The victors write history. That is the dictum that underlies most of the record handed down to us prior to the 19th century. In this case the record is of the eventual Roman triumph in the Second Punic War. However, it is also the record of the 'great man'. In this case, not Hannibal, rather Scipio Africanus [Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus]. How greater the achievement of Scipio Africanus with fewer men and materials than those provided the consuls who challenged Hannibal before him and failed. Perceptions.

How much of contemporary perceptions are compoundedby the 19th-2 I st century mind which views the world with the expectation of verbatim truth? It is our bias which take the use of a number as a literal fact. This is as much a method of employing a metaphorical mechanismto convey the idea of big, bigger, and biggest as it is accounting. Even in the mindset of 21st century bookkeeping, it is readily accept that a report of 10,000 men is probably more likely to be 9,785 or 10, 173 than the pure round number. Modern historians do not have access to classical tomes of bureaucratic records of personnel reports which encrust present day military organizations. Even at this time with access to such abundant 'bean counting', we too have problems.

"The Defense Department's Korean War Commemoration Committee is putting out the word that the total number of in-theater deaths from 1950-53 was 36,516 -- not the roughly 54,000 cited by some historians, monuments and history books. The 36,516 includes 33,686 'battle deaths' and 2,830 'non-battle ' deaths." [Scarborough, Rowan, Washington Times-, June 6, 2000]

Imagine a thousand years from now researchers having access to only a few records of this century and, in that case, those with the incorrect data. The lack of corroborating evidence or the presence of such corrections would lead a researcher who relies solely upon such textual evidence to compound the invalid data. In the end, the story needs to be subjected to additional scrutiny. This calls upon a broader spectrum of experience and knowledgebeyond the printed page.

References

The Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. VII. The Hellenistic Monarchies and the Rise of Rome, ed. Cook. S.A. et al, Cambridge University Press, 1928 [reprint 1978]
- Vol. VIII. Rome and the Mediterranean 218-133 B.C., ed Cook, S.A. et al, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1930 [reprint 1978]
Connelly, Peter, Greece and Rome at War, Prentice-Mall, Inc, Englewood, 1981
Delbruk, Hans, History of the Art of War Within the Framework of Political History, Antiquity, Greenwood Press, Westport, 1975
De Sanctis, G. Storia dei Romani. III, Turin, 1916
Engels, Donald W., Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1978
Livy, The War with Hannibal, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 1965
Polybios, The Rise of the Roman Empire, Penguin Books, Middlesex, 198 1.

More History of Logistics: Part One

Background and Prelude
Night of the Oxen
Comparative Rates of March
Feeding an Army

History of Logistics: Part Two

Returning to the Scene of the Action
Sustaining an Army
Supply, Size, and Tactics
The Writing of History