Morning rushed through the open window with a hasty bird noise. It drowned out the ringing cries of bread and fruit peddlers, street vendors, car horns, even the endless roar of the sea, invisible behind the walls of the snow-white houses of Tunisia. The clean and cool hotel room was furnished according to the faceless “global” hotel standard, only on the wall hung a large photograph of an ancient clay mask - a mysterious half-smile, strands of thick hair falling onto the shoulders, a clearly defined spread of eyebrows over wide-open huge eyes - a photograph that could hang only here, twelve kilometers from Carthage.

And although this mask is clearly and academically identified in all scientific publications and prospectuses: a mask of the 5th century BC, found in a Phoenician burial during the excavations of Carthage, I believed the inscription made under this photograph: “Beautiful Dido.”

Carthage arose several centuries earlier than the small Gallic village of Lutetia, which later became Paris. He was already there when the Etruscans appeared in the north of the Apennine Peninsula - teachers of the Romans in the arts, navigation, and crafts. Carthage was big city already when a furrow was drawn around the Palatine Hill with a bronze plow, thereby performing the ritual of founding “Square Rome”.

And like the beginning of any city, whose history goes into the half-forgotten distance of centuries, the founding of Carthage was also consecrated by legend.

The daughter of the ruler of the main Phoenician city of Tyre, Dido, was supposed to inherit the royal throne together with her husband. But Dido’s brother killed the future heir, and the princess, fearing that the same fate awaited her, fled with her entourage to Africa. Her ship landed near the city of Utica. The exile turned to the Numidian king Giarbus with a request to allocate her some land to build a house for herself and her retinue. Giarb allowed Dido to build a house, but it should occupy no more space than the oxhide would limit... And then Dido, in front of the amazed advisers of Giarb, cut the ox hide into thin strips and fenced off with them such an area on which an entire city could be built. This is how the Birsa fortress arose on the northern coast of Africa, which means “skin.” And soon the city of Carthage spread out near the walls of the fortress.

Like most ancient legends, the myth of Dido apparently reflects some real events in Phoenician history. But still, the place chosen for the construction of Carthage turned out to be too successful to attribute the honor of its founding to just one mind and chance - the city for many centuries kept under its control the main trade routes between the east and west of the Mediterranean. Ships from Etruria and Spain, from the British Isles (even there, many researchers believe, Phoenician sailors went for tin) and from Sicily passed through the harbor of Carthage. And when the city of Tire fell under the onslaught of the Persians, Carthage became the capital of Phenicia.

Twelve kilometers to Carthage. Behind the car windows you can see the houses of coastal towns merged into one settlement - Punik, Kram, Salambo. Once an integral part of Carthage, they are now quiet resorts. It's winter in North Africa now, and the towns seem deserted. A small, incredibly blue saucer of the trading harbor of Carthage flashed ahead.

But Carthage itself is not there...

By the 5th century BC, all the Phoenician colonies in Africa, many lands of Spain, the Balearic Islands, and Sardinia were already subordinated to the new capital. Carthage by this time had become one of the richest cities in the Mediterranean.

Carthaginian merchants equipped expeditions to unknown lands in order to find, in modern terms, new markets for their goods. Little evidence from ancient authors about the Carthaginian expeditions has reached us, but even the little that we know is striking in its scope and power.

“The Carthaginians decided that Hanno would go to sea beyond the Pillars of Hercules and found the Carthaginian cities. He sailed with sixty ships, on which were thirty thousand men and women, supplied with supplies and everything necessary,” says the so-called “Periplus of Hanno,” the story that has come down to us about one of the most famous odysseys of the Carthaginians.

The Carthaginian fleet had no equal at that time in the entire Mediterranean Sea. The Carthaginian war galleys “were built in such a way,” writes Polybius, “that they could move in any direction with the greatest ease... If the enemy, fiercely attacking, pressed such ships, they retreated without exposing themselves to risk: after all, light ships are not afraid of the open sea. If the enemy persisted in pursuit, the galleys turned around and, maneuvering in front of the formation of enemy ships or enveloping it from the flanks, again and again went for the ram.” Under the protection of such galleys, heavily laden Carthaginian sailing ships could sail in “their” sea without fear.

The rulers of Carthage supported their power by an alliance with the Etruscans, and this alliance was like a shield that blocked the movement of the ancient Greeks to the trading oases of the Mediterranean. But under the blows of the Roman legions, the military power of the Etruscans began to decline, and Carthage began to seek an alliance with Rome. Your future killer.

Apart from the lines of the guidebook, little reminds us that here was one of the largest ports of antiquity - in the trading harbor of Carthage, as ancient sources say, 220 heavily laden sailing ships could anchor simultaneously. It seems that you are standing on a completely deserted shore. Desolation. Bitter wormwood smell of dry grass. Heaps of garbage. Marble debris: fragments of columns, pieces of capitals, blocks, details of stone carvings - broken, shattered architecture. In the green shade, under palm trees and bushes, lie sarcophagi - small stone boxes slightly larger than a birdhouse. This and the ruins of the temple of Aesculapius are all that remains here from the Phoenician Carthage...

The Carthaginians first concluded an agreement on an alliance with Rome at the end of the 6th century BC. At this time, Carthage waged a fierce struggle with Greece for dominion in Sicily. This struggle lasted for more than three centuries - until the 4th century BC. Owning the largest island of the Mediterranean Sea and establishing itself in Spain, Carthage was at the end of the 6th century BC the most powerful maritime power of the ancient world.

But in 480 BC, at the Battle of Himera in Sicily, the united Greek army crushed the hitherto invincible Carthaginians. The autocracy of Carthage on the trade routes of the Mediterranean ended. True, he still fought, he fought for more than one century, and certain stages of this struggle were successful for him. Carthage managed to almost completely regain Sicily, he expanded his possessions in Africa itself - and the current territory of Tunisia was almost entirely part of the Carthaginian power. The Carthaginian army, replenished with African warriors, regained Sicily at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. But already in the middle of this century he stood up against Carthage

Rome, which did not want to share the Mediterranean Sea with anyone.

For 118 years, the struggle between Carthage and Rome continued intermittently, a struggle that went down in history under the name “Punic Wars.”

After the First Punic War, which lasted twenty-three years - from 264 to 241 BC - Carthage lost Sicily and paid 1,200 talents of indemnity. Carthage decided to take revenge. The Second War lasted seventeen years, from 218 to 201. The famous Carthaginian commander Hannibal made an unprecedented transition from Spain to Italy with his army, approached Rome, crushing selected Roman legions. But this war also ended in defeat. Carthage lost Spain and paid 10 thousand talents of indemnity.

In 149 BC, the third Punic War began. It lasted only three years. It's hard to even call it a war. As F. Engels wrote, “this was simple oppression of the weakest enemy by a ten times stronger enemy.”

And all these three years, the Roman senator Marcus Porcius Cato, with fanatical obstinacy, ended his speech, no matter what it was about, with the words: “Besides, I believe that Carthage must be destroyed.”

And Carthage was destroyed. The agony of the doomed city lasted six days. The legionnaires of Scipio Aemilianus captured the military port and gradually occupied the entire lower city. Fires began in Carthage, perishing from hunger and thirst. On the seventh day, 55 thousand townspeople surrendered to the mercy of the victors.

... "Carthage must be destroyed." Scipio Aemilian carried out the order of the Senate. Heavy plows plowed what was left of its streets, and salt was sown into the ground, on which only yesterday there were vineyards, grain growing and trees standing, in order to forever sterilize it.

Legend has it that Scipio himself wept as he watched the great city disappear into oblivion, and his retinue heard that the commander whispered the words of Homer: “One day the sacred Troy will perish, and with it Priam and the people of the spearman Priam will perish.”

Underfoot are huge stone slabs, corroded by time. Now this is a road to nowhere - the ancient Carthaginian road from North Africa to Libya and further to Egypt. The gilded chariots of triumphants rushed along it and the Roman legionaries passed; the blood of the Carthaginian mercenaries who rebelled against their masters at the end of the second Punic War, the blood of the Ligurians, Lusitanians, Balearians, Lydians, Greeks, and Egyptians flowed here. And further away, right by the sea, the light trunks of Roman columns gleam white...

Twenty-four years after the destruction of Carthage, on the spot where Roman plows passed on the last day of the last Punic War, the Romans rebuilt a new city. All that remained of Phoenician Carthage went like building material for buildings and temples of Roman Carthage. Carthage very quickly became the administrative, economic and cultural center of the entire African Roman province. In 29 AD, Emperor Augustus granted Carthage the rights it had before the Punic Wars. The city in northern Africa became rich and powerful again. The hills running down to the sea were again built up with white stone houses, temples, and palaces, and the slave market was again noisy in many languages.

