The Punic Wars (31 October 2023)
The Punic Wars
Presented Online
Nicholas Hardwick
The Punic Wars were three wars fought between Rome and Carthage during the third and second centuries BC. Rome was ultimately victorious and, as a result, became the dominant power in the Mediterranean region.
Carthage, in present day Tunisia, which was the colony of Tyre in Phoenicia, established an empire in the western Mediterranean region, which reached its greatest extent in the third century.
The state was led at different times by several powerful families. In the third century, the Barca family was the most powerful, and its most famous member was Hannibal (247-between 183 and 181). Particularly significant for his leadership of the Carthaginian army during the Second Punic War (218-01), Hannibal was one of the most successful generals in history, and his actions had an impact on world history.
The other significant power in the western Mediterranean region was the Roman Republic (c.509-27), which was what the Roman form of government was called during this period. Its capital was the city of Rome, and its territory at the beginning of the Punic Wars occupied most of modern day Italy, except for the north.
The adjective ‘Punic’, meaning ‘Carthaginian’, comes from the Latin adjective ‘Punicus’, which is derived from the Latin name for the Carthaginians, ‘Poeni’. This in turn comes from the Greek name of the Phoenicians, derived from the Greek word phoinix, which means ‘purple’, because of the purple dye which they traded. Thus, their descendants, the Carthaginians, are also considered by the Romans to be the people who traded the purple dye.
The events of the Punic Wars are recorded by the Greek historian, Polybius (c.200-c.118), and the Roman historian, Livy (59 BC-AD 17). Polybius, who came from Greece and lived for much of his life in Rome, was associated with the highest Roman social and political circles, including that of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Aemilianus (185-29), known as Scipio Aemilianus, who was the grandson by adoption of the general, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (236/5-183), known as Scipio Africanus.
He had the advantage of living close to the time of the events which he described, and, indeed, his life overlapped the later years of Hannibal’s life and he lived through the Third Punic War. His major work, The Histories, is extant for the years of the First and Second Punic Wars. In his historical method, he believed in the importance of interviewing people who witnessed actual events, which he described. He also could call upon written sources from the recent past, which referred to the events which he described. These sources may not have survived for later historians to consult.
By contrast, Livy, who lived much of his life and wrote during the time of the Roman emperor Augustus (63 BC-14 AD, reigned 27 BC-14 AD), was writing about events long before his life, so did not have the advantage of speaking to eye witnesses or consulting recent literary sources. Thus, the accuracy of his work can be questioned. Although it is lost for the period of the First and Third Punic Wars, we are fortunate that Livy’s history of Rome from its beginning in 753 BC until the death of Drusus, the stepson of Augustus, in AD 9, entitled Ab Urbe Condita (Latin,From the Founding of the City), is complete for the periods of the Second Punic War and of the later life of Hannibal. Polybius was one of Livy’s major sources in this section of his work.
In the third century, the Carthaginian Empire expanded in the region of the southern Iberian Peninsula, present day Spain and Portugal, and Morocco and Libya in north Africa. The most significant colony was ‘Carthage’, in Spain, founded in 227 and named after Carthage. This colony, which was called ‘Carthago Nova’ by the Romans, is present day Cartagena, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. In the Second Punic War, it was from this city in 218 that the Carthaginian general, Hannibal, began his march across the Alps and into Italy in his unsuccessful attempt to conquer the Roman Republic.
Unlike the other Phoenician cities which were focused on trade and commerce, Carthage had military and imperial ambitions, and thus became an expansionist power. Prior to the Barca family, it was largely ruled by members of the Magonid family from the sixth until the end of the fourth century.
The Barca family dominated the leadership and military command of Carthage from the third to the second centuries. Its members are distinguished in some cases by names which commence with ‘H’, and include Hamilcar (c.275-28), the general in the latter part of the First Punic War (264-41) and the father of Hannibal, Hasdrubal (245-07), a general in the Second Punic War and the brother of Hannibal, and Hanno, the nephew of Hannibal, who was a military officer during the same war. However, the most famous member was Hannibal.
