Editing Battle of Zama (section)

===Numbers involved===
[[File:Hannibal Slodtz Louvre MR2093 (cropped2).png|left|upright=0.75|thumb|alt=a photograph of a white marble head depicting Hannibal|{{center|1704 French bust of Hannibal}}]]

Little is known of the number of men Scipio commanded at Zama.{{sfn|Edwell|2015|p=336}} An estimated 25,000–30,000 men had landed in Africa the year before and there is no record of any reinforcements arriving from Italy. However, the strength of the force left to guard their camp and continue the siege of Utica is not known, nor is the level of attrition suffered in the three major battles and several skirmishes the legions had so far been involved in.{{sfn|Lazenby|1998|p=221}}{{sfn|Miles|2011|p=309}} The ancient sources agree that the Romans were supported by 6,000 Numidian infantry and 4,000 cavalry under Masinissa. The ancient historian Appian, writing 350 years after the event, states that the Numidians brought the total to 34,500 troops, but modern historians do not accept this.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=301–302}}{{sfn|Edwell|2015|p=336}} They usually give a total of 29,000{{sfn|Miles|2011|p=316}}{{sfn|Taylor|2019|p=316}} or 30,000,{{sfn|Lazenby|1998|p=219}}{{sfn|Taylor|2019|p=316}} although [[Nigel Bagnall]] gives 40,000.{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|p=291}} Of these, slightly more than 6,000 were cavalry.{{sfn|Lazenby|1998|p=221}}

Appian states that the Carthaginian army at the battle of Zama consisted of 50,000 men; this is discounted by many modern historians,{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=302}} although some accept it with provisos.{{sfn|Taylor|2019|p=317, 317 n. 24}} Most give 40,000, based on Polybius. Of these, all but 4,000 were infantry. Hannibal's army had abandoned its horses in Italy because of a lack of shipping space and Masinissa's defeat of Syphax had dried up the supply of Numidian cavalry; thus, even with the recent addition of 2,000 Numidians the Carthaginians fielded only 4,000 cavalry.{{sfn|Lazenby|1998|pp=220–221}}{{sfn|Bahmanyar|2016|p=41}}{{sfn|Carey|2007|p=115}} Hannibal also deployed 80 war elephants, the first time these are recorded as being used since Scipio invaded. Hannibal delayed seeking battle to give his army time to train up a force of elephants. Such forces had been fielded earlier in the war in both Italy and Iberia. Hannibal had famously taken elephants over the Alps in 218 BC. It is unclear why Carthage was not able to field a force of fully trained war elephants at Zama, or at any time since Scipio invaded.{{sfn|Edwards|2001|p=903}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=163–166, 250, 279}}{{sfn|Bahmanyar|2016|p=53}}