Punic Wars, three distinct conflicts between Carthage Carthage (kär`thĭj), ancient city, on the northern shore of Africa, on a peninsula in the Bay of Tunis and near modern Tunis.
..... Click the link for more information. and Rome Rome, Ital. Roma, city (1991 pop. 2,775,250), capital of Italy and see of the pope, whose residence, Vatican City , is a sovereign state within the city of Rome. Rome is also the capital of Latium, a region of central Italy, and of Rome prov.
..... Click the link for more information. . When they began, Rome had nearly completed the conquest of Italy, while Carthage controlled NW Africa and the islands and the commerce of the W Mediterranean. When they ended, Carthage was ruined, and Rome was the greatest power W of China. The first war saw Rome fighting to break Carthage's growing hold on the chain of islands that enable it to control the W Mediterranean. The second war directly pitted the ambitions of the two commercial powers; the initial area of conflict was Sicily. The last war was the final, desperate attempt of Carthage to preserve Punic (Carthaginian) liberty.

First Punic War

The First Punic War, 264–241 B.C., grew immediately out of a quarrel between the Sicilian cities of Messana (now Messina) and Syracuse. One faction of the Messanians called on Carthage for help and another faction called on Rome. The Strait of Messana, which separates the Italian Peninsula from Sicily, was of extreme strategic importance, and both powers responded. The Punic army arrived in Sicily first, arranged a peace between Messana and Syracuse, and established a garrison. Upon its arrival, the Roman army ejected the Carthaginians from the garrison, and thus the war began.

Roman legions occupied E Sicily, and the newly created Roman fleet, after victories at Mylae (260) and off Cape Ecnomus (256), landed a force in Africa. This excursion was a failure, and its commander, Regulus Regulus (Marcus Atilius Regulus) (rĕg`yləs), d. c.250 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. , was captured (255) by the Greek mercenary general Xanthippus. In Sicily the Romans took Palermo (254) but were effectively blocked farther west by the brilliant guerrilla warfare of Hamilcar Barca Hamilcar Barca, d. 229 or 228 B.C., Carthaginian general. He was assigned the command in Sicily in 247 in the First Punic War (see Punic Wars ). From mountain bases near Palermo he made repeated raids on the Romans and relieved the Punic garrison in Lilybaeum.
..... Click the link for more information. , and they failed to take Lilybaeum, the chief Punic base. The Romans equipped a new fleet that destroyed (241) the Punic fleet off the Aegates (now Aegadian Isles), and Carthage sued for peace. The terms were the payment of an indemnity and the cession of Punic Sicily to Rome. The chief events of the next 20 years were the Roman entry into Sardinia and Corsica—a gross breach of treaty—and the conquests in Spain by Hamilcar.

Second Punic War

When Hamilcar Barca's son Hannibal took (219) the Spanish city of Saguntum (present-day Sagunto), a Roman ally, Rome declared war. This Second Punic, or Hannibalic, War, 218–201 B.C., was one of the titanic struggles of history. Rome owed its success to various factors: its stubborn will and splendid military organization; its superior economic resources; its generals, Fabius and, above all, Scipio; the failure of supply from Carthage to Hannibal's Italian army; and the mountainous character of central Italy, which rendered the Punic superiority in cavalry nearly useless. For the course of the war, see Hannibal Hannibal (hăn`əbəl), b. 247 B.C., d. 183 or 182 B.C. Carthaginian general, an implacable and formidable enemy of Rome.
..... Click the link for more information. and Scipio Africanus Major Scipio Africanus Major (Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus) (sĭp`ēō ăfrĭkā`nəs), 236–183 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. . At the war's close, Carthage surrendered to Rome its Spanish province and its war fleet.

Third Punic War

The Third Punic War, 149–146 B.C., originated, like the others, in a deliberate Roman aggression, the result of agitation by Cato the Elder Cato the Elder (kā`tō) or Cato the Censor, Lat. Cato Major or Cato Censorius, 234–149 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. for the destruction of Carthage. Charging Carthage with a technical breach of treaty in resisting the encroachment of the Numidian king Masinissa Masinissa or Massinissa (both: măsĭnĭs`ə), c.238–148 B.C., king of Numidia. He succeeded (c.
..... Click the link for more information. (a Roman ally), Rome declared war and blockaded the city. Carthage never surrendered. The younger Scipio (Scipio Africanus Minor Scipio Africanus Minor (Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Numantinus), c.185–129 B.C., Roman general, destroyer of Carthage. He was the son of Aemilius Paullus, under whom he fought at Pydna.
..... Click the link for more information. ) conquered it, house by house, and sold the surviving inhabitants into slavery. The city was razed and its site plowed up.

Bibliography

The Latin accounts of the wars are biased, and there are no Punic ones; the best source is Polybius Polybius (pōlĭ`bēəs), 203? B.C.–c.120 B.C., Greek historian, b. Megalopolis.
..... Click the link for more information. . See also Cambridge Ancient History, Vol. VIII (2d ed. 1989).

Punic Wars

or Carthaginian Wars

Three wars (264–241 BC, 218–201, 149–146) between Rome and Carthage. The first concerned control of Sicily and of the sea lanes in the western Mediterranean; it ended with Rome victorious but with great loss of ships and men on both sides. In 218 Hannibal attacked Roman territory, starting from Spain and marching overland into Italy with troops and elephants. After an initial Carthaginian victory, Fabius Maximus Cunctator harassed him wherever he went without offering battle. Abandoning this tactic resulted in a major Roman loss at the Battle of Cannae (216); that defeat drew the Romans together and, though worn down, they managed to rally, eventually defeating Hannibal and driving him out of Italy (203). The Third Punic War was essentially the siege of Carthage; it led to the destruction of Carthage, the enslavement of its people, and Roman hegemony in the western Mediterranean. The Carthaginian territory became the Roman province of Africa.