Revenge at Trasimeno

by Michael James Linder

All Right Reserved, June 2023

“The Lictor” - A Lictor was a Roman Official that traveled with the Consul to help him administer his office from where ever he was camped. They always carried with them the Fasces as symbols of their office (more on that below). This Lictor is a young man from the Iberian peninsula serving out his office with Consul Gaius Flaminius when he was caught up in the ambush at Trasimeno.

“The Young Hastati” - The Hastati were the class of young foot-soldiers in the Roman Army who were often recruited from the lower classes. Here a lone Hastati soldier remains at the side of the Consul, whose remaining retinue has obviously already been killed, and he glances over in horror to see the death-blow to the Consul, unaware that a similar blow is but moments from falling upon himself.

Brennus III - King Brennus, as I’ve portrayed him here is not in the histories (as the other figures are) but a similar noble must have participated, therefore I created him as the grandchild (or at least the third of his name) after the same Brennus who once conquered Rome and was quoted as saying “Vie Victus” - which means “woe to the vanquished.”

Roman Consul Gaius Flaminius - Blamed for this defeat, and for the loss of his own life, the Consul did not take the proper precaution to scout the path along the lake, and hence walked his whole legion into a trap and their doom.

Ducarious - The Insubres Nobleman is given credit in the histories for killing the Consul with his spear after killing his entire retinue.

Special Details

“The Fasces”

“The Fasces” - The Rods and Axes carried by the Lictors as they accompanied the Consul. The “Rods” symbolized the Consul’s ability to punish according to his judgement, and the “Axe” symbolized his right to deal out death as a punishment. These ‘Fasces’ as they were called in latin are the root behind the word Fascism, as a result, this entire piece is a symbolic “death to Fascism” statement by the artist.

“Hannibal’s Camp”

These lights high on the hill were meant to be Hannibal’s camp, with the lights of the messengers going to and from - relaying commands and orders in the pitch dark of the pre-dawn morning.

I would hope that my composition would translate the percentage of information about this battle, its outcome, and its psychological effect on the Roman world more than any text I can accompany it with, therefore I will limit my analysis to the why, not the what, of the painting above. A brief description of the battle is at the bottom.

The Second Punic War (216-204 BCE)

The Second Punic War was the continuation of conflicts between the two superpowers of the classical world, Rome and Carthage. As these two Imperial powers vied for hegemony in the rich trading waters of the Mediterranean, the future of the Western world was being determined. The winner, Roma, would forever be the ‘founders’ of western civilization, while their Semitic rivals, as the losers, would be nearly erased within the histories. Forgotten would be the five centuries in which the Phoenician empire ensured safe trade throughout the Mediterranean – allowing the life blood of commerce to flow and enrich the classical world as we now study it. Deliberately obscured will be the fact that almost every aspect of empire construction the Romans mastered, they first learned from the empire they usurped, that of the Carthaginians – from shipbuilding, to credit structures and bank lending, to industrial agricultural works - the Romans learned how to be Roman from the Phoenicians.

The First Punic War had witnessed the largest military Naval engagements of the classical period. Thousands of soldiers and ships engaged on the water in mass conflicts that dissolved into chaos and tragedy. After Carthage had thrown all their naval military might at Rome, it found itself beaten by their own genius. In the wake of the naval disaster, the defeated Carthaginians discovered the Roman’s had stolen, almost verbatim, their proprietary ship construction techniques by building ships in pieces, labeled accordingly, and assembled in a type of factory. If Rome had stolen the seas, then Carthage would steal back the land.

Under the leadership of Hamilcar Barca, a fierce Carthaginian mercenary army began to train in Sicily. After relocating his legions to Spain, Hamilcar began to plan a land invasion of the Italian peninsula. As happens frequently in the ancient world, these aspirations would not be realized by Hamilcar – who would die in a skirmish in Northern Spain, but ultimately this invasion, and the historical glory would be achieved by his son, Hannibal.

Historiography

To comprehend any historical narrative fully, you must have an understanding of a subject’s historiography, in other words, you must know how this history reached you. The Second Punic war was named as such by the Roman historian Livy, a) writing a solid 200 hundred years after the events, b) writing with a very deliberate agenda of Roman state promotion, c) utilizing language such as ‘Punic’ designed to slander the then extinct people. Polybius, a Greek historian, writing some 60 years after the events is considered a more accurate source. Polybius even went into the Alps in an attempt to retrace Hannibal’s path with his elephants. The curse of Polybius’ far more valuable histories are that they remain incomplete.

Both Livy and Polybius mention the death of the Consul Gaius Flaminius at the hands of the Insubres noble cavalryman Ducarious – Livy specifically mentions the spear as the weapon that dealt the death blow to the Consul.

One of the most important take-aways from the Historiography of Hannibal’s campaigns is to understand the maximum ‘history is written by the winners.’ The history of this man and his achievements come to us entirely from the annals of the civilization that opposed him, ultimately (spoiler alert) defeated him, and eradicated his entire culture. As such, let us see the man (and his victories) through both the fog of war and the slanders of historiography. His genius is clearly still presented in the liminal space of the romantic, nay tragic, narrative of the doomed defender of his homeland. However, I have found Hannibal’s brilliance to be both epic and subtle, all at the same time, and I’ve found that dichotomy to be at the core of my fascination with him.

The Genius of Hannibal

With no Carthaginian narrative of these victories, we must put together an understanding of Hannibal’s talents from what must have been present in order for these vistories to have even transpired. With an army composed of ten, or more, different cultures in his mercenary army, there must have been a nuanced focus on communication and enfranchisement that bonded all these warriors together in common purpose. Hannibal must have truly gotten to know his men, understood his allies. This ambush at Trasimeno contains one of the few gems of proof that fall to us.

Hannibal very consciously structured his battle lines during this ambush so that the Insubres tribe aligned with the rear baggage train, at the head of which- under the standard Roman Legion marching formation, would be stationed the Roman Consul Gaius Flaminus.

The Insubres (pronounced In-Soob-REYs) were the ancestral founders of Mediolanum which would become modern Milan. Not thirteen years before the moment portrayed in this painting, the very Roman Consul on this march was also the very Roman Consul that had defeated and displaced the Insubres from their home city. This can not be a coincidence, and when the ambush trap was sprung during this battle, it was the Insubres fury - thirteen years of anger stirring in displacement - that lead to the defeat of the Consul’s bodyguard and the killing of the Consul. An act so rare it sent the rest of the Legion into an abject panic, scattering into the dark and into the deep water of the lake.

Post-script

Following Hannibal’s ultimate defeat and return to Africa, the Insubres were tragically never able to regain Mediolanum. Instead it is believed from genetic studies that they became part of a group of displaced people that settled in what became Bohemia. My own genetic line from my father's side came from this area of Europe. I would love to believe my ancestors may have fought as part of Hannibal's legendary mercenary army.

The Battle of Lake Trasimene – June 21, 217 B.C.E.

In the early morning hours, before the light of dawn, the combined Carthaginian army sprang free from their concealed positions along the mountain side. In one giant wave of vengeful warriors, sourced from Spain to France, to the Cisalpine Gauls of Northern Italy, the camouflaged ambuscade caught the Roman legion totally by surprise while marching in vulnerable formation past Lake Trasimeno. It was a total loss for the Roman state, with almost no survivors, including the Legion’s General, Consul Gaius Flaminus, who is at the center of the composition here, being killed by the Celtic warrior named as ‘Ducarious’ by both Livy and Polybius.