Carthage was Roman for six centuries. In the 5th century it was conquered by the Vandals, and it became the capital of their kingdom. In the 6th century, Carthage came under Byzantine rule. In VII it was captured and again destroyed by the Arabs. In the 9th century, on the site of Carthage there was only a small village with only about a thousand inhabitants. And in the 16th century, Carthage - Phoenician, Roman, Byzantine - was finally destroyed by the Spaniards.

And today, over Carthage, over what remains of Carthage, the threat of a third destruction hangs.

The significance that Carthage played - its architects, artists, jewelers, sculptors, artisans - for the whole of North Africa, especially for Tunisia, is enormous. Being at the crossroads of international routes, Carthage, like a sponge, absorbed the cultures of all peoples and tribes. The oldest decoration found by archaeologists in Carthage has Syrian features, some figurines of the Phoenician mother goddess are clearly made in the Greek style, and figurines are found in the Carthaginian settlements of Tunisia, the whole appearance of which is strikingly similar to the ancient Egyptian sphinxes. And all this wealth has been closely intertwined over thousands of years with local, African traditions in art and culture. One of the largest Tunisian researchers, Jelal El-Kafi, writes that “in the history of Tunisia - an area where civilizations from the entire Mediterranean world have long met and interbred - Carthage appears as one of the peaks in the majestic panorama of a cultural tradition dating back more than one millennium.” Carthage was killed twice, but it was too great to disappear without a trace.

A large bush of pale lilac flowers, and in it, as if fused with it, stands a snow-white Corinthian capital. It was not destroyed or broken by man, but time, wind, sand and water removed from it that sharpness that is inevitable in any product that has just come out of the hand of a master - it stands as a light sketch in stone, light and beautiful. And nearby, right on the ground, framed by the lacy greenery of climbing plants, a piece of a fresco flashes on a fragment of an ancient wall. Carthage is reminiscent not only of the products of its craftsmen, discovered by archaeologists, exhibited in numerous museums around the world. In many cities and towns of the Maghreb, mosques, khan's palaces, and residential buildings were built from its ruins: you often see either a stone with a half-erased inscription from Carthage inserted into the wall of an ordinary house, or a cabinet made from a block of an antique column.

But the main thing that has preserved Carthage over the centuries is the land. The land of Carthage became a protected field for archaeologists. Who can take upon himself the courage to say what masterpieces of world art the explorer's spade will stumble upon tomorrow in this land?

And this protected field is under threat of destruction.

This time it's final. The city of Tunisia is growing, it is already cramped within the old walls, within the old borders, and it launched an attack on Carthage.

Roads, parking lots, campsites, villas, hotels, motels - ordinary development, without a plan, chaotic, begins to cover this land. El-Kafi writes that “if things continue as they are now, the brick and concrete of modern residential areas will inevitably bury the soil of Carthage.”

Now the Tunisian government, together with UNESCO, is looking for ways to save Carthage. The Carthage-Tunisia project is being created. Optimal options for the urban development of Tunisia are being sought in order to allocate significant areas of the future city to archaeological zones.

“Carthage should not be destroyed” - such an epigraph can be prefaced by the project “Carthage - Tunisia”. And I want to believe that the steel, glass and concrete of the 20th century AD will not rise above the ground of the ancient city as the last tombstone.

Carthage is a country of unlimited possibilities that appeared more than 2 thousand years ago. Wealth, power and ambition allowed these settlers to build an empire that controlled the entire Mediterranean for six hundred years.

They made some of the most significant discoveries of the Ancient World, both in their homeland and far beyond its borders. Their main pride is a huge port with hundreds of warships - the basis of the most impressive fleet of antiquity.

But Carthage had a worthy rival, a superpower the likes of which the world had never seen -. The Romans saw Carthage as a spear aimed at the very heart of their empire. Only one winner emerged from this confrontation; the loser was wiped off the face of the earth.

The rise of Carthage

Bloodshed, cruelty, ingenious achievements in construction and courage bordering on madness - this is what characterized great power rivalry: Rome and . It was a life-and-death battle whose outcome changed Western history.

Carthage was located in the north. In the 4th century BC. Carthage was an absolute power, holding in its fist with the help of an outstanding fleet.

But the legend of Carthage begins with the eastern Mediterranean city, the Phoenician city of Tire, a beautiful, jealous, greedy and lust for power that destroyed the royal family.

Dido was the beautiful daughter of a king, her husband was an ambitious Phoenician who died untimely. Dido's brother killed her Pygmalion.

Saving my life Dido fled from her native Tire to an unknown country in northern Africa. There she persuaded local residents to sell her a piece of land that could be covered with bull skin. Clever and cunning Dido cut the bull's skin into the thinnest strips, tied them and laid them out, separating a large fertile area. There, under her leadership, an amazing Kart-Hadasht, or New City.

When they came to Carthage, they measured the bay, looked at the mountains, saw deep rivers and a place where they could build impregnable fortress, they said: “This is where we will build our city.”

Dido's city of Carthage flourished. According to legend, news of his wealth and the beauty of Dido reached the Moorish king.

Dido's name is associated with the story of the king of the Libyan tribe, Yarba, who wanted to marry her, but the beauty refused him. According to legend, out of love for Dido, he killed her husband, and she threw herself into the funeral pyre and burned alive.

It was here that one of the world's greatest empires was born from her ashes.

Surrounded by strong rivals and lacking much territory, the Phoenicians from Carthage turned to the sea. They were pragmatic people, open to everything new, and endlessly inventive.

When Dido founded the New City, many said: “A new city is a new beginning.” And as Carthage expanded its network of trade routes, the city was becoming multinational, like many strategic points of that time.

Over the next 200 years, Carthage consolidated its position in Mediterranean, founding colonies on, and in.

Around 700-650 BC Carthage became a force to be reckoned with. Everyone knew about it; it was one of the main cities of that era.

Thanks to numerous trade routes, by the 7th century BC. the new possessions of Carthage were a tasty morsel: the population grew to 300 thousand, the city became one of the largest in the world.

Construction in Carthage

In a sense it can be compared to Manhattan: a huge population in a relatively small area. An important commercial and cultural center not only for North Africa, but also for the entire western Mediterranean.

Before Carthage, great feats of construction were performed to the glory of the gods, but this city was more worldly. Like America 2.5 thousand years later, Carthage attracted many people dreaming of getting rich.

Architects and engineers soon faced a problem: how to accommodate them all? The need to solve it led to construction boom.

The Carthaginians were a people with special mentality: They definitely wanted to be inside the city walls. Therefore, it was necessary to design buildings that could accommodate everyone who wanted to live in the city.

The Carthaginians were the first to turn the sky above the city into private property by starting to build apartments. The houses reached 6 floors in height. People constantly came to Carthage, a prosperous city, city ​​of dreams. If someone wanted to change their life, they went to Carthage.

To build for centuries, appropriate material was needed. He was on the shore of the Tunisian bay. There was an almost endless supply of limestone, who was easy to work with.

Limestone is an ideal material for construction. There were limestone deposits in that area, very close by, they were easy to use.

Archaeologists suggest that, like the Egyptians before them, the Carthaginians slaughtered stone blocks using the simplest means - water and wood. Having marked a cut on the surface of the rock with a chisel, they inserted a wooden wedge into the crevice and soaked it with water. The tree naturally absorbed the liquid, swelled and split the stone.

The pressure created by the expanding tree broke the stone into almost perfectly shaped blocks. Workers separated them using crowbars and other tools.

When massive blocks began to fall into the city, builders quickly turned Carthage into dynamically developing capital.

They built from stone, which means they had no intention of leaving. They settled for a long time.

For the survival of every metropolis, a source of water is necessary. Carthage was no exception, and the ancient engineers came up with for them tanks. Both layers are made from eggshells, ash and clay. These containers did not allow water to pass through. Through a network of pipes and channels, water from the tanks reached every house. The Carthaginians equipped their bathrooms with bathtubs, sinks and even showers long before the Romans.

It is reliably known that the water supply system was invented long before the advent of Carthage, but it was there that by the 600th city BC. and in the city around 450 BC. appeared unified water supply system and, most importantly, sewer.

Anyone can install a bathtub in their home, but the question is what to do with the used water? In Kerkuan we see a single system that supplies water to certain rooms - the kitchen and bathroom, and removes used water to sewer system. This revolutionary invention typical of Carthage, where everything was unusual.

Carthage - a great sea power

By the 6th century BC. Carthage turned into a city-state with majestic temples, beautiful palaces and unique high-rise buildings.

Carthage flourished, but their Phoenician congregation experienced decline. Great Phoenician city Tire surrendered to the Babylonians in 574 BC Now Carthage was left alone.