The expansion of both Carthage and Rome led to the three Punic Wars between the two empires. The First Punic War (264-41) largely involved naval engagements. Prior to the war, both the Romans and the Carthaginians fought against Pyrrhus, the king of Epirus (319/8–272), in the Pyrrhic War (280-75), in Italy and Sicily, although both parties largely operated independently.
Despite previous good relations between Rome and Carthage in the preceding century, a conflict in 264 surrounding Messana (modern Messina) in north-eastern Sicily was a direct cause of the First Punic War. The Mamertines, whose name means ‘the sons of Mars’, named after Mamers, the war god of the Oscan people of southern Italy and the equivalent of the Roman war god Mars, were Italian mercenaries from Campania, the area south of Rome. They were hired by Agathokles (361–289), the tyrant of Syracuse, which was an important Greek state in eastern Sicily. After his death, many returned home, but some preferred the life in Sicily and remained. They took over Messana in 288 and named themselves ‘Mamertines’. In 265, Carthage came to their assistance against Syracuse, and, in 264, the Romans also came to their assistance and invaded Sicily. This brought the Romans into conflict with Carthage and led to the commencement of the First Punic War.
The war was significant for the extensive use of naval warfare, which resulted in the development of naval technology. The most frequently used ship by both Romans and Carthaginians was the quinquereme (Latin, quinqueremis), which is named as such because it has five (Latin, quinque, five) rowers for each set of oars (Latin, remus, oar). It most likely had two banks of oars, with three rowers on one and two rowers on the other. It was about 45 m long and 5 m wide, and the crew was 420 men, comprised of 300 rowers and 120 marines. The trireme was another ship which was used, and had three (Latin, tri-, three) banks of oars with one rower on each oar. This ship was frequently used in the Greek world during the wars of the fifth century.
The Romans copied the quinquereme from a captured Carthaginian vessel. Because their copies were not as manoeuvrable for ramming as those of the Punic fleet, the Romans invented a device for boarding ships, the corvus, (Latin, crow), which was a bridge with the dimensions of about 11 m long and 1.2 m wide. It had a heavy spike underneath, which pierced the deck of the enemy ship. This allowed the marines to board the ship instead of using the ramming tactic. The device, however, was useless if a battle was taking place during rough seas.
Prior to the war, Rome did not have a significant navy, but, with its commencement, the Senate built 100 quinqueremes and 20 triremes as the Roman fleet. The war thus led to Rome becoming a significant naval power, whereas it had previously largely been a land power.
Significant sea battles during the First Punic War were fought around Sicily. Off the north coast, the Battle of Mylae, which was fought in 260, was the first major sea battle between Rome and Carthage, and resulted in a victory by Rome. The Battle of the Lipari Islands, which are just north of Sicily, was a naval battle fought in 260, which resulted in a Carthaginian victory. The Battle of Cape Eknomos in 256, off the coast of southern Sicily, was a Roman victory. In terms of combatants, it is possibly the largest battle in naval history.
The Battle of the Aegates was a naval battle fought in 241, near the Aegates Islands off the west coast of Sicily. It resulted in a Roman victory, which led to the end of the First Punic War. A recent important discovery on the sea bed has been the bronze rams of Roman and Carthaginian ships which took part in this battle, which have writing on them in Latin and Punic respectively.
The war was concluded by the Treaty of Lutatius of 241, which was named after Gaius Lutatius Catulus, the commander of the Roman fleet. The terms of the treaty were that Carthage paid reparations to Rome, Sicily was annexed as a Roman province and Rome acquired Corsica and Sardinia. Rome became the leading power in the western Mediterranean region, and, indeed, the whole Mediterranean region.
Following the First Punic War, the Mercenary War, or the Truceless War (241-238 or 237) took place. Carthaginian mercenaries revolted against Carthage, and the war was pursued in a brutal manner in the region of Africa near Carthage, culminating in a Carthaginian victory. A consequence was the seizure of Sardinia and Corsica by Rome after the war, in contravention of the recent treaty, which was considered by Polybius to be the major cause of the Second Punic War.
