly, both powers were determined to fight till the bitter end.

Unfortunately for Bomical, his hardest test was yet to come. Hamilcar, whose army was severely depleted after the last string of costly victories, was confident that he would have defeated the fresh Carthaginian army that marched toward him. Instead, Gadir was delt her first major blow of the war. In spite of his numerical superiority, Hamilcar lost almost 11,000 men at Nara Maxyesia, while inflicting only 4,700 losses to the enemy. When the news of this debacle reached the suffete, he rushed to pour even more money in the desperate recruitment of mercenaries, which had become rather difficult at the moment, as both powers were scouting the whole Mediterranean in search of men to fight their war.

Hamilcar managed to reach Carthage in January 222 and defend it from minor attacks, while enemy armies were let free to roam. All Gadirite forces could afford to do that year was trying to hold their ground. Finally, a rested and resupplied Gadirite army of about 19,000 men led by Hamilcar tried to stop a Carthaginian mercenary force from recapturing Curubis. They engaged at Nepheris where Hamilcar suffered a second resounding defeat.

Panicked, Bomical gathered at Sulki 18,000 mercenary troops. Hamilcar was defeated again as he tried to retreat. In April 219 Carthage defeated Gadirite reinforcements that were attempting to reconquer Sitifensia and then again in May, while a few weeks later Vaga was recaptured by the Carthaginians. In the summer Bomical reacted by sending his new troops from Sulki to Adramat to re-siege the city, and also recruiting 18,000 more Sicilian mercenaries.

Hamilcar joined to siege of Adramat, but after a 20,000 men strong Carthaginian army tried to recapture Carthage, all 27,000 active Gadirite troops left Adramat to repel the attack, which they did successfully in January 218. However, before the major battle, the small contingent with which Hamilcar travelled was assailed and the great Gadirite general was taken prison. The first legion of the Republic, “the Guard of Melqart”, had been wiped out. The situation worsened worsened again in March: Qirtan fell yet another time, and in spite of their numerical superiority the Gadirite forces near Carthage were defeated at Membressa. Bomical’s Sicilian reinforcements were on their way, but couldn’t make in time for the battle. However, they did avenge the defeat by crushing the remainders of the victorious Carthaginian army at Feradi Maius.

In October Bomical recruited yet another mercenary army to assist with the counter-attack: Gadirite forces were again sieging Qirtan, Vaga and Adramat. Sadly, luck wasn’t on Gadir’s side: two Carthaginian armies joined in Thabracania and crushed the Gadirites sieging Vaga; Adramat and Qirtan fell in January 217 BCE, but soon after having recaptured the Massylian stronghold, the Gadirite contingent was defeated.

At this point in the war, more than eleven years after it started, Gadir controlled the regions of Carthage, Zeugitania and part of Sitifensia, plus the cities of Adramat and Qirtan. That is, Bomical had lost much of the progress that he had achieved in the first years of the war. Gadir still had about 31,000 men in Africa and some 30,000 more on their way, but its people was beyond exhausted. However, as the exceptional orator that he was, the suffete managed to exhort his fellow citizens to a last effort. Carthaginian leaders and people were even more fatigued and shattered, he argued, so it was on Gadirites to prove that they could stick it out longer and reap the rewards of these long years of horror.

VI.3.c The epilogue (217-213 BCE)

In the end, Bomical’s perseverance and determination paid off. In December 217 BCE Vaga fell again in Gadirite hands, and in early 216 another attack on Gadir’s garrison in Carthage was repelled, while Ubon Massylia was occupied. Over several months and via three victories and a setback, the newly arrived Gadirite troops were able to push most Carthaginian forces out of Sitifensia and Cirtania. In the spring of the following year, Qirtan was sieged once more by Gadirite forces, while Carthaginian efforts at reentering the region were fought back, though with some difficulty.

By the summer of 215, all of northern Numidia and Punic Africa were under Gadirite control for the first time since the start of the war. In the fall, Gadir’s mercenary managed to advance deeper inland and took the fort of Mactaris.

