Carthage vs. Rome

 Powerful city  Founded 8 th century BCE  Phoenician city  “Punic” is Latin for Phoenician  Commercial empire  Harbor  Sailing and trading  Controlled trade in western Mediterranean  Major rival of Rome

 Navy  Very large  Phoenician sailing tradition  Army  Mercenaries  Government  Oligarchy  Wealthy elites rich through trade

 First Punic War ( BCE)  Fought over Sicily  Rome won  Second Punic War ( BCE)  R challenged C expansion in Iberia (Spain)  Rome won  Third Punic War ( BCE)  R feared C was becoming a threat again  R attacked C and obliterated them  Salt in the soil

 Fought over control of Sicily  Strengths  Rome: army  Carthage: navy

 Roman solution  Build up its navy  Four fleets, each destroyed  Rome’s new weapon  Grappling hook  Pull ships together  Hand-to-hand fighting  Armies on water!  Rome won  Sicily becomes province of Rome

 Rome  Controlled Corsica and Sardinia  Conquered the Gauls (France)  Carthage  Recovered from its defeat by Rome  Started expanding in Iberia

 Carthage: General Hannibal  Led 60,000 men and dozens of elephants to Italy  Fought in Italy for 15 years

 Battle of Cannae (216 BCE)  80,000 Romans  40,000 Carthaginians  C won with superior tactics

 Battle of Metaurus (207 BCE)  Pivotal battle of war  Hasdrubal (Hannibal’s brother) was bringing supplies for siege of Rome  Consul Gaius Claudius Nero  Forced march from southern Italy  Reinforced Consul Marcus Livius  C were outnumbered, Hasdrubal defeated  Nero beheaded Hasdrubal, threw into Hannibal’s camp

 Hannibal could not capture Rome  Rome: General Scipio  Led army against C in Iberia  Then led army into Carthage  Finally, returned to defend Rome  Battle of Zama (202 BCE)  Hannibal’s first and only defeat  H escaped and fled to Carthage  C lost its fleet, Iberia, and much of North Africa

 Carthage  Rebuilt trading networks and commercial power  Rome  Felt threatened by competition from C  Senator Cato: “ Carthago delenda est! ” (“Carthage must be destroyed!”)

 R made ridiculous demands of C:  300 noble children as hostages  Destroy city of Carthage and rebuild away from coast  Carthage refused  Had no mercenaries  Forced to defend their own city  Rome laid siege to Carthage  Siege was successful  Burned C to the ground, salt in the soil  Men killed, women and children made slaves

 Rome and Carthage were “superpowers”  Rome was only remaining superpower  Easier for Rome to conquer rest of Mediterranean  Roman control of Macedonia  Conquered remnants of Alexander’s empire  Fighting among Greek city-states  Rome took over, ended Greek independence (146 BCE)

 Conquered areas became Roman provinces  Proconsuls  Governed each province  Members of patrician class  Often corrupt  Publicans  Tax collectors  Auctioned for job to become publican  Squeezed as much money from conquered as possible

 Money (taxes and war booty) and cheap goods flooded Rome  Africa and Sicily – wheat  Spain – silver and tine  East – gems and luxury goods  Upper classes grew wealthier  Lots of money for merchants and traders  Government had more money than ever  Whoever controlled govt. controlled money  Struggle for control of govt.

 State  Power  Justice  Duty  Courage  Law  Dignity

 Roman army  Originally volunteers  “Professional” army lacked fighting spirit  Moral and values  Corruption  replaced dedication to public service (duty)  Luxury  Replaced hard work, patriotism, simplicity

 Pros  Wealth  Trade  Taxes  Power  Control of Mediterranean  Cons  Difficult to maintain an empire  Wealth created new social classes  Slavery  Problems led to end of republic, rise of empire

 Money from govt. contracts  High-interest loans  Bribes and graft in provinces  Farms operated by slaves  Poor farmers could not compete  Wealthy class bought up lands of poor farmers  Poor farmers flooded into Rome  Right to vote  Unemployed masses supported politicians who offered them “bread and circuses”