IN
Soon the Carthaginians sent their ships to the dusty shores of North Africa, conquering the sea and expanding their empire.

520 BC Three thousand oarsmen lead 60 ships through, or. , Carthage's greatest admiral, sails to uncharted lands. He is ready to begin an operation whose goal is to conquer the entire Mediterranean.

All great travelers, and, and, sailed into the unknown. This shows their similarity with the very first and best of them - Hanno.

Hanno had to expand the network of Carthaginian colonies and connections, and not only in the sense of trade: he had to found new cities in order to control new territories and have access to their resources.

Carthage's technical superiority at sea brought it power and prosperity. By the 6th century BC. Corsica, and found themselves under his authority.

The source of this power was technical perfection - Carthage Bay. This is the apotheosis of Carthaginian engineering.

Although there is no exact data, archaeologists believe that it was built during the time of Hanno. But at the peak of power in the 2nd century BC. The Carthage Bay has been transformed; now it has no analogues in the world. She became life-giving artery of Carthage, part of Carthage, its heart, its lungs, an absolutely necessary element for both trade and the fleet.

A strait 20 meters wide led into the harbor; it could easily be blocked with chains. Inside there were two separate ports. The first is for merchant ships. It was equipped with facilities that made the process of loading and unloading goods as easy as possible.

In Carthage 400 BC. one could find goods from all over the world. They were brought here, sold and bought here.

The second, round port, was intended for warships. There were 30 docks located symmetrically here. There were also 140 additional anchor spaces around the perimeter of the round part. Total the port could accommodate 220 ships.

Archaeologists have discovered a dry dock, a reminder of the former power of the great port.

No one had such power, such strength, such speed, not to mention the navigational skills of the Carthaginian sailors. When the harbor was opened, the ships flew out to sea, smashed the enemy, who offered virtually no resistance, and broke out into the open sea. People saw them and said: “Carthage is here.”

First Punic War

Two centuries Carthage dominated the Mediterranean, but the rival from the northern shore turned into a military machine of unprecedented power: it was.

The apple of discord between the two superpowers will be the pearl of the Mediterranean.

Carthage was ideal for trade, but it also needed Sicily because it was on one of the largest maritime trade routes in the world. Whoever controls Sicily controls vital trade routes. The Romans knew about the countless riches of Carthage and wanted to oust it.

Both Rome and Carthage now had fortifications in Sicily. Rivalry led to a series of wars that shook the Ancient World.

The Romans considered Carthage a spear aimed at the very heart of their growing trading empire, and of course they wanted to neutralize it.

These wars will go down in history as , from the Latin word that the Romans used to call the Phoenicians. Their outcome will change history. Carthage will be led into battle by one of the greatest military minds of all time.

At the beginning of the 3rd century BC. The Greek city called on the Republic of Rome for help in southern Italy to repel the pirate attack. Soon two Sicilian cities joined them. One of them, Messina, initially asked for help from Carthage, but then decided to turn to Rome, which was closer and more reliable.

Hamilcar was the first great commander of the Carthaginian Empire, he knew what needed to be done and how best to “pull the chestnuts out of the fire.”

In 247-242 BC. this ruthless military strategist swept across Sicily. His most important trump card is a warship. "Queen" means 5, i.e. 5 rows of rowers. Quinquereme was invented by the Greeks, and not the Carthaginians, but it was the latter who brought naval battles to new level. During the Punic Wars they were the greatest achievement of shipbuilding.

There were 5 rows of rowers on the quirquerem. It is not known for certain how it all worked, but it is believed that there were three levels of 5 people: two on the top two and each with an oar, and another oarsman on top, basically a larger version.

The battle tactics were exactly the same: the main task of such ships was ram an enemy ship. Equipped with a bronze-plated ship's ram, the ship was fast and maneuverable. They were very, very fast, and it was very difficult to catch up with the Carthaginian warship.

A standard quinquereme, about 35 meters long and 2 to 3.5 meters wide, could accommodate up to 420 sailors. The fully equipped ship weighed more than 100 tons. On the high seas these monsters were "machines of death".

This ship rushed towards the enemy with incredible speed. Impact... And the hull of the enemy ship bursts at the seams, the ship begins to sink. If we remember how we acted triremes, then we will understand that they rammed the enemy ship, and then fought a long fight with it. The Carthaginians did not waste time on this: they swam up, rammed, the enemy ship sank to the bottom, and they headed to the next one, bringing death.

The genius of the Carthaginians manifested itself in organizing the mass production of such ships. She took pre-prepared parts and assembled them on a conveyor belt. And as soon as the enemy dealt with one quinquereme, the next one appeared on the horizon.

The Roman fleet thus had a noticeable disadvantage until took possession of the broken quinquereme. They took it apart, figured out how it worked and created their own. They captured the stranded Carthaginian quinquereme and made dozens of copies of it. They were not assembled very well, and the wood used was raw, so after a few months the ships simply fell apart. But the Romans had enough time.

The Roman and Carthaginian fleets crossed the ancient equivalents of weapons of mass destruction to decide who would rule the Mediterranean. March 10, 241 BC they met off the west coast of Sicily, and one of the greatest naval battles in history.

In the First Punic War, the battle of the Aegadian Islands near Sicily became turning point. In a battle between the strongest naval powers, Carthage had a numerical advantage, but its killer ships were loaded with grain and supplies for Hamilcar's army, which was camped in Sicily. Many ships were sunk or captured, people did not expect this.

The Carthaginians tried to go on the offensive, but were unable to because of the excess cargo on the ships. This brought victory to the Romans.

That was strategic disaster. As a result, the Romans captured almost 30 thousand prisoners. Unable to regain his strength, Hamilcar was forced retreat to Carthage.

It was clear that the pendulum of power over the Mediterranean was steadily shifting towards Rome. Having won, Rome received not only Sicily, but also the possessions of Carthage in Corsica, Sardinia and the islands between Sicily and Africa.

Hannibal - the greatest of all commanders in history

In the hope of subjugating Carthage, Rome forced it to pay a large tribute. But Carthage was not yet ready to surrender. He turned his gaze to the west, to Spain.

Carthage sent Hamilcar Barca to Spain. In 237 BC. he should have conquer as many of its lands as possible.

It took Hamilcar 9 long years to conquer the local peoples. When he finally succeeded, the entire area south of the river became part of the Carthaginian Empire.

But Hamilcar had to pay for this victory with his life: in 228 BC. he was killed in a battle with a rebellious local tribe.

The death of Hamilcar was a heavy blow for Carthage, but this did not mean that the city surrendered: on the contrary, the way to new achievements was opened.

According to legend, Hamilcar's 9-year-old son begged to be allowed to watch his father lead Carthage into the Battle of Spain, and Hamilcar agreed, but on one condition: the son must promise that he would hate Rome forever and defeat this republic. There his son Hannibal became an instrument of revenge. This was the first step towards turning Hannibal into the most implacable enemy of the republic in the entire history of its existence.

211 BC A ghost haunts the Roman Republic. There is an army at its walls, led by the man whom the Romans fear and hate more than anything in the world - great Carthaginian commander, brilliant, cruel, inventive, Rome's worst nightmare.

Like magic, Hannibal defeated the Roman defense. But this magic was Hannibal's strategic genius and use of the greatest advances in military technology.

Perhaps Hannibal was the greatest of all commanders in history. Hannibal's genius developed from the irresistible desire to destroy Rome, inherited from his father.

In 221 BC. he had a chance to do this: at the age of 26, he took command of the Carthaginian army. Hannibal was true son of Hamilcar: he is a skilled politician, a brilliant strategist and military man, but his genius was manifested in the fact that he knew how to use the achievements that were at the disposal of Carthage. This iron commander is organizing the most unusual military campaign in history.

Rome controlled the Mediterranean Sea, which meant Hannibal could not reach the enemy by ship. Driven by desire keep your oath- to destroy Rome, given to his father, Hannibal decided to do the impossible: to go overland through the Alps into the heart of the Roman Empire.

Hannibal knows that the enemy is superior to him in strength, that he has a huge army, but he developed a strategy, which was supposed to bring him victory: he needed to bring an army to Italy and fight the Romans on their territory.

The campaign began in 218 BC, it involved 90 thousand warriors, 12 thousand horses and 37 elephants borrowed from their African neighbors.

Elephants have been used in warfare for hundreds of years., they were a key element because the enemy cavalry could not resist them. Therefore, Hannibal decided to try to bring these animals to Italy.

By October, they had covered a thousand kilometers and encountered their first major obstacle: a rushing river in France. Even at its narrowest point, the Rhone River was at best 100 to 200 meters wide. This is no easy task for Hannibal's engineers.

