Destruction+of+Carthage

= = =Original Document:= But Scipio's own deeds and the prowess of his father, Paulus, and of his grandfather, Africanus, inspired them all with the firm hope that through him they might vanquish their enemies and utterly destroy Carthage.

While Scipio was proceeding to Africa, Mancinus in sailing past Carthage noticed a place called Megalia which was inside the city wall on an abrupt cliff and extended down to the sea; the place was a long distance away from the rest of the town and had but few guards because of the natural strength of its position. So Mancinus suddenly applied ladders to it from the ships and ascended. When he had already got up there, some of the Carthaginians hastily gathered, but they were unable to repulse him. He then sent to Piso an account of his exploit and a request for assistance. Piso, however, being far in the interior, was of no aid to Mancinus; but Scipio chanced to come along at night just after the receipt of the news and rendered prompt aid. For the Carthaginians would have either captured or destroyed Mancinus, if they had not seen Scipio's vessels sailing past; then they grew discouraged, but would not fall back. So Scipio sent them some captives to tell them that he was at hand; and upon learning this they no longer stood their ground, but retired and fortified with trenches and palisades the cross-wall in front of the houses, meanwhile sending for Hasdrubal. Scipio now left Mancinus to guard Megalia and set out himself to join Piso and the troops, so as to have their support in his operations. He quickly returned with the lightest-armed troops and found that Hasdrubal had entered Carthage and was attacking Mancinus fiercely. The arrival of Scipio put an end to the attack.

When Piso too had now arrived, Scipio commanded him to encamp outside the wall opposite certain gates, and he sent other soldiers round to a little gate a long distance away from the main force, with orders as to what they must do. Then he himself about midnight took the strongest part of the army, got inside the wall, under the guidance of deserters, and hurrying round to a point inside the little gate, he hacked the bar in two, let in the men who were on the watch outside, and destroyed the guards. He then hastened to the gate opposite which Piso had his station, routing the intervening guards, who were only a few in each place, so that Hasdrubal by the time he found out what had happened saw that nearly the whole force of the Romans was inside. For a time, indeed, the Carthaginians withstood them; then they abandoned the remainder of the city and fled for refuge to Cotho and the Byrsa. Next Hasdrubal killed all the Roman captives, in order that the Carthaginians, in despair of pardon, might resist with greater zeal. He also made way with many of the natives on the charge that they were betraying their own cause. Scipio surrounded them with a [|palisade] and walled them in, yet it was some time before he captured them. For their walls were strong, and the men inside, being many in number and confined in a small space, made a vigorous resistance. They were well off for food, too; for Bithias, taking advantage of wind and tide, whenever a heavy gale blew, would send merchantmen into the harbour to them from the mainland opposite the city. To overcome this opposition Scipio conceived and executed a remarkable undertaking, namely, the filling up of the narrow entrance to the harbour. The work was difficult and toilsome, but was nevertheless brought to completion, thanks to the great number of men employed. The Carthaginians, to be sure, undertook to check them, and many battles took place during the course of the work, but they were unable to prevent the filling of the channel.

30 So, when the mouth of the harbour had been filled, the Carthaginians were terribly oppressed by the scarcity of food; and some of them deserted, while others held out and died, and still others ate the dead bodies. Hence Hasdrubal, in discouragement, sent envoys to Scipio with regard to a truce, and would have obtained immunity, had he not desired to secure both safety and freedom for all the rest as well. After he had failed for this reason to accomplish his purpose, he confined his wife in the citadel because she had made overtures to Scipio looking to the safety of herself and her children; and in other respects he grew bolder in his conduct of affairs as a result of despair. He, therefore, and some others, mastered by frenzy, fought both night and day, sometimes losing and sometimes winning; and they devised engines to oppose the Roman engines. Moreover, Bithias, who held a strong fortress and scoured wide stretches of the mainland, was helping the Carthaginians and injuring the Romans. Hence Scipio also divided his army, assigning one half of it to invest Carthage, while he sent the other half against Bithias, placing at the head of it his lieutenant, Gaius Laelius. He himself went back and forth from one division to the other on visits of inspection. Finally the fortress was taken, and the siege of Carthage was once more conducted by the whole army.

The Carthaginians, despairing, consequently, of being any longer able to save both walls, betook themselves to the enclosure of the Byrsa, since it was better fortified, at the same time transferring thither all the objects that they could. Then at night they burned the dockyard and most of the other structures, in order to deprive the enemy of any benefit from them. When the Romans became aware of their action, they occupied the harbour and hastened against the Byrsa. After occupying the houses on each side of it, some of the besiegers walked along on top of the roofs by successively stepping to those adjacent, and others by digging through the walls pushed onward below until they reached the very citadel. When they had got thus far, the Carthaginians offered no further opposition, but sued for peace — all except Hasdrubal. He, together with the deserters, to whom Scipio would grant no truce, crowded into the temple of Aesculapius along with his wife and children; and there he defended himself against the assailants until the deserters set fire to the temple and climbed to the roof to await the last extremity of the flames. Then, vanquished, he came to Scipio holding the suppliant branch. His wife witnessed his entreaties, and after calling him by name and reproaching him for securing safety for himself, when he had not allowed her to obtain terms, threw her children into the fire and then cast herself in.

