Asbyte (died 219 BC) was a Libyan princess in the

Carthaginian army The term Carthaginian ( la, Carthaginiensis ) usually refers to a citizen of Ancient Carthage. It can also refer to: * Carthaginian (ship), a three-masted schooner built in 1921 * Insurgent privateer Insurgent privateers ( es, corsarios insurgen ...

before the

Second Punic War The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...

, according to

Silius Italicus Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus (, c. 26 – c. 101 AD) was a Roman senator, orator and Epic poetry, epic poet of the Silver Age of Latin literature. His only surviving work is the 17-book ''Punica (poem), Punica'', an epic poem about th ...

's poem '' Punica''.

, '' Punica'', 2 The existence of Asbyte is doubted of, considering Silius's evident interest in embellishing his tale with epic heroes and duels, and has been thought instead as a reference to the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

Penthesilea Penthesilea ( el, Πενθεσίλεια, Penthesíleia) was an Amazonian queen in Greek mythology, the daughter of Ares and Otrera and the sister of Hippolyta, Antiope and Melanippe. She assisted Troy in the Trojan War, during which she was ...

and the Roman heroine Camilla. However, her character is rooted on a real tradition of warrior women in North Africa held by several ancient chroniclers, lending her a degree of veracity.

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

spoke about the Ausean and Machlye tribes of Libya, which hosted martial tournaments between young girls and loathed those who died at them, and the Zaueces, whose

war chariots A chariot is a type of cart driven by a charioteer, usually using horses to provide rapid motive power. The oldest known chariots have been found in burials of the Sintashta culture in modern-day Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, dated to c. 2000&nb ...

were driven by women. Diodorus also believed the mythical Amazons had lived in Libya before moving to the Black Sea. Finally, Asbyte's very name seems to be a reference to the Asbytheans, known as great charioteers according to Herodotus and Pliny. Asbyte is introduced in the poem as a princess of the Marmarica and an ally to

Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...

during the

Siege of Saguntum The siege of Saguntum was a battle which took place in 219 BC between the Carthaginians and the Saguntines at the town of Saguntum, near the modern town of Sagunto in the province of Valencia, Spain. The battle is mainly remembered today because i ...

. She is described as a follower of the goddess Diana who enjoyed hunting, riding horses and warring with rival Libyan tribes, who led an entire contingent of Libyan horsewomen and female war charioteers, though not all virgins like her. She is a daughter of the Garmantian Hiarbas. According to the poem, Asbyte's forces were deployed against a sally of the Saguntines, during which they scored multiple deaths with their javelins. A Cretan mercenary archer named Mopsus tried to kill her from the city, but only hit her Nasamonic lieutenant Harpe, which provoked a response in which Mopsus's sons were killed in the walls, driving him to suicide. Afterwards, the priest of

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive ...

of the city, Theron, gave Asbyte chase, and eventually killed her when she tried to attack him. Theron was then killed by Hannibal's forces, who recovered Asbyte's beheaded corpse and looted chariot. Asbyte's brother Aquerras is later mentioned among Hannibal's forces in route to Italy, leading his

Getuli Gaetuli was the Romanised name of an ancient Berber tribe inhabiting ''Getulia''. The latter district covered the large desert region south of the Atlas Mountains, bordering the Sahara. Other documents place Gaetulia in pre-Roman times along the M ...

vassals.Silius Italicus, ''Punica'', 3 He later helps Hannibal to escape from Quintus Fabius Maximus and is finally felled in the

Battle of Cannae The Battle of Cannae () was a key engagement of the Second Punic War between the Roman Republic and Carthage, fought on 2 August 216 BC near the ancient village of Cannae in Apulia, southeast Italy. The Carthaginians and their allies, led by ...

References

{{reflist 219 BC deaths African women in war Carthaginian commanders of the Second Punic War People whose existence is disputed Year of birth unknown Women in ancient warfare 3rd-century BC women Ancient princesses

See also

References