Punic Wars (265–149 BC) - events

264 BC	Rome, Carthage, Sicily	King Hieron of Syracuse, Sicily, threatens to renew his attack on the Mamertines (society of disbanded mercenaries), who appeal to Carthage and receive a Carthaginian garrison; they then appeal to Rome, get rid of the Carthaginian garrison, and welcome two Roman legions under Appius Claudius (a relative of the Roman censor). The Carthaginians, affronted, send a force to Sicily, and they are supported by Hieron. Appius Claudius beats them off, and the First Punic War breaks out.
263 BC	Rome, Sicily	The Romans attack the city of Syracuse in Sicily and force its king, Hieron, into alliance with them. He continues to rule Syracuse benevolently.
262 BC	Rome, Sicily, Carthage	The Carthaginians are defeated by the Romans at Agrigentum in Sicily. They retire to reorganize their fleet, while the Romans sack Agrigentum and enslave its Greek inhabitants.
260 BC	Rome, Carthage, Sicily	The Romans win a resounding naval victory over the Carthaginians off Mylae in Sicily (the date may be two years earlier).
256 BC	Rome, Carthage	The Romans repeat their naval success against the Carthaginians at the Battle of Mylae by defeating them again at the Battle of Ecnomus. They send a force under the consul Regulus to Africa, who settles down for the winter in the hope of capturing the city of Carthage in the spring.
255 BC	Rome, Carthage	The Roman consul Regulus, sent to capture Carthage, is defeated and taken prisoner by the Carthaginians. A Roman fleet sent to rescue Regulus is wrecked.
241 BC	Rome, Carthage, Sicily	The Romans win a resounding victory off the Carthaginian city of Lilybaeum in Sicily with their new fleet and the Carthaginians accept severe peace terms; the First Punic War is over. Carthage agrees to abandon all claim to Sicily, to refrain from sailing its warships in Italian waters, and to pay an indemnity of 3,200 talents. The Carthaginian army, however, is allowed to return home with its arms.
219 BC	Carthage, Rome, Spain	The Carthaginian general Hannibal attacks the Spanish city of Saguntum, which is allied with Rome. The Romans send the dictator and consul Quintus Fabius to Carthage to negotiate peace or war; he makes a symbolic gesture with the folds of his toga, asking ‘Shall it be peace or war?’ The Carthaginians leave the decision to him and he chooses war. Hannibal presses the siege of Saguntum, and the Second Punic War begins.
218 BC	Carthage, Rome, Spain	In the spring the Carthaginian general Hannibal sets out from New Carthage (Cartagena) in Spain to invade Italy, reputedly with nearly 100,000 men and 50 elephants. The Romans send an army to Spain under Gnaeus Scipio, which arrives too late to stop Hannibal, but it remains in Spain to prevent reinforcements from reaching them. Hannibal crosses the Alps and, after meeting great hardships and dangers, reaches the Po valley in Italy in the late autumn.
217 BC	Rome, Carthage	Quintus Fabius is elected dictator by the Romans and earns the cognomen Cunctator (the Delayer) by avoiding a set battle and creating a ‘scorched earth’ area around Hannibal's invading army to deprive the Carthaginians of supplies.
217 BC	Rome	The Roman consul T Quinctius Flamininus, instead of remaining at Arretium to guard the western route through the Apennines, decides to pursue the Carthaginian general Hannibal. T Quinctius Flamininus and his army are ambushed and defeated by Hannibal at Lake Trasimene. Two complete legions are wiped out in a serious defeat for the Romans.
216 BC	Rome, Carthage	The Roman dictator Quintus Fabius Cunctator is relieved of his command by an impatient Senate. The Romans are devastatingly defeated by the Carthaginians at Cannae (modern Canne in Apulia, Italy), after which Quintus Fabius is reinstated. There are revolts in central Italy, and the city of Capua sides with the Carthaginian general Hannibal. However, Hannibal fails to obtain reinforcements from Carthage, and the whole of Latium, Umbria, and Etruria remain loyal to Rome.
215 BC	Rome, Carthage, Sicily	The Carthaginians fail to recapture Sardinia. Their general, Hannibal, captures the city of Tarentum in southern Italy, but is denied any reinforcements from Spain by the activities of the Roman general Publius Scipio senior and his brother Gnaeus. The Greek city of Syracuse in Sicily revolts against Rome and holds out for four years.
