About this map
How three wars between Rome and Carthage turned the western Mediterranean into a Roman sea: before the First Punic War (264 BC), through the wars, to the destruction of Carthage (146 BC). Borders are approximate, after standard historical atlases. Coastlines: Natural Earth.
Text version: https://www.movingpolygons.com/map/chrisjager/the-punic-wars-rome-against-carthage-264146-bc.md
Timeline
| Date | What the map shows |
|---|---|
| 264 BC | 264 BC · First Punic War begins |
| 241 BC | 241 BC · Rome wins Sicily |
| 237 BC | 237 BC · Rome seizes Sardinia and Corsica |
| 218 BC | 218 BC · Hannibal marches on Italy |
| 216 BC | 216 BC · Cannae: southern Italy defects |
| 211 BC | 211 BC · Syracuse and Capua fall to Rome |
| 206 BC | 206 BC · Ilipa: Carthage loses Spain |
| 201 BC | 201 BC · Peace after Zama |
| 149 BC | 149 BC · Third Punic War begins |
| 146 BC | 146 BC · Carthage destroyed |
Layers
Numidia · Syracuse · Carthage · Rome
Events
- 241 BC, Battle of the Aegates Islands (241 BC): Lutatius Catulus destroys the Carthaginian relief fleet. Carthage sues for peace, gives up Sicily and pays a heavy indemnity.
- 218 BC, Hannibal crosses the Alps (218 BC): Hannibal leads his army, with its war elephants, from Spain over the Pyrenees and the Alps into Italy.
- 216 BC, Battle of Cannae (216 BC): Hannibal encircles and annihilates a Roman army of some 80,000 men. Capua and much of southern Italy go over to Carthage.
- 202 BC, Battle of Zama (202 BC): Scipio, with Masinissa's Numidian cavalry, defeats Hannibal in Africa. Carthage loses its fleet, its empire and its right to wage war without Rome's consent.
- 146 BC, Carthage destroyed (146 BC): Scipio Aemilianus storms and razes the city. Its territory becomes the Roman province of Africa.