I - 127 : A Secret Persian - Carthage Alliance?

Carthage with its round Harbor around 300 BC

One of my passions in life is reading maps. I find them so informative. They often convey more historical information than voluminous books. The encyclopaedia worldhistory.org brought map making to new levels. Simeon Netchev’s pieces are informative and well researched. They are often thought provoking by graphically illustrating context.

Simeon Netchev's Map of Achaemenid Empire at the Time of Darius the Great in 500 BC

One of his maps made me wonder why Persia never conquered Crete even though it was inhabited by Dorians – the very people who fought them in Rhodes or in the Thermopylae (Spartans). But the Dorian towns on Crete stayed neutral during the Persian wars. There was thus no need for an invasion as in Rhodes. But why were they neutral in the first place?

The Dorians all over mainland Greece mobilized against the Persian invasion. The Dorian colonies in Magna Graecia (today’s Sicily, Calabria and Apulia) though, bigger and often more powerful than their parent cities, stayed away. Their sizeable armies and fleets would have made a difference. Why did they stay away?

Phoenician Settlers with their colonies dominated the Mediterranean already in 800 BC

To find the answer, we need to look at the big picture. Most of us know the Phoenicians, the ancient people living in the coastal cities of Tyre, Beirut, Tripoli, Byblos or Akko. From the 12th to the 2nd century BC, they dominated maritime trade. Tyre was their most important town. It made significant contributions to navigation, ship building and engineering. Tyre set up colonies early. Its most prominent was Kiton in Cyprus which allowed Tyre to dominate the copper island. In 814 BC, its traders founded Carthage, half way to Spain from where they sourced tin. Whilst iron had replaced bronze as metal of choice for swords, arrow heads and lances, bronze, the copper-tin alloy, was used for helmets, shields, body armor, the rams for war ships and a plethora of household goods. The copper and tin trade was a quite lucrative commercial activity.

The Babylonian Empire before it was conquered by Persia

Whilst the Phoenicians built their trade network, the power dynamics in the Levant changed. Smaller kingdoms were absorbed by bigger ones. The Age of Empire had started. In the 7th century, the Babylonian conquered Syria, Cilicia, than the Levant and eventually Israel. We all know the story of the Israelites forced into exile to Babylon. In 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar II, the Babylonian King, showed up before Tyre. After a 12 years long bloody siege, the two parties came to terms. Tyre surrendered and agreed to pay tributes to the Babylonians to preserve its trading business. But its independence was gone. When Persia conquered Babylon in 539 BC, Tyre became a vassal to the Persian King of Kings Darius. Now Persia had access to Phoenicia's maritime know-how, sailors and ships which were later used for the attacks on Greece.

Carthage expanded throughout the Western Mediterranean with its Colonies

Despite Tyre’s loss of independence, Carthage continued to pay annual tribute to its parent. It also sent home loot from successful campaigns. We know that Darius’ father, Cambyses planed to unite his conquest of Egypt with the Phoenician colonies on North Africa's shores. There is a myth of a Persian Army lost in Egypt’s desert which was the background for the movie “The English Patient”. But Cambyses had more urgent business in the eastern part of his new empire. Given that Tyre already controlled Carthage, the project was shelved.

Xerxes' Campaign in Greece in 480 BC with Crete staying neutral

Fast forward 50 years and we find ourselves in the second Persian campaign against Greece (480 BC). Over three years, Xerxes, the Persian King of Kings, had equiped and amassed an army of 200’000 men and a fleet of 1’000 ships. He wanted to crush the Greek with over-whelming force. Preventing Magna Graecia from joining forces with Athens, Sparta and Corinth was one of his most important strategic goals. Xerxes was well aware that Athens had 200'000 inhabitants but Syracuse 500'000.

Sicily in the 6th Century BC with the Greek Settlements

It is thus not farfetched to imagine that Xerxes “encouraged” Hamilcar I, the Carthaginian ruler, to invade Sicily to take on the Greek. Carthage’s colonies on Sicily were on the island’s west. The Dorians had settled on the east coast. Their biggest and most successful colony was Syracuse. In the early 5th century BC, its ruler Gelon, aimed to conquer all of Sicily and send the Carthaginians packing. Sicily was a worthy prize. The farming was rich and its fish stock plentiful - tuna pass Sicily's west on their annual migration. Due to its location, it also controlled the access to the Western Med and thus the tin trade from Spain & England.

Archeologists recently found the gruesome Mass Graves from the Battle of Himera in 480 BC

I won’t have enough space to cover the first Sicilian War between Carthage and Gelon. Due to bad weather and bad luck, Hamilcar’s army of 50’000 men suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Himera (Sicily's north coast) in 480 BC. The same year Xerxes, Persia’s King of King, lost his fleet at Salamis which deprived him of the means to supply his large army which had invaded Greece from Macedonia.

The Persian Fleet was decisively beaten in the Narrows of Salamis in 480 BC

In the Greek communities around the Mediterranean, people celebrated the double victory over Persia at Himera and Salamis. No evidence of an alliance between Carthage and Persia has survived. But I believe there was one. There was plenty of time to prepare, coordinate the mutual war plans, exchange time schedules and align the logistics efforts. Mobilizing 50'000 men was a major effort for Carthage.

With the benefit of hindsight, we have to admit that Xerxes plan worked. The two Greek communities never combined and had to fight for themselves. The reason why the Persian invasion failed was the Greek spirit and determination to fight - even under the worst possible conditions as at the Battle of Thermopylae.

The "Secret" Persian Pincer Attack Plan from 480 BC - photo from the YouTube clip:

https://youtu.be/xKR7bi4lUys?si=BkKndDr4WFyizec5

That the island of Crete - under these circumstances - stayed neutral is understandable. In this fight of giants there was not much to win and nobody would have come to help if Persia had attacked Crete. The Persians and their Phoenician allies controlled the sea plus all the lands to the east, west and south. Crete’s contribution would have made little difference in the outcome but definitely dragged the island into a conflict that it could not win.