On the other side, huge hordes of warriors were waiting. But first there was a potentially deadly rushing river to overcome. To Hannibal's engineers nature itself had to be tamed: not only were they supposed to perform a miracle, but on the other side of the army, crowds of hostile local tribes were waiting for the army.

The Carthaginian builders accomplished a real feat: they built several giant rafts, on which cargo and animals were delivered to the opposite shore in record time. The rafts were 60 meters long and 15 wide, which means that the length of one tree trunk was not enough, they had to be connected to each other. This required special skills in tying strong knots. Quickly and in an organized manner, Hannibal's soldiers cut down huge trees in the nearby forest and tied the trunks with ropes.

The engineers also had to take into account the nature of the elephants: having tied the logs, the soldiers covered them with branches and covered them with earth so that the animals think they are still on a solid surface.

When everything was ready, Hannibal gave the signal to begin. The Gauls, amazed by his audacity, were confused when they saw the Carthaginian general leading soldiers, cavalry and elephants across a stormy river. When he swam to the shore, the Gauls fled in panic without landing a single blow. The whole operation took a little over 9 days.

It is likely that the crossing of the Rhone at such short term using only the simplest tools - one of greatest achievements in military history . Sometimes we forget about these small technological miracles.

Hannibal and his army continued their journey and approached the foot. Winter was approaching, the exhausted army was starving. As it climbed, it encountered another seemingly insurmountable obstacle: giant boulders.

Hannibal's engineers devised a plan that would allow the soldiers to pass through them. Crossing the Alps, of course, shocked the people of Italy: no one expected that an army with elephants would overcome them. And although the Alps may seem impassable in places, the idea make a passage through the rock to guide the huge animals was simply brilliant.

How did Hannibal manage to get people, not to mention animals, through giant boulders? The Roman historian wrote that the commander, together with his engineers, figured out how to literally move mountains: they cut deep cracks in the blocks, then lined them with wood from the nearest forest, and when the wind rose, they set it on fire. The stone heated up, and then the Carthaginians poured boiling vinegar into the cracks: he softened the block, and people could break it with iron tools.

Where did Hannibal get so much vinegar? If the story is true, and we think it is, otherwise, how did he get through the Alps? the foresight of a brilliant commander.

Once the Alps were behind him, the sight of the plains of northern Italy must have greatly encouraged his army.

August 2, 216 BC near the city Cannes in southern Italy, Hannibal met a Roman army under his command in a battle that will determine the fate of two empires.

At dawn, Hannibal set out with an army of 50 thousand, to which by that time mercenaries had been added, against the 90 thousand Romans of Varro. Varro decided to try to crush the enemy, sending the main forces to the center of the front Hannibal. It was fatal mistake.

Anticipating Varro's actions, Hannibal ordered the cavalry surround the Romans from the rear. Hannibal studied the psychology of the enemy very well and was able to outwit him, luring him to the center so that his warriors could encircle the Romans.

The Romans, who found themselves in the grip, died almost without moving. Only 3.5 thousand managed to escape, 10 thousand were captured, and 70 thousand remained lying on the battlefield.

However, Rome faced a problem: the most powerful fortifications in the ancient world were the walls of Carthage.

Now only one foundation remains of the fortress, but in 149 BC. these the walls were last hope cities. The fortification system consisted of three walls, the outer one was the most massive, made of stone and was then considered impregnable. The walls of Carthage were a real wonder of the world, and the townspeople counted on them.

The length of the wall was 37 kilometers, there were 3 lines of defense. The first is a ditch and behind it a low wall of dug earth. Soldiers were hiding behind her first line of defense, if there was a threat of a serious attack, they could quickly retreat. The second wall was made of stone, this main line of defense. Behind the second wall stood an even more impregnable third: 14 meters high and no less than 9 meters wide. 15 towers were located at intervals of 180 meters, with sentinels on duty. Behind this wall lived part of the Carthaginian army: 20 thousand soldiers and 300 elephants, ready for any attack.

The walls surrounding Carthage made it the most protected city in the Mediterranean, if not in the world. And in the confrontation with Rome, they had to fulfill their destiny with the participation of the famous Carthaginian general. On his initiative, a war was started with Numidia, and he had to lead the resistance.

The Roman legions gathered at the city walls, and the Carthaginians hastily built a new line of defense. Women gave their hair, some of them were ropes for catapults. The Carthaginians released the prisoners and also took the elderly. Those who had not touched a blacksmith's bellows for 20 years said: “I'll try again.” And they armed themselves with a determination comparable to that shown by the Stalingraders during the siege of the city by the Germans.

After 2 months of feverish work, 6 thousand shields, 18 thousand swords, 30 thousand spears, 120 ships and 60 thousand catapult cores appeared at their disposal. Carthage had a serious arsenal of weapons, but Roman forces were superior.

The city had nowhere to wait for help. The entire Mediterranean was either under the control of Rome or its allies. Carthage had no more colonies to help, he left alone.

The city knelt, hiding behind its fortifications, hoping against hope that the walls would stop the Roman invasion.

Carthage held off the Roman siege for 3 years. The inhabitants did not give up even in the last moments after the Romans broke through the fortifications. After another 7 days, the enemy reached the inner fortress, crushing everything in its path.

The Roman siege bled the city dry. And although they never managed to overcome the walls, The Romans broke through from the sea.

There were battles for every street in the city. The resistance of a handful of Carthaginian archers was so fierce that he ordered burn the city and raze it to the ground. Thousands of Carthaginians were burned alive. It was a firestorm, the inhabitants of the city seemed to be in hell, people fled.

During the siege, every tenth inhabitant of Carthage died, the city's population decreased from 500 thousand to 50. Survivors were sold as slaves and they never returned home.

It took only 17 days to completely burn Carthage. In the same 146 BC. Rome was wiped off the face of the earth, reined in and transformed Mediterranean Sea to a private pool.

Carthage will rise from the dead, this time it will be rebuilt by Rome: by the 3rd century AD. Carthage will once again become a thriving trading port. And although Rome will own it, the spirit and voices of Dido, Hanno, Hamilcar and Hannibal will hover among the Roman walls, begging not to consign them to oblivion, to remember their contribution to the development of civilization. And if you listen, you can still hear whispers among the ruins where proud Carthage stood.

Date: 146 BC e.

As a result of the Third Punic War (from the word Roepi or Puni - in Latin "Phoenicians"), Carthage, a colony of the Phoenician city of Tire, which created a maritime empire in the Western Mediterranean, was taken and destroyed by the Roman army in 146 BC.

The city was demolished and its 50,000 inhabitants were sold into slavery.

Carthaginian Empire

The sea peoples, Phoenicians and Greeks, founded colonies on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, along which trade routes passed. This word did not have the same meaning then as it does today. Greek and Phoenician cities sent troops overseas. They founded new independent settlements associated with the "city-
mother" (the mother country) only with sentimental memories and religious ties, without political dependence.

Carthage (in Phoenician Kart Hadasht - new city) was a colony of the Phoenician city of Tyre. It is located in North Africa, deep in the Gulf of Tunisia, and occupies a strategic position near the Strait of Sicily, connecting the Eastern and Western Mediterranean.

Founded in the 9th or 8th centuries. BC, Carthage, in turn, founded colonies along the entire coast of North Africa, in Spain, Corsica, Sardinia and (Sicily. In the interior of the continent, in the north of modern Tunisia, Carthage owned large land holdings and estates.

By controlling the Strait of Gibraltar, Carthage received the raw materials necessary for the production of bronze - tin from Great Britain, copper from southern Spain.

Carthage had a powerful fleet. Power was in the hands of the merchant nobility and shipowners. Their representatives commanded an army composed mainly of foreign mercenaries. The army, as usual in eastern monarchies, had war elephants.

From V to III centuries. BC Carthage waged wars with the Greek colonies in Sicily and southern Italy.

But in the 3rd century. a conflict begins with Rome, a continental power that sought to master the seas.

The beginning of Rome and the conquest of Italy

In the beginning, Rome was a small city in Central Italy. It is located in the region of Latium; The language of the population, Latin, like most Italic languages, belongs to the Indo-European linguistic family.

Rome is located on seven hills, it controlled the trade route passing through the Tiber from Northern to Southern Italy.

According to tradition, it was founded in 753 BC, and this date became the starting point for the Roman calendar. Before Rome became in 509 BC. e. republic, it was ruled by seven kings.

It seems quite realistic that in initial period Rome experienced influence and even tutelage from the Etruscans, who occupied modern Tuscany.

The origin of the Etruscans is mysterious: it is unknown where and when they appeared in Italy. They are believed to originate from Asia Minor. In any case, their language, which has not yet been deciphered, did not belong to the Indo-European family. Their civilization and especially their religion had a certain influence on Rome.

