# The Punic Wars: Rome against Carthage, 264–146 BC

> Interactive animated map on Moving Polygons by chrisjager, 264 BC – 146 BC: 10 keyframes, 4 layers, 5 events.

- Map: https://www.movingpolygons.com/map/chrisjager/the-punic-wars-rome-against-carthage-264146-bc
- Embed: `<iframe src="https://www.movingpolygons.com/embed/chrisjager/the-punic-wars-rome-against-carthage-264146-bc" width="800" height="600" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>`
- Last updated: 2026-11-04

## 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.

## Timeline

The map animates between these keyframes.

| 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

| Layer | First shown | Last keyframe |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Numidia | 264 BC | 146 BC |
| Syracuse | 264 BC | 211 BC |
| Carthage | 264 BC | 146 BC |
| Rome | 264 BC | 146 BC |

## 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.
- Plus 14 smaller events, shown as dots on the map.