The Psylli: An Ancient Libyan Tribe That Fought the Wind And Sand—And Lost

(Desert Storm and Tree, [Public Domain] via pxhere.com)

Around the turn of the 5th century BCE, the Psylli tribe, a people located somewhere along the coast of the Gulf of Sirte (or the Great Syrte), mysteriously disappeared after suffering a major drought. The catastrophic natural disaster virtually wiped the Psylli civilization off the face of the earth—leaving only a scattering of Psylli tribesmen (oddly associated with snake charming and healing) that would sporadically surface, here and there, for many more centuries. Yet, their tribe, as a sovereign whole, was considered destroyed.

When Herodotus, the father of history, was born within the city of Halicarnassus in 490 BCE, the Psylli tribe would have just recently disappeared. During his travels and research for his great work, The Histories, Herodotus clamed to have interviewed Libyans about the downfall of the Psylli tribe. The resulting quasi-historical tale, which he recorded in his history, was one of the more mysterious and baffling entries in Herodotus’ collection of strange stories from folklore and myth.

Herodotus wrote that a terrible, hot and dry wind swept out from the southern deserts and flowed over the lands of the Psylli, drying up all of the tribe’s vital water. The destruction caused by the wind was total—the tribe’s tanks of stockpiled water evaporated and the rivers that had long kept the tribe alive suddenly disappeared.

With the people shocked and unsure of what to do, the elders called together a council of the Psylli tribe. The council, according to Herodotus, declared that the attack carried out by the wind was nothing less than an act of war against the Psylli people. To seek vengeance, the Psylli tribe then declared war against the southern wind. The people of the tribe gathered their weapons, and whatever supplies they had left, and marched into the desert to do battle with the wind.

Herodotous (and his supposed Libyan sources) claimed that the Psylli tribe, indeed, had their battle with the wind. Yet, the battle was a massacre. As the story goes, the wind lifted a massive sandstorm from the desert dunes and buried and killed the Psylli people under a torrent of sand.

At some point, the lands of the Psylli became, once more, sustainable to human life. Fairly quickly after the members of the doomed tribe marched to their death in the southern desert, one of the neighboring rivals of the Psylli opportunistically swooped in and seized the abandoned land.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Sources:

• The Histories by Herodotus, translated by Aubrey de Sélincourt and revised by John Marincola. New York: Penguin Classics, 2002.  
• https://linguistics.osu.edu/herodotos/ethnonym/africa/psyllians 
• http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/psylli-e1012690 

Julius Caesar Had Tamed Elephants Shipped From Italy To Calm His Men And Horses In Preparation For His Battles In North Africa

(Caesar painted by Lionel Royer (1852–1926) cropped into the painting: An elephant keeper riding his elephant, c. 1825, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

In 48 BCE, Pompey the Great fled to Egypt after he lost the Battle of Pharsalus. Yet, instead of finding asylum in the autonomous Kingdom of Egypt, Pompey was assassinated by the Egyptians in an attempt to gain the favor of Julius Caesar. With Pompey’s death, the main military adversary against Caesar in the Roman civil war was gone, but the war was far from over. Despite the absence of their leader, Pompey’s officers and allies continued to fight for the Roman Republic, or just simply against Julius Caesar. Though Caesar’s adversaries were spread throughout the empire, many of the greatest Pompeian leaders—Titus Labienus, Metellus Scipio and King Juba I—had gathered their forces together in North Africa.

After securing Egypt for his ally Cleopatra and defeating a hostile army from Pontus, Julius Caesar turned his attention to the Pompeians (or Optimates) amassed in North Africa. Caesar began his campaign against Labienus, Scipio and King Juba around 47 BCE when he landed his legions somewhere in modern Tunisia.

The war, however, would not be simple. Labienus and Scipio were both very able Roman generals and King Juba not only had some of the best horsemen in the Mediterranean, but he also fielded war elephants. Also, as usual, Julius Caesar’s forces were outnumbered.

