Mutiny at Sucro
Encyclopedia
The Roman army's mutiny at Sucro, a no longer existing ancient fort in Spain, took place in early 206 BC, during the Roman conquest of Hispania in the Second Punic War
against Carthage
. The mutineers had several grievances, including not having received the pay due to them and being under-supplied. The proximate causes of the mutiny had existed for years, but had not been addressed to the soldiers' satisfaction. Matters came to a head after rumors spread that their commanding general, Scipio Africanus
, had become gravely ill. But the stories proved to be without foundation; he succeeded in suppressing the mutiny and executed its ringleaders.
Ancient scholars considered the mutiny to be the most important event of Africanus's early military career.
, a few kilometres east of the mouth of the Sucro/Jucar River. According to another source Sucro is a place half-way between Cartagena
and the Ebro River now called Cullera
, also near Alzira. Additional sources also verify that it is Cullera. Yet another source says it is a place midway between Cartagena
and Tarraco
. Yet another source says the Sucro camp of 8,000 soldiers was established near the mouth of the Sucro River in a line of communication to New Carthage that Africanus set up, and was just south of Saguntum.
The mutiny happened when Africanus, who had a fortification of some 8,000 militant
s camped at Sucro, became seriously ill while occupying New Carthage. The military revolt broke out because the rumor about Africanus' health eventually became so exaggerated that it was reported that Africanus was either dead or very near death. The soldiers at Sucro heard the rumor and planned a mutiny, instigated by some 35 ringleaders who propagated the alleged news. They thought that the great general would not be around much longer. They were frustrated by many aspects of their service and if the revolt turned out successfully, they would then have a chance to voice their concerns.
One of the many items that caused the mutiny was that the soldiers had not been paid in a timely fashion; some had received no pay for years. Another was that they did not receive their share of plunder. Yet another was that they were inadequately supplied with the necessities they needed to properly function. The soldiers were also unhappy about their long periods of inactivity, and wanted either to be sent into battle or back to Rome. They also felt that they had not received proper credit for their part in the campaign to expel the Carthaginians from Hispania
. A major issue too was that they had been in service far beyond the term normally required of Roman soldiers.
One of the first things the mutineers did was to show disrespect to their commanding officers. The mutineers then removed the official military tribunes loyal to Rome, and replaced them with their own ringleaders.
They proceeded to plunder the towns and areas around the Sucro fort. In addition they removed the normal Roman military insignias and replaced them with the insignia of fasces and axes
(a symbol of death).
The mutineers and their ringleaders expected to hear of Africanus's death at any moment, and even anticipated receiving details of his upcoming funeral. Instead, news arrived that Africanus was alive and in good health. Two of the Spanish territory tribe leaders, Indibilis and Mandonius
, whom during the beginning of the mutiny broke their alliance with Rome and sided with the mutineers, returned to their frontier territories and took no further part in the mutiny. At this point, the instigators of the rumor of Africanus' death, the ringleaders of the mutiny, claimed that they were just gullible people who had passed on the rumor without having verified it; they feared they might be punished if they were identified as those behind the mutiny. Two of the chief instigators were common soldiers by the names of C. Atrius of Umbria
and C. Albius of Cales
– "Blackie" and "Whitie" respectively. Seven loyal military tribunes at Sucro, that were there already, were very much resented in the camp because they would not be disloyal to Rome and side with the mutineers. They eventually were driven out and went to New Carthage where they were under Africanus's command.
With his 7,000 troops at New Carthage outnumbered by the 8,000 mutineers at Sucro, Africanus decided against summary punishment. Instead, he embarked on a course of action designed to avoid an outright clash. Africanus sent the original loyal seven military tribunes back to Sucro, the same tribunes who had been driven out of the Sucro camp earlier, to discover the reasons for the mutiny. They talked calmly to groups of soldiers gathered at the headquarters tent, at meetings, and to individuals. This diplomatic approach helped to reduce tensions. To foster the calm and peaceful mood the tribunes avoided discussing the issue of the soldiers' treasonable behavior. The tribunes then reported their findings to Africanus in New Carthage.
