Carthage’s Hair Cords: What the Ancient Accounts Say

An ancient account of urgent rearmament

As Carthage prepared to resist Rome in the Third Punic War, its inhabitants had to replace weapons already surrendered to the Romans. Appian’s account describes workshops operating urgently and women cutting their hair because other fibres for the city’s war engines were running short.^[1]

The detail belongs to an ancient written account. It was not invented by a modern trivia website. However, Appian is reporting the siege as a historian, not presenting surviving cordage, a workshop inventory, or a test of the material. His production figures and dramatic scenes should be read with that distinction in mind.

Florus and the military cords

Florus tells a related story in his account of Carthage’s destruction. He describes the city stripping buildings for timber, turning metal into weapons, and using women’s hair to make cords for war engines.^[2] In his narrative, these measures form part of a desperate collective response to Rome’s demand that the inhabitants abandon their city.

Both passages concern the equipment used in siege warfare.^[1][2] Calling the material simply “bowstrings” can make a reader picture personal bows and obscure what the translations actually describe. Neither passage establishes the precise construction of every engine, the amount of hair used, or a mechanical performance that can now be measured.

The tradition and its literary purpose

The accounts also have a literary purpose: improvised materials demonstrate the defenders’ determination before the city falls. Agreement between two ancient narratives is worth recording, but it is not the same as two contemporary technical inspections. The defensible claim is that ancient authors preserved a tradition of Carthaginian women contributing hair for military cords—not that every modern embellishment has been proved.

Disarmament, mobilization and technical limits

The sequence of surrender and renewed preparation is essential. In the narratives, disarmament was undertaken in the hope of avoiding destruction, and Rome then demanded removal from the city.^[1][2] The improvised materials appear after that rupture. Their function in the story is to show how people facing a new demand attempted to recreate military capacity they had already given up.

Florus groups hair with roof timbers and melted metal.^[2] The list turns households, valuable possessions and bodies into a common reservoir for defence. It is evidence of how the author represented collective mobilization, but not a complete account of who worked, who consented or who supplied each material.

A technical claim would require more than identifying a fibre. Cords could perform different functions in a siege engine, and their strength would depend on preparation and construction. The passages do not specify those variables. It is therefore possible to recognize the ancient tradition while leaving modern claims about range, durability and superiority unsupported.