Rome Vs Carthage Essay

Both the competence of the Roman senate and Carthaginian government’s failure to support Hannibal in Italy were crucial factors for Rome’s victory in the second punic war. By 216 BC, Rome had lost successive battles at Trebia, Ticinus, Lake Trasimene and had suffered a devastating loss at Cannae. Such events

The first Punic war started as the Romans moved over the sea and marched on Sicily to gain lands there. The war began 264 BCE and finished 241 BCE. There were a lot of battles especially with the Battle of Agrigentum being a massive learning curve for the Carthage army as it was routed by the Romans.

The three Punic Wars demonstrated the Roman emperors’ power over Rome with laws over land, environment, and conflicts. In The three Punic Wars Carthage and Rome fought for power over Mediterranean Sea. Carthage was lead by hannibal. The first Punic War was in 264 BC when Rome and Carthage wanted power to rule Sicily. The wars started when when Mercenary soldiers surrounded the city of Messena which is now Messina in Sicily and requested aid from Rome and Carthage against Hiero II, the king of Syracuse. Carthage and Rome hadn't always been enemies, they were on friendly terms before the greek king Pyrrhus had entered Italy.

How did the ancient city of Carthage almost become Rome’s equal? Also, how was this state of the city at this time come about in the ancient world? Carthage being a port city and Rome also being so close to the Mediterranean, gave both cities great business and imperial opportunities. In fact, both cities flourished because of their geographical locations to a certain extent. These opportunities and the desire to obtain them would eventually lead the two cities into war and conflict.

As what happens so often, history is written by the side who wins and in the case of the Punic Wars and Carthage itself most of the information available today comes from Roman sources and authors whose knowledge has been passed down through the ages. According to legend Carthage was initially settled as a

The Punic Wars were waged between Rome and Carthage, a city-state founded on the Gulf of Tunis by the Phoenicians in the 9th century BCE (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, 2015). The name Punic Wars comes from the fact that Rome was ultimately the victor and therefore, the recorders of history. Punic is derived from the Latin Punicus, for an inhabitant of Carthage (Merriam-Webster, 2015). Carthage was a powerful economic and territorial rival of Rome, with a strong presence in the Western Mediterranean. The Second Punic War, (218-201 BCE), began when the Carthaginians expanded into the Iberian Peninsula. Hannibal, the commander of the Carthaginian forces in Spain, attacked Saguntum,

Many of the states of Italy that Rome had conquered a century before now joined Hannibal. This was a threat to Rome, so the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio took a Roman army to north Africa and then Hannibal went back to defend Carthage. In the battle at Zama, near Carthage, in 202 BC the Romans finally defeated Hannibal.

The success the Barca family had in the Spanish Peninsula was another huge factor which contributed to the war. It affected both Rome and Carthage. We must first look into what caused the expansion of Carthage into the Spanish Peninsula. When Hamilcar Barca had to give up Sicily and Sardinia he took a huge blow to his pride. And as Livy mentions “he was a proud man” and therefore the taking of Sicily which “had been surrendered too soon” and the fact that he was tricked into giving up Sardinia made Hamilcar determined to something about it. The Punic population also felt the same way as Hamilcar did towards the Romans. They despised the “tyrannical attitude of their conquerors” and therefore there was hardly any dispute when they had to decide whether to go to war or not. After the First Punic War, Hamilcar went to Spain with the purpose of building a power base to use against Rome. Not in order to be able pay their debts back as he told the Romans. Livy states that Carthage expansion in Spain was just a step in Hamilcar

Rome and Carthage shared many aspects when the two first clash. Carthage had two chief magistrates referred to as Suffetes, which compared to the political power of the Roman consuls, a council of elders named the “hundred,” which was similar to the Roman senate, and there was a Carthaginian assembly, the consistency resembled the Roman comitia (Morey, 1901). This is where the similarities end for Carthaginian, ruled by a few wealthy families, the Carthaginians did not integrate their subjects into the state, and they did not have the great loyalty of its citizens that Rome enjoyed. By placing its army under the command of a single permanent leader, Carthage created an overwhelming advantage to Rome, which had its armies controlled by the ever-changing civil magistrates and consuls (Morey, 1901).

the strongest of the two in this field. This superiority was met by a large scale Roman construction of the navel fleet after their land forces captured one of the Carthaginian ships. Soon this was reflected in the fightings, and in 256 Carthage was besieged, but the Romans were defeated. Then for some years Carthage was the most successful who was commanded by Hamilcar. However, at the battle at the Aegates Islands in 241, the Carthaginians were beaten so badly that they requested peace. This agreement involved leaving

The second Punic war was between 218-202 B.C. It started when Carthage attacked Spanish Saguntum. Hannibal’s overall objectives were to expand his

The Punic Wars were a series of conflicts between Rome and Carthage for control of the Mediterranean. They are called the Punic Wars because the word “Punic” is derived from the Roman word for Phoenician, in reference to the Carthaginians’ ancestry. Carthage was founded by settlers from Phoenicia on the fertile land of North Africa. The Phoenicians were known as brave and skillful sailors and merchants. By the third century BC, Carthage became a substantially strong power of the Western Mediterranean. It was considered the richest city in the world. All maritime trade between East and West Mediterranean went through it. Hundreds of ships transported goods from all over the world. The city, built up with tall buildings, had 700 thousand inhabitants. The Greek colonies in Sicily and Southern Italy were the only serious competition to Carthage. There was a continuous struggle between them for the possession of the island for 100 years, since the end of the fifth century BC. Four times the Carthaginians conquered the island. However, they could not take the city of Syracuse.

With the introduction of the hoplite phalanx to the Roman army, came a multitude of wars and long drawn out campaigns that the Romans were involved in throughout the republic period. One such campaign or campaigns that set the Roman republic as the uncontested superpower in the Mediterranean was the Punic Wars. Rome fought three wars against Carthage between 264 and 146 BCE. These wars constituted major events in the history of Rome and the Mediterranean basin (Marcel Le Glay 2009) p. 73. Though these wars were fought for reasons such as competing economics, revenge (most notably the Carthaginian general Hannibal), and a fear that could be related in today’s terms of opposing forces such as (the United States and Soviet Union feared each other during the Cold War) the fact is in the end Rome defeated the Carthaginians, not only were the Carthaginians defeated, but the city of Carthage was demolished and the people massacred or sold into slavery so as not to threaten the Romans ever again. In the fall of the city, in obedience to the Senate’s orders the inhabitants were reduced to slavery or forced to emigrate, the town was burnt and soil was

Even in the century before the official replacement of the Roman republic by the empire, Rome expanded immensely as a result of the Punic wars. Rome fought the Punic Wars between 264 and 146 BCE against the nearby trade empire Carthage over the nearby island of Sicily, a

Historians believe Rome was threatened by the wealth of Carthage and its stronghold in the Mediterranean Sea. Rome and Carthage came head to head during the First Punic War when Rome was called to aid a group of bandits who had started a war with a Carthage ally in Sicily. During the conflict, Rome realized although their ground soldiers were superior, the navy of Carthage was sure to crush them in defeat. Rome resolved to build a rival navy and eventually conquered most of Sicily and Corsica. They modeled ships using an abandoned Carthage vessel and created an ingenious drawbridge for their soldiers to board the Carthage ships during war skirmishes. Emboldened by victory, Rome pressed on to shore, but they were cast out of Africa, but would return to fight again (Morey,