ABSTRACT
After resolving her internal political issues and consolidating the constitution, Rome focused on foreign affairs. The third century BC is marked by Rome’s wars with Carthage, a great maritime power governed by an oligarchy of merchant families.1 Initially, the Romans maintained good relations with Carthage, but shortly after Rome’s subjugation of the Greek city-states in Southern Italy this precarious coalition turned into open rivalry. The First Punic War erupted in 264 BC when Rome, fearing that a threatened Carthagenian conquest of Messina in Sicily might be a prelude to an attack on mainland Italy, assisted that city and thereby clashed with Carthage. The war ended with victory for Rome in 241 BC. As a result, Rome acquired her first overseas provinces (Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica) and asserted her position as a flourishing international power. In the following years, a resurgent Carthage sought to recover the lost ground by embarking on a programme of military expansion in Spain under Hamilcar Barca and his son, Hannibal, leaders of the Carthaginians who craved revenge on Rome. The Romans attempted to curb the Carthaginian expansion by treaty, but conflict ensued after Hannibal’s attack on one of Rome’s Spanish allies in 219 BC. In 218 BC a large expeditionary force led by Hannibal was dispatched to attack the Romans in Italy. Despite the initial successes of her armies, Carthage was eventually overwhelmed by the Romans in 201 BC. The political and commercial supremacy of Carthage dissolved and she was reduced to the position of a client-state of Rome. As a result of her victory in the Second Punic War, Rome established herself as the dominant power in the western Mediterranean.
