The Punic wars were a pivotal point in Roman history. Rome emerged from them literally ready and able to conquer the world.
After the Second Punic War, Carthage was subdued. They were devoid of warships, war elephants and sources of mercenary soldiers. They could not even effectively defend themselves against their Numidian neighbors who periodically raided and annexed their lands. They were forbidden to make war without Roman permission. They were required to pay ten thousand talents of gold to the Romans over the course of fifty years.
Nevertheless, during the fifty years after the Second Punic War, Carthage prospered by trade. When the aged Roman statesman Marcus Porcius Cato visited Carthage on a diplomatic mission, he was amazed and appalled by its prosperity. He was determined to see the city destroyed. In every speech he made to the Senate or to the assemblies, no matter what the subject, he would end it with the words “Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam”-“And furthermore I think that Carthage must be destroyed.”
Carthage did not pose a military threat to Rome, but it was an economic rival.
For insight into the thinking of highly ranked Romans, there is a quote attributed to the Consul Lucius Marcius Censorius by Appian of Alexandria. It is 149 bc and Censorius has come to Africa with 80,000 Roman soldiers. He is trying to convince the Carthaginians to abandon their city and move at least ten mile inland.
“What is the use of repeating what the Senate has ordered? It has issued its decrees and they must be carried out. We have not power to alter the commands already laid upon us. If we were addressing you as enemies, Carthaginians, it would be necessary only to speak and then to use force, but since this is a matter of the common good (somewhat of our own and still more of yours), I have no objection to giving you the reasons, if you may be thus persuaded instead of being coerced.
“The sea reminds you of the dominion and power you once acquired by means of it. It is inevitable that someday you will want to acquire these things again, for who does not seek to retrieve what he has lost? When you behold the barracks of your soldiers, the stables of your horses and elephants, and the storehouses alongside them, all empty, what do these things put into your mind? What else but grief and intense longing to get them back again if you can. When we recall our departed fortune it is human nature to hope that we may recover it. The only way in which you will give up these ambitions is through oblivion, which you will achieve by moving yourselves inland.
“Why should we spare our captured enemies? If you have abdicated dominion sincerely, not in words only, but in fact, and are content with what you possess in Africa, and if you honestly desire peace with us, prove it by your acts. Move into the interior of Africa, which belongs to you, and leave the sea, the dominion of which you have yielded to us.”
The Romans wanted the Mediterranean Sea, “mare nostrum,” to be exclusively theirs.
The Carthaginians refused to abandon their city even in the face of Roman might, and waged a three year campaign to remain where they were. The Roman effort to take the city went poorly for the Romans for two years, but then they found an able general in Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, the adoptive grandson of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus and natural son of Lucius Aemilius Paullus. Scipio besieged the city and eventually gained access after breaking down the walls with siege engines. There was resistance and street fighting for six days before the 50,000 survivors taking refuge in the citadel surrendered. All of them were sold into slavery.
Historian Adrian Goldsworthy has this to say about the Roman destruction of Carthage:
“There is no doubt that the Third Punic War was deliberately provoked by the Romans, who had made a conscious decision to destroy their old enemy. Roman negotiators shamelessly exploited the Carthaginian’s willingness to grant concession in their desire to avoid war with Rome, stealthily increasing their demands to force a conflict on a weakened enemy. It was a far worse display than any of the recorded examples of ‘Punic treachery.’”
The Roman effort to take the city went poorly for the Romans for two years, This should say, The Roman effort to take the city went poorly for two years.
Could you please list the reasons why Rome destroyed Carthage. -A random person
três juste !
The Romans, arrogant with power were destroyers, not creators like Carthage. Carthage gave the world glass and navigation by the stars while Rome was busy destroying.
Don’t forget about concrete, the Romans stole that from the Carthaginians. They also stole the design for their war ships from the Carthaginians. I once read the statement that Carthage worshiped Mammon while Rome worshiped Mars. I sometimes like to imagine how different things would be today if Carthage had defeated Rome in the Second Punic War. We might all be worshiping Baal Hammon and Tanit and speaking a dialect of Phoenician.
For two reasons. It was an enemy in two previous wars and there was still a lot of hostility on the part of the Romans toward Carthage, and secondly, they were an economic rival and the Roman oligarchy believed Rome would prosper more is Carthage were out of the way.
Since Carthage was deliberately blasted into oblivion, I wonder if it was questionable “Phoenician Karma” that finally came back to bite them?
Not a great believer in Karma myself. What is usually interpreted as Karma is generally just cause and effect.
I have often wondered about the fate of the citizens of Carthage after the Romans finally breached the walls, and entered the City. Obviously many were slaughtered and the a lot were sent into a life slavery, but where did these people go once they were sold ?
Did Roman slave markets suddenly have a glut Carthaginian servants and laborers ? Did they kill ALL the men… How many of the women and children were randomly butchered…. or did they show any mercy to the women and children ? Even if only for purely mercenary reasons.
How many, I wonder, had the sense and foresight to flee before the advance of the Legions, and before the City was sealed off and under siege. Before the actual onslaught commenced. Thus escaping Rome’s wrath.
Then, during the three years of the siege, how many were able to escape by ship of which the Carthaginians had many. I would like to think that good sense prevailed and some effort was made to save for the more vunerable members of the population, Or did the ancients not think that way ? Same with the surrounding Punic Villages. The people in the agricultural zones to the South. Did they run refugee style or just get over run and massacred
Does anyone know the numbers of those that were put to the sword… as opposed to enslaved or better still escaped ?
Then if there was a mass evacuation….where did they find shelter, given the reach of the Roman Legions. Did anybody chronicle the aftermath. The ramifications for the survivors. Path of flight. ?Type of slavery ?
Thank you.
Great website by the way
I think that Carthage probably had well over 250,000 residents before the Third Punic War, and only some 50,000 survivors at the end of it. It would be impossible to say how many died of plague and starvation, how many were killed by the Romans in the last days of the fighting, and how many might have escaped. In my book, The Last Carthaginian, the elderly and wealthy politician Hanno sends his family to his estate near Nepheris when the city is besieged, but their fate remained unknown to my two young protagonists Gillimas and Simabal.
Not all of the Phoenician cities in the region were destroyed during the war. Utica agreed to co-operate with the Romans early on and the city carried on as usual. Phoenician continued to be spoken in the area for the next 300 years. If a Carthaginian citizen escaped during the siege, he might have taken refuge in Utica or Tunis.
Who came to Carthage and said Miseris succurere disco ? ? to the Queen of Carthage
Please described by Rousseau “I know no line so beautiful, so profound, so touching, so true.” (Emile ou l’Education, 1762)
I would be most grateful to know as it has been sued by the Macmillan family as a family motto for nigh on 500 years
According to Virgil, it was the Carthaginian Queen Dido who said “Miseris succurere disco”-I learn to help the poor to Aeneas who was seeking refuge from the destruction of Troy. Certainly a noble sentiment. It conveys a sort of noblesse oblige-that the fortunate should have compassion for the less fortunate.
The scene, however, is apocryphal because Troy was destroyed around 1200 B.C. while Carthage was founded around 800 B.C.