Africanus then sent back a letter with the original seven loyal tribunes, asking the mutineers to come to New Carthage to collect the back pay that was owed to them, needed supplies, and other items – as their demands seemed reasonable. Meanwhile he sent collectors to the Spanish cities to gather money and supplies. He made a big show of this, so that the soldiers at Sucro would receive reports that Africanus was earnest in his promise of meeting the soldiers' demand in regard to back pay and provisions. He then choose a day for the rebellious soldiers, and their ringleaders, to receive these items.
Africanus had a secret plan however. Part of it was to set up a ruse in which he pretended to march his army against the chiefs Mandonius and Indibilis and the Lacetanians who had played a role in the mutiny and deserted the Roman alliance. His troops were to march out of the city on the morning before the mutineers were to receive their back pay at New Carthage. The mutineers felt confident then they had the upper hand, since Africanus' army would be gone and only their own Sucro army of some 8,000 troops would be there to confront the pale sick general alone. Africanus instructed his seven loyal tribunes to find out who the ringleaders were; each of the tribunes was to turn in five names. Other officials were then to meet the instigators and attach themselves to the leaders of the Sucro rebellion.
The culprits were greeted with pleasant words and with professional diplomacy when they arrived at New Carthage and were invited to their quarters to be wined and dined into the night. Africanus had given the seven loyal tribunes and the Roman guards instructions to arrest the ringleaders once they were in a drunken stupor; they were then placed in leg irons and held in jail.
The next morning Africanus assembled all 8,000 mutinous troops in the public forum market-place
; to their amazement Africanus appeared to be robust and in perfect health. At this point M. Junius Silanus, a lieutenant of Africanus and second in command, surrounded the unarmed 8,000 mutineers with his armed 7,000 troops that in reality had not left the city at all. Africanus gave a speech in which he scolded the mutineers for their high treason
against Rome. The loyal armed soldiers then struck their swords against their metal shields, greatly alarming the unarmed mutineers. They then watched in horror while their bound ringleaders were called by name, stripped to the waist, then brought to the center of the forum, punished and beat, and tied to a stake and finally beheaded in front of them. Their headless bodies were dragged away on the ground. The mutineers were then given their back pay, but only after removing their insignia of fasces and axes. They had to take a new oath of allegiance
to Rome and to Africanus and also vow that they would never mutiny again. Thus ended the mutiny at Sucro and regaining of the 8,000 troops by Africanus.
) that he had promised during the mutiny. He dedicated the games to his success in quelling the mutiny at Sucro, rather than for his victories over the Carthaginians in Spain.
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the second major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic, with the participation of the Berbers on...
against Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
. The mutineers had several grievances, including not having received the pay due to them and being under-supplied. The proximate causes of the mutiny had existed for years, but had not been addressed to the soldiers' satisfaction. Matters came to a head after rumors spread that their commanding general, Scipio Africanus
Scipio Africanus
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus , also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...
, had become gravely ill. But the stories proved to be without foundation; he succeeded in suppressing the mutiny and executed its ringleaders.
Ancient scholars considered the mutiny to be the most important event of Africanus's early military career.
Location
One source says Sucro is at or near present-day AlziraAlzira, Valencia
Alzira is a town and municipality of 45,000 inhabitants in Valencia, eastern Spain. It is the capital of the comarca of Ribera Alta in the province of Valencia.-Geographic situation:...
, a few kilometres east of the mouth of the Sucro/Jucar River. According to another source Sucro is a place half-way between Cartagena
Cartagena, Spain
Cartagena is a Spanish city and a major naval station located in the Region of Murcia, by the Mediterranean coast, south-eastern Spain. As of January 2011, it has a population of 218,210 inhabitants being the Region’s second largest municipality and the country’s 6th non-Province capital...
and the Ebro River now called Cullera
Cullera
Cullera is a municipality in Valencia in the Valencian Community, Spain, situated in the Ribera Baixa comarca.-Geography:Cullera is situated at the mouth of the Júcar river, 40 kilometers from the capital of Valencia.-Neighborhoods and hamlets:...
, also near Alzira. Additional sources also verify that it is Cullera. Yet another source says it is a place midway between Cartagena
Cartagena
-Colombia:*Cartagena, Colombia, a city in the Bolivar Region, the largest city bearing this name*Cartagena de Chairá, Colombia-Other:*Cartagena *Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety*FC Cartagena, a football club based in Cartagena, Spain-See also:...
and Tarraco
Tarraco
Tarraco is the ancient name of the current city of Tarragona . During the Roman Empire was one of the major cities of the Iberian Peninsula and capital of the Roman province called Hispania Citerior or Hispania Tarraconensis. The full name of the city at the time of the Roman Republic was Colonia...
