4/13/2021 0 Comments Third Punic War Facts
On top of that, the Carthaginians sent out sorties to counter-attack, including fire-ships which set the Roman fleet ablaze.Carthage had already lost two wars against Rome, but their assault on their Numidian neighbours gave the Romans the perfect excuse to crush this troublesome enemy once and for all.After a lengthy siege, the city was finally sacked and the Carthaginians were sold into slavery.One of the greatest powers in the ancient Mediterranean had been wiped off the map.
In both wars, the Carthaginians had also been made to pay Rome massive reparations. Nevertheless, Carthage recovered from the Second Punic War relatively quickly and coins and trade goods from this period have been found across the Mediterranean (even in the Balkans) which attest to the citys prosperity based on trade. Carthage kept on friendly terms with Rome too, declaring their great general Hannibal - Roman enemy No. Antiochus III. The city became an important source of grain and barley for Rome too; they managed to regularly pay the reparations from the Second Punic War, and even gave military assistance to Romes campaigns elsewhere. Carthage sorely resented the loss of its territory to Numidia under the rule of Masinissa. The Numidians had been steadily expanding their territorial control so that ultimately they acquired around half of Carthages territory as it had stood in 200 BCE. The Carthaginians responded to an attack on Oroscopa by sending an army of 31,000 men to fight the Numidian king in 150 BCE. Carthages campaign was a disaster and their army was annihilated, but Rome now had the perfect excuse to finally crush its old enemy once and for all, sack Carthage, and take some easy war booty. Such figures as Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Elder), who had seen for himself Carthages resurgence during a diplomatic visit in 153 BCE, persistently demanded in the Roman Senate that as the Carthaginians had waged war without Roman permission, and worse, had done so against an ally of Rome, Carthage must be destroyed. Many senators had been pushing for military action against Carthage for the last two or three years, and now seemed the final straw. Then, an important development may have persuaded the more cautious members of the Senate. Seeing the writing on the wall, Utica, perhaps wisely, defected to the Roman cause. A long-time ally of Carthage, the city would provide a good harbour for a Roman invasion force just one days sail from Carthage. In 149 BCE the Senate continued a charade of diplomacy by asking for 300 Carthaginian noble children as hostages but then revealed its true intentions by finally declaring war for a third time on Carthage. An army of up to 80,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry was dispatched to North Africa. On top of that and perhaps indicating Romes intentions to destroy Carthage no matter what happened, the Carthaginians were told to leave Carthage completely and resettle in another place not closer than 16 kilometres to the coast. Carthage, now with nothing much to lose, decided to make a stand. Slaves were released from the city and a Carthaginian army of 30,000 recalled from the Numidian border. The city and its population of 200,000 prepared for what would be a three-year siege. Carthage had some 34 kilometres of defensive walls to shelter behind, parts were built in a triple defensive line while other sections were protected by palisades, ditches, and the sea.
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