47 Fun Facts About The Punic Wars

Between which years were the three Punic Wars fought?

The three Punic Wars were fought between 264 and 146 BC: the First in 264-241, the Second in 218-201 and the Third in 149-146, about 43 years of actual fighting spread over more than a century.

The word 'Punic' comes from a Latin adjective meaning what?

Carthage began as a Phoenician colony and grew into an empire.

Who is the most reliable ancient source for the Punic Wars?

Polybius, a Greek brought to Rome as a hostage in 167 BC, knew the Scipios and questioned veterans of Hannibal's war; later writers such as Livy leaned heavily on his history.

At the start of the First Punic War, what did Rome conspicuously lack?

Rome had no real navy in 264 BC and borrowed allied ships to ferry troops to Sicily; Carthage, by contrast, was the dominant maritime power of the western Mediterranean.

Control of which Sicilian city-state sparked the First Punic War in 264 BC?

The Mamertines holding Messana (modern Messina) appealed to Rome in 264 BC; the Romans gained a foothold there and then forced Syracuse into alliance.

What did the Romans use as a blueprint for their first fleet of quinqueremes in 260 BC?

Their early copies were heavier, slower and less manoeuvrable than the originals.

What was the corvus?

The 11-metre bridge let legionaries board enemy ships instead of ramming, but made ships top-heavy in rough seas.

Excluding marines, how many oarsmen and sailors crewed a quinquereme?

A quinquereme's crew was about 300: 280 oarsmen and 20 deck crew and officers. It also carried around 40 marines, raised to as many as 120 when battle loomed.

The Romans' first major naval victory, using the corvus, came at which battle in 260 BC?

At Mylae, off Sicily's north coast, consul Gaius Duilius used the corvus to capture or sink dozens of Carthaginian ships; Rome then seized a base on Corsica but was repulsed from Sardinia.

Which 256 BC battle is possibly the largest naval battle in history by number of combatants?

Cape Ecnomus, on Sicily's south coast, saw nearly 300,000 men on about 680 ships as the Carthaginian fleet tried to intercept the Roman invasion force bound for Africa.

Which Spartan mercenary led the Carthaginian force that crushed the Romans at Tunis in 255 BC?

Xanthippus, hired to retrain the Carthaginian army, used infantry, cavalry and elephants on open ground near Tunis to rout the invading consul Regulus, who was taken prisoner.

How many men did Rome lose when a storm wrecked its fleet returning from Africa in 255 BC?

More than 100,000 men drowned when only about 80 of 364 ships survived the storm off Camarina; the top-heavy corvus may have made the ships unseaworthy and is not recorded in use again.

Why did the Romans avoid battle on the island in 252 and 251 BC, according to the main source?

In 250 BC they drove the elephants off with javelins outside Panormus and the beasts routed through their own infantry.

Which battle was Carthage's greatest naval victory of the First Punic War?

At Drepana in 249 BC Adherbal captured 93 of Claudius Pulcher's ships; after it and the loss of the second fleet at Phintias, Rome was all but swept from the sea for seven years.

How did Rome finance the fleet that won the First Punic War in 243 BC?

The loans were repayable from the reparations Carthage would owe once the war was won.

The First Punic War ended with a Carthaginian naval defeat where in 241 BC?

Off the Aegates Islands, west of Sicily, Lutatius Catulus's new fleet destroyed Hanno's supply convoy; the Treaty of Lutatius followed, costing Carthage 3,200 talents of silver and Sicily.

What became Rome's first province under the treaty ending the First Punic War?

Sicily, minus Hiero's kingdom of Syracuse, became Rome's first province; Polybius called the 23-year war the longest, most continuous and most severely contested he knew of.

By how much had Rome's adult male citizen population fallen during the First Punic War?

Census figures fell from about 292,000 adult male citizens in 265 BC to 241,000 in 247 BC, a drop of roughly 17 percent that reflects appalling losses at sea.

Which two islands did Rome seize from Carthage in 237 BC, an act called 'contrary to all justice'?

Rome annexed Sardinia and Corsica while Carthage was exhausted by the Mercenary War and demanded a further 1,200 talents; Polybius called it contrary to all justice, and the grievance fed the Second Punic War.

Which Carthaginian general built a new power base in Iberia from 237 BC?

Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal's father, landed at Gades in 237 BC and won silver mines, manpower and ports; his son-in-law Hasdrubal and then Hannibal succeeded him.

Which river did the 226 BC treaty set as the northern limit of Carthaginian Iberia?

The Ebro Treaty of 226 BC barred Carthage from crossing the river in arms; Rome then made a separate deal with a city well south of the line, which Hannibal attacked in 219 BC.

Hannibal's capture of which city in 219 BC led Rome to declare war?

Hannibal besieged Saguntum, a Roman ally south of the Ebro, for about eight months in 219 BC and sacked it; Rome declared war the following spring.

Which Roman consul did Hannibal defeat at the River Trebia in December 218 BC?

Hannibal lured the consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus across the icy Trebia at dawn in December 218 BC, then sprang Mago's hidden ambush; only about 10,000 Romans cut their way out to Placentia.

How many elephants did Hannibal set out from Iberia with?

Hannibal left Iberia with 37 elephants; most survived the Alps but nearly all died in the hard winter after the Trebia, leaving him a single beast by the spring of 217 BC.

