CLST 319 (Roman Army) Handout: War with Carthage III
Fall 2015
The Third Punic War (149-146 BCE)
The Third Punic War was very much an unequal struggle: the Romans had stripped
Carthage of most of her military and defensive capacity after the Second Punic War. In
the lead up to the war Carthage tried various means of appeasing Rome, but faced with
a request to abandon Carthage and move ten miles inland, they abandoned that and
fought to the bitter end. Most of the fighting took place around the city itself, which
only fell after a long and bitter siege. It was only taken with great difficulty, in the end
coming down to brutal street fighting, with the Romans having to capture the city block
by block. The excerpts below are from Appian’s Punic Wars, part of his monumental
Roman History, and deal with the end stages of the war around and in the city.
119 Now Scipio1 set fire to the camp of the enemy, which they had abandoned the day
before, when they took refuge in the city. Being in possession of the whole isthmus he
began a trench across it from sea to sea not more than a stone's throw from the enemy.
The latter were not idle. Along the whole distance of 4½ kilometer he had to work and
fight at the same time. When he had finished this one he dug another of the same length,
at no great distance from the first, looking towards the mainland. He then made two
others running transversely, giving the interior space the form of a quadrangle, and
threw around the whole a palisade of chevaux-de-frise.2 In addition to the palisade he
fortified the ditches also, and along the one looking toward Carthage he built a wall 4½
kilometer in length and 3 meters high, without counting the parapets and towers which
surmounted the wall at intervals. The width of the wall was about one-half of its height.
The highest tower was at the middle, and upon this another of wood, four stories high,
was built, from which to observe what was going on in the city. Having completed this
work in twenty days and nights, the whole army working and fighting and taking food
and sleep by turns, he brought them all within the fortification.
120 This was at the same time a camp for himself and a rather long fort commanding the
enemy's country. From this base he could intercept all the supplies sent to the
Carthaginians from the interior, since Carthage was everywhere surrounded by the sea
except on this neck. Hence this fort was the first and principal cause of famine and other
troubles to the Carthaginians, for, while the great multitude fled from the fields to the
city and none could go out on account of the siege, foreign merchants ceased to frequent
the place on account of the war. Thus they had to rely on food brought from Africa
alone, little coming in by sea and only when the weather was favorable, much the
greater part being forwarded by the land route. Deprived of this, they began to suffer
severely from hunger. Bithya, their cavalry general, who had been sent out some time
before to procure food, did not venture to make the attempt by attacking and breaking
Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus, also known as Scipio Africanus
the Younger; he was the grandson of the Scipio who had won battle of Zama and ended the
Second Punic War.
2 A frame with spikes used to protect against enemy cavalry attacks.
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through Scipio's fortification, but he sent supplies a long way around by water, although
Scipio's ships were blockading Carthage.
The latter did not keep their place all the time, nor did they stand thickly together, as
they had no shelter and the sea was full of reefs. Nor could they anchor near the city
itself, with the Carthaginians standing on the walls and the sea pounding on the rocks
there worst of all. Thus the ships of Bithya and an occasional merchant, whom the love
of gain made reckless of danger, watching for a strong and favorable wind, spread their
sails and ran the blockade, the Roman galleys not being able to pursue merchant ships
sailing before the wind.
But these chances were rare and only when a strong wind was blowing from the sea.
These supplies Hasdrubal distributed to his 30,000 soldiers exclusively, for he despised
the multitude; for which reason they suffered greatly from hunger.
[Scipio then tried to blockade the entrance with an embankment; the Carthaginians –
men, women, and children dug a new exit and build about 50 ships which sallied forth
from it.]
122 The Romans were so astounded by the sudden appearance of this new entrance, and
of the fleet issuing from it, that if the Carthaginians had at once fallen upon their ships,
which were in disorder by reason of siege, neither sailors nor rowers being present, they
might have possessed themselves of the whole fleet. But now (since it was fated that
Carthage should perish) they only sailed out to make a show, and, having flouted the
enemy in a pompous way, they returned inside the harbor.
Three days later they set out for a naval engagement, and the Romans advanced to meet
them with their ships and other apparatus in good order. They came together with loud
shouts on both sides and cheers from the rowers, steersmen, and marines, the
Carthaginians resting their last hope of safety on this engagement and the Romans
hoping to make it their final victory.