In the spring of 214 BCE, another critical mountainous fort, Thala Musulamia, fell and the last major Carthaginian contingent was defeated near Vaga. The war was coming to a close. It took a full extra year to quell all resistance, but in the early weeks of 213 Bomical obtained the complete victory that he had envisioned for so long. On March 1st 213 BCE, the peace conditions were agreed. Gadir would obtain the richest and most populous areas of the former Carthaginian state, including Carthage itself. Carthaginian leadership was banned to the coastal strip of Tripolitania and retained some formal authority on the deep Massylian hinterland.

 

[Abirami aka Pete]

A lot of updates today! It looks like Gadir will soon have no rival but Rome!

Indeed I had a few days of vacation and so could put all of this in writing. This war was huge (and very stressful when I played)!

To get a sense of how huge: I might have missed a lot of very minor fights, but from my screenshots I count 53 battles over 16 years, where Gadir lost 184,411 men and Carthage lost 266,670. Truly a horrible carnage. And I think Qirtan flipped at least 7 times between the two parties, lol

 

[Abirami aka Pete]

VII. The Gadirite empire

VII.1 The aftermath of the Great War and the end of Bomical’s tenure

When, after more than fifteen years, the spectacular fight between Gadir and Carthage ended, the Western Mediterranean was a different world, the Republic of Gadir a different state and Bomical Baal a different man. Historians estimate that about half a million soldiers died, while countless civilians either perished or otherwise suffered greatly as fields were ravaged and cities were repeatedly assaulted. Punic Africa, the pearl of the Western Mediterranean was burning. And the very fabric of the Gadirite republic was stretched nearly to a breaking point, exhausted by the war effort and years of neglected as all attention turned to Africa.

Bomical, for however tired and tried, could not rest and had to hurry to secure the Republic from the many threats it faced. A dozen of provinces were either in unrest or openly disloyal, plenty of patricians were actively working either to enrich themselves when no one could hold them accountable or to slip power from Bomical’s hands after he had finally returned. The newly acquired territories also needed attention: the suffete had to decide what to do with Carthage herself and with the vast Numidian population, the Massyli, that occupied large parts of the interior. Cities had to be rebuilt and mercenaries had to be paid, something that made Gadir’s financial standing quite worrisome.

The suffete, and his predecessors before him, had long cultivated the image of Gadir as a liberator of Punic people and a beacon of prosperity for its other citizens. Thus, a tradition of clemency toward the defeated enemy had cemented. However, the terrible struggle that had unfolded called for an exemplar gesture. Carthaginian obstinacy was to be punished. Bomical order to thoroughly sack Carthage, taking all that was of value; every one who would oppose it, would be killed. In a dramatic week of violence, tons of metals and artifacts were taken, large swaths of the city burnt and a great number of civilians died. While the city was not destroyed, it went from being the chief metropolis of the West to a mid-sized city among several. The enormous plunder allowed the suffete to honor all his mercenary contracts and dismiss his levies with a bonus, while preserving Gadir’s monetary reserve.

Then, Bomical stayed true to his promises and political vision and extended Gadirite citizenship to all free Massylian men—not many of which existed at the time, as Carthage’s hold onto the region had been harsh and tyrannical. Back to Gadir, Bomical went to great lengths to give lavish displays of public piety, holding ritual ceremonies for weeks, intended to appease both the gods and the citizenry. At the same time, he started purging disloyal governors and officials, and cracked down on local unrest. The suffete moved quickly and harshly, in a way that exacerbated the tension between him and influential patricians, especially those close to the traditionalist faction.

These tensions exploded when Bomical alleged that Arishat Eshbaal, a powerful matriarch that served as Augur and leader of the traditionalists, had abused her office to embezzle public funds. The public trial unfolded over several weeks, with repeated attempts by Arishat to either flee or buy members of the jury. Finally, on October 13th 213 BCE the jury ruled that while her conduct was suspicious, there was not enough evidence to convict her. Bomical had the Adirim overrule the sentence, but this delay gave Arishat the time to cross the Straits to Tinga, where Sophonisba Chelbes, her ally, had gathered a private army loyal to them and seized control of the city. Thus, the first Gadirite civil war begun.

