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Chronology

The Third Punic War

From its origins as a trading port, Carthage became the Mediterranean’s ultimate city, enjoying the best luxuries available – precious metals, jewels and spices all poured into Carthage’s harbours. But in a series of bitter wars, Rome usurped Carthage’s power and went on to create the most famous empire of the ancient world.

The Phoenicians
The origins of Carthage lie with the Phoenicians in the eastern Mediterranean. In the 3rd century BC, they established cities at Tyre, Sidon and Biblos in what is now Lebanon, but by the mid-2nd century BC, wars with the ‘Sea Peoples’ (migrant seafaring peoples, such as the Philistines) left the Phoenicians with only coastal settlements and no agricultural hinterland. They started to look across the Mediterranean.

Exactly when they first established colonies has been hard to discover. Dates have been derived from legend or later literature, and are rarely verified by archaeology. In many cases, not enough archaeological work has been done, or the existence of later settlements has prevented excavation.

In around 1110 BC, the Phoenicians founded a colony at Gades (modern-day Cadiz). What lured them to Spain were the deposits of copper and silver that they quickly learnt to exploit. Mining became the key to a wealthy trading network, and other colonies were soon established to support trade. Lixus in Morocco and Utica on the coast of Tunisia are both thought to date from the early 11th century BC.

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?The modern city of Carthage, 15 kilometres north of Tunis, was once home to a thriving trading empire.

These archaeological remains in Carthage, largely destroyed by Rome in 146 BC, give us precious clues about the Carthaginians.

The new foundation
Carthage, not far from Utica, was founded about 300 years later. There is archaeological evidence for a settlement in the 7th century BC, which ties in with the traditional date – 814 BC – for the founding of the city by Dido, sister of the king of Tyre. Carthage soon became a thriving metropolis, strong enough to establish an identity of its own.

Until the 6th century BC, Carthage remained a Phoenician colony. Their trade continued to expand, and further settlements were established along the Spanish and African coasts, followed, from around 800 BC, by the first Phoenician presence in Sardinia. But then Carthage emerged as a power in its own right, with its own increasing trading empire.

The Carthaginians developed their own distinct Punic culture. ('Punic' derives from the Latin Punicus, 'a Carthaginian', which in turn derives from the Greek Phoinix, which means 'Phoenician'.) In 654, they founded a colony on Ibiza, and Carthaginian settlements followed at Gades and on Corsica and Sardinia. As the Carthaginian star rose, the Phoenician empire started to fade. With the fall of Tyre to the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 574, Carthage became the dominant Phoenician city in the West. Phoenicia finally fell to Cyrus the Great of Persia in 539 BC.

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Carthage was located midway along the north African coast of the Mediterranean. This was an ideal trading port for the Phoenicians carrying cargo from their mines in Spain to their homeland in what is modern-day Lebanon.

A growing empire
Malchus, ruling magistrate of Carthage from around 580 to 550 BC, conquered almost the whole of Sicily. However, when he couldn’t repeat the feat in Sardinia, he was sent into exile by Carthage’s senate. Determined to seek revenge, he laid siege to Carthage, but he was accused of tyranny and, when captured, was put to death.

Mago I, Malchus’ successor, conquered Sardinia and the Balearic islands. It is thought that the Carthaginians settled as far afield as Senegal, Guinea, Madeira and the Canary islands, but the archaeological evidence for this is sketchy. At this stage, Rome was only a city-state, but was rapidly becoming the dominant power in Italy.

The key battleground remained Sicily, thanks to its key strategic position. In 480, the Carthaginian leader Hamilcar commanded a military force that sailed in a fleet of 200 galleys to defend Sicily. But despite the Punic army's size and strength, it was defeated by the Greeks. It is said that 150,000 Carthaginians were taken prisoner, while Hamilcar took his own life on the battlefield, throwing himself into the flames of a huge pyre. Carthage finally recolonised Sicily in the 3rd century BC. No ship could now cross the Mediterranean without passing through Punic territory. By 450 BC, Carthage also controlled most of what is now Tunisia.

Regular conflicts continued in Sicily with other powers seeking a foothold on the island. Carthage’s siege of Syracuse in 279 provoked Pyrrhus, king of Epirus (and a relative of Alexander the Great), into invading Sicily. He defeated the Carthaginians, who were left with Lilybaeum as their only stronghold.

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By the 3rd century BC, Carthage controlled territory not only across north Africa, but also in Spain and on many Mediterranean islands including Sicily and Sardinia.

Fertile Sicily became the key battleground of the Mediterranean, thanks to its strategically important position.

The First Punic War
In 264 BC, the rulers of the Sicilian town of Messina called on the Carthaginians to protect them from Hiero of Syracuse, but then called on Rome to protect them from the Carthaginians. As a result, Carthage and Rome found themselves engaged in the First Punic War, which was fought primarily over control of Sicily.

For Rome, whose citizens supported the war thanks to the promise of Carthaginian plunder, it was a turning point. It had been a landlocked city-state with no navy. Carthage had been the great naval power, using its expertise of the sea to control a trading empire. Now Rome built a fleet and beat Carthage at its own game.


