The Third Punic War Trivia Quiz

Answer: Carthage had broken the terms of an earlier peace deal and attacked a Roman ally

At the end of the Second Punic War Rome imposed a harsh treaty on Carthage, clauses in this treaty denied the Carthaginians the right to fight a war without Roman permission, banned them from having a war fleet and also imposed a massive indemnity.

The indemnity should have crippled Carthage, however such was the recovery that the city made they were able to offer to pay the whole fine years early. The Carthaginians acted entirely in good faith towards the Romans. However the Romans remained anxious about Carthage, and allowed their ally, King Massinissa of Numidia to attack the Carthaginians and steal their land. The Carthaginians, prevented by the Romans from fighting back, asked them for arbitration. The Romans sided with Massinissa who continued encroaching on Carthaginian territory. With their independance threatened the Carthaginians fought back, but were defeated. The Romans used this incident to justify war.

Answer: They blackmailed the Carthaginians, then invaded anyway

At first the Romans demanded that the Carthaginians disband their army and navy or face war. While the Carthaginians were debating their options they heard that their long standing and hitherto loyal ally, the neighbouring city of Utica, had surrendered to the Romans. The Carthaginian senate despatched envoys to Rome to beg for whatever terms they could get. The Romans declared that Carthage must "satisfy the Roman people" by surrendering 300 sons of important citizens as hostages and accept Roman dominion. They did not expect the Carthaginians to comply, thinking that this would give them an excuse to invade. After much discussion in their senate, the Carthaginians gave in. As soon as they had the hostages, the Romans invaded Africa, landing at Utica.

The Carthaginians now sent envoys to the Roman commander, who demanded that the Carthaginians surrender all their weapons and armour, leaving themselves almost defenceless. Again the Carthaginians complied with this unreasonable demand. Polybius says that they handed over 200,000 stands of arms and 2,000 catapults. (This term probably covered all forms of artillery, rather than just catapults). Then the Romans demanded that the Carthaginians abandon their city and move ten miles inland. This was too much and facing national extinction the Carthaginians resolved to fight to the death.

Frantic preparations began in the city with the whole population mobilised for the final struggle for their freedom. It is even reported that women volunteered to have their hair cut off to help make ropes for siege weapons. Slaves were freed and armed to help with the defence and work went on night and day to produce new armaments to replace those lost to the Romans.

Answer: Cato the Censor

Cato believed that the Carthaginians had been let off lightly at the end of the Second Punic war, and that they still posed a threat to Rome. He campaigned tirelessley for war against Carthage. When appeals to fear did not work he tried greed. Realising that most senators made huge sums of money from the trade in olive oil, he argued that the Carthaginians were outcompeting the Romans. In one dramatic speech in the senate he produced a basket of olives, claiming that they had been picked in Carthage only three days before.

In the end Massinissa did Cato's work for him, but Cato did not live to see the destruction of Carthage, dying in 149 BC. His great grandson, Cato the Younger, was one of the chief opponents of Julius Caesar.

Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus was the real name of the Emperor Nero, Terrentius Varro was a populist politician killed in command of the Roman army at the battle of Cannae, and Gaius Octavian was a nephew of Julius Caesar, and later became the first emperor, calling himself Augustus.

Answer: Hasdrubal

Few Carthaginians are named in history, and those who are tend to have similar names, so this Hasdrubal should not be confused with any of the Hasdrubals who served in either of the other Punic wars (Hasdrubal Barca, Hasdrubal Gisco, Hasrdubal the Bald, Hasdrubal the Handsome, and Hasdrubal the Fat). All that is known of his life is that he had commanded the Carthaginian army defeated by the Numidians and had a wife and two sons. The fact that he was able to assume command of the defences of the city after his earlier defeat suggests that he may have held great political power at Carthage, had previous millitary experience, or both.

The Roman invasion was initially commanded by Manius Manilius. However, by the time that the city fell Scipio Amelianus had taken over. This is because Roman generals were normally also holders of a political office, and so were elected annually.

This process of replacing generals every year caused an inherent weakness in Roman warfare, every consul wanted to finish the war he was involved in before he was replaced. Consuls sometimes made rash and costly decisions to try to enhance their own reputation and political careers. It also prevented Roman commanders from gaining the kind of skill and experience that their professional Carthaginian opponents often had. However the strength of the Roman army at NCO level and its effective organisation counter acted this to a great degree.

