Scenes From Elsewhere (Carthage

Carthage was a City on the Brink. Gisgo, Son of Hanno the Great and Father of the executed General Hamilcar, who the Greeks of Syracuse had captured in three-oh-eight and executed the year after had seen the City's trade suffer thanks to the Greeks of Epirus and their new dyes, metalwork, and cloth. Dyes had been a traditional staple of Carthage's trade, as had metals. Cloth not so much, not with Egypt having the ability to flood markets with cheap linen at will, but dyes and metalwork had long been money makers.

That had changed with the Epirote's ability to output large amounts of high-quality iron and even steel, as well as the rich red, yellow, green, and blue dyes coming out of the Epirote Dyeworks. Even bronze, long a hot commodity that Carthage was able to produce had been partially supplanted by Epirote brass, iron, and steel. Thankfully, it seemed that Epirus had none of the snails that allowed for the production of Tyrian Purple, which allowed Carthage to maintain a toehold in the Dye Market, and Carthaginian Wine was still outselling Epirote equivalents.

However, it was a near thing and the City's coffers had seen far better days. Gisgo was disinclined to allow it to continue. His father, Hanno the Great, had spearheaded a large number of mines in Hispania that had given their family much wealth from the tin, copper, iron, and silver mined there. They were heavily invested in the trade of metals, though thankfully, their traditional buyers tended to come from places like Massilia, Numidia, and the Tribes of Gaul and Hispania. Epirus had no market penetration that far west. Others were not so lucky.

Various merchant concerns backed by several prominent Shophets in the Assembly had lost much money in sales of dyes and metalwork to Magna Graecia, Egypt, and the lands of Seleucus over the past several years. Epirus just had seized too strong a hold in those markets to break. They had recouped some losses with sales of metalwork to the Etruscans and Romans during their War, and the export of Dyes and metalwork to the lands of the Ligurians, whose Dominion of Northwestern Cisalpine Gaul and natural harbors made them stable trade partners, but that would not last, as the Third Samnite War could not last forever.

Indeed, by two-eighty-nine, those Merchants and their Shophet Backers had approached Gisgo with an offer. His father Hanno had long desired to be Malik of Carthage, a title that had been abolished in favor of the current Assembly of Shophets for well over a hundred years. Hanno had never been able to rally enough support, even with his wealth, to be declared Malik by the Assembly and had remained merely a first among equals within the Assembly of Shophets until his death. These Shophets and their backers, who turned out to be the Magonid and Barcid factions of the Assembly of Shophets, offered Gisgo the title should he agree to help them reverse their decline in fortunes.

Gisgo thought about it and agreed after three days of deliberation. However, if they were to install Gisgo as Malik, they would require all of the Shophets of the Assembly to vote in favor of the motion, or at least agree not to oppose the motion. With his, the Magonid, and the Barcid factions working the other Shophets in the assembly, Gisgo, son of Hanno was made Malik of Carthage by two-eighty-eight.

His first act was to allow Barcid and Magonid-aligned merchants to trade in Hispania and Gaul, while he sent his merchants further afield to make up for lost territory, eventually founding a new Emporion in Armorica on the Island of Vindillis to trade with the Northern Gauls such as the Venetii, Ossisimi, and Curiosolites. Further Empiorion was founded on the Isles of Lisia and Angia west of the lands of the Venelli, Lexovii, and Caletii in Belgica and Northern Gaul. These expeditions were launched from Burum in the lands of the Callaeci of Northwestern Hispania, a tribe friendly to Carthagenian Merchant Interests for the wealth they brought the Kings of the Tribe.

By two-eighty-five, these three, far-flung, Northern Gallic Emporion had become staples of trade in Armorica and Belgica. The wealth allowed Gisgo to bribe the new King of the Callaeci, King Habis, into becoming a Carthaginian Client King in name as well as in fact, adding a significant territory to Carthage's Hegemony for the first time in decades. This act brought Gisgo much prestige and the Shophets of the Assembly lauded him with honors.

Furthermore, traders even spoke of merchants sailing to these Emporion on crude Gallic-style Biremes from even further out to sea. These Merchants spoke a variety of the Gallic Language that was closely related to that spoken in Armorica, though it was not totally mutually intelligible. Further, they carried holds filled with tin to trade, a valuable commodity that often fetched quite a price in silver in the lands of Armorica and Belgica. These were Merchants of the Dumnonii, a Gallic Tribe on the Island of Britannia off in the sea to the north of Armorica.

Britannia was known to the Merchants of Masillia from the tales of Pytheas of Massilia, who circumnavigated the Isles in the previous century. It was from these stories that Carthage knew of Britannia. A mist-shrouded land populated by hulking, chariot-borne, warriors. A land whose Priests performed rituals out under the stars to mark the turning of the seasons and whose tribes were distant kin to those of Gaul. Pytheas had circumnavigated the Islands and noted their riches as well as their peoples and customs.

Pytheas had said that wealth could be found there if you braved the fractious natives and difficult crossing and that the sale of tin purchased from the tribes of Britannia was a source of wealth for much of the tribes of Gaul, who traded for the tin and sold it to Masillia and Narbo. That timber was plentiful for shipbuilding, as were furs for trading and iron in the lowland bogs. The plentiful tin in the hold of the Dumnonii biremes seemed to confirm at least that last part.