Luckily for Bomical, both exhaustion from the fourth Punic war and the suffete’s crackdown on disloyalty and unrest right after he came back to Gadir ensured that the scale of the rebellion was limited. However, it also meant that Bomical could not afford to field a large force to retake control of the area, and he resigned to a slow resolution of the conflict, which he delegated to the Mauretanian governor. By the fall of 211 the rebellion still had not been quelled, so Bomical chose to intervene himself, leading a 25,000 army of levies to Tingitania. He had almost achieved victory, when on March 8th 210 BCE, he died in Mauretania.

VII.2 Bomical Baal “the African” and Gadir’s new stature

The rebellion in Tingitania was finally crashed just a few more months after Bomical passed. Gadirite historiographers were quick to realize that Bomical’s 31-year long tenure as supreme suffete had transformed the Republic of Gadir from ascending power to a proper empire. Though this evolution had already started in the late years of Abirami’s leadership and critically advanced by Shanya Philosir, it was Bomical who would be eventually nicknamed “the African”.

It is worth appreciating how much the Gadirite State had changed since after Abirami. The following tables compare critical quantities as they were measured in early 254 BCE and in the census right after the Great War in mid-213 BCE. Notice:

• One levy = one cohort = about 500 men
• One census population unit = about 2,000 people
• Citizen % = ratio of people whose wealth makes them eligible to cast votes in local assemblies OR higher census class (e.g. senatorial rank)
• Research output is approximated with length of the new papyri added to the local libraries

It is easy to see how dramatic the change of scale was, as in the span of 40 years the sheer size of the Gadirite state substantially tripled. It is also worth realizing that the newly acquired territories in Africa were much below their potential, since these numbers photograph the situation just after the war, when most of the Punic east was still burning after the conflict.

This can be seen also looking at census population units. Notice the exceptional increase in Punic population after the near absorption of the Carthaginian state. Also, the difference between Massaesyli’s and Massyli’s social mobility is striking, and it reflects well how different Gadirite and Carthaginian rule were: by 213 BCE the vast majority of Massaesyli had been under Gadir’s rule for about more than 25 years.

Similarly, the effect of the war are evident by comparing the State’s main cities: Agadir, Sulki and Qarta had been spared from the conflict, while major Carthaginian centers are absent from the list, and will need several years to recover. It’s also interesting to notice that the prominent rank of Sulki and Kerkouane already suggests that the Gadirite Republic will evolve toward a multicentric conformation with two cores: one in the Punic West (near Gadir) and one in the Punic East (between Sardinia and North Africa).

 

[Abirami aka Pete]

Well, this will be my last update for a while. I hope you enjoy the story and that it makes sense!

 

[Nikolai]

Well, this will be my last update for a while. I hope you enjoy the story and that it makes sense!

Very much so! A fantastic tale you’re weaving.

 

[Idhrendur]

An absolutely fascinating story!

 

[HistoryDude]

Carthage is humbled!

Good stuff

 

[Abirami aka Pete]

VIII. The dust settles: Baalhanno Baal “the pacifier” (210-202 BCE)

Similarly to what had happened after Abirami Philosir stepped down as supreme suffete, the Adirim turned to an authoritative transitional figure to guide the Republic through the unavoidable adjustment period that needed to follow Bomical’s transformational tenure. Unlike 254 BCE, however, this time there weren’t obvious candidates to choose from: the most prominent Gadirite general, Hamilcar, had been captured as Gadir’s first legion was wiped out, his legates did not fare better and most elected magistrates lacked the clear edge that Bomical had more than forty years earlier. Eventually, in mid-March 210 BCE the senate settled on the 73 years old patrician Baalhanno Baal, an exponent of the oligarchic faction—a choice that made clear how much the Adirim wanted conventional and restrained leadership.

The new suffete would meet expectations: while resolute (if not harsh) when the situation needed, Baalhanno was fundamentally modest and sensible—his lack of greater ambition actually playing in favor of his election. In three months he finished what Bomical had not had enough time to complete: ending the rebellion by Arishat Eshbaal and Sophonisba Chelbes. Where Bomical would have followed up with an unforgiving crackdown, Baalhanno chose to set a different tone: he pardoned all the soldiers who had joined the insurrection and, though forever disgraced as traitors, he let the conspirators live.

