Armed Forces and Units
Numidian Cavalry
Ancient, Numidia
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Numidian cavalry was the light, javelin-armed horse of the North African kingdom of Numidia, valued above all for speed. Hannibal used friendly Numidian squadrons on his flanks through most of the Second Punic War, but before the war's final battle the Numidian king Masinissa allied with Rome, and it was his horsemen, fighting for Scipio rather than Hannibal, who helped break the Carthaginian cavalry at Zama.
Facts
Open Questions
Founded YearNumidian cavalry is first attested serving Carthage in Polybius's account of the First Punic War (264-241 BC), but that is the earliest surviving mention rather than a founding date; it represents a longstanding North African tradition of light horsemanship rather than a force organized on a known date. -264 is recorded here only as the earliest attested year, not a settled founding. Force TypeLight, unarmored javelin-throwing horsemen prized for speed and skirmishing rather than shock combat 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Allied Numidian squadrons served on Hannibal's flanks for most of the war, before Masinissa's Numidian cavalry allied with Rome ahead of Zama.
Fought In
Numidian squadrons fought on both sides at different points in the war: with Hannibal for most of it, then with Rome under Masinissa at Zama.
Sources
Open Questions (1 open question)
When did the Carthaginian army and its Numidian cavalry allies first take shape as organized fighting forces, rather than simply appearing first in surviving written accounts?
Ancient historians such as Polybius describe these forces already in action rather than describing their formation, so the earliest surviving mention of each force is not evidence of when it actually began; both evolved gradually out of longstanding recruiting and alliance practices rather than being founded on a known date.
What would resolve this Archaeological or epigraphic evidence documenting Carthaginian military organization, or Numidian cavalry service to Carthage, earlier than the surviving literary sources allow.
Ancient history and archaeologyWikipedia: Military of Carthage
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Fought In: Second Punic War
Appian states that the Numidians brought the total to 34,500 troops at Zama, but modern historians do not accept this; the figure generally followed instead is the lower one on which the ancient sources broadly agree, 6,000 Numidian infantry and 4,000 cavalry under Masinissa.
A dissenting reading, from an independent laneWikipedia: Battle of Zama, Wikipedia
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