From a young age, Hannibal campaigned in Iberian Peninsula with his father, Hamilcar, where the latter was building up Carthage’s strength. After the death of his father, and of his father-in-law, Hasdrubal, in 221, he succeeded as commander-in-chief of the Carthaginian army at the age of 26 years and consolidated Carthaginian control in the Iberian Peninsula.
Fearing Hannibal’s increasing power, the Romans made an alliance with the city of Saguntum, south of the River Ebro, a river in the north and north-east of the Iberian Peninsula. Hannibal considered this a violation of the treaty between Carthage and Rome, which had been signed by Hasdrubal and defined the Ebro as being the boundary between Roman and Carthaginian expansion. This led to the Siege of Saguntum by Hannibal in 219, when the city fell after eight months. The Roman response was to declare war on Carthage, which led to the beginning of the Second Punic War.
During the Second Punic War, Hannibal conducted a campaign of invasion from Spain which crossed the Alps and entered Italy, with a force which included elephants. In Italy, Rome suffered significant defeats by Hannibal at the Battles of Trebia (218), Lake Trasimene (217), and Cannae (215), which threatened the very existence of Rome. The Roman general, Scipio Africanus, finally defeated Hannibal in Africa at the Battle of Zama (202), near Carthage.
Hannibal had considerable military success in Italy and defeated the Romans in these three major battles. The battles had a large impact on Roman military resources, due to the large amount of casualties. Hannibal managed to gain the support of many Italian cities and regions, which thus allowed him to campaign for several years a long way from his supply lines in Spain.
The first was the Battle of the Trebia, which took place on the bank of the Trebia River, a tributary of the River Po, in northern Italy, near modern Piacenza and not far from Milan. The Roman commander was Tiberius Sempronius Longus (c.260-after 215), who was consul in 218, that is, one of the two leading Roman magistrates. He was decisively defeated by the Carthaginians. The battle was significant for the use of war elephants, which had survived the crossing of the Alps.
The second was the Battle of Lake Trasimene, which took place in Tuscany in central Italy, and the Carthaginian tactics were the ambush of the Roman army beside the north shore of the lake, and the complete defeat of the entire Roman army, killing and capturing 25,000 men, with few Carthaginian casualties. Destruction by ambush by one army of another army is considered a unique occurrence in military history.
An important figure during the early part of the war was Gaius Flaminius (c.275-17), the leading Roman politician, who was twice consul (223, 217). He was killed in the Battle of Lake Trasimene, where he was the leader of the Roman army.
The defeat led to the appointment in 217 as dictator, that is, a magistrate with absolute power in a time of crisis, of a significant figure through most of the war, Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus, named Cunctator (meaning in Latin, ‘the delayer’) (c.280-203), the Roman statesman and general, who was consul on five occasions (233, 228, 215, 214, and 209) and previously dictator in 221. His extra name, ‘Cunctator’, which is referred to in Latin as an agnomen (that is, ad ‘to’, and nomen ‘name’), refers to his strategy against Hannibal of attacking supply lines and having smaller engagements, rather than large battles. This strategy was a reaction to the earlier defeats in large battles.
Leading Romans were impatient with these tactics and wished to engage Hannibal in battle. Thus, Fabius Maximus’ term as dictator was not renewed and, in 216, Gaius Terentius Varro (d. after 200) and Lucius Aemilius Paullus (d. 216) were elected as consuls, and they prepared to engage Hannibal with a new large army.
This took place at the Battle of Cannae, perhaps on 2 August 216, at Cannae in Apulia in south-eastern Italy. Hannibal’s tactics in this battle were to surround the Roman army, and it is remembered for its particular military significance. As with all ancient battles, the number of casualties is difficult to determine accurately, but the result was a massive defeat for the Roman army, with a loss of at least 67,000 men, including over 48,000 killed, compared to a loss by the Carthaginians of over 5,500 men killed in the battle. One of the Roman commanders, the consul Lucius Aemilius Paullus, was killed. The Roman army had one of its greatest defeats and the battle is considered to be one of the greatest military tactical achievements ever.