. Yet another source says the Sucro camp of 8,000 soldiers was established near the mouth of the Sucro River in a line of communication to New Carthage that Africanus set up, and was just south of Saguntum.
Background
Militant
The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...
s camped at Sucro, became seriously ill while occupying New Carthage. The military revolt broke out because the rumor about Africanus' health eventually became so exaggerated that it was reported that Africanus was either dead or very near death. The soldiers at Sucro heard the rumor and planned a mutiny, instigated by some 35 ringleaders who propagated the alleged news. They thought that the great general would not be around much longer. They were frustrated by many aspects of their service and if the revolt turned out successfully, they would then have a chance to voice their concerns.
One of the many items that caused the mutiny was that the soldiers had not been paid in a timely fashion; some had received no pay for years. Another was that they did not receive their share of plunder. Yet another was that they were inadequately supplied with the necessities they needed to properly function. The soldiers were also unhappy about their long periods of inactivity, and wanted either to be sent into battle or back to Rome. They also felt that they had not received proper credit for their part in the campaign to expel the Carthaginians from Hispania
Hispania
Another theory holds that the name derives from Ezpanna, the Basque word for "border" or "edge", thus meaning the farthest area or place. Isidore of Sevilla considered Hispania derived from Hispalis....
. A major issue too was that they had been in service far beyond the term normally required of Roman soldiers.
One of the first things the mutineers did was to show disrespect to their commanding officers. The mutineers then removed the official military tribunes loyal to Rome, and replaced them with their own ringleaders.
They proceeded to plunder the towns and areas around the Sucro fort. In addition they removed the normal Roman military insignias and replaced them with the insignia of fasces and axes
Fasces
Fasces are a bundle of wooden sticks with an axe blade emerging from the center, which is an image that traditionally symbolizes summary power and jurisdiction, and/or "strength through unity"...
(a symbol of death).
Development
Indibilis and Mandonius
] Indibilis and Mandonius were chieftains of the Ilergetes , an ancient Iberian people of the Iberian Peninsula. Polybius speaks of the brothers as the most influential and powerful of the Spanish chieftains in that time period. Livy calls one of the chieftains of the Ilergetes "Indibilis",...
, whom during the beginning of the mutiny broke their alliance with Rome and sided with the mutineers, returned to their frontier territories and took no further part in the mutiny. At this point, the instigators of the rumor of Africanus' death, the ringleaders of the mutiny, claimed that they were just gullible people who had passed on the rumor without having verified it; they feared they might be punished if they were identified as those behind the mutiny. Two of the chief instigators were common soldiers by the names of C. Atrius of Umbria
Umbria
Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...
and C. Albius of Cales
Cales
Cales was an ancient city of Campania, in today's comune of Calvi Risorta in southern Italy, belonging originally to the Aurunci/Ausoni, on the Via Latina.The Romans captured it in 335 BC and established a colony with Latin rights of 2,500 citizens...
– "Blackie" and "Whitie" respectively. Seven loyal military tribunes at Sucro, that were there already, were very much resented in the camp because they would not be disloyal to Rome and side with the mutineers. They eventually were driven out and went to New Carthage where they were under Africanus's command.
With his 7,000 troops at New Carthage outnumbered by the 8,000 mutineers at Sucro, Africanus decided against summary punishment. Instead, he embarked on a course of action designed to avoid an outright clash. Africanus sent the original loyal seven military tribunes back to Sucro, the same tribunes who had been driven out of the Sucro camp earlier, to discover the reasons for the mutiny. They talked calmly to groups of soldiers gathered at the headquarters tent, at meetings, and to individuals. This diplomatic approach helped to reduce tensions. To foster the calm and peaceful mood the tribunes avoided discussing the issue of the soldiers' treasonable behavior. The tribunes then reported their findings to Africanus in New Carthage.