Thus Scipio took Carthage; and he sent to the senate the following message: "Carthage is taken. What are our orders now?" When these words had been read, they took counsel as to what should be done. Cato expressed the opinion that they ought to raze the city and blot out the Carthaginians, whereas Scipio Nasica still advised sparing the Carthaginians. And thereupon the senate became involved in a great dispute and contention, until some one declared that for the Romans' own sake, if for no other reason, it must be considered necessary to spare them. With this nation for antagonists they would be sure to practise valour instead of turning aside to pleasures and luxury; whereas, if those who were able to compel them to practise warlike pursuits should be removed from the scene, they might deteriorate from want of practice, through a lack of worthy competitors. As a result of the discussion all became unanimous in favour of destroying Carthage, since they felt sure that its inhabitants would never remain entirely at peace. The whole city was therefore utterly blotted out of existence, and it was decreed that for any person to settle upon its site should be an accursed act. The majority of the men captured were thrown into prison and there perished, and some few were sold. But the very foremost men together with the hostages and Hasdrubal and Bithias spent their lives in different parts of Italy in honourable confinement. Scipio secured both glory and honour and was called Africanus, not after his grandfather, but because of his own achievements.  =Questions of Research=
 * 1) What was Carthage?
 * 2) When did the destruction of Carthage begin?
 * 3) Who was involved in destroying Carthage?
 * 4) What was the political climate at the time?
 * 5) How much destruction happened in Carthage?

=Background= Carthage was a city founded around 814 BCE by Queen Dido and some Phoenicians or Punic settlers. Today it is known as Tunis, Tunisia. Starting in the end of the seventh century BCE was the start of the development in western Sicily, Sardinia, and the Balearic Islands. In 509 the Carthaginians had made peace treat with the Romans. A second treaty was formed much later in 348, then again a third treaty in 306. They had a good relationship but it wasn't great. Carthage had fought the Greeks throughout sixth, fifth, and forth centuries for control of Sicily. Greeks had continued to control Syracuse in east Sicily up until the early third century. The middle of Sicily was mercenaries known as the Mamertines. They left Sicily in 276 to go wage war in southern Italy. They returned in 270 to encounter the new king of Syracuse, Hieron, which there was conflict over Messana. They asked the Carthaginians for protection as well as the Romans. Rome was was debating on what to do because on one had they have had a good standing relationship with the Carthaginians but on the other hand, didn't want to them to control a island so close to their main land. This leads into the first Punic war.

The first Punic war took place during 264 - 241 BCE. Also known as the Sicilian War. Syracuse joined Rome since they were the weakest of the three involved contending states. Carthage's navy fleet was dominating but had to hire mercenaries to help fight on land, Rome being the opposite with a strong ground force and laughable navy compaired to the Carthaginians. Hamilcar was the general in Sicily ended up leaving after negotiations. The Carthaginians ended up leaving Sicily and having to pay Rome a large [|indemnity]. After leaving they couldn't pay the mercenaries that they had hired so they revolted against Carthage. Rome soon abandon their agreement telling Carthaginians to leave Sardinia and they would drop the large indemnity. They had no choice but to agree.

The Second Punic war took place during 218 - 201 BCE. This war started because of Spain. They were trying to expand and look for rich resources. When general Hamilcar left Sicily in the first Punic war, he went to Spain. His grandson Hannibal took charge in 221. Hannibal siege a town claimed by Rome, starting the second Punic war. Rome held all the significant advantages, like a strong navy to block supplies, half a million men (potentially), and had many resources. Hannibal did have a militaristic genius mind, which was his biggest resource. He made friends with some Gauls which were already at warfare with the Romans, some joining his army. Rome decided that they couldn't take Hannibal directly on because of his skill on the battlefield so they decided to disrupt his supplies. This was unpopular and they decided to fight him Hannibal head on with 80,000 troops at Cannae in Apulia in 216. This turned out terrible for the Romans, only a few escaped with their life's. Some of Rome's allies saw this and switch to Hannibal's side. Rome then went back to harassing and disrupting supplies. Hannibal when to Rome and was going to take the city but soon discovered that their defenses were to strong and he would have to com back another time. Hannibal went to Sicily and in 212 captured Tarentum. Rome attacked allies cities and eventually recaptured Tarentum enslaving most of the population and took what they wanted. Hannibal ran to the extreme south of Italy, Bruttium. Scipio from the Roman army went and to Spain to take over Carthago Nova, one of Carthaginians chief powers. Hannibal's brother was in Spain and tried defeating Scipio and lost. Scipio soon overran Spain and moved down to North Africa. Hannibal was summoned back to Africa, He came back leaving his army in Italy. The last battle happened at [|Zama]. Scipio had defeated Hannibal.

