The Nature of the Carthaginian Army Carthaginian armies since the rule of Mago were complex and diverse enes. Although it is tempng for us to simplify the armies of Carthage as an organised monolithic fighng force with set rules and regulaons, the truth is far from it. The same can be said, to an extent, concerning the armies of Rome during the mid-republic and of the Hellenisc Kingdoms to the east. The key factor driving the diverse and complex nature of ancient armies was the extent of territory to which each ancient state ruled over. The Polybian legions of Rome were not all idencally equipped Italian soldiers but were rather drawn upon all areas of Italy who inevitably brought their own cultural differences and customs of warfare. 1 Likewise, the vast and wide-reaching domains under the suzerainty of Carthage created a mulnaonal army consisng of Iberians, Gauls, Sicilians, Libyans, and Numidians, most of them being contracted mercenaries. 2 As such, it is difficult to clearly idenfy Carthaginian armies as being disnctly Roman or Hellenisc in style and nature, yet the development of Carthage and its contact with the many polies of the western Mediterranean certainly leſt a mark on Carthage’s army. It would make sense to start at the beginning of the Carthage’s maral history, or at least the history that is recorded in ancient literature. Jusn discusses the history of Carthage in the 19 th book of his Philipic Histories, in which he states that Mago I introduced a series of military reforms designed to strengthen the power of Carthage abroad by imitang the armies of the Tyrants of Syracuse. 3 Cizens were conscripted and armed in the classical hoplite phalanx formaon, similar to those of Greek city states in this period. It is important to disnguish the differences between the terms ‘Hellenic’ and ‘Hellenisc’ as the former refers to anything broadly Greek in nature or custom, while the laer refers exclusively to the period following the death of Alexander the Great in 323BC and ending with the fall of Ptolemaic Egypt in 31BC. The reforms of Mago were likely as a result of contact with the numerous Greek colonies of the western Mediterranean, notably Syracuse and, to a certain extent, Massalia. This shows that as far back as the mid-6 th century the cizen core of Carthage’s armies were fighng in the Hellenic style, likely fusing Greek colonial techniques with Punic customs. Although this obviously does not mean that early Carthage 1 McNab 2010, 37-41. 2 Penrose 2005, 55-66. 3 Jusn, Philipic Histories XIX.