The fight raged till midday. During the battle the Carthaginian small boats, running
under the sides of the Roman ships, which were taller, stove holes in their sterns and
broke off their oars and rudders, and damaged them in various other ways, advancing
and retreating nimbly. As the day verged toward evening the battle was still undecided,
and the Carthaginians thought best to withdraw, not that they were beaten, but to renew
the engagement the next day.
123 Their small boats retired first, and arriving at the entrance, and becoming entangled
on account of their number, they blocked up the mouth so that when the larger ones
arrived they were prevented from entering. They took refuge at a wide quay, which had
been built against the city wall for unloading merchant ships some time before, and on
which a small parapet had been erected during this war lest the space might sometime
be occupied by the enemy.
When the Carthaginian ships took refuge here for want of a harbor, they ranged
themselves with their bows outward and received the attack of the enemy, some of them
standing on the ships, some on the quay, and still others on the parapet. To the Romans
the onset was easy, for it is not hard to attack ships that are standing still, but when they
attempted to turn around, in order to retire, the movement was slow and difficult on
account of the length of the ships, for which reason they received as much damage as
they had given; for while they were executing the movement they were exposed to the
onset of the Carthaginians.
Finally five ships of the city of the Sidetae, which were in alliance with Scipio, dropped
their anchors in the sea at some distance, attaching long ropes to them, by which means
they were enabled to dash against the Carthaginian ships by rowing, and having
delivered their blow warp themselves back by the ropes stern foremost. Then the whole
fleet, catching the idea from the Sidetae, followed their example and inflicted great
damage upon the enemy. Night put an end to the battle, after which the Carthaginians
withdrew to the city - as many of them as survived the engagement.
124 At daylight Scipio attacked this quay because it was well situated to command the
harbor. Assailing the parapet with rams and other engines he beat down a part of it. The
Carthaginians, although oppressed by hunger and distress of various kinds, made a
sally by night against the Roman engines, not by land, for there was no passageway, nor
by ships, for the water was too shallow, but naked and bearing torches not lighted, so
that they might not be seen at a distance.
Thus, in a way that nobody would have expected, they plunged into the sea and crossed
over, some of them wading in water up to their breasts, others swimming. When they
reached the engines they lighted their torches, and becoming visible and being naked
they suffered greatly from wounds, which they courageously returned. Although the
barbed arrows and spear points rained on their breasts and faces, they did not relax their
efforts, but rushed forward like wild beasts against the blows until they had set the
engines on fire and put the Romans to disorderly flight.
Panic and confusion spread through the whole camp and such fear as was never before
known, caused by the frenzy of these naked enemies. Scipio, fearing the consequences,
ran out with a squadron of horse and commanded his attendants to kill those who
would not desist from flight. He killed some of them himself. The rest were brought by
force into the camp, where they passed the night under arms, fearing some desperate
deed of the enemy. The latter, having burned the engines, swam back home.
125. When daylight returned the Carthaginians, no longer molested by the engines,
rebuilt that part of the outwork which had been battered down and added to it a
number of towers at intervals. The Romans constructed new engines and built mounds
in front of these towers, from which they threw upon them lighted torches and vessels
filled with burning brimstone and pitch, and burned some of them, and drove away the
Carthaginians.
The footway was so slippery with coagulated blood, lately shed in great quantity, that
the Romans were compelled, unwillingly, to abandon the pursuit. Scipio, having
possessed himself of the entire quay, fortified it and built a brick wall of the same height
as that of Carthage, and at no great distance from it. When it was finished, he put 4,000
men on it to discharge darts and javelins at the enemy, which they could do with
comparative safety. As the walls were of equal height the darts were thrown with great
effect. And now the summer came to an end.
Scipio spent the winter of 147 taking action against Carthaginian allies and cities in the area
before turning back to deal with the city of Carthage in the spring of 146.
127 When spring returned, Scipio laid siege to Byrsa and to the harbor of Cothon.
Hasdrubal one night set fire to that part of Cothon which is in the form of a quadrangle.
But Laelius, still expecting Scipio to make the attack, and while the Carthaginians were
turned to that quarter, without being observed, mounted the other part of Cothon,
which was in the form of a circle.
A shout went up as though a victory had been gained, the Carthaginians became
alarmed, while the Romans mounted on all sides, despising the danger, and filled up the
vacant spaces with timbers, engines, and scaffolding, the guards making only a feeble
resistance because they were weak from hunger and downcast in spirit.
