Punic War

The City of Selinus: Casualty of the Punic Wars

Author: timetravelrome /

A great pillared temple dominates the skyline of Selinus today, while other city buildings are in ruins around it. Yet the building foundations are many and widespread, as modern buildings have never encroached on the site. The city of Selinus was abandoned after its destruction at the hands of the Carthaginians, during the Second Punic War with Rome. Colonists from Megara in Greece [...]

2019-06-18T20:34:47+00:00June 18th, 2019|Categories: Top Destinations|Tags: , , , , , |

Scipio and Masinissa Part Five: Drama at Cirta

Author: timetravelrome /

By the time of the Second Punic War, Cirta was the capital of the kingdom of Numidia. Here Syphax established his headquarters, after defecting from the Romans and taking much of Masinissa’s ancestral kingdom. Syphax also gained a wife from his new support of Carthage, Sophonisba, who was Masinissa’s former fiancée. After his return from Spain, Masinissa at once began a campaign to [...]

2019-05-20T13:55:45+00:00May 20th, 2019|Categories: Top Destinations|Tags: , , , |

Scipio and Masinissa Part Four: Two Generals Meet Near Gades

Author: timetravelrome /

Phoenician settlers from Tyre established Gades, now Cadiz, in 1104 B.C., and in the 7th century they added a connected port. According to legend, Hercules himself founded the city after defeating Geryon, a three-headed monster. It was the tenth of his famous twelve labors. The Carthaginians took the city when they invaded Spain during the 2nd Punic War. Hannibal even made sacrifices in [...]

2019-05-15T11:17:18+00:00May 15th, 2019|Categories: Top Destinations|Tags: , , , |

Scipio and Masinissa Part One: Victory at Castulo

Author: timetravelrome /

A fascinating ancient people lived in the northern regions of Africa, to the west of Carthage. The Romans initially met them during The First Punic War, employed as mercenaries of Carthage. They called them the Numidians, possibly derived from the word nomad. During the Punic Wars, there were actually two main tribes, the Massylii and the Masaesyli. When the 2nd Punic War broke [...]

2019-04-24T11:53:28+00:00April 24th, 2019|Categories: Top Destinations|Tags: , , , , |

The First Pyrrhic Victory at Asculum

Author: timetravelrome /

Just a few decades prior to the first Punic War with Carthage, Rome tangled with another perilous enemy. The second cousin of Alexander the Great, Pyrrhus of Epirus inherited his relative’s genius for military strategy. The Carthaginian general Hannibal ranked Pyrrhus as second only to Alexander as the greatest general ever to have lived. Though he eventually met an ignoble end, Pyrrhus won [...]

2019-03-28T22:20:40+00:00March 28th, 2019|Categories: Top Destinations|Tags: , , , |
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