REL 464 - The Inter-Testamental Era
Course Notes
The Punic Wars
At the time Alexander set out to conquer the world in 333 BC, the Mediterranean was controlled by the Carthaginians. Rome was a small city in Italy, struggling for supremacy against other cities in Italy.
By 265 BC Rome had control of most of Italy, though some of the conquered Latin tribes were still rebellious, and Rome started to colonize the island of Sicily.
Carthage was directly to the south of Sicily, and had also started to move into the island. Inevitably, Romans and Carthaginians collided, and hostilities ensued.
Initially, Carthage had the advantage - the Carthaginians were descendents of the Phoenicians and had centuries of experience with ships; the Romans had no navy, and did not know how to fight on the sea. However, a Carthaginian ship was wrecked in a gale on the coast of Italy, and the Romans captured it and used it to work out how to build a good fighting ship. With particular single-mindedness, the Romans conscripted their young men to learn to sail a ship and to fight on the sea.
The wars between Rome and Carthage lasted for more than a century. During the Second Punic War, Rome was again nearly defeated, when the Carthaginian general Hannibal invaded Italy by crossing the Alps with his army - which included elephants.
The Latin tribes, who had been dominated by Rome, had promised to rise against Rome if Hannibal invaded, but they did not keep their promises, and eventually Hannibal was cut off from his line of supply, and a war of attrition ensued. There is an account of Hannibal on the run, leading his men through the swamp lands outside Rome, plagued by mosquitos and malaria, with one eye so infected that he lost the sight in it. He managed to retreat back to Carthage, but by then Rome was determined to annihilate him.
Carthage surrendered to Rome, and Hannibal fled - to the Phoenician homelands, which at that time were part of the Seleucid Empire. It is not clear whether Hannibal was killed, or whether he committed suicide, but no more is heard of him after 182 BC.
After the defeat of Carthage, and Hannibal's flight to Antiochus III, Rome's attention turned to the East. Their newly developed military and naval power enabled the Romans to gain supremacy, and by means of diplomatic and political maneuvers Rome took control of the whole of the Mediterranean. The Seleucid Empire was the main power in the eastern Mediterranean, so Rome set out to break it.
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