Main events of the First Punic War
Date		Event

260 BC		Carthage achieves naval victory at Lipari islands, but Roman victory follows at Mylae.

258 BC		Rome wins naval battle off Sulcis, Sardinia.

257 BC		Rome’s third major naval victory, at Tyndaris.

256 BC		Rome wins naval battle off Ecnomus and invades north Africa, besieging Carthage. Punic army is defeated by Romans under Regulus at Adys.

255 BC		Carthaginians, under Greek mercenary leader Xanthippus, defeat Regulus at Bagradas.

250 BC		Rome starts siege of Lilybaeum, which lasts eight years.

249 BC		Punic naval victory off Drepana is major defeat for Rome.

241 BC		Rome wins naval battle at Aegates islands, west of Sicily, ending war.

For Carthage, the war was a disaster. The victor Rome had emerged as a power to rival Carthage and enforced humiliating peace terms, including a demand that Carthage give up all claims on Sicily and pay an indemnity of 3,200 talents.

A year later, Carthage’s mercenary troops revolted, leading to the bitter four-year Mercenary War, while Rome annexed Sardinia.

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The control of Sicily was the primary reason for the First Punic War. The Carthaginians' defeat inaugurated Rome’s overseas expansion.

The Second Punic War
Carthage now concentrated on Spain. Hamilcar Barca, an experienced commander, was sent to expand Punic interests there, and a city, New Carthage (Carthago Nova, modern Cartagena), was founded in 228 BC. Rome also had interests in Spain, and the two states signed a series of treaties in the 220s, confining Carthage to the area south of the River Ebro.

The peace was not to last. In 221 BC, Hannibal Barca, son of Hamilcar, became the Punic commander in Spain. He had, according to legend, sworn an oath of eternal enmity to Rome before leaving Carthage at the age of nine. Now he pursued Carthage’s interests aggressively, aggravating Rome. In 218, what is now known as the Second Punic War broke out and Hannibal gathered his army to march on Italy.

Hannibal is the greatest figure in Carthaginian history, and one of the greatest military tacticians of all time. The image of him crossing the Alps with 35,000 troops and a herd of elephants is an enduring one. However, he lost most of his elephants on the journey, with only one remaining alive after the battle of Trebia in northern Italy (see table below, Main events of the Second Punic War).

The elephants probably did more damage as a threat than in actual fact. In battle, they readily panicked, and the Romans found that it was easy to terrify them. They were also unpredictable and could stampede over their own troops. When drivers lost control of the elephants, it was their duty to kill the animals on the spot by driving a blade into the napes of their necks. At the final battle of Zama in north Africa, Hannibal had 80 elephants, but the Romans neutralised them by herding them down corridors in their formation.


Main events of the Second Punic War
Date		Event

218 BC		Hannibal defeats Romans at Ticinus and Trebia in northern Italy.

217 BC		Major defeat for Flaminius’ Roman army at Lake Trasimene – 15,000 Romans killed.

216 BC		Hannibal’s victory at Cannae – disastrous defeat for Rome.

210 BC		Hannibal wins second victory at Herdonea. Scipio appointed to take command of Roman troops in Spain.

209 BC		Scipio takes New Carthage.

205 BC		Scipio prepares invasion of Africa. Mago invades Italy in failed attempt to reinforce Hannibal.

202 BC		Scipio defeats Hannibal at Zama in north Africa.

201 BC		Peace concluded, ending Second Punic War.

Cannae was Hannibal’s masterpiece of military strategy, but he was unable to capitalise on his string of victories. He remained fighting in Italy for another 13 years, but he met his match in Publius Cornelius Scipio, later known as Scipio Africanus. Scipio took the war to north Africa, finally defeating Hannibal at Zama.

For Carthage, a peace even more humiliating than in 241 BC followed. Its navy was left with just 12 triremes (warships), all overseas territories were lost (including Spain) and reparations of 10,000 talents were to be paid over 50 years. The bulk of the navy was burned in full view of the Carthaginians. Hannibal, who had spent virtually all his life outside Carthage, became involved in Punic politics, but fell out favour and went into exile. In 183 BC, with Rome eager to capture him, he took poison to avoid surrendering to his life-long enemy.

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The Third Punic War
By 151 BC, Carthage had paid the last of the indemnity payments and, Rome noticed, was enjoying a renewed prosperity. Marcus Portius Cato, a powerful Roman orator, started talking up the threat of Carthage, catching the popular mood. His speeches always ended with one phrase: ‘Delenda est Kathago’ – ‘Carthage must be destroyed!’

When, in 150, Carthage declared war on King Masinissa of Numidia, an act prohibited by the 201 BC peace treaty, Rome declared war on Carthage. The Third Punic War comprised a prolonged siege of the city, starting in 149 BC. It took longer than the Romans expected, but by 146 BC, they were able to order the final assault. The defences of the city were breached, the temples sacked and the obliteration began. It was a gruesome end. Fire spread throughout the city for six days, and thousands were killed. Finally, 50,000 Carthaginians surrendered, to be sold into slavery.

According to the city’s foundation myths, Dido burned herself on a pyre as her lover Aeneas left for Italy to found Rome. In 146 BC, the wife of the Punic leader Hasdrubal threw herself and her children in the flames of the burning temple as the city collapsed. It was the end of the Third Punic War, and it was the end of Carthage.

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The Romans suspected that Carthage was enjoying a renewed prosperity. Archaeological evidence of the naval harbour (in the background) shows that those suspicions were probably right.