Peace of 201 BCE: Naval and Elephant Restrictions

After Zama, Roman envoys and Carthaginian negotiators met to convert battlefield defeat into legal architecture. Livy records the trident of restrictions that mattered most: ships, elephants, and captives. Carthage would deliver its warships, “retaining only ten triremes,” and surrender its trained elephants while pledging “not to train any more.” Deserters and prisoners would be returned [6]. The scene in Carthage’s cothon would have felt like a funeral procession. Hull after hull—twenty, forty, sixty—was tallied for surrender. Oarlocks creaked one last time as crews disembarked, bronze rams dulled by salt and defeat. The elephant yards at the edge of the city fell silent, chains coiled, trainers dismissed. The color left the parade grounds. Roman intent was clear. Elephants had terrorized legions at Trebia and elsewhere; fleets had projected power to Sicily and Sardinia. Remove both, and Carthage becomes a city of merchants with no claws. The clause on deserters and captives, too, undercut Carthage’s ability to conserve experienced manpower [6]. In Rome, the Senate heard the terms and nodded. In Carthage, elders counted the practical meaning: with ten triremes they could police a coast, not command a sea. With no elephants, they would never again field the shock that had once broken maniples. In Utica, allies took note of who set rules now. The words were short. Their effects would stretch over decades. Even prosperous trade would not replace a fleet and an elephant corps. Carthage’s war-making had been disassembled and placed on a high shelf—out of reach.