The population of Rome consisted of two distinct parts. Patricians, representatives of noble aristocratic families, initially held political power. The Senate (assembly of elders) consisted of the heads of patrician families. The mass of the population, the plebeians, are deprived of political rights. From V to II centuries. BC plebeians stubbornly fought for political rights. Gradually, wealthy plebeians achieved the same rights as patricians. But the Roman Republic did not become democratic. Through various stratagems, the rich, pitted against the poor, seized real political power.

Officials, in particular the two consuls who replaced the kings, were elected for one year. They commanded the army. In case of danger, full power was handed over to the dictator, but only for a period of six months.

The bulk of Roman citizens consisted of peasants living in the countryside near Rome. In case of war, they became soldiers. The Roman army, unlike the Carthaginian one, consisted of citizen soldiers.

From V to III centuries. BC e. Rome gradually conquered all of Italy. Its territory did not include modern Northern Italy, that is, the valley of the Po River, occupied by the Gauls; the Romans called it "Cisalpine Gaul", Gaul on this side of the Alps.

Gauls at the beginning of the 4th century. BC e. invaded Italy, sacked and burned Rome, with the exception of the fortress of the Capitol.

The conquest of southern Italy, occupied by Greek colonies, led Rome to intervene in the affairs of Sicily, where the Greeks and Carthaginians lived as neighbors.

Punic Wars

It was then that Rome, a land state, collided with a sea power - Carthage.

The First Punic War lasted 23 years, from 264 to 241. BC e. It ended with the expulsion of the Carthaginians from Sicily and the birth of Roman naval power.

The Second Punic War (219–202 BC) threatened the very existence of Rome.

The Carthaginian commander Hannibal with a powerful army, leaving Spain, crossed Gaul, crossed the Alps and invaded Italy. The Romans were defeated at Lake Trasimene (217 BC), then at Cannae, in southern Italy (216 BC). But Hannibal failed to take Rome. The Romans went on the offensive, moving hostilities to Spain, then to Carthaginian territory, where Hannibal was forced to retreat. In 202 BC. e. Scipio, nicknamed Africanus, won a decisive victory over Hannibal at Zama.

Carthage was disarmed and lost all external possessions, which passed to Rome.

Despite this defeat, Carthage continued to harass the Romans. Cato the Elder became famous by concluding all his speeches with the formula: “And besides, I believe that Carthage should be destroyed.”

This became the goal of the third Punic War (149–146 BC). It was less a war than a punitive expedition. The city was demolished (later a Roman colony arose on this site). The territory of Carthage became the Roman province of Africa.

At the same time, Rome began its conquest of the East: its armies defeated Philip V, king of Macedonia (197 BC), then the ruler of the Seleucid state (189 BC). The Greek cities, which the Romans supposedly “liberated” from the Macedonian yoke, rebelled against the power of Rome. They were defeated, and in 146 BC. e., just when Carthage was destroyed, Roman soldiers captured, plundered and destroyed Corinth. This event marks the end of Greek independence.

In 133 BC. e. The king of Pergamum, one of the main states of Asia Minor, died without leaving an heir and bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman people. His lands formed the Roman province of Asia.

Their city remained prosperous. Carthage continued its trade and soon again accumulated huge funds with its help. The Romans began to fear that he would revive his former military power. This was the fear main reason Third Punic War. The Roman Senate tried in every possible way to harm the Poons, supporting neighbors hostile to them. After the Second Punic War, thanks to the patronage of the Romans, the Numidian kingdom, adjacent to Carthage from the west, strengthened. Its ruler, Masinissa, cleverly took advantage of the Romans' hostility to Carthage. Under the pretext of the ancient rights of the Numidian kings, he captured many cities and flourishing districts that had belonged to Carthage for many centuries. According to the terms of the peace that ended the Second Punic War, the Carthaginians could not wage war with their neighbors without the permission of the Romans. The Carthaginian Senate complained to the Roman Senate about the lawlessness of Masinissa, but Rome always decided the matter in favor of the Numidians and thereby encouraged them to make new conquests. The Romans decided that Masinissa should retain Emporia, which he had captured, with its rich region on the banks of Lesser Syrtis, and that the Carthaginians, for their previous unfair possession of it, should pay him a reward of 500 talents. Immediately after this, Masinissa captured the city of Tuska and the fertile, densely populated land along the Bagrada River.

For all these reasons, the Third Punic War was inevitable. The Senate ignored the complaints of the Carthaginians; the voices of Scipio Nasica and other impartial senators could not smooth out the impression made by the speeches Cato the Elder, who, offended by the fact that the Carthaginians rejected his mediation, became their implacable enemy.

Ancient Carthage. Reconstruction

Cato, who saw that the wealth and power of Carthage was quickly being restored, tirelessly spoke in the Senate about the dangers threatening Rome from Carthage, whose strength was growing stronger; according to him, it was necessary to fear that in a little while a new Hannibal would appear at the gates of Rome; he said that the wealth of the Carthaginians, the huge reserves of weapons in their arsenals, their strong navy show that Carthage still retains formidable power, that Rome will not be safe as long as Carthage remains and is plotting its destruction; Cato ended each of his speeches with the words: “Besides, I vote that Carthage must be destroyed ”, calling for the opening of a new, Third Punic War in Africa. Roman merchants, who looked with envy at the rich Carthaginian trade, tried to stir up national hatred in order to inherit the trade of their Carthaginian rivals. This desire of theirs was another significant reason for the new war with the Poons.

Masinissa and Carthage

Masinissa, who, unfortunately for Carthage, retained the freshness of his mental and physical strength into old age and knew how to gain the favor of influential people of Rome by servility, boldly went to the fulfillment of his ambitious plans, hoping for Roman patronage, and irritated the Carthaginians with the continuous seizures of border areas. Finally, the Carthaginians, despairing of finding justice in Rome, decided to defend their property with weapons, recognized as theirs under an agreement with Rome itself. With the assistance of the irritated mass of the people, the patriotic party, whose leaders were Gazdrubal and Carthalon, acquired a preponderance in the government and immediately showed a firm intention to repel Masinissa’s violent actions by force. The Libyan prince Arcobarzan, grandson of Syphax, was accepted into the Carthaginian service; the government made preparations for war, expelled 40 people considered adherents of Masinissa and the Romans, and took an oath from the popular assembly never to allow them to return; The Romans, notified of this by Gulussa, son of Masinissa, sent an embassy to Carthage to demand that preparations for war be stopped and the supplies collected for the fleet destroyed. The government wanted to submit to these demands, but the irritated people's assembly opposed it.

Masinissa, king of Numidia

The Roman ambassadors were barely saved from insults and death - and this violence against them alone brought the beginning of the Third Punic War closer. The sons of Masinissa, who were traveling to Carthage to demand on behalf of their father the return of his expelled followers, were not allowed into the city; several members of their retinue were killed by Carthaginian soldiers who ran out of the gates to meet them. Masinissa led an army to Carthage. Gazdrubal went against him. Two Numidian princes, dissatisfied with Masinissa, moved with 6,000 cavalry from his camp to the Carthaginian one. Encouraged by this, Gazdrubal offered battle to the enemy; Masinissa accepted her. A long bloody battle took place, ending in the victory of Masinissa. Scipio Aemilianus, who was a military tribune in the Spanish army of the Romans and was sent from there by the consul Lucullus to take the elephants promised by Masinissa, looked at this battle from a hill, “like Zeus from Ida,” in the words of one of the ancient writers. Having been defeated, the Carthaginians entered into negotiations, agreed to renounce the disputed areas, pay Masinissa a large indemnity, but did not agree to accept his exiled adherents into Carthage; therefore the negotiations broke down and fighting resumed. Already clearly striving for the Third Punic War, the Romans left complete freedom to their client. Masinissa surrounded the army of Gazdrubal, a vain and mediocre man, and cut off the supply of food supplies; Gazdrubal was forced to agree to the most difficult conditions in order to gain freedom of retreat for the Carthaginian army, exhausted by hunger.

Gazdrubal promised that the exiles would be allowed to return, all deserters would be handed over, and Carthage would pay 100 talents of tribute to the Numidian king for 50 years. The Carthaginian warriors had to give up their weapons and go half-naked under the yoke. When they went to Carthage, unarmed, exhausted, and discouraged, Gulussa and his cavalry chased after them and, in revenge for the insult received from the Carthaginians, ordered them to be killed. Only a few managed to reach the gates of Carthage.