212 BC	Carthage, Rome, Numidia, Spain	The Numidian chiefs Syphax and Masinissa on Carthage's eastern border declare war on Carthage with Roman encouragement. The Carthaginian general Hasdrubal dashes across to Africa from Spain and stamps out this rebellion. He then returns to Spain, where he manages to turn the tide against the Romans; the Roman generals Publius Scipio and his brother, Gnaeus, are killed in battle.
211 BC	Rome, Sicily	The city of Syracuse, Sicily, falls to the siege of the Roman commander Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who also suppresses the remaining resistance in Sicily. Syracuse is looted and many citizens killed, including Archimedes, the Greek mathematician and inventor.
209 BC	Rome	The Roman general Scipio Africanus makes skilful use of the tide to besiege and capture New Carthage (Cartagena) in Spain, encouraging his soldiers by telling them that Neptune, god of the sea, is on their side. He frees the hostages taken from Spanish tribes by the Carthaginians to ensure their loyalty. Several Spanish tribes come over to the Roman side. Scipio recruits the young Numidian prince Masinissa.
207 BC	Rome, Carthage	The Carthaginian general Hasdrubal escapes from defeat in Spain and, crossing the Alps with an army of 25,000 men, tries to come to his brother Hannibal's rescue. On the River Metaurus in northern Italy (at the northern end of the Via Flaminia) Hasdrubal is defeated by the Romans and his head is thrown into Hannibal's camp. Hannibal realizes that he has virtually lost the war in Italy.
203 BC	Carthage, Rome	The Numidian chief Syphax and Carthaginian armies under General Gisco are defeated by the Roman general Scipio the Younger (Scipio Africanus Major) at the Battle of the Great Plains. The Carthaginian general Hannibal is compelled to return home from Italy.
202 BC	Carthage, Rome	The Roman general Scipio the Younger (Scipio Africanus Major) advances on Carthage with the Numidian prince Masinissa. Masinissa captures the Numidian chief Syphax, but becomes ensnared by his wife, Sophonisba, until Scipio extricates him.
201 BC	Rome, Carthage	Rome and Carthage sign a peace treaty to end formally the Second Punic War. The peace terms are harsh: Carthage has to surrender all but 10 ships of its great fleet, pay an indemnity of 10,000 talents, allow the Numidian prince Masinissa independence as king of Numidia, give up Spain to Rome, and refrain from warmongering without Rome's approval. The Romans then oust the Carthaginians from Malta.
191 BC	Rome, Greece, Syria, Seleucid Kingdom	Scipio Africanus is now a figure of great authority in Rome and has borne the cognomen ‘Africanus’ since just after his success against the Carthaginian general Hannibal in the Battle of Zama in Africa. He persuades the Senate to continue the war in Greece against King Antiochus III the Great of Syria and to complete his defeat by pursuing him into Asia Minor.
182 BC	Carthage, Rome, Turkey	The Romans demand the extradition of the celebrated Carthaginian general Hannibal the Great (who conducted the Second Punic War against Rome, 218–201 BC) from Libyssa, Bithynia (now in Turkey). Rather than face the extradition, Hannibal commits suicide (c. 63).
149 BC	Carthage, Rome	Rome regards the action of Carthage in defending itself against Numidian incursions in 150 BC as a casus belli (justification for war) and the Third Punic War begins. The oligarchic government of Carthage offers to submit but the Roman terms are harsh. These state that the city shall be destroyed and that its 700,000 inhabitants shall rebuild their homes elsewhere, ‘but not within 10 miles of the sea’. The Carthaginians refuse to leave their city.
146 BC	Carthage, Rome	After a prolonged and terrible siege Carthage is finally taken by the Roman consul Scipio Aemilianus. The Carthaginians make their final stand in their temple of Eshmoun (equivalent to Aesculapius, god of medicine), reputedly setting fire to the building and dying in the flames. The wife of the Carthaginian commander Hasdrubal shows herself in splendour with her two children before she and they are burnt. Carthage is destroyed and the Roman province of ‘Africa’ is established. Scipio Aemilianus is the son of the Roman consul Aemilius Paullus and adopted heir of Scipio Africanus Major whose name he takes, being known as Scipio Africanus the Younger.