Editing Third Punic War (section)

== Opposing forces ==
The city of Carthage was unusually large for the time: modern scholars give population estimates ranging from 90,000 to 800,000. Any of these would make Carthage one of the most populous cities in the Mediterranean area at the time.{{sfn|Hoyos|2005|p=225}}{{sfn|Miles|2011|p=342}} It was strongly fortified with walls of more than {{convert|35|km|mi|sigfig=1|abbr=on}} circumference.{{sfn|Bagnall|1999|p=313}} Defending the main approach from the land were three lines of defences, of which the strongest was a brick-built wall {{convert|9|m|sigfig=1}} wide and {{convert|15|–|20|m|ft|sigfig=1}} high with a {{convert|20|m|ft|sigfig=1|adj=mid|-wide}} ditch in front of it. Built into this wall was a barracks capable of holding over 24,000 soldiers.{{sfn|Purcell|1995|p=134}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=340}} The city had few reliable sources of ground water but possessed a complex system to catch and channel rainwater and many cisterns to store it.{{sfn|Miles|2011|pp=342–343}}

The Carthaginians raised a strong and enthusiastic force to garrison the city from their citizenry and by freeing all slaves willing to fight.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=339}}{{sfn|Le Bohec|2015|pp= 438–439}}{{sfn|Miles|2011|p=341}} They also formed a field army at least 20,000 strong,{{sfn|Harris|2006|p=159}} which was placed under Hasdrubal, freshly released from his condemned cell. This army was based at [[Nepheris]], {{convert|25|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of Carthage.{{sfn|Le Bohec|2015|p= 439}} Appian gives the strength of the Roman army which landed in Africa as 84,000 soldiers; modern historians estimate it at 40,000–50,000 men, of whom 4,000 were [[cavalry]].{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=340}}{{sfn|Le Bohec|2015|p= 436}}