Beginning of the Third Punic War

Rome joyfully received the news that the Carthaginian army had been destroyed. Having started a war with Masinissa without the permission of Rome, the Carthaginians violated the treaty and thus gave the Roman Senate the desired pretext to declare the Third Punic War on them. In vain they wanted to ward off the storm by condemning to death the leaders of the patriotic party Carthalon and Gazdrubal as the culprits of the war, they sent an embassy to Rome to justify the state, to lay the war partly on Masinissa, partly on Carthalon and Gazdrubal; Even if they were completely innocent of violating the treaty, the Romans would have rejected their justification, especially since around this time Utica, the largest and strongest of the cities subject to Carthage, sent commissioners to Rome with an expression of complete submission to the Romans. The ambassadors were sent away with a vague answer, which did not explain Rome's intentions, but made it clear that its demands would be very severe. The Carthaginians sent a second embassy, ​​consisting of 30 noble citizens; he was given unlimited powers; but before it reached Rome, the Third Punic War had already been declared and begun, and the Roman fleet with 80,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry went to Lilybaeum to sail from there to Africa; The consuls who commanded this formidable expedition were given orders not to stop the Third Punic War that had begun until the destruction of Carthage. The ambassadors, who expressed Carthage’s readiness to fulfill all the demands of Rome, were given the answer that the Roman Senate agreed to leave the Carthaginian people their independence, region, property, if the Carthaginians, before the expiration of 30 days, sent 300 children of the noblest citizens as hostages to Sicily and carry out all the orders of the consuls.

What these orders would consist of, the Senate was silent, but discerning people understood what Rome was striving for in the Third Punic War it had begun and what the consuls would demand, because the Senate spoke only about the Carthaginian people, without mentioning the city of Carthage. This thought was so terrible that the Carthaginians wanted not to understand it. They could not believe that the city of Carthage was doomed to destruction. They unquestioningly sent hostages to the Romans and did not try to resist the landing of troops on the African coast. The consuls demanded the Carthaginian commissioners to come to Utica and received them sitting, surrounded by their tribunes and legates, in front of the entire huge army. The first requirement of the consuls was the issuance of weapons, military supplies and all equipment for the ships. The ambassadors ventured to humbly ask how they could then repel Hasdrubal, who fled from the death sentence pronounced over him, gathered 20,000 troops and threatened to attack Carthage. The consuls answered briefly that the Romans would take care of this. The commissioners complied with the demand. After some time, Carthaginian senators came to the Roman camp with a long convoy, which brought weapons, military supplies, and vehicles; there was full armament for 200,000 people. But if the Carthaginians believed that with this sacrifice they would reconcile Rome with themselves and persuade it to end the Third Punic War, then they were led out of error. The consul, having received the convoy, praised the obedience of the Carthaginians and then sternly pronounced the last fatal sentence: the city of Carthage must be destroyed, its inhabitants are allowed to build themselves a new city, in any place they please, but not closer, as 80 stadia (14 versts) from the sea . It is impossible to describe the impression with which this demand was received; cry, groans interrupted by cries of rage; some fell as if dead; others stood motionless with their eyes downcast. The head of the party loyal to the Romans, Hanno, tried to soften the cruel sentence with prayers and end the Third Punic War on less cruel conditions. But the consul's stern face remained unchanged; he said that the Senate had decreed so, and the will of the Senate must be carried out. In sad silence the ambassadors returned to convey the terrible news to the people sadly awaiting them; many of them went into hiding to escape their difficult duties. Those who did not evade it went to the Carthaginian Senate despondent; their sad appearance made the people crowding the streets guess that they brought bad news; but the truth turned out to be worse than the darkest forebodings. When the fatal verdict was conveyed by the Senate to the people, cries of mortal sorrow were heard throughout the city.

Defense of Carthage

Soon, however, grief gave way to terrible rage, people ran through the streets like crazy, rushed at the dignitaries who gave advice to agree to the surrender of hostages and weapons, beat and killed the ambassadors who returned with the fatal news, and killed the Italians who were in the city. There was no question of obeying the cruel demand. The Carthaginians would rather die under the ruins of their houses than leave their hometown and the seashore. The submission they showed at the beginning of the Third Punic War did not save Carthage. They now wanted, at least, to avenge him and, dying during the defense of Carthage, to destroy their enemies. We have already seen many times that the Phoenicians easily rushed from one extreme to another, that despondency was often replaced by courage; Now this trait of national character was majestically manifested in the Carthaginians. Unarmed, they decided to defend themselves. Nobles and commoners, men and women, were imbued with the same thought about the heroic continuation of the Third Punic War until last breath. They freed slaves to fill the ranks of warriors who would participate in the upcoming defense of Carthage. Gazdrubal, who had recruited an army from desperate exiles and Libyan mercenaries and dominated the outskirts of Carthage, was sent a request to forget the guilt of his fellow citizens before him and not refuse to help the dying fatherland; The defense of the city was entrusted to another Gazdrubal, the son of Masinissa’s daughter. To gain time for preparations for defense, the Carthaginians asked the consuls for a 30-day truce under the pretext of wanting to send a new embassy to Rome, and achieved, at least, that the consuls postponed the attack in the hope that irritation would be replaced by prudence. The Livo-Phoenicians took advantage of this precious break from the Third Punic War with incredible energy to prepare for the desperate defense of Carthage. The city looked like a military camp; the temple and public buildings became workshops in which swords and shields were forged day and night, arrows and darts were made, and cars were built. The Carthaginians destroyed houses to get timber for cars and iron. Many catapults were placed on the walls, for which piles of stones, heaps of large arrows, and darts were poured here. Women cut their hair to make ropes for cars. Everything was sacrificed for the defense of their hometown.

Even the Roman legions, with all their strength, could not resist people inspired by such enthusiasm. martial art. When the consuls finally led the army to attack, they were surprised to see that the walls were covered with armed citizens and many military vehicles. The hope of ending the Third Punic War easily and quickly disappeared when they took a closer look at the fortifications of the city, almost impregnable in their strength and in the convenience of the terrain for defense, and when they were convinced that the inhabitants were ready to defend Carthage with fearless courage.

Scipio Aemilianus in the Third Punic War

One consul, Manilius, approached the citadel, and the other, Censorinus, stood with the fleet at Lake Tunes in the southeast of the city and beat the walls from the shore and from the cape with rams. But the citizens of Carthage made a sortie at night, destroyed part of the siege fortifications and, when the Romans launched an attack, repulsed them with great damage. Only the young Scipio Aemilianus, son of Aemilius Paulus, who, thanks to his adoption by the son of Publius Scipio Africanus, was adopted into the Scipio family, saved the Romans with his prudence from complete defeat, which could have dragged out the Third Punic War for a long time. Scipio Aemilianus was then a military tribune. Anticipating that the attack would be repulsed, he kept his cohorts in reserve and covered with them the escape of those repulsed from the walls. At the same time, on the other side of the lake, Gazdrubal and the brave cavalry commander Himilkon Famey inflicted great damage on the detachment sent there to cut down the forest.

To these failures was added another disaster. In the summer heat, the harmful fumes of stagnant water caused an epidemic in the Roman camp; Consul Censorinus found it necessary to withdraw the army and fleet to seashore; After some time, he left for Rome, where he needed to be during the elections. His comrade was less gifted, and after his departure things went even worse than before. The Romans had to receive food supplies from Utica and cities even more distant: from Hadrumet, Leptida, etc.; delivery was difficult, Masinissa was inactive and was dissatisfied: he did not like that the Roman Senate decided, through the Third Punic War, to make a Roman possession of the city, which he himself had long wanted to take possession of. All this made the position of the Romans so difficult that they abandoned offensive actions and were forced to limit themselves to protecting the fleet from attempts by Carthaginian citizens. If it weren’t for Scipio Aemilianus, who brilliantly showed his great talents at that time, then both the fleet and the camp would probably have been captured by the enemy.

Manilius built a wall and a small fortification to protect the camp and fleet and sent strong detachments to escort transports of food supplies. He made an attack on Gazdrubal, who stood near the city of Neferis; it ended in the defeat of the Romans. There was a river along the road; the fleeing would have been exterminated while crossing it, if Scipio Aemilian had not saved the army here, who in vain advised against undertaking this attack. He and his cavalry quickly attacked the Libyans pursuing the infantry and detained them while the rest of the army crossed the river. His detachment was cut off from retreating, but he heroically brought his soldiers out of a desperate situation and happily led them to the camp.