Which river did Hannibal's army cross on rafts, elephants included, in autumn 218 BC?

Hannibal crossed the Rhône in 218 BC, ferrying his elephants on earth-covered rafts towed across the river, while Hanno's detachment forded upstream to ambush the hostile Gauls on the far bank.

At which lake did Hannibal ambush and destroy a Roman army in 217 BC?

At Lake Trasimene Hannibal hid his army in the hills above the shore road and fell on Flaminius' column in morning fog; some 15,000 Romans died, including the consul, and 15,000 were captured.

Whom did Rome appoint dictator in 217 BC, with a strategy of avoiding battle?

Quintus Fabius Maximus, named dictator after Trasimene, shadowed Hannibal and refused pitched battle; his agnomen Cunctator means the Delayer, and the strategy was unpopular while Italy was devastated.

How large was the Roman force raised for the Cannae campaign in 216 BC?

Rome fielded about 86,000 men at Cannae, eight legions of some 5,000 infantry each plus a matching allied contingent, the largest army in its history to that point.

At Cannae, how did Hannibal trap the Roman legions?

The cavalry under another Hasdrubal then hit the legions from behind; at least 67,500 Romans were killed or captured.

At least how many Romans were killed or captured at Cannae?

Livy's count of some 48,200 killed and 19,300 captured puts Roman losses at Cannae at least 67,500, the republic's greatest military disaster.

Which large city and which major port defected to Hannibal after Cannae?

Capua, Italy's second city, went over in 216 BC and the port of Tarentum in 212 BC; much of southern Italy followed, but the new allies supplied Hannibal with few troops.

Which Macedonian king made a treaty with Hannibal in 215 BC?

Philip V of Macedon made a treaty with Hannibal in 215 BC, starting the First Macedonian War; it ended in a negotiated peace in 205 BC after Rome allied with the Aetolian League.

Which famous inventor was killed when the Romans took Syracuse in 212 BC?

Archimedes, whose war machines had frustrated Marcellus's siege, was killed by a Roman soldier when Syracuse fell in 212 BC; the city had gone over to Carthage after Hiero II died in 215 BC.

How did the Romans raise new legions after Cannae?

By 212 BC they were fielding 22 legions, well over a hundred thousand men plus as many allies.

Which battle in 207 BC killed Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal after his own Alpine crossing?

At the Metaurus the consuls Livius Salinator and Claudius Nero crushed Hasdrubal, Nero having marched north in secret from Hannibal's front; Hasdrubal's severed head was thrown into Hannibal's camp.

Which Roman captured New Carthage in 209 BC and later won at Ilipa?

Publius Cornelius Scipio stormed New Carthage in 209 BC, seizing its treasury and artillery and freeing the Iberian hostages held there; he then beat the Carthaginian armies at Ilipa in 206 BC.

Which Numidian prince, driven from his kingdom, joined Scipio in Africa?

Masinissa, whose Numidian kingdom had been seized by Carthage's ally Syphax, joined Scipio in 204 BC; his cavalry was decisive at Zama and he captured Syphax near Cirta in 203 BC.

In what month and year was the battle of Zama fought?

Zama was fought on about 19 October 202 BC, south-west of Carthage; unusually, Scipio and Masinissa had the better cavalry while Hannibal had the larger infantry force.

How many elephants did Hannibal use at Zama?

Hannibal opened Zama with 80 elephants, but Scipio left lanes through his lines and had trumpets blown; many beasts panicked and routed back through the Carthaginian cavalry.

To how many warships was Carthage limited by the 201 BC treaty?

The 201 BC peace left Carthage just 10 warships; it also paid 10,000 talents over 50 years, surrendered its elephants and could not wage war even in Africa without Rome's permission.

What agnomen did Scipio receive after defeating Hannibal?

Scipio took the agnomen Africanus after Zama, the first Roman to carry the name of a land he had conquered; he also celebrated a triumph in 201 BC.

Which Roman senator ended his speeches with 'Carthage must be destroyed'?

Cato the Elder, censor and hardline senator, reportedly ended every speech with 'Carthago delenda est' after an embassy to Carthage in the 150s BC showed him how fully the city had recovered.

What did Rome demand of Carthage in 149 BC after it had handed over its weapons?

Carthage had already delivered 200,000 sets of armour and 2,000 catapults; it broke off talks and rearmed.

Who took command of the siege of Carthage in 147 BC?

Scipio Aemilianus, adoptive grandson of Africanus, was elected consul for 147 BC below the legal age to take the command; he built a mole to seal Carthage's harbour from the sea.

How many days did it take the Romans to clear Carthage of resistance in 146 BC?

The Romans fought house by house for six days up the slope to the Byrsa citadel; only on the last day were prisoners taken, and some 50,000 survivors were sold into slavery.

What became the capital of the new Roman province of Africa?

Utica, which had sided with Rome in the war, became the seat of the governor of the new province of Africa; Carthage was refounded as a Roman colony a century later under Caesar and Augustus.

In which year did the mayors of Rome and Carthage sign a symbolic peace treaty?

On 5 February 1985 the mayors of Rome and Carthage, Ugo Vetere and Chedli Klibi, signed a symbolic treaty of peace and friendship formally ending the Third Punic War.