—THE GREEKS IN AFRICA— PART II
It’s well known that Alexander the Great pondered upon conquering Carthage in the West after he had finished with the East. Pryrus of Epirus also had dreams of breaking Carthaginian Hegemony in the West to no avail. Perhaps these dreams of victory by popular figures of the past are more well known today than the actual attempts to invade and colonise Africa by the Greeks. These failed attempts at breaking the Carthaginian hold have become little more than footnotes in history.
-The battle of White Tunis-
Whilst Carthage had complete control of all of Sicily with only Syracuse holding out under a seige, Agathocles Tyrant of Syracuse devised a cunning plan to evacuate his forces in Sicily and attack and invade Libya itself (a play later used by the Romans).
The bold move led to Agathocles narrowly avoiding a naval battle with the Greek fleet in Sicily then reaching Libya with sixty triremes and a force of Greeks, Celts, Etruscans and Samnites. Upon arrival they burned thier own fleet lest it fall into the hands of the Carthaginian forces and set about plundering the rich Libyan countryside. Agathocles then led his army in a direct assault against the Carthaginian city of Megalopolis. Even though the city had walls, the inhabitants were not expecting an attack on their city. After a short period of resistance, the Greeks looted and destroyed the city. Agathocles then attacked and razed the city of White Tunis and set up camp outside the city.
Carthage raised a force of 40,000 from the citizens and set out to remove the Greek menace from Libyan soil. The Carthaginians approached Agathocles at his camp near White Tunis and assumed battle formations.
The Carthaginian chariots and then the cavalry charged the Greeks first, but their assault proved to be ineffective. They suffered casualties and fled to the rear of the Carthaginian army. Then the Carthaginian infantry engaged. Hanno and the Sacred Band attacked fiercely, causing many casualties on the Greek side. However, Hanno was seriously wounded and died during the battle. The Carthaginians near him were shocked, which encouraged the Greeks to press them harder. The Carthaginian forces fell into a retreat that became a rout and made thier way back to carthage.
In the aftermath of the war Because of his losses Agathocles was not able to besiege Carthage, so he encamped before the city and pillaged the countryside. In Carthage the inhabitants thought they were suffering from the anger of the gods, who now needed to be satisfied. They sent a large sum of money and other expensive offerings to their mother city Tyre as a sacrifice to Melqart. To Baal they sacrificed two hundred children and three hundred adults by throwing them into a pit with fire.
Several cities around Carthage went over to Agathocles as he campaigned in Libya.
Obscure Antiquity 