“He is the only man there, all the others are wandering shadows,” said Cato upon learning of this feat of Scipio Aemilianus. Soon after this, this old hater of Carthage died without waiting for the fulfillment of his passionate desire. And 90-year-old Masinissa did not live to see the end of the Third Punic War, which he excitedly contributed to and which he later began to look at with vexation. Spicio Emilianus, a man as amiable as a brave warrior, restored good relations between the Romans and the three sons of Masinissa, arranged for them all to rule their father’s kingdom together, and, according to his conviction, Gulussa, who inherited his father’s talents, led an army to help the Romans. He also managed to persuade the skilled cavalry commander Himilcon Fameus to go over to the side of the Romans. Thanks to this, the Romans now had a lot of light cavalry, the lack of which greatly harmed them at the beginning of the Third Punic War. It is not surprising that the army began to idolize Scipio Aemilianus, began to find him reminiscent of the great Scipio Africanus with his talents and inherited by adoption the favor of the gods towards him and his happiness.

Scipio Aemilianus was considered the guardian of the army, and respect for him increased even more when, after his departure, happiness and glory began to seem to have abandoned the Romans. The new consul Lucius Calpurnius Piso and the head of the fleet Lucius Hostilius Mancinus were mediocre people, they waged the Third Punic War sluggishly, made only a few attacks on the coastal cities of the Carthaginian region, they failed in them too, and they did not dare to attack Carthage, they did not dare to attack the army Gazdrubal. The hopes of the Carthaginians grew and especially increased after the Numidian prince Bitius came over to them with 800 horsemen from the army of Gulussa; They began to win over other native princes to their side and entered into relations with the false Philip of Macedon. But with this small glimmer of happiness, strife resumed. Gazdrubal, proud of his two victories over Manilius, planned to seize power; he accused Gulussa's nephew, who was also called Gazdrubal, who commanded the troops in the city, of treasonous relations with his uncle and managed to arrange for this Gazdrubal to be killed in the Carthaginian Senate.

Siege of Carthage by Scipio Aemilianus

Third Punic War. Map of the siege of Carthage

In Rome they began to worry about the unsuccessful course of the Third Punic War, and when the time came for new elections, they decided to elect Scipio Aemilianus, the only person who had earned fame there, as consul and appointed commander-in-chief in Africa. The army wanted to have him as their leader, and his very name already seemed to be a guarantee of victory. He lacked the legal age for the consulate, he had envious people, but nothing prevented his choice.

When Scipio came ashore at Utica, the position of the Roman army was bad. The commander of the fleet, Mancinus, made an attack on Magalia, a suburb of Carthage, at first had success, but was finally repulsed with damage and barely held out against the enemy’s attacks. When the messenger brought a report to Scipio that the enemies were pressing the sailors, he came to the aid of the fleet before dawn, repulsed the enemy and, calling upon the army of Piso, set up his camp near the walls of Carthage. His first concern during the Third Punic War was to restore the fallen discipline and curb the debauchery that dominated the army and interfered with service. When he had succeeded in this, partly by severity, partly by the influence of his example, he attacked the outskirts of Carthage at night.

The Carthaginians defended themselves very stubbornly, but from a movable tower attached to the wall, several brave warriors went down to the outskirts and opened a small door in the wall; Scipio entered through this door with 4,000 soldiers and took possession of the suburbs. Now the Carthaginians concentrated all their energy on the defense of the so-called city itself and its citadel - Scipio Aemilian began to besiege them. The townspeople summoned Hasdrubal and his army to Carthage and made him commander-in-chief. He began to rule terroristically and began by bringing all the Roman captives to the walls, ordering them to be tortured and throwing the mutilated from the walls. But Scipio Aemilian was not inferior in energy to the Carthaginians. He waged the Third Punic War with talent and skill, set up a fortified camp from sea to sea, cut off the city from all land communications, then took away communications by sea from it, locking the Great Harbor with a stone dam 96 feet wide. For several weeks work went on on it day and night with constant battles against the Carthaginian attacks; when the dam was completed, Carthage, having no supply of supplies either from land or from sea, was soon to fall - so the Romans thought. But with amazement they saw that 50 Carthaginian triremes and many small ships were leaving the Great Harbor into the sea from the side opposite the entrance blocked by the dam. Unbeknownst to the Romans, the Carthaginians dug a canal that led from the harbor to the east and built ships. If, taking advantage of the first minutes of embarrassment of the Romans, they attacked their fleet, unprepared for battle, they could destroy it all. But they sailed into the sea only to test whether the channel was convenient and whether the new ships were good; Mommsen thinks that they wanted to boast to the Romans with this test voyage, to ridicule their hope that the end of the Third Punic War was near. The Carthaginian squadron returned to the harbor, and the army of Scipio Aemilianus had three days to prepare for a naval battle; but with all their efforts they could not win it. When the Carthaginian ships returned to the harbor after a long indecisive battle, their small ships were cramped at the entrance to the canal, and the triremes delayed by this were severely damaged by the heavy Roman ships. But the new canal could be used only as long as the fortified embankment of the Great Harbor remained in the hands of the Carthaginians. The Romans made every effort to take possession of the embankment, the Carthaginians - to hold it behind them. Scipio Aemilian had already captured the approaches to it and stationed his vehicles, but the Carthaginians walked through shallow water at night, set fire to the vehicles and drove the Romans away. Scipio renewed the attack and, after a fierce battle, took possession of the embankment. Now the Great Harbor was in his power. The besieged city, cut off from communications by land, was indeed cut off from communications by sea, and the outcome of the Third Punic War was a foregone conclusion.

In winter 147–146. BC Scipio was content with keeping Carthage in a blockade; he hoped that with the crowded city, food supplies would soon be used up. Meanwhile, he made campaigns against the Carthaginian troops stationed in the field, and now, after Gazdrubal had become commander-in-chief in the city, under the command of Diogenes. With the help of Gulussa, Scipio took the fortified Carthaginian camp from Neferis and destroyed the entire army that was there; the number of those killed was said to reach 70,000 people; 10,000 were captured. After this, the Romans were free to roam throughout Libya. Hunger and widespread disease began to rage in besieged Carthage; his fall and the end of the Third Punic War were close.

Capture of Carthage by the Romans

When the winter weather ceased, Scipio began to capture Carthage, launching a decisive attack on the inner city for the outcome of the Third Punic War. Exhausted by hunger, Gazdrubal's warriors resisted weakly; The Carthaginians relied more on the height and strength of their walls than on the strength of their weapons. Gazdrubal set fire to the houses near the Small Harbor and, with the bravest of the citizens, went to the citadel. Scipio soon took possession of the part of the city lying near the harbor, occupied the area of ​​public meetings and began to move along the three streets that led from it to the citadel. The battle with which the Romans took these streets from the Carthaginians was terrible (146). Citizens defended themselves with the courage of despair in six-story buildings like forts; the Romans had to take these strong buildings one after another and overpower their defenders only by making platforms from roof to roof, or from houses on one side of the street to houses on the other; having climbed along these boards onto the roof of a neighboring or opposite house, they went down, killing in their rage everyone they found. This terrible battle of the Third Punic War lasted for several days. Having finally taken all of Carthage right up to the citadel, Scipio ordered it to be set on fire; they ran out of the flaming, collapsing houses, but those who managed to hide from the sword of the soldiers perished in the flames on the streets: old people, women, children. Some, crashed, half-burnt, lay still alive, the soldiers killed them and dragged corpses, fallen stones, charred beams to the side, clearing a place for taking the citadel, surrounded by three rings of walls. The rest of the population of Carthage went into it. But when the city burned down and death approached the citadel, those in it lost heart. On the seventh day, ambassadors from the garrison of the citadel came to Scipio, asking for mercy and permission to leave freely. He promised mercy for life. Pale, emaciated, 30,000 men and 25,000 women left the citadel and walked through the ashes of their hometown to where the winner ordered them to go. Roman soldiers guarded them there. But the Roman deserters who fled to Carthage during the Third Punic War were refused mercy by Scipio, and they remained with Hasdrubal.

Roman historians speak ill of Hasdrubal, the last defender of Carthage. According to them, while Carthage suffered from hunger, Gazdrubal enjoyed luxurious dinners and indulged in gluttony, which was always his strongest passion. He went with his wife, children and 900 Roman deserters to the temple of Aesculapius, which stood on the top of a hill, and there this handful of people waged a last desperate defense of the Third Punic War for several days, until hunger, fatigue from battle, exhaustion from nights without sleep robbed them of the strength to defend themselves . When the hour of death was near. Gazdrubal shamefully abandoned his faithful companions and family. He was afraid of death, secretly left the temple and fell on his knees before the winner, begging for mercy; it was given to him. The warriors he abandoned set the temple on fire and found themselves dead in the flames. When the wife of Hasdrubal saw her husband at the feet of the Roman, the heart of the proud Carthaginian woman was filled with grief over this desecration of her dying fatherland; with bitter mockery she exclaimed to her husband that he should take care of preserving his precious life; she killed her two children and threw herself into the flames with them.

