The Third Punic
War was the inevitable result of treaty that was too restrictive and a long
standing feud that couldn't be mitigated.
After defeat in
the Second war in 202 B.C, Carthage was prohibited from attacking any friend of
Rome and also required to pay reparations to the victor. But, over time, the
Roman Senate saw hawk and dove factions emerge during arguments over the future
of Carthage. The Punic council, looking at Rome from a position of weakness, saw
similar factions argue over the risk of provoking their longtime adversary. Adding
to the mix, neighbors of the Carthage began to attack her thinking she would
not fight back. But she did and finally, in 149 B.C, the efforts Carthage made
to protect herself were seen as violations by the hawks in the Roman Senate and
war was declared.
The years of
149-148 B.C, were unsuccessful from the Roman standpoint as multiple attempts
to assault the city failed. Then, after Scipio Aemilianus was elected consul in
late 148, he proceeded to Carthage intent on finishing the war. Aemilianus
spent the summer of 147 B.C. getting his army in shape and then in the fall built
a double wall 3.2 miles across the Isthmus separating the city of Carthage from
the rest of the Tunisian Peninsula. The inner wall would starve the
Carthaginians into submission while the outer wall served to protect the Roman
army from being attacked from behind. The inner wall was twelve feet high with
parapets and towers. A central tower was high enough to provide a view into the
city.
To help you
understand the geography involved in this battle, I have constructed the
following map which shows the city of Carthage and its critical landmarks.
Aemilianus came
to realize, soon after the siege began, that closing the land route to Carthage
was only a partial solution because the Carthaginian port was still open.
Moreover the Carthaginian commander, Hasdrubal, had his army stationed between
the city walls and the port (labeled 2 on the map). Aemilianus wanted to move
Hasdrubal so he created a distraction by sending a night raiding party of 4,000
to an area north of the Utica Gate, labeled 1 on the map, where scaling the
wall was easier. The raiders had free reign over wealthy neighborhoods and an
alarm went up immediately.
When Hasdrubal
got word of the attack, he abandoned his position at 2 and brought his army
back inside the city walls to counter the Romans, but they abandoned their
positions the same night and retreated. The Romans overran the vacated position
2 and moved on to position 3 where they could devise an attack on the port. Meanwhile,
parallel trenches were dug close to the city was with cross trenches connecting
them. The trenches were filled with sharpened spikes.
Next, the Roman
army began to construct a “mole” or sea wall to block the entrance to the
commercial harbor (labeled 4). The mole was ninety six feet wide at the bottom,
twenty-four feet wide at the surface, and constructed of heavy stones. The
Roman army worked twenty-four hours a day on the construction until the mole
was completed.
When the
Carthaginians saw what the Romans were up to, they began a desperate construction
project of their own to make a hole in the seaside wall of the commercial
harbor so their ships could escape to the sea. The location of this hole was
between 4 and 5 on the map. Since the majority of the project was conducted
under cover, the Romans were unaware of what the Carthaginians were doing until
50 Triremes from the Carthaginian fleet emerged through the newly created
opening. A more resourceful commander could have used the element of surprise
to inflict a great deal of damage on the Roman fleet but the Punic commander
was content to make a parade of his ships and engage in some training exercises
before retiring for the night. When they emerged again three days later, the
Roman fleet was prepared for battle. In the confusion of ships, the opening
into the harbor was blocked by ships so the Carthaginians had to tie up along
the outer break wall and absorb repeated Roman attacks. By nightfall they were
able to return to the harbor. Before the end of the campaign season, the Romans
attacked and took control of the outer break wall but put off attacking the
city to direct their attention to raids on the interior and wait for the end of
the year elections. With his choke hold on the city in place, Aemilianus knew
it was just a matter of time before the city would starve.
During the spring
of 146 B.C, Aemilianus returned to Carthage to finish the job. The final assault was focused on a point near the military harbor labeled 5 on the map. The
Romans fought their way over the wall and despite Hasdrubal’s attempt to block
them by setting fires, they were able to work their way into the city. The
Carthaginians retreated to their citadel at Byrsa shown (rectangle on the map).
The citadel was on top of a hill and between that point and the harbor sat
three or four blocks of multi-story apartment buildings, so, in order to reach
the citadel, the Romans had to engage in the worse kind of urban combat
imaginable. Aemilianus ordered the neighborhood to be set on fire and the
conflagration lasted for six days.
At that point,
50,000 civilians from the citadel where allowed to leave and be delivered into
Roman hands to be sold as slaves, while Roman deserters and the remainder of
Hasdrubal’s army fought on. But it wasn't long before the Punic general
surrendered and threw himself at the mercy of the Romans. We know nothing of
his fate other than he was paraded in Rome during the triumph celebrating the
end of Carthage. The city itself was leveled and salt was poured on the arable
land to prevent its use. No doubt this was the residue of hatred the Romans felt for Carthage going back to the time Hannibal embarrassed them during the second war.
Later Carthage
would have a new life when Julius Caesar built a colony there in the mid-40s
B.C. By the first century A.D, Carthage would become the second largest city in
the western empire.
6 comments:
I just forgot the reference but I read recently that the salting of Carthage was fiction. It was invented much later on.
Otherwise good post. Thank you.
I am pleased to have found your site. I studied ancient history at school and the interest has always stayed with me. It is difficult to find many history blogs so will explore yours with interest
I am pleased to have found your site. I studied ancient history at school and the interest has always stayed with me. It is difficult to find many history blogs so will enjoy exploring yours
It would be great if you wrote about the Romans' wars with the Dacians. I have always been fascinated with that.
I am going to post some articles on the Dacians. Stay tuned.
I am so happy to read this. This is the type of manual that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that is at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this best doc.national archives civil war records
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