Interlude: Battle of Akragas

Akragas was a polis on a hill overlooking the southern coast of Sicily. Ever since the Battle of the Himera River and the loss of the Western Third of Sicily to Carthage, Akragas was on the frontier between the Greek-ruled section of the Island and the Carthaginian-ruled section of the Island. In the past, whenever war broke out between Carthage and the Greek Poleis of Sicily, Himera on the Northern Coast was more of a priority target for Carthage. It was a larger city with a better harbor, after all. Not this time, likely thanks to the Epirote Fleet off the coast of Italia, Akragas would be the target of this latest offensive.

And what an offensive it was, with Pyrrhus busy in Latium and having drawn large amounts of manpower north, Carthage was gambling on a maximum effort to seize the remainder of Sicily while they could. Akragas, meanwhile, was only able to muster some five thousand troops, bolstered by five thousand Sicel Mercenaries to defend their City against thirty-thousand Carthaginian troops. The Akragantine commander, Tellios of Akragas, opted to fight in an attempt to give the other Siciliote Poleis time to move troops west. The smart play would have been to withdraw when facing three times your number, but Tellios knew that to withdraw without giving the other Poleis time to shift troops from the mainland would result in larger losses overall.

So it was that six thousand mixed Akragantine and Sicel Hoplites and Thorakitai were flanked by three thousand mixed Sicel and Akragantine Peltasts and one thousand Akragantine cavalry. They drew up on the plains before the hill of Akragas, opposite thirty-thousand Carthaginian Troops comprised of Libyan Heavy Spearmen, Numidian and Gallic Cavalry, Balearic Slingers, Celtiberian Swordsmen, and various other sorts of troops drawn from all four corners of their dominion. The Carthaginian troops were even led by none other than Malik Gisgo himself, eager to avenge the failure to seize southwestern Brittania with gains in Sicily.

Furthermore, the small Akragantine Fleet had been utterly thrashed two days prior by the full might of Carthage's Navy. Only thirteen Triremes and Five Quadriremes had escaped from a Naval Battle in the waters northeast of Kossyros, which the Carthaginians called Yranim. Now they were bottled up in the Harbor of Akragas as the Carthaginian Fleet of two-hundred-sixty ships had freedom of the seas along the Southern Coast of Sicily and used that freedom to keep what remained of the Akragantine Fleet from sallying out. In short, Carthage had a strong hand to play against Akragas' weak one.

Perhaps that was why, when Tellios called for a Parlay, Malik Gisgo agreed to grant it. Tellios was a strong man, built of corded muscle, his favorite pastimes were Pankration, Wrestling, and Horseback Riding. Indeed, he had hoped to compete in the one-hundred-twenty-fifth Olympiad this year but was forced to stay in Akragas due to the outbreak of war with first Rome, and now Carthage. In contrast, Malik Gisgo was slighter of build and older as well, with hints of iron gray beginning to seep into his well-oiled black beard and hair. The look of surprise on Malik Gisgo's face upon seeing the Giant the Greeks had chosen to command would warm Tellios' heart during the travails to come.

"Hail, Gisgo, Master of Carthage. I bid you to withdraw your troops back to your third of the Island." Began Tellios.

"Strategos Tellios, I had understood this was a parlay to discuss terms of surrender?" Questioned Malik Gisgo.

"So it is. Terms of your surrender, of your ambitions over the rest of the Island. You face not simply Akragas, or Syracuse, but the whole of Magna Graecia plus the forces of Pyrhhus, King of Epirus. Your ambitions will only bring slaughter of a kind not seen on this Island for many years. Surely a wise ruler knows when to act judiciously to prevent such slaughter?" Retorted Tellios.

"So you say, Strategos Tellios, yet I see no forces of Magna Graecia, Pyrrhus, or even Syracuse on the field here this day. Perhaps they felt war with Rome more pressing? I implore you to forgo seeking terms of my withdrawal and beg you to seek terms of your own surrender." Refuted Malik Gisgo.

"I cannot in good faith surrender my home without unsheathing my sword, for I have sworn an oath to Zeus Olympios not to do so. I am many things, but a breaker of oaths to the King of the Gods I am not. I pray you withdraw back to Panormus or your men will all die on this island before completing your ambition." Informed Tellios.

"I will not withdraw, and if you will not surrender, then there is but one course of action remaining to us." Intoned Malik Gisgo.

"So be it." Nodded Tellios.

With that, both men withdrew from the parlay and moved to their various armies to begin issuing orders and to prepare for battle. Some twenty-five minutes later, the Battle of Akragas began with an attempt by the Akragantine Cavalry to drive off their Numidian and Gallic opponents. The attack took place on the extreme right of the battle and would set the tone for the fight ahead. Akragas did not field the Kataphraktoi that Pyrrhus did, but they still employed steel-armored, stirrup and hard tree saddle-equipped, cavalry. It initially went extremely well for the Akragantine Cavalry force accordingly.