Carthage was taken and the third Punic War ended. There was rejoicing in the Roman camp; but Scipio, watching with his teacher and friend Polybius for the destruction of Carthage, he wept with compassion and, thinking about the fragility of earthly power, he uttered words from Homer: “The day will come when sacred Ilion, and Priam, and the people of the brave king will perish.” In the fate of Carthage, he saw a harbinger of the fate that would one day befall his hometown.

When the fire that had consumed the houses, palaces, and temples built over centuries died out, the parts of captured Carthage that survived the flames were given over to the soldiers for plunder, but the gold, silver, and sacred things of the temples were sent to Rome, and the jewelry and works of art taken by the Carthaginians in Sicilies, such as the bull Phalaris, were returned to the cities from which the Carthaginians had taken them. The prisoners taken in the Third Punic War were either sold into slavery or thrown into prison, where they languished for the rest of their lives. Gazdrubal, Bitiy, young men and children, sent before the war as hostages to the Romans, were settled in different cities of Italy.

Destruction of Carthage

With indescribable delight, Rome received the news that the Third Punic War was over and Carthage had been taken. Notifying the Senate about this, Scipio asked for orders on how to deal with the conquered state. In vain Nazika again spoke in defense of the Carthaginians, trying to awaken a sense of compassion and honor. Most senators remained deaf to the advice of humanity. Ten senators brought Scipio an order to implement the main goal of the Third Punic War - to raze Carthage to the ground, destroy all the cities that remained loyal to him to the end, and plow up the places on which they stood. It was done. According to ancient custom, Scipio appealed to the gods of Carthage, asking them to leave the defeated country and settle in Rome; the ruins of Carthage were destroyed, and a curse was pronounced over its place, which had turned into an empty field, dooming it to remain abandoned by people forever; it was forbidden to settle on it or sow grain. The ruins of the destroyed Carthage burned for seventeen days, and where the magnificent trading city of the industrious Phoenicians stood for five centuries, the slaves of distant Roman nobles began to graze their flocks.

Results of the Third Punic War

Other results of the Third Punic War were as follows. The district, which belonged to the city of Carthage itself, was made Roman state land and was leased. Rural districts of the Carthaginian region and the cities of Utica, Hadrumet, Minor Leptida, Thapsus, etc. formed the province of Africa, the Roman ruler of which lived in Utica. This city was given some independence and part of the Carthaginian region was given. After the Third Punic War, crowds of Roman merchants flocked to Utica to inherit the Carthaginian trade, which they had long wanted to take into their own hands. Utica soon became one of the main centers of trade, a rival of Rhodes and Alexandria. Other cities began to pay tribute to Rome.

We will see that Carthage was subsequently rebuilt and was subject to new disasters. New buildings and new destruction have erased almost all traces of ancient Carthage, so that in the place where it stood, almost not a single stone that belonged to it can be found on the surface of the earth. Only deep under the piles of rubbish from later ruins did the foundations of the colossal buildings of ancient Carthage still survive in some places. Now, where temples, colonnades, six-story houses and towers of the walls of Carthage stood before the Third Punic War, the plow of a poor Tunisian villager is plowing furrows.

146 BC e.

As a result of the third Punic War (from the word Poeni or Puni- in Latin "Phoenicians") Carthage, a colony of the Phoenician city of Tyre, created a maritime empire in the Western Mediterranean, taken and destroyed by the Roman army in 146 BC.

The city was demolished and its 50,000 inhabitants were sold into slavery.

Carthaginian Empire

Sea peoples, Phoenicians and Greeks on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, along which trade routes passed, founded colonies. This word did not have the same meaning then as it does today. Greek and Phoenician cities sent troops overseas. They founded new independent settlements, connected with the “mother city” (metropolis) only by sentimental memories and religious ties, without political dependence.

Carthage(in Phoenician Kart Hadasht - new city) was a colony of the Phoenician city of Tyre. It is located in North Africa, deep in the Gulf of Tunisia, and occupies a strategic position near the Strait of Sicily, connecting the Eastern and Western Mediterranean.

Founded in the 9th or 8th centuries. BC, Carthage, in turn, founded colonies along the entire coast of North Africa, in Spain, Corsica, Sardinia and (Sicily. In the interior of the continent, in the north of modern Tunisia, Carthage owned large land holdings and estates.

Controlling the Strait of Gibraltar, Carthage received raw materials necessary for the production of bronze - tin from Great Britain, copper from southern Spain.

Carthage had powerful fleet. Power was in the hands of the merchant nobility and shipowners. Their representatives commanded an army composed mainly of foreign mercenaries. The army, as usual in eastern monarchies, had war elephants.

From V to III centuries. BC Carthage waged wars with the Greek colonies in Sicily and southern Italy.

But in the 3rd century conflict with Rome begins a continental power that sought to master the seas.

The beginning of Rome and the conquest of Italy

In the beginning, Rome was a small city in Central Italy. It is located in the region Latium; language of the population - Latin,- like most Italic languages, belongs to the Indo-European linguistic family.

Rome is located on seven hills he controlled the trade route from Northern to Southern Italy passing through the Tiber.

According to tradition, it was founded in 753 BC, and this date became the starting point for the Roman calendar. Before Rome became in 509 BC. e. republic, it was ruled by seven kings.

It seems quite realistic that in the initial period Rome experienced influence and even tutelage from outside Etruscans, occupied modern Tuscany.

The origin of the Etruscans is mysterious: it is unknown where and when they appeared in Italy. They are believed to originate from Asia Minor. In any case, their language, which has not yet been deciphered, did not belong to the Indo-European family. Their civilization and especially their religion had a certain influence on Rome.

The population of Rome consisted of two distinct parts. Patricians, At first, political power belonged to representatives of noble aristocratic families. The Senate (assembly of elders) consisted of the heads of patrician families. The mass of the population plebeians, deprived of political rights. From V to II centuries. BC The plebeians fought hard for political rights. Gradually, wealthy plebeians achieved the same rights as patricians. But the Roman Republic did not become democratic. Through various stratagems, the rich, pitted against the poor, seized real political power.

Officials, in particular the two consuls who replaced the kings, were elected for one year. They commanded the army. In case of danger, full power was handed over to the dictator but only for a period of six months.

The bulk of Roman citizens consisted of peasants living in the countryside near Rome. In case of war, they became soldiers. The Roman army, unlike the Carthaginian one, consisted of citizen soldiers.

From V to III centuries. BC e. Rome gradually conquered all of Italy. Its territory did not include modern Northern Italy, that is, the valley of the Po River, occupied by the Gauls; the Romans called it “Cisalpine Gaul,” Gaul on this side of the Alps.

Gauls at the beginning of the 4th century. BC e. invaded Italy, sacked and burned Rome, with the exception of the fortress of the Capitol.

The conquest of southern Italy, occupied by Greek colonies, led Rome to intervene in the affairs of Sicily, where the Greeks and Carthaginians lived as neighbors.

Punic Wars

It was then that Rome, a land state, collided with a sea power - Carthage.

First Punic War lasted 23 years, from 264 to 241. BC e. It ended with the expulsion of the Carthaginians from Sicily and the birth of Roman naval power.

Second Punic War(219–202 BC) threatened the very existence of Rome.

Carthaginian commander Hannibal with a mighty army, leaving Spain, crossed Gaul, crossed the Alps and invaded Italy. The Romans were defeated at Lake Trasimene (217 BC), then at Cannae, in southern Italy (216 BC). But Hannibal failed to take Rome. The Romans went on the offensive, moving hostilities to Spain, then to Carthaginian territory, where Hannibal was forced to retreat. In 202 BC. e. Scipio, nicknamed Africanus, won a decisive victory over Hannibal at Zama.

Carthage was disarmed and lost all external possessions, which passed to Rome.

Despite this defeat, Carthage continued to harass the Romans. Cato the Elder became famous by concluding all his speeches with the formula: “And besides, I believe that Carthage should be destroyed.”

This became the goal third Punic war(149–146 BC). It was less a war than a punitive expedition. The city was demolished (later a Roman colony arose on this site). The territory of Carthage became the Roman province of Africa.

At the same time, Rome began its conquest of the East: its armies defeated Philip V, king of Macedonia (197 BC), then the ruler of the Seleucid state (189 BC). The Greek cities, which the Romans supposedly “liberated” from the Macedonian yoke, rebelled against the power of Rome. They were defeated, and in 146 BC. e., just when Carthage was destroyed, Roman soldiers captured, plundered and destroyed Corinth. This event marks the end of Greek independence.

In 133 BC. e. The king of Pergamum, one of the main states of Asia Minor, died without leaving an heir and bequeathed his kingdom to the Roman people. His lands formed the Roman province of Asia.