To win the war in Africa, Caesar had to rely on his own military genius, as well as the extraordinary battlefield experience that his elite and hardened legions had gained through years of continuous war. Yet, the enemies in Africa had weapons that Caesar’s legions had never seen in action before—the elephants. The legions were experienced thoroughly in how to fight infantry and horsemen, but the elephants understandably unnerved even the most battle-tested troops, not to mention the horses.

To remedy this, Julius Caesar sent word to Italy requesting that some tamed elephants be shipped to his camp. When the animals arrived, the camp basically became a petting zoo. Soldiers were invited to approach the tamed elephants and touch them. With the elephants accessible to the soldiers, Caesar’s men learned what the beasts could and could not do, and they were instructed where to attack the elephants during battle for the most effect. Likewise, the horses were brought near the elephants so they would become familiar with the sight, smell and sounds of the strange creature, so that the cavalry would not waver in battle.  According to Caesar in his War Commentaries, the petting zoo ploy “succeeded to a wonder” (African War Commentaries, 72).

With the confidence of Caesar’s forces regained, the Pompeian leaders were doomed. Julius Caesar intentionally let himself be attacked at the defensible region of Thapsus in 46 BCE. There, his men ferociously charged the enemy, causing elephants and soldiers, alike, to run amuck and scatter.

The battle was another huge event in Julius Caesar’s path to victory. Scipio was killed in the battle and King Juba committed suicide soon after it was over. Cato, a key politician of the Roman Republic, also killed himself in the aftermath of the battle. The only major Pompeian officer involved in Thapsus who survived the year was Labienus, who would die a year later fighting Caesar’s forces in Spain.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Sources:

• War Commentaries by Gaius Julius Caesar and Aulus Hirtius, translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn, 2014.  
• Julius Caesar by Philip Freeman. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2008.

Julius Caesar Brought A Mime With Him On An Invasion

(Caesar Photo: Bust of Julius Caesar, remastered photograph from Alfred von Domaszewski Geschichte der Romischen Kaiser Verlag von Quelle & Meyer in Leipzig 1914, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)

In 48 BCE, Pompey was assassinated in Egypt, leaving Julius Caesar as the sole surviving member of the former First Triumvirate that had dominated Roman politics. Though Caesar’s greatest military foe was dead, a massive coalition of soldiers and politicians still resisted Caesar’s rule.

Caesar arrived in Egypt shortly after the death of Pompey. There, he ended the ongoing Civil War between the Cleopatra and her brother (more specifically her brother’s advisors) in a bloody bout of urban warfare, and then moved north to crush an upstart king in Pontus. Only then, did Caesar return to Rome in 47 BCE.

While Caesar was cleaning up the east of his empire and enjoying the city of Rome, his enemies were gathering in North Africa and Spain. When Caesar had calmed Rome to a reasonable level, he began planning an invasion of Africa, where Labienus (a former officer of Caesar’s from the wars in Gaul) had gathered much of Pompey’s remaining forces. There, however, was a problem for Caesar—his men were superstitious about this upcoming campaign.

In the ranks of Labienus’ army was a descendant of the Punic War hero, Scipio Africanus, who defeated one of Rome’s greatest enemies, Hannibal Barca. Caesar’s men were wary of invading Africa with a Scipio on the opposing side. Caesar quickly found a remedy to raise the spirits of his troops—a Scipio of their own. To counteract the Scipio in Labienus’ force, Caesar hired Scipio Salvito, a professional mime, to accompany his army on their voyage to Africa.

With their morale boosted, Caesar’s men defeated Labienus in a massacre near the town of Thapsus in 46 BCE. After that, he defeated his enemies in Spain, and returned to Rome to fall prey to the hidden blades of treacherous friends and forgiven enemies in 44 BCE.

Written by C. Keith Hansley
thehistorianshut.com

Source:

• Julius Caesar by Philip Freeman. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2008.