Later in 216, the city of Capua in Campania, south of Rome, defected to Hannibal. At that time, it was the second largest city in Italy. This was retaken by the Romans after two sieges in 212 and 211. During the latter years of the war, the Romans managed to regroup their forces and, despite some military successes, Hannibal retreated to Africa in 203. The Romans then took the war to Africa in the vicinity of Carthage.
Military operations in Sicily also took place because the Greek city of Syracuse changed from supporting Rome to Carthage, which led to the siege of Syracuse by the Romans. The famous Greek mathematician and engineer, Archimedes of Syracuse (c.287-c.212), designed siege engines, which were effective in resisting the Romans, although the latter were ultimately victorious. When the city fell, Archimedes was killed by a Roman soldier.
The Roman general, Publius Cornelius Scipio, led the Roman forces in the latter part of the war. He came from one of the leading Roman aristocratic families, which had held high office for many years during the Roman Republic. His first major military appointment was in 211 in Hispania, modern day Spain, at the age of 25 years, when he was appointed proconsul, that is, a Roman magistrate representing the chief magistrates, the consuls, as the military governor of a Roman province.
Scipio defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama, which took place in Tunisia, near Carthage. The Carthaginian forces included 80 war elephants, but the Romans defeated the Carthaginians, with the latter sustaining over 20,000 killed, compared to about 4,000 deaths of the Roman forces. This victory over Hannibal was decisive and led to the ultimate Roman victory in the Second Punic War. Scipio took the agnomen ‘Africanus’, because of his victory in the Battle of Zama. His name thus became ‘Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus’.
After the Second Punic War, Carthage was reduced to the city and the neighbouring region in North Africa. Conservative forces in Rome, led by Cato the Elder (234-149), thought that Carthage should be destroyed completely, so that it would not pose a threat to Rome in future. Cato had been consul, and censor, that is, the magistrate responsible for the census of the state and other responsibilities, and had thus held two of the most senior magistracies. Indeed, Cato ended every speech which he gave in the Senate with words to the effect that, in Latin, ‘Delenda est Carthago’, which is translated as ‘Carthage must be destroyed’.
A significant figure during the end of the Second Punic War and in the Third Punic War was Masinissa, the King of Numidia (c.238-148), partly as a result of his long life, since he lived until about 90 years, and the length of his reign in Numidia from 202-148. Initially, he was head of the Massylii, who were Berber tribes, allied with Carthage against Rome during the Second Punic War. At the end of the war, he changed sides, supported Rome and took part in the Battle of Zama. His wife was the Carthaginian noblewoman, Sophonisba (d. 203), who had supported Carthage in the war. She committed suicide by drinking a cup of poison, which he gave her, rather than be captured by the Romans and paraded in Rome in a triumph, that is, a procession celebrating a military victory.
Masinissa’s allegiance to Rome made Numidia a significant power in Africa against Carthage. This played a major part in the causes of the Third Punic War, and Masinissa died soon after its beginning. After the war, Numidia was the sole major power in north Africa. Masinissa remained very active until the end of his life and commanded troops during his old age. According to Polybius, he was also responsible for the economic development of Numidia as an important agricultural region. A substantial part of his stone tomb remains at El Khoub in Algeria and the Libyco-Punic Mausoleum of Dougga in Tunisia may be a tomb or centotaph intended for him.
The Third Punic War (149-6) led to the final destruction of Carthage and annexation of its territory by Rome by the Roman general, Scipio Aemilianus. The city was besieged and finally taken and sacked in 146. The surviving population was sold into slavery.
The Punic Wars were significant because their outcome changed the course of Mediterranean and world history. The ultimate victory by the Romans meant that Rome became the preeminent power in the Mediterranean region, and that Greco-Roman classical culture dominated European and world civilisation. Carthage was removed as a leading power and Carthaginian culture became very insignificant. If Carthage had prevailed, its Semitic culture would have dominated the Mediterranean region. Militarily, during the wars there were significant developments in strategy and technology, and Rome developed as a naval power. Large scale military developments are phenomena, which take place in all major wars, and thus the Punic Wars are no exception.