Hannibal: Fields of Blood (61 page)

BOOK: Hannibal: Fields of Blood

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Many readers will know the broad brush strokes of Hannibal’s war with Rome; others will know less; a very few will be voracious readers of the ancient authors Livy and Polybius, the main sources for this period. For the record, I have done my best to stick to the historical details that have survived. In places, however, I have either changed events slightly to fit in with the story’s development, or invented things. Such is the novelist’s remit, as well as his/her bane. If I have made any errors, I apologise for them.

The term ‘Italy’ was in use in the third century
BC
as a geographical expression; it encompassed the entire peninsula south of Liguria and Cisalpine Gaul. The term did not become a political one until Polybius’ time (mid second century
BC
). I decided to use it anyway. It simplified matters, and avoided constant reference to the different parts of the Republic: Rome, Campania, Latium, Lucania, etc.

Describing Carthaginian soldiers, both native and non-native, is a whole minefield of its own. We have little historical information about the uniforms that Carthaginian citizens and the host of nationalities who fought for them wore, or the type of equipment and weapons that they carried. Without several textbooks and articles, which I’ll name later, I would have been lost. A little more detail survives about the Roman army of the time, but it’s still a case of having to make assumptions and logical leaps of faith. Another obstacle course to negotiate was Carthaginian names. Basically, there aren’t very many, or at least not many that have survived the test of time. Most of the ones that have come down to us are unpronounceable, or sound awful. Some are both! Hillesbaal and Ithobaal don’t exactly roll off the tongue. I could not stop myself from using Muttumbaal, however. There’s a modern ring to the nickname ‘Mutt’! There were a number of important historical characters named Hanno, but I desperately needed a good name for my hero, and they were in very short supply, hence the choice.

The novel begins soon after the first in the series,
Hannibal: Enemy of Rome
, ended. Not much is known of Hannibal’s activities in the few months after his victory at the Trebbia. A town named Victumulae was sacked by his forces, however, and its population put to the sword. The terrible trek through the floodplain of the River Arno happened; in the process, Hannibal is known to have lost an eye. The stunning ambush at Lake Trasimene took place much as I’ve described. My attempt to produce words that sounded like the Gauls’ carnyxes came about after listening repeatedly to John Kenny, a modern musician, playing a modern replica of this vertical trumpet. It sounds terrifying. Listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYM0xB5Jrc0.

In my opinion, the best detail about Trasimene is that you can still visit its exact location, a unique selling point when it comes to ancient battlefields. The sites of such clashes have almost always been lost. Not so Trasimene, because the natural features described by the ancient historians (the lakeshore, the pinch point etc.) are so unusual and because they can still be identified today. If you can, go there in late June one year, when Italian and Spanish re-enactors recreate the battle. It’s an amazing sight, as well as a wonderful part of Italy.

However unlikely it is that an equestrian would have abandoned his exalted position to join up as a lowly veles, it wouldn’t be the first time that a young man did something that makes no sense. Think
Beau Geste
! Besides, I had to come up with a way to take Quintus away from the cavalry. In my mind, he had to be a legionary at Cannae. The oath he took is very similar to the one made by soldiers to this day.

The re-equipping of Hannibal’s Libyans with Roman armour is known to have happened. We don’t know if they were also armed with enemy weapons and trained to fight differently, but it makes sense that they might have been. The dramatic ruse of the burning torches tied to the horns of cattle is recorded. So too are the details of the marriage ceremony. I have changed the wording of the marital vow, however. For the record – and I wish I’d made this clear in earlier books – it was
not
unusual for a girl of Aurelia’s age to be wed. There are still places in the world today where it is normal for girls to marry this young, so let’s not be surprised that it took place in Rome two thousand years ago! For those of you who find my use of the Fword/F-bomb objectionable or even ‘incorrect’, I say to you that the Romans were incredibly foulmouthed. Why not look up the Latin verb ‘futuere’ as well? It means ‘to fuck’. That’s enough evidence for me, and the end of my mini-rant.

It’s also important to remember that women occupied a far lower station in life in ancient Rome than they do in our society today. Although they were not without power, their main role in life was to produce children and to oversee the running of a family home. Little is known of Roman midwifery, but I have used what information I could find. ‘Kicking the enemy in the stomach’ is a phrase that survives from this time. Minucius Flaccus was a fictitious character (in the first novel), but Minucius Rufus, his brother, was a real man who served as Master of the Horse under Fabius, the ‘Delayer’, who was also known as Verrucosus (‘Warty’).

Many of you had probably heard of Cannae before you read this book. It’s no surprise that you had, and that the battle is still talked about nearly 2,200 years after it happened. For more than two millennia, it was one of, if not
the
, bloodiest day of combat ever to take place. It wasn’t until the invention of the machine gun and the outbreak of the First World War that a greater number of casualties were caused by a single battle. On the morning of the battle, nearly 130,000 soldiers and around 16,000 horses were packed into an area of a few square kilometres. By the end of the day, in excess of 50,000 Roman troops were dead. Beside them on the field lay 8,000 or so of Hannibal’s men. But it isn’t just the scale of the casualties that makes Cannae so remarkable: it is the ingenuity of Hannibal’s plan, and the discipline with which it was executed.

In ancient times, officers usually lost the power to control most of their men from the moment that battle commenced. There were no radios or walkie-talkies to communicate with, and it would have been impossible to see what was going on outside one’s immediate surroundings. Battles were therefore often won by the side that led the best initial charge, say, or the side that achieved the first major advantage. Hannibal could not have been instructing his senior officers on the wings or among his cavalry during the fighting, which tells us that they knew in advance what he expected of them. What is more, they fulfilled their duty. It was relatively unsurprising that the Carthaginian heavy cavalry should succeed in driving off their Roman counterparts – they were a superior force in every way. However, for them to refrain from pursuing their fleeing enemies and to set about first one task – aiding the Numidians to attack the socii horsemen – and then another – falling upon the rear of the Roman bloc of legionaries –
was
truly remarkable. So too was the manner in which the Gaulish and Iberian infantry held against overwhelming enemy numbers. The fact that they were able to regroup and return to the fray
after
being broken is also incredible, this being unheard of in ancient warfare.

