The most reliable source for Punic Wars is the historian Polybius (c. 200 – c. 118 BC), a Greek sent to Rome in 167 BC as a hostage. He is best known for The Histories, written sometime after 146 BC. Polybius's work is … See more

Armies
Most male Roman citizens were eligible for military service and would serve as infantry, with a See more

Mercenary War
The Mercenary, or Truceless, War began in 241 BC as a dispute over the payment of wages owed to 20,000 foreign soldiers who had fought for Carthage on Sicily during the First Punic War. This erupted into full-scale … See more

At the end of the war, Masinissa emerged as by far the most powerful ruler among the Numidians. Over the following 48 years he repeatedly took advantage of Carthage's inability to protect its possessions. Whenever Carthage petitioned Rome for … See more

The Roman Republic had been aggressively expanding in the southern Italian mainland for a century before the First Punic War. It had conquered peninsular Italy south of the Arno River by 270 BC, when the Greek cities of southern Italy (Magna Graecia) submitted after the … See more

Course
Much of the First Punic War was fought on, or in the waters near, Sicily. Away from the coasts its hilly … See more

In 219 BC a Carthaginian army under Hannibal besieged, captured and sacked Saguntum and in spring 218 BC Rome declared war on Carthage. There were three main military theatres in the war: Italy, where Hannibal defeated the Roman legions repeatedly, … See more