University
of Waterloo
Classical
Studies 252/ History 252
Ancient
Roman History
Overhead
Lecture Notes
Lecture
#IV
Content
for Test #2
Lecturer
: D. E. A. Hutter
Important:
1. These notes are for D. E. A. Hutter’s section only.
2. These
notes give only an outline of the lectures, and important names and terms.
Students are expected to take detailed notes during the lectures.
3. This lesson will begin with a test on Lectures I-III.
4. Text Readings: pages 91 -
114 & 125 – 130.
CLAS 252/HIST 252
LECTURE # IV
- Test on Lessons I-III -
- History & Government of Carthage -
- The First Punic War -
BREAK
-
The Second Punic War -
-
The Third Punic war -
THE
EARLY HISTORY OF CARTHAGE
814 BC founded by emigrants
from Tyre, under the leadership of a queen Dido
-Phoenician name is “Qart
Hadasht” (“New City”), Latin name is “Karthago”
-“Phoenicia” in Greek, means
“dealer in purple”
-purple dye made from the
murex snail
-“Poenicus” is Latin
transliteration of the Greek word “Phoinikos”, meaning “red” or “dark-skinned”
-Romans refer to all of these people as “Punic”, “Phoenician” or more commonly “Carthaginian”
-Carthage situated on a large peninsula jutting into the Gulf of Tunis
-military harbour held 220
warships
-23 miles of massive walls (compared
to 5 miles for Rome)
-3 miles of walls along the
isthmus are 40 feet high and 30 feet thick (never breached)
-almost impregnable
-Carthage population is
400,000 (including slaves // Athens)
-traders, sailors and
merchants, not warriors
-trading posts from Lebanon
to the British Isles
Hanno the Navigator sails as
far as the west coast of Senegal in the early 5th century BC
-also begins the tradition
of tall tales about monsters and dangers west of Gibraltar!!!
-strength lay in its
powerful navy
-backed by a mercenary army
-preferred the security of
peace to the risks of war
-create protected trade
zones
-no outside traders,
especially Greeks, allowed (their ships are looted and sunk)
645 BC becomes independent
of Tyre when Assyrians attack motherland
332 BCE Alexander conquers
Tyre
-Carthage eventually become
protector of all western Phoenicians (especially Sicily)
-eventually control southern
Spain, Gades (Cadiz), the Balaeric islands, Corsica, Sardinia, western Sicily
(Lilybaeum, Motya, Panormus) and western north Africa (Hadrumentum, Utica, etc)
-perhaps the richest city in
the world
-“Queen of the Seas”
-by the time of the first
Punic War they controlled 28,000 square miles of North African and a population of 3 to 4 million people
THE
GOVERNMENT OF CARTHAGE
An Oligarchy, with some monarchial and democratic features
a) Government lead by two
magistrates, called “Suffetes” (Shophetim) or “Judges”
-carry out policy decisions
of the Senate
b) Senate of 300 (the real
power in Carthage)
-an oligarchy of the
wealthiest citizens,
-elected for life by the
people
-main purpose is to create
and pass laws
Merchant Faction wished to
expand trade and secure their trade ties across the Mediterranean
Agrarian Faction wished to
improve agriculture and secure safety of their plantations and markets
-much political infighting
between the two
c) Board of 104 Judges
-elected annually from the
members of the Senate
-supervise magistrates and
prevent Suffetes from becoming tyrants
-reward good generals and
crucify poor generals!
d) Board of 5 Magistrates
-choose 104 Judges
e) Assembly of the Citizens
-no regular meetings
-called to make emergency
plebiscites
f) Generals
-appointed or hired as many
as were needed
-one appointed Supreme
Commander (could be one in Spain and one in Sicily)
Carthaginians noted for
their intensity in religion
-worship a number of
deities, especially the Phoenician
triad of Ba’al (Ruler/Protector of the Universe), Tanit (Mother Goddess)
and Melqart (God of the Underworld)
-Ba’al cult included holy
prostitution and child sacrifices (burning in a furnace & put in urns)
-many Carthaginian personal
names have religious significance, such as Hannibal, “Favoured by Ba’al”, and
Hamilcar, “Favoured by Melqart”
EARLY
ROMANO-PUNIC RELATIONS
THE
FIRST PUNIC WAR (264-241 BC)
284 BC Mamertine (“Sons of
Mars”) mercenaries from Campania (southern Italy), hired by Syracuse, rebel and
take over the city of Messana
265 BC Hiero II of Syracuse
attack Mamertines
-Mamertines appeal to Rome
(fellow Italians!) and Carthage for aid
-nearby Carthaginian fleet
arrives, occupies city, and relieves seige
Mamertines fear
Carthaginians not leave
-appeal to Rome for aid and
an alliance
new Roman foreign policy
begins to emerge
-see Sicily as part of their
sphere of influence
-prevent development of
strong rivals
-ally with weaker states
against a stronger one in order to always look like the protector of the
weak
-no consideration of
morality or justice
264 two legions sent to
Sicily under Appius Claudius Caudex and occupy Messana unhindered
-Carthaginian Admiral later
crucified for this
Carthage allies with Hiero
II against Romans
263 BC 40,000 Romans attack
Syracuse
-Heiro II capitulates and
makes a 15 year alliance with Rome
262-261 Rome takes the
important Carthaginian city of Agrigentum in Sicily
261 Rome captures a beached Carthaginian ship and uses
it as a model to build their own fleet
-add their secret weapon,
the Corvus (“raven” or “crow”, a spiked boarding bridge that converted sea
battles into land battles)
Rome wins the naval battles
at Mylae (260 BC), Suici (258 BC), Tyndaris (257 BC) & Ecnomus (256 BC) using the Corvus
259 Rome captures Corsica
255 BC Consul Regulus
invades Tunisia and beseiges Carthage
-Carthage hires a Spartan
General, Xanthippos,
-trains a new army including
and 100 elephants
-Regulus defeated and
captured at the Battle of Bagradas (later executed in a barrel of spikes!)
