Rome vs. Carthage

The First Punic War

264-241 B.C.

Carthage had been colonized

by the Phoenicians,

whom the Romans called Punici.

Carthage at its height

Why Punic War?

The First Punic War was

fought for control of

Sicily and the western

Mediterranean.

Carthage

Rome

Sicily

Carthage had a powerful navy. Rome did not.

quinquereme

quadreme

bireme

After capturing a Carthaginian ship, the Romans quickly built a strong Navy. During sea battles, Roman sailors shocked the Carthaginians

when they dropped gangways with sharp metal points on one end, called

corvi, (crows or ravens) onto the decks of the Carthaginian ships. These bridges held the ships together while

the Romans boarded the enemy vessels with their superior soldiers.

The Corvus

Hamilcar Barca was a famous leader of the Carthaginian

navy/army.

Important battles of the First Punic War

Mylae---260 B.C. Gaius Duilius led the roman navy to its first great victory.

Drepana---249 B.C. Publius Claudius ignored the omen of the sacred chickens

and lost 93 of 123 ships.Aegates Islands---241 B.C. Lutatius

Catulus was the victorious general at this final battle of the first conflict.

Battle of Mylae

Marcus Atilius RegulusRegulus, a famous Roman general,

defeated the Carthaginians at the battle of Ecnomus.

Battle of Ecnomus

His conditions for surrender were extremely severe and harsh. In

subsequent fighting, Regulus was captured by Carthage. Later, he was sent to Rome to negotiate a prisoner exchange on the condition that if he

completed the mission unsuccessfully, he would return to Carthage for

execution.

Regulus, a man of honor, leaves Rome and returns to Carthage to be put to death.

Hamilcar Barca had three sons: Hannibal

Mago Hasdrubal

Hamilcar so hated the Romans that he made his nine year old son Hannibal stand before the altar of Baal

and swear eternal hatred for the Romans.

Hamilcar was slain in battle in Spain. Hannibal later gathered his father’s loyal troops and set out

for Italy to begin another conflict with the Romans.

TheSecond

Punic War

Hannibal

218-201 B.C.

The Carthaginians attacked and took over the Spanish city of Saguntum. This was the pretext Rome used for a second

war against Carthage.

Hispania

Saguntum

The fall of Saguntum

The Roman Senate sent Fabius to Carthage to give the

Carthaginians a chance to avert a full scale war.

“I carry here peace and

war; choose, men of

Carthage, which ye

will.”Q. Fabius Maximus

After conquering Saguntum Hannibal outmaneuvered the

Romans at the Rhone River and prepared to cross the Alps.

Hannibal’s army crossing the Rhone River.

In order to surprise the Romans, Hannibal decided to attempt to cross the Alps in the middle of winter. He took with him 37 elephants, including his

favorite, Surus.

When the path was blocked by a landslide, Hannibal ordered his

troops to set fires under the huge boulders and poured wine on

them to make them split in half.

Fending off the attacks of mountain tribesmen, Hannibal

proclaimed to his troops when they

reached a promontory high in the Alps:

“Now you are crossing not only the walls of Italy, but those of Rome.”

Several crushing defeats were administered by Hannibal’s

soldiers as they poured down into Italy.

Early Punic victories included a skirmish at the Ticinus River (Scipio, the Greater, saved his father’s life in this battle) and a full-scale battle at the Trebbia

river.

The most shocking and unexpected Roman defeat, however, was at

Lake Trasimene, where the Roman army was pinned between

the lake and a mountain range. The mist rising from the water

prevented the Romans from realizing that they were heading

into an ambush.

Hannibal’s troops massacre the Roman legionnaires

217 B.C.

News of the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene and the death

of the consul Flaminius caused panic in the Forum.

216 B.C.A year later at Cannae Hannibal administered one of the most crushing defeats ever suffered by a Roman army. The consular generals were

Lucius Aemilius Paulus and Gaius Terentius Varro. Paulus was killed during the fighting

and over 50,000 legionnaires were massacred.

For the next few years after Cannae the Romans adopted

“Fabian tactics” in dealing with the enemy. Q. Fabius Maximus,

the “shield of Rome” successfully pursued his unique style of

guerrilla warfare.

Fabius was even awarded the agnomen Cunctator, the delayer.

In 207 the Romans defeated Hasdrubal, Hannibal’s brother, at the Battle of the

Metaurus River. Hasdrubal was decapitated and his head was rolled into the camp of Hannibal where it stopped at

Hannibal’s feet.

Hannibal stands stupefied when the bodiless head of Hasdrubal is thrown into his camp.

Finally P. Cornelius Scipio convinced the Senate to send a Roman force to Carthage and besiege the city in an effort to force

Hannibal to return to rescue his homeland.

Scipio

The siege of Carthage

On the plain of Zama, in 202 B.C., Scipio claimed the final and decisive battle of the the conflict.

Roman legionnaires entering the

gates of Carthage.

Hannibal was forced to flee to the east to escape death. He survived there for

several years, directing the navy of

King Perseus. Cornered in Bithynia

in 183, Hannibal poisoned himself.

Scipio was given the agnomen Africanus to

honor his great victory over Hannibal.

The Third Punic War149 B.C---146 B.C.

Carthage returned to prosperity at such an alarming rate that many Romans feared the city

would once again challenge Rome.

Cato the Elder threw figs on

the floor of the Curia, saying that they were

picked in Carthage only

three days before.

Cato ended all his speeches

with the same warning:

Delenda est Carthago.

Finally Rome marched on Carthage in 149 B.C. and within three years the city was

completely destroyed.

The winning Roman general was Publius Cornelius Scipio

Aemilianus Africanus Minor

Pater Hannibalis erat__________________.Hamilcar Barca

Carthago erat in ___________________ Africā.

Ubi Hannibal erat puer_______ annorum, patri dixit, “Pater, Pater, duc me tecum ad

_______________

novem

Hispaniam.