The Punic Wars : A View from the Carthaginians

1129 Words3 Pages

The ancient city of Carthage was one of great splendor and magnificence. Carthage thrived on trade throughout the Mediterranean basin. Trade was how their empire had been built. Carthage dominated the Mediterranean basin for centuries until another empire began to rise. Rome began to build their empire upon trade as well. With the building of an empire, Rome built an extraordinary military, as did Carthage. Since trade was vital to the expansion of both empires, the island of Sicily fell under watchful eyes. Sicily’s strategic position in the Mediterranean was important to trade. The Carthaginians were in Sicily first, but the Romans realized how strategic Sicily was. The Romans saw Carthage as a great threat to their empire. Tensions grew between Carthage and Rome over Sicily; this caused a series of wars that changed the ancient world. These wars became known as the Punic Wars.
The word Punic comes from the Roman word for the Phoenicians. In early years Rome and Carthage had “friendly relations”(Hoyos 175) tensions over Sicily grew and “starting around 264 B.C.E Rome and Carthage begin the first Punic War”. (Great Military Battles, 2013) The two sides fought for nearly “17 years” until the “fierce and charismatic military commander name Hamilcar Barca” takes control of the Carthaginian military forces. (Great Military Battles , 2013)
Seventeen years into the first Punic war Barca brought a new style of warfare that he borrowed from the Greeks. He used a ship from the ancient Greeks. Hamilcar pushed his forces to mass-produce these large ships, which he would use as battering rams against the Roman navy. This was a great disadvantage to the Roman navy. Soon the Romans came upon a wrecked Carthaginian ship. The Romans used th...

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Hoyos, D. B. The Classical Review. N.p.: Cambridge University Press, 1999. JSTOR. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.
Salas, Charles. Journal of the History of Ideas. N.p.: U of Pennsylvania, 1996. Print.
Tarn. The Fleets of the First Punic War. N.p.: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, 1977. JSTOR. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Turfa, Jean Maclntosh. American Journal of Archaeology. N.p.: Archaeological Institute of America, 1977. JSTOR. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
What Life Was like When Rome Ruled the World: The Roman Empire, 100 BC - AD 200. Alexandria: Time-Life, 1997. Print.
"The Rise and Fall of Carthage." Great Military Battles. The Military Channel. MILI, n.d. Youtube.com. 11 May 2013. Web. 27 Nov. 2013.

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