<p rend="Plain Text">Affairs in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Africa&groupId=300&placeId=294">Africa</a> (203–2): the battle of Zama</p>
<p rend="Plain Text">The battle of the Great Plains (xiv. 8) was followed by the defeat and capture of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Syphax&groupId=993&placeId=1751">Syphax</a> by C. Laelius and Masinissa near Cirta (Livy, xxx. 11–15, with the story of Sophonisba's marriage to Masinissa and suicide; App. Lib. 27–28, Zon. ix. 12; Diod. xxvii. 6–7). The Carthaginians now asked for peace from Scipio who, having failed to take Utica, had returned to the camp at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Tunis&groupId=1051&placeId=1849">Tunis</a>, and later to Castra <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Cornelia&groupId=495&placeId=930">Cornelia</a>. Scipio proposed terms (cf. 1. 2 n., 8. 7 n.) which were accepted at <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> (1. 3, 4. 8, 8. 9). Meanwhile a Roman convoy from <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sicily&groupId=973&placeId=1724">Sicily</a> was scattered by a gale and the transports driven ashore on the island of Aegimurus (Djezret Djamr) at the entrance to the bay of <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Carthage&groupId=441&placeId=820">Carthage</a>, and to the west of the C. Bon peninsula. The Carthaginian people sent Hasdrubal to collect these (Livy, xxx. 24. 5–12; App. Lib. 34; Dio, xvii. 75; Zon. ix. 13; Diod. xxvii. 11–12). This is the situation at the opening of 1. Meanwhile Hannibal had left <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Italy&groupId=656&placeId=1199">Italy</a> and landed at Lepcis Minor near Hadrumetum (Livy, xxx. 19. 12, 25. 11–12); and he encamped at the latter town (5. 3).</p>
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The chronology of these events is disputed. Ovid, Fasti, vi. 769–70, 'superat Masinissa Syphacem, et cecidit telis Hasdrubal ipse suis', refers these events to 22 June; but it is not clear which Hasdrubal is meant and whether the two incidents are from one battle or two. For discussion see De Sanctis, iii. 2. 575 (reference to Campi Magni in both lines); Scullard, Scip. 324–5 (separate references to the battle near Cirta and to the Metaurus). In the one case the battle of the Great Plains and in the other the battle near Cirta will have been fought in about June 203. This evidence cannot be pressed in view of uncertainty as to how the calendar was running at this time; but Scullard's view is consistent with a chronology dating the burning of the camps to early March and the battle of the Great Plains to late April (xiv. 7. 9 n.). The dispatch of Carthaginian ambassadors to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> will probably fall in autumn 203 (Scullard, Scip. 326). Hannibal was still in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Italy&groupId=656&placeId=1199">Italy</a> when peace negotiations were opened (cf. 8. 12; Livy, xxx. 16) and was back in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Africa&groupId=300&placeId=294">Africa</a> when the Carthaginians broke them off (1. 10); but the exact date of his return is controversial. Livy puts it in A.U.C. 551 = 203/2 B.C.; for his statement (Livy, xxx. 29. 1) that Hannibal marched to Zama paucis diebus after reaching Hadrumetum is due to a misunderstanding of 5. 3, his source, where <w lang="el-GR">μετὰ δέ τι</w>v<w lang="el-GR">ας? ἡμέρας</w> has nothing to do with the disembarkation (De Sanctis, iii. 2. 586–7). De Sanctis, ibid., suggests plausibly that Livy has identified P.'s year Ol. 144, 1 = 204/3 with
<milestone unit="page" n="440">[440]</milestone>
A.U.C. 551 and so has given the impression that Hannibal returned just before the end of that year, i.e. in February or March, 202; whereas in fact in Polybius, his source, the year 204/3 (and book xiv) will have ended with Hannibal's return in autumn 203, and book xv (203/2) will have opened with his rest at Hadrumetum. For further discussion see De Sanctis, iii. 2. 586–8; Scullard, Scip. 326–7.
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Walbank Commentary