There are moments in history when some people appear, the same shooting stars, act, leaving a strong mark on it and then disappear into oblivion, as if they never existed.
One such story is that of Xanthippus of Lacedaemon, who from a humble mercenary, expelled from his homeland by deprivation and injustice, found himself in a single moment, commander in chief of the army of the other great superpower of his time, Carthage, fighting with the best army of the ancient world, the Roman.
In 256 BC. The First Carthaginian War was raging. The Carthaginians, however, had suffered a series of defeats at sea and on land, and the Romans decided to take the war to Africa. The Carthaginians, believing that the Romans would attack Carthage directly, kept their forces in their city and did not dare to clash with the Romans.
Thus the Romans, under the supreme Marco Attilio Regulo, captured the adjacent city of Aspidas and plundered the whole country, taking 20,000 captives and rich booty, undisturbed. The Roman general remained on the Tunisian coast with 15,000 infantry, 500 cavalry and 40 ships.
In the face of these developments, the Carthaginian leaders were forced by public pressure to take action, but were defeated by state, although they outnumbered their opponents. The situation was now critical for the Carthaginians, who had lost both their army and their ability to defend their own city.
Thus, they resorted to the recruitment of mercenaries from Greece, whom they considered to be the most militant. In the summer of 255 BC. The Greek mercenaries arrived in Carthage, with whom the Carthaginian forces joined, forming an army of 12,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry.
But the Carthaginians were afraid to fight again with the Romans, because if they defeated Carthage they would be completely defenseless. Then a simple soldier from the Greek mercenaries appeared, Lacedaemonian Xanthippos, who appeared before the lords of the city and asked to be assigned the command and to allow him to fight the Romans.
In their despair the Carthaginian lords accepted, despite the discomfort of their generals, who had to be placed under the orders of their former soldier!
Xanthippus sought to clash with the Romans in an elevated field, where his supremacy in cavalry and elephants would secure him victory.
The Roman infantry, that is, the best part of the enemy army, would defeat it, in the second year, since first its cavalry would clear its accounts with the corresponding Roman one. Numerically the two opposing armies were almost equal, with 16,300 Carthaginians facing 15,500 Romans.
The Roman general, in order to counteract the advantage of his opponent in cavalry and elephants, placed his infantry in a dense formation and his few cavalry in the wings. Regulus's goal was to neutralize the elephants with his select infantry. Xanthippos, however, had the opposite view.
And yes he did put his elephants in the center, in order to break with them, or even cause severe bleeding to the Roman infantry, but he did put his infantry far back so that in the event of an accident the elephants would not break up the friendly phalanx.
He also stationed his cavalry on either side of the elephants, with the mission of disbanding the Roman cavalry and then dealing with the sides of the dense Roman infantry mass.
Xanthippus' plan paid off, and almost the entire Roman Army was killed, except for Regulus and 500 captured men, in what became known as the Battle of Tunis (or the first battle of Baghdad).
13,000 Romans fell in battle, against only 800 of the Carthaginian Army. Xanthippus had triumphed by applying a maneuver that Hannibal later "borrowed" at the Battle of Cannes (212 BC).
The victorious general entered the city where he was greeted with a frenzy of excitement.
Nevertheless, the clever Spartan realized that glory is ephemeral and envy is its product. So after receiving a large reward from the Carthaginians, he left them secretly and went to Egypt, enlisting in the service of the Greek Ptolemies!
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