Western Civilization

operations with a navy, promptly developed a substan-

tial fleet. The Carthaginians, for their part, had diffi-

culty finding enough mercenaries to continue the fight.

After a long struggle in which both sides lost battles in

northern Africa and Sicily, a Roman fleet defeated the

Carthaginian navy off Sicily, and the war quickly came

to an end. In 241B.C.E., Carthage gave up all rights to

Sicily and had to pay an indemnity.

HANNIBAL AND THE SECOND PUNIC WAR After the war,

Carthage made an unexpected recovery and extended

its domains in Spain to compensate for the territory

lost to Rome. Realizing that defeating Rome on land

was essential to victory, the Carthaginians organized a

formidable land army in the event of a second war with

Rome. When the Romans encouraged one of Carthage’s

Spanish allies to revolt against Carthage, Hannibal

(HAN-uh-bul), the greatest of the Carthaginian gener-

als, struck back, beginning the Second Punic War

(218–201B.C.E.).

This time the Carthaginians decided to bring the war

home to the Romans by fighting in their own backyard.

Hannibal went into Spain, marched east, and crossed

the Alps with an army of 30,000 to 40,000 men and

6,000 horses and elephants. The Alps took a toll on the

Carthaginian army, and most of the elephants did not

survive the trip. The remaining army, however, posed a

real threat. At Cannae (KAN-ny orKAN-nee)in216

B.C.E., the Romans lost an army of almost 40,000 men.

Rome seemed on the brink of disaster but refused to

give up, raised yet another army, and gradually recov-

ered. Although Hannibal remained free to roam in

Italy, he had neither the men nor the equipment to lay

siege to Rome or any other major cities. The Romans

began to reconquer some of the Italian cities that had

rebelled against Roman rule after Hannibal’s successes.

More important, the Romans pursued a strategy aimed

at undermining the Carthaginian empire in Spain. By

206 B.C.E., the Romans had pushed the Carthaginians

out of Spain.

The Romans then took the war directly to Carthage.

Late in 204B.C.E., a Roman army under Publius Corne-

lius Scipio, later known as Scipio Africanus (SEE-pee-oh

af-ree-KAY-nuss), moved from Sicily into northern

Africa and forced the Carthaginians to recall Hannibal

from Italy. At the Battle of Zama in 202B.C.E., the

Romans decisively defeated Hannibal’s forces, and the

war was essentially over. Eventually, Hannibal left

Carthage and went to help Antiochus, the ruler of the

Seleucid kingdom, in his struggle with Rome. After

Antiochus made peace with the Romans, Hannibal fled

to Bithynia, near the Black Sea. Pursued by the

Romans, Hannibal declared, “Let us free Rome of her

dread of one old man,” and committed suicide.

By the peace treaty signed with the Romans in 201

B.C.E., Carthage lost Spain, agreed to pay an indemnity,

and promised not to go to war without Rome’s permis-

sion. Spain, like Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia earlier,

was made into a Roman province. Rome had become

the dominant power in the western Mediterranean.

THE DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE But some Romans wanted

even more. A number of prominent Romans, especially

the conservative politician Cato, advocated the com-

plete destruction of Carthage. Cato ended every speech

he made to the senate with the words “And I think

Carthage must be destroyed.” When the Carthaginians

technically broke their peace treaty with Rome by going

to war against one of Rome’s North African allies who

had been encroaching on Carthage’s home territory,

Roman forces undertook their third and last war

with Carthage (149–146B.C.E.). This time Carthage

was no match for the Romans, who seized the oppor-

tunity to carry out the final destruction of Carthage

in 146B.C.E. The territory was made a Roman prov-

ince called Africa.

The Eastern Mediterranean

During the Punic Wars, Rome had become acutely aware

of the Hellenistic states of the eastern Mediterranean

when the king of Macedonia made an alliance with Han-

nibal after the Roman defeat at Cannae. But Rome was

preoccupied with the Carthaginians, and it was not until

after the defeat of Carthage that Rome became involved

in the world of Hellenistic politics as an advocate of the

freedom of the Greek states. This support of the Greeks

brought the Romans into conflict with both Macedonia

and the kingdom of the Seleucids. Roman military victo-

ries and diplomatic negotiations rearranged the territo-

rial boundaries of the Hellenistic kingdoms and brought

the Greek states their freedom in 196B.C.E. For fifty

years, the Romans tried to be a power broker in the

affairs of the Greeks without directly controlling their

lands. When the effort failed, the Romans changed their

policy. Macedonia was made a Roman province in 148

B.C.E., and when some of the Greek states rose in revolt

against Rome’s restrictive policies, Rome acted deci-

sively. The city of Corinth, leader of the revolt, was

destroyed in 146B.C.E. to teach the Greeks a lesson, and

Greece was placed under the control of the Roman gov-

ernor of Macedonia. Thirteen years later, in 133B.C.E.,

The Roman Conquest of the Mediterranean (264–133B.C.E.) 103

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