When the word came back to Gisgo in Carthage several months later, upon the Empiorion's tithes returning to Carthage, he knew that the opportunity for more wealth in these new far-off lands would likely be immense, simply from the new source of Tin. Unfortunately, his merchants had warned him that the Dumnonii claimed to be but one of almost two dozen tribes of equal power to the Venetii of Armorica, who would not relinquish their mines for mere wealth.

Fortunately, by the spring of two-eighty-four, the Northwestern Trade Routes had proven lucrative enough that Carthage had not only made back their lost money but even seen a surge in revenue, even after the end of the Third Samnite War meant that sales of weaponry to Rome and the Etruscan League had ceased being profitable. This allowed Gisgo to outfit a fleet of ships and a modest army to sail to the lands of the Dumnonii and Compel them to become Carthagenian Clients.

By the spring of two-eighty-three, the Fleet had pulled up to the lands of the Dumnonii on a long peninsula on the southwest of the Misty Island of Britannia, and the expeditionary force, under the Command of Hannibal the Bearded, the Head of the Barcid Clan. The Army met with that of the Dumnonii King Lugotorix on a flood plain between two rivers, just within sight of the Oppidum of Isca, where the King had his capital.

In the battle, Hannibal used fieldworks to funnel many of the Dumnonii chariots into killing zones, forcing the swift-moving, javelin-throwing, charioteers into warfare ill-suited for their chief weapon. Forced to fight on foot, without being able to soften the Carthaginian forces up with chariot-mounted javelins beforehand, many of their elite charioteers were slain and King Lugotorix was compelled to withdraw to his Oppidum where Hannibal besieged him.

Unfortunately, it was by this point that the death of Agathocles and subsequent conquest of Zanclo by the Mamertines who had been in the Tyrant's pay occurred. With much of the fleet and army off in the lands of the Dumnonii, Gisgo did not have the troops in place to take advantage of the situation. Furthermore, the invitation of Pyrrhus of Epirus to come to Sicily and southern Italia by the Greeks of Magna Graecia in order to deal with the Mamertines meant that trying to take advantage of the situation without the full might of Carthage on hand in the Mediterranean was likely to backfire.

Thus, Gisgo and Carthage adopted a wait-and-see approach to the situation. Rome was getting anxious with Pyrhhus in Sicily, and that provided an opportunity for the sale of more weaponry to the Romans should Rome and Epirus go to war. Gisgo had decided that in the event of a war between Rome and Pyrrhus, Carthage would sell material and weapons to the Romans without getting involved directly.

In the meantime, Hannibal the Bearded would take his expeditionary force and compel as many of the Kings of Southwestern Britannia to become Carthagenian Clients as he was able, in order to maximize profits. Gisgo would recall Hannibal the Bearded in five years' time either way. Then, once things had been settled between Rome and Epirus, Carthage would pounce on the weakened victor after having secured lands and wealth for Carthage in Britannia.

It was a plan that Gisgo felt would see Carthage gain no matter what happened. If they managed to push Rome or Pyrhhus out of Sicily in the aftermath of the Roman-Epirote War, then they would gain in Britannia, Hispania, and Sicily. If not, they would still gain in Britannia and Hispania. Either way, Carthage would come out ahead in terms of his legacy, and that was the most important thing.

After all, if his young son Himilco Gisgo was to be Malik after Gisgo died, he would need that legacy secured. . .

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AN: OK, so here we see what has happened in Carthage. Hanno the Great's son has been declared Malik thanks to Carthage's Epirote-made economic problems forcing a political shake-up. Not only that, but we are starting to see Carthage expand its network of outposts and clients in Spain, Gaul, and even Britain under his rulership.

Now, IOTL we know that Britain was visited by Mediterranean peoples. Pytheas of Masillia completed a Circumnavigation of the Island of Britain in the late fourth century and visited several of the coastal tribes. We also know that tin from Britain was traded as far south as the Bay of Biscay, though likely through an intermediary or two. Britain was known as the Cassaratides by the Romans, the Tin Islands, long before they invaded.

Interestingly, with Carthage's network of friendly Iberian kings, it actually gives them a base in the modern-day area around A Coruna with the friendly Callaeci Tribe that would be amenable to being a launching point for various expeditions north into northern Gaul and Brittania.

IOTL, they preferred to expand in Iberia, southern Gaul, and Sicily until they ran up against Rome. Here, with Epirus having their resurgence, they actually decided to try founding an outpost or two in Northern Gaul. The trade outposts in northern Gaul ITTL are on the Isles of Jersey, Guernsey, and Belle-Île in Brittany, giving them trading posts in the area of modern-day Britanny and Normandy.

The Briton Tribes' use of Chariots is also well documented and goes back at least as far as the La Tene Period, judging by Archeology. What they would do was mount their best troops on Chariots, who would then dart around the battlefield tossing javelins into enemy formations to break them up, before dismounting and fighting on foot. Here Hannibal the Bearded, who incidentally is the father of Hamilcar Barca, whom the more famous Hannibal was named for, has used fieldworks to deny the charioteers their favored hit-and-run javelin attacks. The Dumnonii lost a lot of their elites to getting stuck-in near the fieldworks without having been able to break up the Carthaginian line with javelins first.

At any rate, next up we'll see how various minor nations like Macedon, Sparta, and Athens have fared in the interim. Then we'll finally be back with Pyrrhus.

Stay tuned. . .