The Akragantine cavalry clashed with the Gallic Cavalry first and the Gauls came off worse for it, their long, slashing, Spatha, and chain armor were oft made of poorer quality iron and they had no hard tree saddles or stirrups. However, Numbers and Ferocity made up for poor equipment and discipline on the part of the Gauls, and when the Numidians arrived in a shower of mounted javelinry, the battle swung the other way. The Akragantine Cavalry was forced off the field by the Carthaginian Counterattack, leaving twice their number of casualties inflicted on the Carthaginians behind them.

As this was going on, Sicel and Akragantine Peltasts traded fire with Balearic Slingers and found that their steel equipment, while proof against sling stones of less able slingers, was not quite so resistant to the lead bullets used by the Balearic Slingers, nor against the slinging technique these elite troops utilized. Both sides gave as good as they received, better even, as while the steel helms and linothorax were not a guarantee, they still provided a certain amount of protection that the leathers of the Slingers did not against steel-tipped javelins. It was still a slaughter on both sides, with both armies' skirmishers falling back with heavy losses.

Unfortunately, by this point, the Akragantine Cavalry had been driven from the field after an hour and a half of combat, and while the Gallic Cavalry pursued, the Numidians wheeled about to launch a hail of javelins into several of the Sicel formations, having judged the mercenary warriors of the Sicilian Interior to be the weak link in the defense of Akragas. This proved fairly prescient and several contingents of Sicel Mercenaries, taking losses without being able to hit back, broke formation and routed. Disastrously, this occurred as Libyan Heavy Spearmen and Celtiberian Swordsmen closed with the ranks of Akragantine Hoplites and Sicel Thorakitai.

With a number of Sicel Thorakitai having routed, there were openings in the formation that Celtiberian Swordsmen could exploit to assault the Hoplite Phalanx from the more vulnerable flanks. They did so with gusto, hacking their falcatas into limbs and thrusting Gladii into gaps in armor coverage. The Akragantine Hoplites meanwhile, could not turn to fend off such attacks, because their phalanx was too cumbersome for such maneuvers while they were also busy fending off attacks from Libyan Heavy Spearmen to the front. After another hour of grinding fighting, Tellios' right flank was threatening to disintegrate entirely and he was forced to send in his reserves to stabilize the situation.

It did not help, for just as the right flank stabilized, Malik Gisgo sent in the weapon he had been holding back for just the right moment. An unearthly screeching split the air of the battlefield like a trumpet, as Carthage sent in their war elephants. Twenty of the massive beasts thundered forth into the recently stabilized right flank and crashed into Akragantine Hoplites. Iron-shod tusks broke open formations, even as men were trampled underfoot or showered with javelins and sling bullets from howdahs on the backs of elephants. It was a slaughter.

Three hours after it had begun, the Battle of Akragas was all but over, forcing Tellios to call for a retreat east to Gela. The Elephants had broken his right flank and it was the only option left. The center and left of his army withdrew, leaving the right flank to keep fighting as long as they could to buy time for the withdrawal to complete with their deaths. Though dead men walking, facing elephants, Numidian Cavalry, and more, the right flank sold their lives dearly. Four hours after it had begun, the Battle of Akragas ended in a Carthaginian victory.

However, the price that Malik Gisgo had paid was high. Four thousand troops dead and wounded, along with two elephants killed by lucky shots. In contrast, they managed to kill or capture four thousand Greeks and Sicels while forcing another thousand to desert and wounding a further thousand. Tellios of Akragas had managed to withdraw with three thousand combat-effective troops east to Gela, where they were joined by ten thousand troops from Gela and Kamarina, with a further ten thousand from Syracuse and Kasmenai a day's march away. Meanwhile, Zanclo, Naxos, Himera, and Catania were mustering a further twenty thousand troops in the North, while Lipari was mustering another three thousand and Pyrrhus was sending men south as fast as he could.

The Greeks had more local reinforcements to draw on, while Carthage could only really count on reinforcements from Panormos, Motya, Lillybeum, and a few smaller towns. It wasn't a sustainable state of affairs. Malik Gisgo knew it too, for his terms for the surrender of Akragas were fairly lenient, choosing to appoint a puppet Archon, force commercial concessions, and light tributes rather than truly bringing the Polis under the Carthaginian boot, as his predecessors had done with Selinos and Hereklea Minoa after the last war. When remarking on the battle, Malik Gisgo was heard to have said, "One more victory such as this, and we will be undone!"

He had no idea how apt a statement that would be. . .

XXXX

AN: Apologies for the unexplained absence. I recently purchased BG3 and fell down a gaming rabbit hole. Been trying to get chapters out now.

Here we see Carthage's entry into the war, capturing Akragas at the cost of a large number of casualties. Gisgoic Victory is going to take the place of the phrase Pyrrhic Victory this time around. Carthage has a vast empire to call troops from, but the problem is that a lot of those territories are clients who can get testy when being forced to give troops.

Add in losses in Brittania and it means that while Carthage can call on local troops from places like Panormus, Motya, and Lillybeum for reinforcements, that's all they can safely call on. Meanwhile, all of Magna Graecia plus Pyrrhus have troops contributing to their opposition. Gisgo needs a quick string of victories so he can negotiate from a position of strength. The longer things drag on for him, the worse it's going to go for Carthage.

At any rate, next up we'll be back with Pyrrhus as he takes on Brutus for the first time.

Stay tuned. . .