Punic Wars

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Punic Wars three distinct conflicts between Carthage and Rome . When they began, Rome had nearly completed the conquest of Italy, while Carthage controlled NW Africa and the islands and the commerce of the W Mediterranean. When they ended, Carthage was ruined, and Rome was the greatest power W of China. The first war saw Rome fighting to break Carthage's growing hold on the chain of islands that enable it to control the W Mediterranean. The second war directly pitted the ambitions of the two commercial powers; the initial area of conflict was Sicily. The last war was the final, desperate attempt of Carthage to preserve Punic (Carthaginian) liberty.

First Punic War

The First Punic War, 264-241 BC, grew immediately out of a quarrel between the Sicilian cities of Messana (now Messina) and Syracuse. One faction of the Messanians called on Carthage for help and another faction called on Rome. The Strait of Messana, which separates the Italian Peninsula from Sicily, was of extreme strategic importance, and both powers responded. The Punic army arrived in Sicily first, arranged a peace between Messana and Syracuse, and established a garrison. Upon its arrival, the Roman army ejected the Carthaginians from the garrison, and thus the war began.

Roman legions occupied E Sicily, and the newly created Roman fleet, after victories at Mylae (260) and off Cape Ecnomus (256), landed a force in Africa. This excursion was a failure, and its commander, Regulus , was captured (255) by the Greek mercenary general Xanthippus. In Sicily the Romans took Palermo (254) but were effectively blocked farther west by the brilliant guerrilla warfare of Hamilcar Barca , and they failed to take Lilybaeum, the chief Punic base. The Romans equipped a new fleet that destroyed (241) the Punic fleet off the Aegates (now Aegadian Isles), and Carthage sued for peace. The terms were the payment of an indemnity and the cession of Punic Sicily to Rome. The chief events of the next 20 years were the Roman entry into Sardinia and Corsica—a gross breach of treaty—and the conquests in Spain by Hamilcar.

Second Punic War

When Hamilcar Barca's son Hannibal took (219) the Spanish city of Saguntum (present-day Sagunto), a Roman ally, Rome declared war. This Second Punic, or Hannibalic, War, 218-201 BC, was one of the titanic struggles of history. Rome owed its success to various factors: its stubborn will and splendid military organization; its superior economic resources; its generals, Fabius and, above all, Scipio; the failure of supply from Carthage to Hannibal's Italian army; and the mountainous character of central Italy, which rendered the Punic superiority in cavalry nearly useless. For the course of the war, see Hannibal and Scipio Africanus Major . At the war's close, Carthage surrendered to Rome its Spanish province and its war fleet.

Third Punic War

The Third Punic War, 149-146 BC, originated, like the others, in a deliberate Roman aggression, the result of agitation by Cato the Elder for the destruction of Carthage. Charging Carthage with a technical breach of treaty in resisting the encroachment of the Numidian king Masinissa (a Roman ally), Rome declared war and blockaded the city. Carthage never surrendered. The younger Scipio ( Scipio Africanus Minor ) conquered it, house by house, and sold the surviving inhabitants into slavery. The city was razed and its site plowed up.

Bibliography

The Latin accounts of the wars are biased, and there are no Punic ones; the best source is Polybius. See also Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. VIII (2d ed. 1989).

Punic wars The three wars fought in the 3rd and 2nd century BC between Rome and Carthage, so named from ‘Poenicus’ (‘Dark skin’ or ‘Phoenician’). The contest was for control of the Mediterranean Sea. Rome emerged as victor from each war.

The First (264–241 BC) was fought largely at sea. Rome expanded its navy and took control of Sicily. Corsica and Sardinia were seized a few years later. HAMILCAR BARCA, father of HANNIBAL, led the defeated side. The Second (218–201) arose from Hannibal's invasion of Italy from Carthaginian bases in Spain via the Alps. He led a huge force including elephant squadrons. Rome suffered disastrous defeats, most notably in the mists by Lake Trasimene and at CANNAE. Italy was overrun by Hannibal but the Italian tribes did not rise against Rome. The strategy of the dictator FABIUS prevented further losses. In a long-drawn-out series of campaigns Hannibal's extended lines of supply were threatened by defeats in Sicily and Spain and the brilliant generalship of SCIPIO AFRICANUS. HASDRUBAL, Hannibal's brother, was defeated on the Italian mainland in 207. By 203 Hannibal, who had no effective siege engines, was summoned to withdraw to Africa to defend Carthage itself, now threatened by Scipio. Pursued by Scipio he was defeated at Zama in 202 and the Carthaginians were forced to accept humiliating terms the following year. Spain was acquired as a provincial territory by Rome.

In 149 BC at a peak of its territorial expansion and at the insistence of CATO, Rome intervened in an African dispute to side with Numidia against Carthage. In the Third War (149–146) SCIPIO AEMILIANUS besieged and destroyed Carthage utterly, sowed the site with symbolic salt, and declared Africa a Roman province.

Punic Wars (264–146 bc) Series of wars between Rome and Carthage. In the First Punic War (264–241 bc), Carthage was forced to surrender Sicily and other territory. In the Second (218–201 bc), the Carthaginians under Hannibal invaded Italy and won a series of victories. They were eventually forced to withdraw, whereupon the Romans invaded North Africa and defeated Hannibal. The Third Punic War (149–146 bc) ended in the destruction of Carthage.