149 BC – 146 BC

At the end of the Third Punic War, Rome leveled Carthage, After the Punic Wars, Rome conquered the Greeks.

Third Punic War, also called Third Carthaginian War, (149–146 bce), third of three wars between the Roman Republic and the Carthaginian (Punic) Empire that resulted in the final destruction of Carthage, the enslavement of its population, and Roman hegemony over the western Mediterranean. …

After seven days of horrific bloodshed, the Carthaginians surrendered, obliterating an ancient city that had survived for some 700 years. The surviving 50,000 citizens of Carthage were sold into slavery.

The Third Punic War between Rome and Carthage started in 149 BC and ended on this very day, February 5th – but that is, rather bizarrely, 5th February 1985.

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) _ More than 2,000 years ago the Romans overpowered the Carthaginians, razed their ancient capital, plowed its ruins into the earth and sowed the soil with salt so nothing could grow again.

How did the Romans ensure Carthage would cease to exist? They laid seige to the city, stopped the food supply, launched boulders at the city wall w/ catapults, stormed the city, sold survivors as slaves, and destroyed every building.

Third Punic War

The destruction of Carthage was an act of Roman aggression prompted as much by motives of revenge for earlier wars as by greed for the rich farming lands around the city. The Carthaginian defeat was total and absolute, instilling fear and horror into Rome’s enemies and allies.

The first Punic war was lost because of two main reasons: Because the Roman army was superior on land and kept making advances. Because while the Carthaginians didn’t improve inland, the Roman army did improve at sea taking away Carthage’s advantage.

According to Peter Heather, the reasons are twofold: Germania, at least at the time when Rome was rapidly expanding, was too poor and thus not really worth conquering. Gaul was richer, relatively speaking, because people in Gaul practiced a more advanced form of agriculture.

Africa

Battle of Zama, (202 bce), victory of the Romans led by Scipio Africanus the Elder over the Carthaginians commanded by Hannibal. The last and decisive battle of the Second Punic War, it effectively ended both Hannibal’s command of Carthaginian forces and also Carthage’s chances to significantly oppose Rome.

Hannibal felt betrayed by Carthage after Cannae. As with many of history’s great field commanders, Hannibal had succumbed, at least in part, to his enemy’s superior logistics. Hannibal’s accusation that the Carthaginian Senate had failed to send him critical supplies and troops when most needed was dead on.

Romans in respected him as a general and tragic figure, but hated him as a tricky and faithless Phoenician. He is rarely discussed as a good person. At the time of the Punic wars the Romans really hated him. After Carthage lost, they reevaluated him.