While Baalhanno had no intention to take up historical challenges of the scale his predecessors had confronted, the new suffete wanted to leave his mark on the Republic. Abirami Philosir had laid the foundation of Gadir’s integration strategy: allow some critical ethnic groups to gain citizenship rights without assimilating, while also requiring that they accept the worship of Canaanite gods in public life. Abirami believed that grounding the authority of the State in the divine would strengthen it and ensure a degree of loyalty and devotion that would have been otherwise difficult to ingenerate. Baalhanno, decades laters, believed that Abirami’s intuition could be developed further: he wanted public displays of piety and sacredness to be manifestations of both the State religion and a religion of the State.

To accomplish this, in July 209 BCE the suffete proposed to the Adirim a wondrous project, the Hall of Abirami. Baalhanno envisioned a spectacular step pyramid whose architeture would be used in sacred rituals to anoint each new supreme suffete and where Abirami’s remains would be moved for their eternal rest. Such an edifice would help memorialize the rule and vision of “the founder”, and steep in holiness the republican order that stemmed from his tenure. While Gadir could not afford at the moment to commit to a construction as great as Baalhanno imagined it, the significance of his idea was immediately recognized.

Something that the suffete did manage to do was to start rethinking the deities that featured more prominently in public ceremonies. Up until that moment the four main gods invoked in official rituals had been Yam, Ba’alat, Kothar and Ba’al Hammon—while Melqart had been the overarching deity with which both the State itself and the suffete’s power where identified. While Yam, Kothar and Ba’al Hammon were very “Punic” in that their cult and main sanctuaries had developed mostly in the West, Ba’alat was perceived as a more Phoenician and Eastern figure. On the second anniversary of is election, in 208 BCE, the suffete thus decided to replace Yam with a Megalithic god, Shaheded, that was often identified with Melqart himself. This bold choice recognized a role for syncretism in Gadir’s religion, or at least a willingness to identify Canaanite gods with foreign deities; and perhaps more importantly, it acknowledged the critical importance of including and honoring Numidian people in the State’s civic fabric. However, while this made the Canaanite robe more comfortable to wear, it did not change the fact that full integration into Gadirite society required to adhere to the State religion and to the religion of the State.

On the foreign front, Baalhanno knew that Gadir’s standing in Africa was not fully secure. Firstly, several Punic cities that had been allied with Carthage were still independent: Atiq, Lapki, Adramat, and Tapsa. The latter two had particular symbolic significance because they hosted the chief holy sites of Kothar and Ba’al Hammon, deities that the suffete had kept in the State pantheon. Secondly, the old Carthaginian leadership, hungry for vengeance, was still in control of a sizable territory stretching from Aurasius to Tripolitania. Lastly, Rome still formally controlled a few communities in Numidia, though they had rebelled several times in the past. While Baalhanno felt strongly about not engaging with Rome or the remnants of Carthage for the moment, he deemed rather safe to annex the few independent Punic cities left in Africa.

Thus, in July 205 BCE he begun sieging Lapki, Adramat, and Tapsa. By the end of December 203 all three had capitulated. In the spring of 202, the suffete moved to siege Atiq. However, the elderly Baalhanno died when the small war was still ongoing, in June of the same year. While his tenure had been predictably short, Baalhanno was regarded by Gadirite historians as a fortuitously appropriate figure: the right person at the right time, “the pacifier”.

 

[Abirami aka Pete]

IX. Batnoam Eshbaal “the unwitting” (202-184 BCE)

For the first time in more than a century the new suffete was chosen among the ranks of the traditionalist faction. The election of the 55 years old Batnoam Eshbaal was testimony to the Adirim’s concern to preserve the Republic’s fragile order, but also acknowledged a wave of conservatism that had risen in Gadirite society. The oligarchic-democratic alliance was still strong in the senate, so that the woman elected suffete was a moderate figure that did not threaten to overhaul the main pillars of Gadir’s governing philosophy.

The new suffete supervised the final annexation of Atiq in November 202 BCE. In March of the following year she decided that war against the remainders of the Carthaginian state could not be delayed. While there had been signs that Gadir’s nemesis had been scouting for mercenaries and was thus possibly readying to threaten the Republic, it is also likely that, just as all suffetes before and after her, Batnoam wanted to achieve something memorable and avoid being lost to history. The fifth Punic war lasted for about two and a half years, its outcome never uncertain: the enemy territory was fully occupied by mid-December 199 BCE and the peace treaty signed soon after.

