The slaughter of the defenseless. Why was the Third Punic War… not a war

The Punic Wars are one of the most important conflicts of the ancient world. Carthage not only defied Rome, but almost brought down its nascent power. That is why it was razed to the ground.

The conflict with Carthage ultimately determined that it was the Romans who took over the world. The long and exhausting first two Punic wars engaged enormous military and economic forces on both sides. They also led to great mutual losses.

The last, third Punic War, however, does not actually deserve the name of "war". It was rather a slaughter. Premeditated Murder.

The power that threatened Rome

The Carthaginian Empire was founded in the second half of the 6th century BCE. Over the next 300 years, it acquired more fertile lands in today's Tunisia. War with the Greeks in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE was designed to curb the aspirations of the tyrants of Syracuse who wanted to seize power over Sicily.

Initially, Carthage was not eager to fight the Italian cities. In their case, the main policy of the empire was to make treaties. The first treaty with Rome was signed in the first year of the republic's existence - when Rome was mainly a land power.

The declaration of war on Carthage was one of the key moments in the history of Rome, as it began its expansion beyond the Apennine Peninsula. It was also one of the two times in history when Rome hesitated before deciding to start an armed conflict.

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The First Punic War brought Rome dominion over the seas. The Carthaginians had to withdraw from Sicily and pay compensation. Rome has also changed its strategy in relation to conquered territories.

The Second Punic War took place in much more dramatic circumstances, but ended with a victory for Rome. Carthage ceased to be an independent state, it lost all its possessions except Africa. She also paid an extremely high tribute (fifty annual installments of about 5 tons of silver) and was not allowed to declare war without Rome's consent.

Carthage's power has collapsed. For fifty years after the last war, it pursued a policy of not being visible and not provoking Rome's discontent. So why was it soon razed to the ground?

The drop hollows the rock

Rome had been looking for a pretext for another war with Carthage for some time. And he found it. It happened at a time when the Carthaginians ... ran out of patience. In establishing peace conditions after the Second Punic War, one of the points was the demarcation of borders with Numidia. However, they were defined very vaguely.

Polybius reports that Carthage was to return to King Massinissa "houses, lands, cities and everything that belonged to Massinissa or his ancestors within the boundaries to be defined" . These were such general arrangements that the king notoriously took more lands for himself. Thus by 152 B.C.E. Carthage territory has shrunk by at least half.

Carthage was to return to King Massinissa "the houses, lands, cities and everything that belonged to Massinissa or his ancestors within the boundaries to be defined."

The Roman Senate legalized or ignored these seizures until the Carthaginians finally decided to take matters into their own hands. They made an armed defense of their lands during one of the Numidian invasions. The Senate then decided to start the Third Punic War.

Dig your own grave

Interestingly, the Carthaginians sent a legation to Rome with capitulation before the news of the declared war reached them. However, the Romans wanted to see the fall of the hostile city. When their army landed on the African shores, the Carthaginians still hoped for a relatively peaceful solution to the conflict. That is why they followed the successive orders given by the republic. They were actually digging their own grave.

One of the conditions imposed by Rome was the return of all weapons in the city. The final order was to withdraw from the city and away from it about 15 km inland. You might think that this command was given in good faith, but the ancients had a different opinion. This is what pushed the disarmed citizens into battle!

Punic slaughter

Though the outcome of this war was a foregone conclusion, the Carthaginians fought. And they surprised the Romans again with their determination, bravery and perseverance. Thus, they slightly tarnished Rome's reputation.

The Carthaginians were not going to give up like animals going to the slaughter . First, they sent an unequivocal message to the besiegers - they murdered all the Roman merchants in the city at that time and stoned pro-Roman politicians.

The stubbornness of the defenders and the ineptitude of the attacking army's commanders kept Carthage besieged for two years - but the war was still not resolved. These protracted battles eventually resulted in the election of the consul of Scipio African Junior, the adopted grandson of Scipio African Elder (who defeated Hannibal).

Scipio ordered his army to pave the way by burning and demolishing houses. Fighting in the streets continued for six long days, during which some soldiers were delegated to remove the bodies from the city.

The new commander managed to take over the territory of Carthage and quickly sealed the siege. Thus cut off its inhabitants from supplies. He also led to the desertion of the Carthaginian cavalry and just before the attack he used the evocatio ritual . Thanks to this, the gods protecting the city were to go to the Roman side.

Scipio ordered his army to pave the way by burning and demolishing houses. Fighting in the streets continued for six long days, during which some soldiers were delegated to take the corpses out of the city. Eventually, some 57,000 people were left alive, dying of hunger, whose fate was to be sealed at the slave fair . There was still a group of deserters in Carthage, whom the Romans dealt with fairly quickly.

Death sentence

The city was razed to the ground. Its inhabitants were slaughtered like animals or sold into slavery. Rituals were performed over the ruins to curse them. Why did this happen? We can only speculate. Cato saw these events as a form of a preventive attack, explaining that the Carthaginians were getting ready for war with the mere possibility of attacking Rome.

Carthage Ruins

At the root of the declaration of the Third Punic War was the fear of the resurgence of Carthage. Appian reported that after its collapse, "citizens took to the streets and spent the whole night there amid cheers and hugs, convinced they had only now released their fear and they will be able to rule other peoples safely, that only now they have established the existence of their city and achieved the greatest victory of all. "

But is it possible that the slaughter of the hostile city was dictated only by fear? Certainly not! It was influenced by many more factors, including economic ones.

Literature:

Everitt A., Glory to Rome. How the empire was formed , Poznań 2020.
Ziółkowski A., History of Rome , Poznań 2008.