Description
As centuries passed, naval tactics and needs changed across the Mediterranean. There was a move towards larger ships, partly as an expression of national or dynastic power: the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt were particularly fond of large ships to show their wealth and influence in a physical way. These 'polyremes', a term meaning many oared, were not suitable for ramming work in battle. In practice many of them had no more oars than smaller ships; what they had were more rowers per oar than smaller ships. A Roman hexareme or Greek hexeres would have a couple of banks of oars with three men per oar, and appear to be an over-sized version of a smaller ship. Even so, thanks to being tremendously heavy and strongly constructed, they were slow moving, and hardly capable of the quick turns needed to take advantage of enemy mistakes. Instead the large ships made use of their wide decks and plentiful carrying capacities and became fighting platforms for infantry and artillery. Boarding or long-range bombardment were the methods to be used to defeat the enemy; naval warfare had come full circle in terms of fighting methods, even if ships had grown significantly.
The Sacred Band were a phalanx of veteran spearmen, raised in Carthage, and trained and armoured in Greek hoplite fashion. They were unique in that they were drawn from the populace of the city itself, rather than being allies, levied subject peoples or mercenaries; these were the groups that normally made up Carthaginian armies. Chosen from the nobility and wealthy citizens, they were well trained and disciplined. Thanks to their social status they could afford the full panoply of hoplite armour: a bronze cuirass, greaves and helm, and a hoplon shield. In the case of the Sacred Band these were predominately white in colour. Armed with hoplite spears, tipped with an iron head and bronze butt-spike for balance, members of the Sacred Band also carried straight swords. Renowned for their valour, even in defeat, the Sacred Band was expected to fight to the last, and did so at the Battle of the Crimissus in 340BC. Their numbers never recovered and in time the pressure of Carthage’s wars with Rome meant that the Sacred Band was superseded by mercenary armies, paid for by Carthage's trading wealth. These armies still had small numbers of Carthaginian citizens and Liby-Phoenicians, but the Sacred Band of old was no more.