The wall around Cothon being taken, Scipio seized the neighboring forum. Being unable
to do more, as it was now nightfall, he and his whole force passed the night there under
arms. At daylight he brought in 4,000 fresh troops. They entered the temple of Apollo,
whose statue was there, covered with gold, in a shrine of beaten gold, weighing 1,000
talents, which they plundered, chopping it with their swords, disregarding the
commands of their officers until they had divided it among themselves, after which they
returned to their duty.
128 Now Scipio hastened to the attack of Byrsa, the strongest part of the city, where the
greater part of the inhabitants had taken refuge. There were three streets ascending from
the forum to this fortress, along which, on either side, were houses built closely together
and six stories high, from which the Romans were assailed with missiles. They were
compelled, therefore, to possess themselves of the first ones and use those as a means of
expelling the occupants of the next.
When they had mastered the first, they threw timbers from one to another over the
narrow passageways, and crossed as on bridges. While war was raging in this way on
the roofs, another fight was going on among those who met each other in the streets
below. All places were filled with groans, shrieks, shouts, and every kind of agony.
Some were stabbed, others were hurled alive from the roofs to the pavement, some of
them alighting on the heads of spears or other pointed weapons, or swords. No one
dared to set fire to the houses on account of those who were still on the roofs, until
Scipio reached Byrsa. Then he set fire to the three streets all together, and gave orders to
keep the passageways clear of burning material so that the army might move back and
forth freely.
129 Then came new scenes of horror. As the fire spread and carried everything down,
the soldiers did not wait to destroy the buildings little by little, but all in a heap. So the
crashing grew louder, and many corpses fell with the stones into the midst. Others were
seen still living, especially old men, women, and young children who had hidden in the
inmost nooks of the houses, some of them wounded, some more or less burned, and
uttering piteous cries. Still others, thrust out and falling from such a height with the
stones, timbers, and fire, were torn asunder in all shapes of horror, crushed and
mangled.
Nor was this the end of their miseries, for the street cleaners, who were removing the
rubbish with axes, mattocks, and forks, and making the roads passable, tossed with
these instruments the dead and the living together into holes in the ground, dragging
them along like sticks and stones and turning them over with their iron tools. Trenches
were filled with men. Some who were thrown in head foremost, with their legs sticking
out of the ground, writhed a long time. Others fell with their feet downward and their
heads above ground. Horses ran over them, crushing their faces and skulls, not
purposely on the part of the riders, but in their headlong haste. Nor did the street
cleaners do these things on purpose; but the tug of war, the glory of approaching
victory, the rush of the soldiery, the orders of the officers, the blast of the trumpets,
tribunes and centurions marching their cohorts hither and thither - all together made
everybody frantic and heedless of the spectacles under their eyes.
130 Six days and nights were consumed in this kind of fighting, the soldiers being
changed so that they might not be worn out with toil, slaughter, want of sleep, and these
horrid sights. Scipio alone toiled without rest, hurrying here and there, without sleep,
taking food while he was at work, until, utterly fatigued and relaxed, he sat down on a
high place where he could overlook the work.
Much remained to be ravaged, and it seemed likely that the carnage would be of longer
duration, but on the seventh day some suppliants presented themselves to Scipio
bearing the sacred garlands of Asclepius, whose temple was much the richest and most
renowned of all in the citadel.
These, taking olive branches from the temple, begged Scipio to spare the lives of all who
might wish to depart from Byrsa. This he granted to all except the deserters. Forthwith
there came out 50,000 men and women together, a narrow gate in the wall being opened,
and a guard furnished for them.
The Roman deserters, about 900 in number, despairing of their lives, retreated to the
temple of Asclepius with Hasdrubal and his wife and their two boys. Here they might
have defended themselves a long time although they were few in number, on account of
the height and rocky nature of the place, which in time of peace was reached by an
ascent of sixty steps. But, finally, overcome by hunger, want of sleep, fear, toil, and
approaching dissolution, they abandoned the enclosures of the temple and fled to the
shrine and roof.
Hasdrubal, the leader of the Carthaginians, creeps out and surrenders to Scipio; the rest of the
defenders, however, preferred to commit suicide and set fire to the temple in a last act of defiance;
Hasdrubal’s wife is said to have appeared on the temple roof before the fire took hold fully, dressed
as well as she could, and killed their children while rebuking him; she then threw herself into the
fire with the bodies of the children.
Translation by Horace White (originally published for the Loeb Library in 1913; now in
the public domain); the text is from Lacus Curtius (the complete text can be found at:
http://www.livius.org/ap-ark/appian/appian_punic_00.html).