In July 197 BCE, the Adirim seized on another rebellion in one of Rome’s Numidian territories to intervene: while pretending to be aiding its Italic ally, the suffete ordered Gadirite forces to siege and capture Lemellia in Sitifensia. In March 196 the garrison relented and Batnoam simply never ceded control of the area, annexing the territory.

It was clear that these easy victories would not earn Batnoam a spot in history. Thus, the suffete turned to internal affairs, shifting her focus to the urban and economic development of the Republic. Years of restraint had led the Gadirite Republic to amass huge sums of money and precious metals in its coffers: the suffete thus proposed to the Adirim to finally begin the project that her predecessor, Baalhanno Baal, had envisioned. On March 16th 196 BCE Batnoam presided to the ceremony that laid the foundation stone of the Hall of Abirami, placing Yuptan Chelbes, 36 years old at the time, in charge of supervising the construction. In the following months and years the suffete tried to further her legacy as a builder by commissioning the construction of public buildings and infrastructure in several Punic cities: Igilgili, Ubon Massylia, Carthage, Shigan and Gadir.

A few months later, Batnoam summoned a few thousand levies in several key locations to begin a critical new construction task: building a modern system of roads. The great enterprise started along the African coast and in the capital region, where the need for this infrastructure was felt the most: in the former for military reasons, in the latter for general ease of communication and trade. In her effort to encourage prosperity, Batnoam also reformed the use of state land and encouraged exploration and mapping. Over the following years she also introduced legislation to ease commerce. In May 193 BCE she begun the construction of a proper city over the Numidian settlement of Tbessa, hoping to better control and make efficient use of the territory.

The suffete and the Adirim did not forget military matters. In May 195 BCE Batnoam had the senate approve a bill giving the suffete the right to raise any number of permanent professional armies, not just one—an important development even though she did not directly make use of it. In the spring 191 BCE the “Guard of Melqart” legion that Bomical had created several decades earlier was reborn and doubled in size, going from the original 15,000 to 31,000 men. Urumilki Bostara, an exceptional military mind that had emerged from the ranks of Gadirite levies, was put in charge of the legion.

Batnoam, inspired by her immediate predecessor Baalhanno, reformed the State pantheon a second time, officially introducing Tanit in place of Yam in the highly-scripted rituals of the Republic. This choice acknowledged the great popularity enjoyed by the chiefly Carthaginian goddess and pleased a large number of non-Punic peoples as Tanit was more easily identified with local war deities than Yam. It also signaled a new willingness on the part of the Gadirite establishment to embrace Carthaginian cultural and religious influence, now that Gadir had definitely won the political and institutional war. In April 186 BCE Batnoam decided to found another Numidian city in Lemellia, rather overtly honoring her own determination in snatching it from Roman hands.

When Batnoam died in office in the winter of 184 BCE, her calm and almost uneventful tenure had fooled many commentators into believing that the Republic of Gadir had found a stable equilibrium. As it turned out, that was far from the truth. First Batnoam’s focus on her civic projects (the Hall of Abirami and the road network in particular) and then her deteriorating health had prevented her from paying close attention to the malcontent that was spreading among influential patrician families. When she died, the sudden power vacuum let long-ignored latent tensions ignite and escalate with dramatic speed. Just as the Adirim gathered to elect Batnoam’s successor, news arrived that a rebellion had started.

Her otherwise respectable legacy was forever tarnished by her political carelessness as it plunged Gadir into another internal strife. Unforgiving Gadirite historiographers remembered her as the “the unwitting.”

Note: rebellion in gold, notice the (incomplete) road network​

 

[Idhrendur]

It can't ever be easy, can it? Still the new road network should help against the rebellion.

 

[TheInsanePumkinCarver]

Like a starving rodent in the garbage: all I can say is that I want more!

 

[Abirami aka Pete]

X. Abdosir Chelbes “the lioness of Iberia” (184-153 BCE)

X.1 A daughter of Abirami, a student of Bomical

At the same moment as rebellious troops scattered between Baetica and Mauretania, on December 1st 184 BCE the Adirim elected to the supreme magistracy a woman destined to leave a profound mark on the Republic. Abdosir Chelbes, who was 48 years old at the time and was serving as the Gadirite governor of Sardinia, was the first suffete to have come of age when Gadir had ascended to Mediterranean power. She was 19 when Bomical obtained his historic victory against the Carthaginian empire in 213 BCE, she fully espoused Abirami’s vision for Gadirite greatness and was devoted to the religion of the State that had developed in Gadirite society.