A peace treaty was formed. Carthage had to surrender its fleet, make massive indemnity payments, and were confined to Carthage and the land around it. They were no aloud to have war unless Rome said it was alright.

The Third Punic war took place during 149 - 146 BCE. This started as a result of longstanding quarrels between Masinissa, king of the Numidians. Mainly this is because Rome was still bitter about Hannibal killing so many Roman soldiers and wanted to put pressure on them. As Rome would not start a war outright they would only fight in self defense or protecting allies. Rome decided to have Masinissa, the ruler of neighboring Numidia, to enter Carthage territory. This made Carthage declarer war, violating the peace treaty from the second Punic war, thus entering into war with Rome, beginning the start of the Third Punic war. Carthage entered into negotiations quickly with 2 consuls sent from Rome. First they were asked to give up hostages, they agreed giving up 300 nobel born childern. They were asked to give up their entire naval fleet, infantry weapons, and catapults. They agreed. They were then asked to move 10 miles away from sea as Rome was going to destroy Carthage. Carthage did not agree with this and shut the gates of Carthage and started making weapons. Rome made a few assaults on Carthage but to no prevail. For 3 years the Carthaginians would put up a good fight considering they started with no weapons. Eventually the end would loom near, thus were this article begins.

=Destruction of Carthage= This is a very interesting article and we can learn a lot about Roman society. Considering how the third Punic was was started, Rome seemed fearful of Carthage and their ability to prosper as a Naval city. This makes Rome look insecure with its own ability to produce in comparison to Carthage. On the other hand Rome looks as if they could some day be rivaled by the Carthaginians. So in an ignoble move and in correlation to their inability of their own to start a war, they pressure Carthaginians into war with them. Which is almost like starting a war with Carthage directly but they feel better about themselves as non aggressors this way. This bring about a question of moral decline in Roman Society.

Scipio really demonstrated his ability to think strategically. Set up his army on one side of the gate and had Piso set up camp on the other side of the gate. In the middle of the night, Scipio and some men jumped the gate, ran to the other side and let Piso in. He also used deserters to aid him in his assault of the gate, which proved effective. This shows that Rome is problem solvers, or at least they are on the battle field more than diplomacy. Scipio would push threw the city going house to house fighting the resistance in Carthage. The Carthaginians kept falling back to gain a footing to fight a inevitable ending. While everyone gave up fight except Hasdrubal, some deserters, wife, and children in the temple of Aesculapius. When the bitter end game and the temple was on fire, Hasdrubal surrendered. His wife then threw the children in the fire and then followed because he surrendered.

The leaders in Byrsa convinced Scipio to spare the lives of the 50,000 or so remaining people (from the 500,000 population). The remaining people were sold into slavery. The city was burned down to the ground for six days. Anything that remained standing after the fire was leveled by Roman engineers. The land was taken by Rome. This really shows how ruthless Rome can be when they feel they are threatened and the lengths they will go to defeat their enemy. But they just didn't defeat their enemy, the whipped them off the face of the earth. Looking back at how the events unraveled, it seems Rome could have found a more profitable way to resolve this conflict.

Carthage destruction was significant because this makes Rome as the ruler of the Mediterranean empire. This also marks the end of a time in Roman expansion. Carthage though its entire life was the only other power and size to compete with Rome for the Mediterranean. It would have been interesting to see how history would have changed if Hannibal in the second Punic war would have siege Rome better when he had a chance.

The political climate in Rome was the reason the third Punic war started. They did some morally questionable things to get a war started with Carthage. One can only imagine how the senate was up until they got a letter saying Carthage was captured and Scipio was asking for new orders.

=Comments and Suggestions=

Your summery of this document is very good and I enjoyed reading it. Some things I would fix before finalizing is there are some misspelled words in "The Beginning of the End" section so I would revise those. Also this might just be my personal preference but for all the dates I would put "BCE" or "CE". It's easier for the reader to follow instead of trying to remember what century or era the document is in. Also some sentences are a little tongue tied or need to be phrased better. And lastly, just to follow the format of the rubric you need a few more hyperlinks and a link to the wiki timeline & map. Good job though. -Troy R.

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Mary T. Boatwright, Daniel J. Gargola, Richard J.A. Talbert. __A Brief History of the Romans.__ New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.

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T. A. Dorey, D. R. Dudley. __Rome Against Carthage.__ London: Martin Secker & Warburg Limited, 1971.  Lucius Marcius Censorinus