Battle of the Saw

Battle of the Saw
Part of the Mercenary War
The rebels starve in the area known as "the Saw", as envisaged by Paul Buffet in 1894.
Date 238 BC Location Unknown location in northern Tunisia Result Carthaginian victory
Belligerents
Carthage	Rebels
Commanders and leaders
Hamilcar Barca	Spendius  Zarzas  Autaritus
Strength
20,000–30,000	50,000
Casualties and losses
Light	All rebels killed

The Battle of the Saw was the culminating battle of a campaign fought between a Carthaginian army led by Hamilcar Barca and a rebel force led by Spendius in 238 BC in what is now northern Tunisia. Carthage was fighting a coalition of mutinous soldiers and rebellious African cities in the Mercenary War which had started in 241 BC. The rebels had been besieging Carthage while the Carthaginian field army under Hamilcar raided their supply lines. Under this pressure the rebels pulled back to their base at Tunis and despatched their own army to prevent Hamilcar's activities and, ideally, destroy his army.

Unable to confront the Carthaginian war elephants and cavalry on open ground, the rebels stayed on higher and rougher terrain and harassed the Carthaginian army. After several months of campaigning, the details of which are not clear in the sources, Hamilcar trapped the rebels in a pass or against a mountain range. Pinned against the mountains, their supply lines blockaded and with their food exhausted, the rebels ate their horses, their prisoners and then their slaves, hoping that their comrades in Tunis would sortie to rescue them. Eventually, the surrounded troops forced their leaders to parley with Hamilcar, but he took all of them prisoner. The Carthaginians then attacked the leaderless, starving rebels with their whole force, led by their elephants, and massacred them to a man.

The rebel leaders were crucified in sight of their comrades in Tunis. A little later the rebels abandoned Tunis and withdrew south. Hamilcar and fellow general Hanno followed and in late 238 BC wiped them out at the Battle of Leptis Parva.