Ancient Rome Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Punic Wars=== {{Main|Punic Wars}} {{See also|Roman conquest of the Iberian Peninsula}} [[File:Domain changes during the Punic Wars.gif|thumb|right|420px|Territorial changes over the course of the [[Punic Wars]]: {{Legend|#b4d5b1|Roman possessions and close allies}} {{Legend|#ffcb90|[[Carthaginian Empire]] and close allies }}]] [[File:RUSSELL(1854) p182 Siege of Numantia.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The Roman siege of the [[Celtiberians|Celtiberian]] stronghold of [[Numantia]] in Spain in 133 BC<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Matthew |title=The History of Warfare: The Ultimate Visual Guide to the History of Warfare from the Ancient World to the American Civil War |last2=Dawson |first2=Doyne |last3=Field |first3=Ron |last4=Hawthornwaite |first4=Philip |last5=Loades |first5=Mike |date=2016 |page=61}}</ref>]] In the 3rd century BC Rome faced a new and formidable opponent: [[Ancient Carthage|Carthage]], the other major power in the Western Mediterranean.{{Sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=25β26}}{{Sfn|Miles|2011|pp=175β176}} The [[First Punic War]] began in 264 BC, when the city of [[Messina|Messana]] asked for Carthage's help in their conflicts with [[Hiero II of Syracuse]]. After the Carthaginian intercession, Messana asked Rome to expel the Carthaginians. Rome entered this war because [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]] and Messana were too close to the newly conquered Greek cities of Southern Italy and Carthage was now able to make an offensive through Roman territory; along with this, Rome could extend its domain over [[Sicily]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cassius Dio β Fragments of Book 11 |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/11*.html |access-date=6 September 2022 |website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> Carthage was a maritime power, and the Roman lack of ships and naval experience made the path to the victory a long and difficult one for the [[Roman Republic]]. Despite this, after more than 20 years of war, Rome defeated Carthage and a peace treaty was signed. Among the reasons for the [[Second Punic War]]<ref>New historical atlas and general history By Robert Henlopen Labberton. p. 35.</ref> was the subsequent war reparations Carthage acquiesced to at the end of the First Punic War.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Punic Wars|display=Punic Wars Β§ The Interval between the First and Second Wars|volume=22|page=850|first=Maximilian Otto Bismarck|last=Caspari}}</ref> The war began with the audacious invasion of Hispania by [[Hannibal]], who marched through [[Hispania]] to the Italian [[Alps]], causing panic among Rome's Italian allies. The best way found to defeat Hannibal's purpose of causing the Italians to abandon Rome was to delay the Carthaginians with a [[guerrilla]] war of attrition, a strategy propounded by [[Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus]]. Hannibal's invasion lasted over 16 years, ravaging Italy, but ultimately Carthage was defeated in the decisive [[Battle of Zama]] in October 202 BC. More than a half century after these events, Carthage was humiliated and the Republic's focus now was only to the [[Hellenistic]] kingdoms of Greece and [[Celtiberian Wars|revolts in Hispania]]. However, Carthage, having paid the war indemnity, felt that its commitments and submission to Rome had ceased, a vision not shared by the [[Roman Senate]]. The [[Third Punic War]] began when Rome declared war against Carthage in 149 BC. Carthage resisted well at the first strike but could not withstand the attack of [[Scipio Aemilianus]], who entirely destroyed the city, enslaved all the citizens and gained control of that region, which became the province of [[Africa (Roman province)|Africa]]. All these wars resulted in Rome's first overseas conquests (Sicily, Hispania and Africa) and the rise of Rome as a significant imperial power.{{Sfn|Haywood|1971|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ancientworld0000unse/page/376 376]β393}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hooker |first=Richard |date=6 June 1999 |title=Rome: The Punic Wars |url=http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ROME/PUNICWAR.HTM |access-date=22 March 2007 |website=Washington State University}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page