Solution
Africanus had a secret plan however. Part of it was to set up a ruse in which he pretended to march his army against the chiefs Mandonius and Indibilis and the Lacetanians who had played a role in the mutiny and deserted the Roman alliance. His troops were to march out of the city on the morning before the mutineers were to receive their back pay at New Carthage. The mutineers felt confident then they had the upper hand, since Africanus' army would be gone and only their own Sucro army of some 8,000 troops would be there to confront the pale sick general alone. Africanus instructed his seven loyal tribunes to find out who the ringleaders were; each of the tribunes was to turn in five names. Other officials were then to meet the instigators and attach themselves to the leaders of the Sucro rebellion.
The culprits were greeted with pleasant words and with professional diplomacy when they arrived at New Carthage and were invited to their quarters to be wined and dined into the night. Africanus had given the seven loyal tribunes and the Roman guards instructions to arrest the ringleaders once they were in a drunken stupor; they were then placed in leg irons and held in jail.
The next morning Africanus assembled all 8,000 mutinous troops in the public forum market-place
Forum (Roman)
A forum was a public square in a Roman municipium, or any civitas, reserved primarily for the vending of goods; i.e., a marketplace, along with the buildings used for shops and the stoas used for open stalls...
; to their amazement Africanus appeared to be robust and in perfect health. At this point M. Junius Silanus, a lieutenant of Africanus and second in command, surrounded the unarmed 8,000 mutineers with his armed 7,000 troops that in reality had not left the city at all. Africanus gave a speech in which he scolded the mutineers for their high treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
against Rome. The loyal armed soldiers then struck their swords against their metal shields, greatly alarming the unarmed mutineers. They then watched in horror while their bound ringleaders were called by name, stripped to the waist, then brought to the center of the forum, punished and beat, and tied to a stake and finally beheaded in front of them. Their headless bodies were dragged away on the ground. The mutineers were then given their back pay, but only after removing their insignia of fasces and axes. They had to take a new oath of allegiance
Oath of allegiance
An oath of allegiance is an oath whereby a subject or citizen acknowledges a duty of allegiance and swears loyalty to monarch or country. In republics, modern oaths specify allegiance to the country's constitution. For example, officials in the United States, a republic, take an oath of office that...
to Rome and to Africanus and also vow that they would never mutiny again. Thus ended the mutiny at Sucro and regaining of the 8,000 troops by Africanus.
Aftermath
When Africanus returned to Rome in 205 BC he celebrated games (ludiLudi
Ludi were public games held for the benefit and entertainment of the Roman people . Ludi were held in conjunction with, or sometimes as the major feature of, Roman religious festivals, and were also presented as part of the cult of state.The earliest ludi were horse races in the circus...
) that he had promised during the mutiny. He dedicated the games to his success in quelling the mutiny at Sucro, rather than for his victories over the Carthaginians in Spain.
Primary Sources
- Appian, History of Rome VI
- Livy, Ab urbe condita, XXVIII
- Polybius, Histories, Libri XI
Secondary Sources
- Boix, Vicente, Memoria histórica de la inundacion de la Ribera de Valencia en los dias 4 y 5 de Noviembre de 1864, Imprenta de La Opinion, á cargo de José Domenech, 1865
- Chrissanthos, Stefan G., 'Scipio and the Mutiny at Sucro, 206 B.C.' in Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte, Bd. 46, H. 2 (2nd Qtr., 1997), pp. 172-184. [JSTOR subscription required.]
- Flórez, Enrique, España sagrada: Trata de la Provincia Cartaginense ..., Volume 5 , Real Academia de la Historia, 1839, Original from the Complutense University of Madrid.
- Granell, John B., Swedish History, from the earliest times to the present, Importing Swedish, 1807
- Liddell Hart, Sir Basil Henry, A greater than Napoleon: Scipio Africanus, Edinburgh ; London : Blackwood, 1927; repr. New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1971, ISBN 0819602698
- Murray J., A classical manual: being a mythological, historical, and geographical commentary on Pope's Homer and Dryden's Aeneid of Virgil, 1833
- Sluiter, Ineke, Free speech in classical antiquity, BRILL, 2004, ISBN 9004139257
- Scullard, H. H., Scipio Africanus: Soldier and Politician (London 1970) 100-1;
Additional reading
- Gabriel, Richard A., Scipio Africanus: Rome's greatest general, pp. 132-134, Potomac Books, Inc., 2008, ISBN 1597972053