The Romans were strongly religious. They worshiped a variety of Gods and believed that, at times, their gods interacted with humans. They never went into battle without first taking auguries to see if the battle would be favorable to them. They built temples everywhere, and rich Romans would sponsor a temple to whichever god he […]
The Importance of Conquering New Carthage
February 7, 2023 By Leave a Comment
The Carthaginians controlled southern Spain before the Second Punic war and had alliances with some of the tribes of northern Spain. They had highly productive gold and silver mines in southern Spain which helped finance the war. The Second Punic War began as a result of Hannibal’s destruction of Saguntum, a Roman ally, and Spain […]
What Happened to the Carthaginian Empire after The Battle of Zama?
August 26, 2022 By 2 Comments
After Hannibal’s defeat at Zama, Carthage was forced into a treaty on Roman terms. Scipio Africanus imposed an indemnity of ten thousand talents to be paid off over a fifty-year period. They lost all of their overseas territory and were confined to what is now Tunisia and perhaps part of what is now Libya. They […]
How Did Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus Rise to Power
July 26, 2022 By Leave a Comment
Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus was born in 236 B.C., the scion of a family that had been influential in Roman politics for over two hundred years. In 218 B.C. his father was elected to Consul. His uncle Gneius had been Consul two years before. That year, Hannibal invaded Italy. The elder Scipio had gone to […]
What Happened to the Roman Aristocracy?
April 9, 2022 By Leave a Comment
Cornelius, Aemilius, Fabius, Claudius, Julius, Junius, Sempronius, and Livius were all prominent Romen gens until the first century B.C. What happened to them and why did they fade from prominence in Rome? Beginning with the conflict between Gaius Marius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Rome experienced intermittent civil wars throughout the first seventy years of the […]
Was The Third Punic War and the Destruction of Carthage Justified?
March 30, 2022 By Leave a Comment
I don’t feel that the genocide of Carthage was justified at the time. After the Battle of Zama at which Publius Cornelius Scipio defeated Hannibal, he imposed a treaty on Carthage which imposed a huge indemnity to be paid over a fifty-year period, and limited Carthage’s military activities to Africa and allowed them to make […]
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