The Punic Wars — Rome and Carthage

The event

Carthage, a wealthy trading city on the coast of North Africa, was Rome's match in wealth and naval power, and the two cities fought three savage wars over the course of little more than a century. The First Punic War (264-241 BC) was fought largely over control of Sicily and ended in a costly Roman victory. The Second Punic War (218-201 BC) is the most famous: the young Carthaginian general Hannibal marched an army — elephants included — over the Alps into Italy itself, inflicting a catastrophic defeat on Rome at Cannae in 216 BC that Rome barely survived. Only the Roman general Scipio Africanus's eventual victory over Hannibal at Zama in 202 BC, on Carthage's own soil, finally broke Carthaginian power.

Rome's fear and hatred of Carthage did not end there. A generation later, the Roman senator Cato the Elder famously closed every speech he gave — on any topic — with the words 'Carthage must be destroyed.' He got his wish: the Third Punic War (149-146 BC) ended with Roman legions razing Carthage to the ground and enslaving its survivors.

With Carthage gone, Rome had no serious rival left in the western Mediterranean, freeing its armies and ambitions to turn east — toward Greece, toward Asia Minor, and eventually toward the lands of the Bible itself, including Judea. The world Jesus would be born into, a world unified under Roman law and Roman roads, took shape in large part because of Rome's victory in these wars.

Other witnesses

• Polybius, Histories, Books 1-3, 21
• Livy, History of Rome, Books 21-30