-fleet carrying the 2,000
Roman survivors is lost in a storm on the way home
249 Roman fleet under P.
Claudius defeated at the naval battle of Drepanum (when he disregarded the
sacred chickens!)
248-241 BC Hamilcar Barca
(“Thunderbolt”) made Supreme Commander in Sicily
-uses Mt. Eryx as a base and
launches successful guerilla war campaign against Roman forces in Sicily and
southern Italy
a) Sicily becomes Rome’s
first overseas province
b) return of all prisoners
c) Carthage must abandon
Sicily, Corsica and Sardinia (become Roman Provinces in 227 BC)
d) pay an indemnity of 2200
Talents of silver over twenty years (one Talents weighs 60 pounds and is worth a little over $1000)
-later increased to 3400
Talents over ten years
e) no Carthaginian ships in
Italian waters
f)Carthage must discontinue
recruiting mercenaries in Italy
241-237 BC “The Truceless
War”
237 BC Hamilcar, Hasdrubal
“the Handsome” (his son-in-law) and Hannibal (Hamilcar’s 9-year old son) leave
for Spain
-altar of Melqart
229 BC Hamilcar drowns and
is replaced by his son-in-law Hasdrubal “the Handsome”
229 BC Rome defeats the
Illyrian Pirates of Queen Teuta (and sets up an informal protectorate in
western Greece in the process)
228 BC founds the city of
New Carthage (modern Cartagena) as Spain’s capital
-Spanish mines produce 2,000
to 3,000 Talents in silver annually
226 BC Hasdrubal and Rome
sign the Ebro Treaty (control 7/8 of Spanish penninsula)
-Rome also forms a treaty of
friendship (“amicitia”) with the Spanish city of Saguntum, south of the Ebro
River
225 BC Rome defeats Gauls
(Boii and Insubres tribes) at Telamon in Northern Etruria
221 BC Hasdrubal murdered by
a Spaniard
-Hannibal Barca, Hamilcar’s
eldest son, at age 26, made commander of Carthaginian forces in Spain -conquers
all of southern Spain by 219 BC
219 BC Hannibal takes Saguntum after an 8-month
seige
-Roman embassadors “Then I give you war” (Livy)
THE SECOND PUNIC (HANNIBALIC) WAR (218-201 BC)
218 BC Hannibal defeats
Consul Scipio at Ticinus (cavalry skirmish) and Consuls Scipio and Sempronius
at the River Trebia
217 BC Gaius Flaminius
(darling of the plebs) and Gnaeus Servilius elected Consuls for 217 BC
-Flaminius’ command (36,000)
wiped out at Lake Trasimene
Quintus Fabius Maximus “The
Delayer” appointed Dictator (first time in 100 years!)
216 BC Terentius Varro
(plebeian)and Lucius Aemilius Paulus (patrician) elected Consul
-lose 70,000 of 86,000 men
at Cannae
-Rome’s worst disaster
-many more cities still
remained loyal to Rome
Philip V of Macedon allies
himself to Hannibal
-begins First Macedonian War
(215-205 BC)
THE
THIRD PUNIC WAR (149-146 BC)
201 BC Massinissa would raid
Carthaginian territory and retreat to Numidia before Carthage could respond
militarily
-he then took his “dispute”
to Rome
-Rome regularly favoured
Massinissa in these “disputes” or took no action at all
-eventually Carthage lost
most of her territory
154 BC Massinissa (now near
90 years old!) seized the Great Plains near Carthage
-Carthage appeals to Rome
-Roman commission leaves the
matter undecided
-Marcus Prcius Cato, the
Elder, leads the commission
-visited Carthage and saw
her great wealth and prosperity
-ended every speech, no
matter the topic, with Carthago est
delenda (“Carthage must be destroyed”)
150 BC Carthaginians attack Massinissa and lose the battle badly
-now have broken the Treaty
of Zama
-Rome agrees to let Carthage
keep her territory and independence on the following terms:
-surrender 300 noble
hostages
-surrender of all weapons
and seige artillery e city
-Carthage agrees
Consuls then tell Carthage
that they must abandon their city and rebuild no closer than 10 miles from the
sea
-a death sentence to a city
that depends on maritime trade
149-146 BC three year siege
of the city
146 BC Publius Cornelius
Scipio Aemilianus, the adopted grandson of Scipio Africanus, takes city
-50,000 men, women and
children sold into slavery
900 Roman deserters (fearing
crucifixion) and a number of Carthaginians, mostly nobles, fight to the death
-city looted and destroyed,
and ruins abandoned
Carthage became the Roman
province of Africa Proconsularis
28 BC Rome builds a new
Roman Carthage on the old Punic site