But Abdosir was a daughter of this revolutionized Republic in more personal ways as well: in spite of her family name, she did not come from the same great patrician dynasties that had long ruled Gadirire politics; instead, she had married a Numidian man, later also governor of Sardinia, Massinissa Chelbes. Thus, in both her values and biography she was a fully original figure, grounded in the new reality of the Gadirite Republic. When it came to personal and political conflicts, Abdosir tended to be accommodating and sometimes indecisive, because of her modesty and meticulousness, qualities that may have fooled a few senators into thinking she could be pushed and managed. If some did, they disregarded her stern devotion to the office and to the republican ideals put forth by her predecessors.

The new suffete was fully capable to crush the revolt, and moved to address the crisis immediately. The disloyal individuals behind the attempted coup had not managed to gather large public support: Batnoam’s rule had actually been quite popular, or at least not unpopular, with most of the population. The malcontent harbored mainly among rich and noble families that did not feel that were benefitting from “Abirami’s compromise” as much as they should: ambitious and greedy people that felt entitled to expanding their estates and their clienteles. In the end, Abdosir faced a scattered collection of rebellious latifundia, the revolt extending only to three cities: Ocuri in Baetica, and Portus Divinus and Partus Magnus in Metagonia.

The suffete also benefited from the fact that Urumilki Bostara and the troops he commanded stayed loyal to the Republic. With his help and newly summoned levies, Abdosir cracked down on the revolt. It took as little as 18 months to achieve victory. At the beginning of August 182 BCE the suffete was called to decide what to do with the traitors. Unlike Baalhanno “the pacifier”, Abdosir chose to take a hard line: horrified by their betrayal, she had all who had joined the rebellion put to death.

Having quelled the rebellion, the suffete started an ambitious program of public works and reforms. Construction of the road network and of the Hall of Abirami, both halted by the short civil war, resumed. In October Abdosir founded the cities of Thugga in Thabracania and Aquae Dacicae in Mauretania. In March 181 BCE, in an effort to foster Gadirite intellectual life and cultural influence, the suffete collected Gadir’s various academies into one major School of Philosophy and gave it a generous endowment. In April 180 Abdosir, who knew Sardinia very well, convinced the Adirim to invest into a major expansion of the small city of Karali: all at once, she had new fortifications, port and water supply infrastructure, marketplaces, libraries and academies built. A similarly large program started in Thugga.

Absodir’s good government extended beyond urban development. Mindful of her predecessor’s failure to avert internal strife, she actively tried to secure loyalty to the Republic. The suffete achieved this goal with a long list of small but significant actions: she privately agreed not to revoke any offices held by the powerful Eshbaal family, obtaining the absolute loyalty of their clienteles in return; she agreed to the Democrats’ request of revoking estates that were acquired in shady circumstances; she nurtured key friendships with influential governors. Outside politicking, she also sought popular approval by publicly giving up several opportunities to adjust taxation to the increased prosperity of the State, and adopted several innovative reforms that catered to unintegrated minorities. And Absodir was smart enough to encourage and reward such consensus-building behaviors in her officials as well, while more jealous politicians might have tried to obscure others’ successes.

By the end of 179 BCE, Abdosir had founded two more cities, Olisipo in Oppidania and Bessemium in Machuria, completed key links in Gadir’s road network, and further innovated legislations. In December, the Numidian coastal city of Rushikad, long subject to formal Roman rule, declared its independence and rebelled from Rome. Keen to exploit the situation, the suffete immediately started working on an excuse that would give Gadir room to intervene and annex the city. Luckily, the Romans were too preoccupied with their wars along the Danube to care and finally in July 177 the democratic faction within Rushikad invited Abdosir to intervene. The city relented immediately and was annexed before August was over, thus completing Gadir’s conquest of Africa. To celebrate, Abdosir financed a lavish building program in the newly founded Massaesylian city of Bessemium, making it as sophisticated as any Punic city.