Hannibal Barca was the great Carthaginian commander in the second Punic War, Scipio Africanus (adoptive grandfather of Scipio Amelianus) was the only Roman general to defeat him in a pitched battle. Hanno the Navigator was a great explorer who is believed to have sailed down the west African coastline founding Carthaginian colonies as he went. He is believed to have been the first man from outside sub Saharan Africa to see a gorrilla. Hanno the Great was a Carthaginian politician and general and main domestic opponent of Hannibal's father, Hamilcar Barca. We do not know how he earned his title.

Answer: Polybius

Polybius is the most reliable surviving source of information on all three Punic wars. A Greek general and politician, he had been sent as a hostage to Rome after his city had been defeated by the Empire. He was fortunate enough to be placed in the household of a young aristocrat, Scipio Amelianus, and travelled with Scipio to Africa. He was therefore an eye witness to the events. Unfortunately, parts of his work have been lost, including part of his narrative of the Third Punic War. Other important sources include Livy and Appian.

Pliny the Elder was a Roman naturalist who wrote many books on a wide range of different subjects, he had an insatiable curiosity and was killed observing the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. His son, Pliny the Younger, was a lawyer and politician, active in the reign of the Emperor Trajan. His collected letters offer an invaluable insight into life and politics in Imperial Rome and a vitally important eye witness account of the eruption of Vesuvius, and of the death of his father.

Sullust was a historian who recorded events towards the end of the Republican era, including a history of a Roman war against the Numidian King Jugurtha, and the conspiracy of Catullus against the Republic. He was expelled from the senate for misbehaviour and became a partisan of Julius Caesar, who restored him to the senate when he seized power in Rome.

Answer: Three years

The Romans had thought that this war would be easy, that they would quickly storm the city, distribute the plunder and return home. In the end the siege lasted from 149BC to 146BC as they were frustrated time and again by the strong defences of the city, and the desperate heroism of its citizens. Hasdrubal even had some Roman prisoners crucified on the city walls as a warning to the Romans and to remind the citizens that they would receive no mercy should the enemy break in.

In the end however, it was only a matter of time. The Carthaginians could not break the Roman siege lines and no help could come from the outside. Eventually starvation and disease weakened the garrison enough so that the Romans could storm the city. In six days of savage fighting, the invaders fought hand to hand with the defenders while the city burnt around them.

A young Roman officer who stood out for his courage on that day was Tiberius Gracchus, brother in law of Scipio Amilianus. He went on to become a leading radical politician, attempting to introduce sweeping land reform, however he was assinated by conservative senators, followed some years later by his brother Gaius. This was part of a series of events which led to the civil wars.

Answer: They constructed a fleet, dug a second exit to the sea and fought a naval battle

While the port of Carthage was open, her citizens were able to receive a trickle of supplies through the Roman blockade, but if the Romans cut this off then the Carthaginians would lose their last lifeline. They could not afford to see this happen.

When the Romans began working to block the harbour the Carthaginians started digging a canal from the port towards the sea, they then launched a fleet to attack the Romans who were caught completely by surprise. Had they attacked immediately it is possible that the Roman fleet would have been destroyed and the city saved. However the Carthaginian navy was a shadow of its former glory; it was built from scratch and manned by inexperienced sailors, their commanders needed time to train them. When they had beenat sea a few days they attacked the Roman fleet, but were soundly beaten, and the city was doomed.

Answer: He negotiatied a surrender for himself and his own family

Amid the chaos of the fall of Carthage, as tens or hundreds of thousands died and the city was razed to the ground, all their leader cared about was saving his own skin. He surrendered to the Romans securing his own life and that of his family. His wife was found on the roof of a building and told she could surrender.

She refused to dishonour herself, shouting abuse at her husband before jumping into the inferno below with her children.

Answer: He burst into tears

Polybius records that Scipio burst into tears and said "O Polybius, it is a grand thing, but, ... I feel a terror and dread, lest some one should one day give the same order about my own native city."

Answer: Corinth

By 146BC Roman power was so great that they were able to destroy two of the greatest cities on earth in the same year. There was a massacre at Corinth similar to the one at Carthage, all the men being killed and the women and children sold into slavery, and the city itself was burnt to the ground. This ended the Achaean War and with it the last vestiges of Greek independence. The city was later rebuilt by Julius Caesar shortly before his death.

Syracuse was the most important Greek city in Sicily and had in the past been a long term and bitter enemy of Carthage, while Alexandria was the city founded by Alexander the Great in Egypt, which served as the capital of that country under the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty.