Battle of Agrigentum

As this most probably will be the last post to go up, I thought I would turn this time to one of the victories of the Romans, the Battle of Agrigentum, which happened in 261 B.C.

This battle was fought between the forces of the Republic of Rome and Carthage. According to Adrian Goldsworthy, the Romans numbered at around 40,000 men and were led by the consuls Lucius Postumius Megellus and Quintus Mamilius Vitulus, while the other side was led by Hannibal Gisco and consisted of around 50,000 men, many of them gathered from outside the city walls of Agrigentum. When they realized that Hannibal did not want to fight them outside the city walls, the Romans decided to set up camp a mile outside the city walls and gathered up the crops that were there.Hannibal made his move while the Romans were harvesting the crops. Fleeing, the Romans retreated back to their camp, where they were able to keep another group from attacking their camp. This first encounter made Hannibal realize he could not afford to lose anymore men, while the Romans acknowledged they had underestimated the enemy.

The consuls decided on a new strategy: cut off Agrigentum from the world and blockade it in order to starve the residents and make them give up. This caused a five month long stalemate during which time Agrigentum began to run low on supplies, which caused Hannibal to send to Carthage for help, who sent a relief headed by Hanno, who was believed to have been Hannibal’s son (John Francis Lazenby, Adrian Goldsworthy).

Hanno captured the Romans’ only supply provider at Herbesos, which caused shortages that led to diseases and deprivation. Further encounters would extend the siege for another two months, bringing the Romans closer to starvation and causing the consuls to offer the other side to do battle. At first, Hanno refused, but when Hannibal sent desperate pleas saying the city was on the verge of starvation, he had no choice but to agree (John Francis Lazenby).

The battle ended with the Carthaginians being defeated; they lost 3000 infantry, 200 cavalry, and 4000 of them were taken prisoner. On the other hand, the Romans lost 1200 men (the number would be at around 30,000, but this high number counts for the whole siege, not just the battle).

Marshall McLuhan once said: “The medium is the message”. My understanding of this sentence is that, instead of writing out a message, one would use a symbol or perhaps an action in order to convey said message. So, in the case of the Battle of Agrigentum and its aftermath (the Romans sold the entire population into slavery), could the message have been that the victor will do what they want to the defeated? In that case, I can only wonder if the message was meant for the people of the time, or maybe if it was meant for us in an attempt to teach future generations about their era. When Rome sold the entire population into slavery, it made things difficult for her because any cities that could have been friendly with her ended up hardening themselves. As for those among us who love history of any kind, we would have seen that similar things had perhaps happened quite often and so it would not have as much of an impact as it did back then, though it might serve as a basis for many ideas…