After only a few years in office, Abdosir had significantly stabilized and enriched the Republic. In May 176 BCE the suffete crowned her efforts with a reform that would impact Gadir long into the future: the new law simplified access to political rights for people who assimilated in Punic culture and to citizenship for those groups that the State had integrated in its body politic. The detailed reform, which Abdosir had crafted herself, further increased the suffete’s reputation as a fine stateswoman. In 175 BCE she kept pouring resources on important cities, the fabric of the Republic, benefiting Qirtan, Tbessa, Kinna, Kerkouane, Taparura and Ubon Massylia—all still struggling to recover from the destruction of Bomical’s Great War.

Finally, on October 23rd 175 BCE, Abdosir’s place in Gadirite history was definitely (and early) secured as she presided over the majestic celebrations that marked the completion of the Hall of Abirami. The remains of the “founder” were moved into the sacred chambers inside the grandiose architecture, and Abdosir was re-anointed as supreme suffete on the main steps of the Hall. Outside, in the open air of an autumn sunset, she and her people gazed at the ocean, marveling at the spectacular growth of their Republic and, by extension, of the Punic civilization. And possibly wondering where would fate guide them next.

 

[Abirami aka Pete]

 

[HistoryDude]

It seems as if Gadir is forming more of a national identity now.

Well, religion is changing too. I expect that will happen multiple times again.

 

[Abirami aka Pete]

X.2 The sack of Rome

After the completion of the Hall of Abirami, Abdosir refocused her attention on Iberia, granting sizable funds for new constructions in Qart Hadast, Urki, Malaka and Heres. In June 173 BCE, the suffete founded a new city at Shalat, in Mauretania. Thus, Abosir gave every indication that she intended to continue in her pursuit of prosperity, and did not seem inclined to start new conflicts or bring new people into the mosaic of the Gadirite Republic. However, events were about to turn into a wildly unexpected direction.

At the end of September 173, news reached Gadir that the Roman Republic, long suffering from harsh rivalries amongst her generals, had plunged into civil war. Over the years, Rome had conquered most of the Balkan peninsula and Thrace, transforming into a vast empire but still clinging to its republican institutions. However, the power wielded by the legions and their commanders was threatening the stability of the Roman state. Gadir and Rome had been allied and rivals since the late years of Abirami’s tenure: the equilibrium between the two had been fragile, but Gadir had always made sure to nurture a friendly relationship with Rome, not sparing the occasional “gift” to buy friendly voices in the Senate. Moreover, Romans had closely observed the carnage that had been the Great War between Gadir and Carthage, and came to see a potential conflict with the Gadirite Republic as a costly and difficult enterprise. Thus, the two powers had kept the peace for more than a century.

Nonetheless, when Abdosir and the Adirim learnt the news, it was not lost on anyone that this civil war gave Gadir an unique opportunity to expand its influence in the central Mediterranean. Sicily, in particular, was regarded as part of the Carthage’s Punic heritage. Moreover, Rome controlled a small part of Northern Sardinia, Corsica and Bruttium, whose strategic locations were key to control naval traffic in the Mediterranean. Abdosir, however, cautioned against taking any decision impulsively and openly worried about Roman military strength, regardless of the civil war that now distracted them.

Over just a few days the situation become more clear as more information arrived. Apparently, the western half of the Roman Republic was loyal to a new self-proclaimed dictator, Potitus Sinatii, while the eastern half did not accept his authority and remained loyal to told republican order. Potitus, in control of the core of the Roman State, sent an embassy to Gadir requesting that it honored their alliance and intervene in the war against the republican rebels. The Adirim discussed at length what should be done. Finally, they refused Potitus’ request: de facto, the alliance was broken, leaving Gadir some time and freedom to figure out how to best profit from the situation. In May of the following year secret contacts with the Punic establishment in western Sicily started, working to get local polities to formally request Gadir’s intervention to free themselves from Roman rule.

War preparations began: new warships were built and mercenaries recruited, but Abdosir did not forget to continue expanding urban centers, this time fully rebuilding and expanding the former rebel cities of Portus Magnus and Portus Divinus—a symbolic gesture that reaffirmed Gadir’s mission as freer and benefactor of Punic communities everywhere. In September 171 BCE, Abdosir obtained a claim to intervene in Western Sicily. However, the suffete, true to her character, was not ready to open hostilities on Potitus, dreading what could happen if the conflict blew out of proportion. Thus, she preferred to keep working on local support, moving her secret diplomatic offense to the eastern part of the island and buying more time to ready her forces.

