• Explain how the Punic Wars enabled Rome
to become the dominant power in the
Mediterranean
• Cite the key events and individuals from
each of the 3 Punic Wars
• Founded about 800 BCE on the North African
coast by Phoenician colonists
– Modern day Tunisia
• Became a commercial and naval power all over
western Mediterranean:
– Spain , Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Balearic Islands
• Rome and Carthage sign a “friendship treaty”:
– Roman sphere of influence = Italian peninsula
– Carthaginian sphere of influence = northern Africa
and Sicily, etc.
• Common interests against the Etruscans
and the Greeks.
• Rome starts taking interest in southern
Italy and the Mediterranean.
• Not big enough for both of them, which
leads to:
• The Latin word Punicus is another
version of the Latin Peonicus which
comes from the Greek Phoinikikis, a
Phoenician. The Greek word comes
from the Greek for purple .
• City of Messina, Sicily
under control of
mercenaries:
Mamertines
• Syracuse attacks
Mamertines in
Messina
– Mamertines call on
Carthaginians
– Once they arrive, the
Mamertines second
guess themselves and
seek help from the
Romans
– Result: war over Sicily
• New military experience for Romans
– Created a naval fleet
– Naval battles with little or no experience
• Boarding ramps to throw onto enemy ships
• Soldiers board and turn it into land battle
• Sicily becomes first Roman province in 241
B.C.E.
• Forced the Carthaginians out of Sardinia a
few years later, and Romans make Sardinia a
province.
• Carthage evacuates Sicily .
• Carthage returns their prisoners of war
without ransom, while paying heavy ransom on
their own.
• Carthage evacuates all of the small islands
between Sicily and Africa.
• Carthage pays a 2,200 talents (66 tons) of
silver indemnity in ten annual installments,
plus an additional indemnity of 1,000 talents
(30 tons) immediately.
• After the loss of Sicily
and Sardinia,
Carthaginians turned
their efforts toward
building up their
control in Spain
– General Hamilcar Barca,
hero of the First Punic
War, sent to Spain
– Deep hatred for Rome –
passes that hatred along
to his son, Hannibal
• In 218 BC, Hannibal took control of the
Greek city and Roman ally, Saguntum, and
set up a strong Carthaginian base there
– Located on the Iberian peninsula
– Rome, again, declared war on Carthage
– Hannibal planned to march across the Pyrenees
and the Alps in winter to surprise the Roman
army
• Leaves 20,000 men in Spain (brother: Hasdrubal)
• Rome:
• 80,000 infantry and
7,000 cavalry
• Casualties: 60,000
• Carthage:
• 40,000 infantry and
10,000 cavalry
• Casualties: 6,000
• Hannibal couldn’t hold its gains and asks his
brother in Spain for help.
• Rome’ s young general Scipio held them off and
then invaded North Africa.
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• Carthage called Hannibal home where he
is defeated by Scipio the Battle of Zama
• Carthage:
– Lost all its territories outside of Africa
– Had to pay yearly indemnity to Rome
– Agreed not to wage war outside or inside
Africa without Rome’s permission.
• Hannibal becomes a civic
administrator
• Rome does not approve
and declares him a war
criminal
• Hannibal flees to the east
where Rome follows and
conquers as they track him
• Hannibal took poison to
avoid capture in 182 BCE
• Carthage no longer had her empire, but still a
shrewd trading nation…makes Rome nervous
• African tribes neighboring Carthage knew that
the peace treaty between Carthage and Rome
stated that if Carthage overstepped her
boundaries, it would be interpreted as an act of
aggression against Rome
– Result: raids on Carthage by the Numidians
– Result: 149 B.C. Carthage went after the Numidians
• Carthage didn’t stand a chance
– War lasts three years
– All citizens are either killed or sold into slavery
– City of Carthage razed; its fields salted
• Aftermath: Rome conquers Greece and all
of the western Mediterranean, northern
Italy and Spain.
• Many Romans become extremely wealthy
due to the conquests.