The battlefield of Cannae was farmland in 216
BC
and it still is today, which means that a visit there is incredibly atmospheric. A hill rises conveniently close to the site, affording a bird’s-eye view of the entire area. I urge you to visit it if you can. It lies a short distance to the west of the town of Barletta in Apulia, and only 50 kilometres north of Bari airport, which is serviced by budget airlines. I have been to Cannae three times now, and each visit brings a new appreciation of the place. I shot a short video piece there in November 2012, which can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91-xrPJl0lg&feature=youtu.be.

After a defeat of the magnitude of Cannae, most ancient peoples would have surrendered. Yet the depths of Roman determination knew no bounds. Even though their standing army had all but been wiped off the face of the earth, they would not give in. Their strength of character in remaining defiant at such a time is amazing, and to be admired. Yet what might have happened if, in the immediate aftermath of Cannae, Hannibal had marched his army to Rome? It’s one of history’s great unanswered questions, and another potential minefield in which
everyone
tends to have a different opinion. All I’ll say on the matter is that I like to think that the sight of Hannibal’s victorious forces outside the walls would perhaps have been enough to make the Senate sue for peace. Would it have made any difference in the long run, though? I doubt it. Rome would have found a pretext for war, for revenge, as it did anyway, in 149
BC
, when the third and final war against Carthage began.

But that’s jumping over a lot of history, and most of the Second Punic War. Suffice it to say that Hannibal’s war in Italy went on after Cannae, and so too did the struggle in Sicily and Iberia. The next volume of the series, working title
Hannibal: Clouds of War
, will continue the stories of Hanno, Quintus and Aurelia, on the island of Sicily. I hope that you feel the need to find out what happens to them next!

A bibliography of the textbooks I used while writing
Fields of Blood
would run to several pages, so I will mention only the most important, in alphabetical order by author:
The Punic Wars
by Nigel Bagnall,
The Punic Wars
by Brian Caven,
Greece and Rome at War
by Peter Connolly,
Hannibal
by Theodore A. Dodge,
The Fall of Carthage
and
Cannae
, both by Adrian Goldsworthy,
Love in Ancient Rome
by Pierre Grimal,
Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars
by Duncan Head,
Sexual Life in Ancient Rome
by Otto Kiefer,
Hannibal’s War
by J. F. Lazenby,
Carthage Must Be Destroyed
by Richard Miles,
Daily Life in Carthage (at the Time of Hannibal)
by G. C. Picard,
The Life and Death of Carthage
by G. C. & C. Picard,
Love in Ancient Rome
by E. Royston Pike,
Roman Politics
220
–
150
BC
by H. H. Scullard,
Carthage and the Carthaginians
by Reginald B. Smith and
Warfare in the Classical World
by John Warry. I’m grateful to Osprey Publishing for numerous excellent volumes, to Oxford University Press for the outstanding
Oxford Classical Dictionary
, and to
Ancient Warfare
magazine for the superb article in Volume III, Issue 4: ‘Forging a professional army: armies of the Barcids’
by Alberto Perez and Paul McDonnell-Staff. Thanks, as always, to the members of romanarmytalk.com, whose rapid answers to my odd questions are so often of great use.

I owe gratitude too to a legion of people at my publishers, Random House. There’s Selina Walker, my wonderful new editor; Katherine Murphy, my managing editor; latterly Rob Waddington, and more recently, Aslan Byrne, who worked and work to get my novels into every possible UK outlet; Jennifer Doyle, who organises some wonderfully inventive marketing; Richard Ogle who has designed my amazing new jackets; Amelia Harvell, who secures me all kinds of great publicity; Monique Corless and Caroline Sloan, who persuade so many foreign editors to buy my books; David Parrish, who makes sure that bookshops abroad do so too. My sincere thanks to you all. Your hard work is very much appreciated.

So many other people must be named: Charlie Viney, my agent, deserves my thanks as always. I’m appreciative of Richenda Todd, my copy editor, who provides highly incisive input; Claire Wheller, my first-class physio, who stops my body from falling to bits after spending too long at my PC; Arthur O’Connor, an old friend, who also supplies excellent criticism and improvements to my stories. Thanks also to you, my loyal readers. It’s you who keep me in a job, for which I am endlessly grateful. Your emails from all over the world, and contacts on Facebook and Twitter, brighten up my days: please keep them coming! Last, but most definitely not least, I thank Sair, my wife, and Ferdia and Pippa, my children, for the huge amount of love and joy that they bring into my world.

Ways to contact me: email: [email protected]

Twitter:
@BenKaneAuthor

Facebook:
facebook.com/benkanebooks

Glossary

acetum
: vinegar, the most common disinfectant used by the Romans. Vinegar is excellent at killing bacteria, and its widespread use in western medicine continued until late in the nineteenth century.

aedile
: a magistrate responsible for various civic duties in Rome.

Aesculapius: son of Apollo, the god of health and the protector of doctors. Revered by the Carthaginians as well as the Romans.

Agora: we have no idea what Carthaginians called the central meeting area in their city. I have used the Greek term to differentiate it from the main Forum in Rome. Without doubt, the Agora would have been the most important meeting place in Carthage.

Alps: In Latin, these mountains are called
Alpes
. Not used in the novel (unlike the Latin names for other geographical features) as it looks ‘strange’ to modern eyes.