However, it was becoming increasingly more likely that Potitus would win his civil war. The window for action was closing. Finally, on May 7th 170 BCE, Abdosir invited the Adirim to vote in favor of declaring war on the Roman dictatorship and launching an expedition to free Punic Sicily. The suffete had fielded 8,000 men in Sardinia, tasked with the simple job of seizing the small Roman territory on the island and then move to Corsica. In Africa, instead, three armies totaling about 50,000 troops were ready to cross the sea. Some 20,000 more were holding Gadir’s ground, in case Potitus had tried to counter-attack in Gadirite territory.

Gadirite intelligence knew that Rome had manged two huge fleets for a few decades now and that any open naval conflict could be disastrous: Gadir’s navy totaled less than 60 warships, while Rome’s had more than 220. Thus, surprise would be a key factor in the early success of the offensive. Gadir’s main legion, the “Guard of Melqart”, set sail when the Gadirite embassy had barely entered Ostia’s harbor, and managed to cross to Sicily unopposed. When the Roman navy was given orders to sail toward Carthage, Urumilki Barca was already preparing his siege of Ziz (called Panormus by the Romans).

Next, Abdosir tried to land a smaller mercenary force in Cossyra, a small island between Sicily and Africa. However the Gadirite fleet, led by Zeteres Setna, was intercepted by the Romans and engaged. While Zeteres was technically defeated as he retreated rapidly toward a safe African harbor, the Gadirite admiral managed to lose as little as 7 ships while sinking and capturing a total of 20 Roman ships. Though the Romans had won the battle, they were powerless to stop Gadir’s advance. Indeed, as it slowly became evident, Potitus had badly misjudge the threat that Gadir posed: he thought that the superior Roman navy was enough to protect his territory, and had moved all of his troops to the east to defeat his opponents as quickly as possible. It is also likely that Potitus did not believe that Abdosir would be so daring as to rescind their alliance and attack Rome. Unfortunately for him, the suffete did choose to seize the opportunity and Gadirite forces managed to sneak past his navy, roaming freely through Italy.

The Roman garrison in Ziz surrendered in January 169 BCE. In May the fort of Sermigium in Corsica also fell, de facto handing Gadir total control over the island. Gadirite forces, still fearful of a swift Roman reaction that never came, moved together in a tight pack of 50,000 troops. City after city they encountered modest resistance as they marched up the Italian peninsula. In a little more than a year, they reached Rome. The city was sieged in early June 168, but it resisted for only 75 days: its walls were in bad conditions, long overlooked in the midst of the constant internal struggles, and when Urumilki ordered a quick assault, they were easily overcome. To the shock of the world, Rome was thoroughly pillaged—though Abdosir had instructed her generals not do this. Urumilki, reprimanded by the suffeted, then moved north to inflict further humiliation on Potitus by advancing deep into Etruria.

In as little as two years and a half Gadir had managed to force Rome into a humiliating corner. While it was clear that Gadirite forces would not be able to resist a coordinate attack by the full strength of the Roman legions, it was also clear that Potitus could not manage to speedily dispatch at least 70,000 men to Italy, and even if he did, Urumilki was known to be an extraordinary general. And had Urumilki been improbably defeated, Gadir would be able to quickly field new forces. At the same time, Abdosir now controlled some two-thirds of Italy and threatened to weaken Potitus’ position even further. Lastly, the disgrace of Rome falling and being sacked was so great that the Roman establishment was ready to pay a high price to end hostilities immediately and regain control of their capital.

Hence, at the end of November 168 BCE a peace treaty was agreed. Gadir gained all of Sicily, Corsica and Bruttium, much surpassing its original claim to be freeing the Punic people of the Epikrateia. Though it had started as a risky gamble, Gadir’s backstabbing of Rome succeeded brilliantly and beyond anyone’s expectations. Abdosir had prepared for a costly war, and instead had won a striking and almost effortless victory. For a second time, Gadir had managed to wholly fool the Romans and greatly expand its influence at their expenses.