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The Battle of White Tunis was fought between Carthage and the tyrant Agathocles of Syracuse in 310 BC. It was the first large battle of the military expedition to Libya Agathocles had undertaken. Even though heavily outnumbered by the Carthaginian army, the soldiers of Agathocles were far more experienced in warfare than the Carthaginian citizen soldiers. Another important factor was the terrain, which prevented the Carthaginians from using their numbers to outflank Agathocles. The Carthaginian suffered a serious defeat, which caused some of the Carthaginian allies to change their allegiance to Agathocles. == Prelude == Earlier during his war against Carthage, Agathocles had lost the Battle of the Himera River in 311 BC and lost control of Sicily except for Syracuse itself, which was besieged by the Carthaginians in the same year. Instead of facing the army which besieged Syracuse, he decided to start an unexpected and risky attack on his enemy's home soil, Libya. It would divert the Carthaginians from Syracuse and incite the Libyan allies of Carthage to revolt, as well as allowing him to plunder the wealthy territory of Carthage. He calculated that his experienced army, even though little remained of it, would have an edge over the Carthaginian forces there, which were not as experienced as the Carthaginian forces on Sicily. With sixty triremes Agathocles managed to escape a Carthaginian blockade of Syracuse in August 310 BC. His fleet narrowly escaped a naval battle with a pursuing Carthaginian fleet as they landed at Latomiae, which is near the modern Cape Bon. Agathocles then burned his ships to remove any option of retreat for his soldiers. Additionally, he no longer needed to leave a part of his force to guard the ships and precluded their capture by the Carthaginians. After the Greek army looted the prosperous countryside, Agathocles led his army in a direct assault against the Carthaginian city of Megalopolis. Even though the city had walls, the attack came unexpected for the inhabitants, who were not experienced in warfare. After short resistance, the Greeks looted and destroyed the city. Immediately afterwards Agathocles razed the city of White Tunis and set up camp outside the city. It has been suggested that Megalopolis can be identified with the site of modern Soliman and White Tunis with modern Tunis, but this is not certain. Panic ensued in Carthage when the inhabitants learned of the arrival of Agathocles. They thought that Agathocles would not have left Syracuse unless the Carthaginian army and navy there were eliminated. Their desperation subsided when Carthaginian messengers from Sicily reported that Agathocles had escaped the blockade. The council of elders appointed two rivals, Hanno and Bomilcar, as the generals of an army to defeat Agathocles. According to Diodorus Siculus Bomilcar wanted to exploit this event to get rid of his rival and seize power in Carthage for himself. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of White Tunis (310 BC)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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