Hannibal invaded Italy with the hope of raising widespread rebellions among Rome's subordinate allies. Yet even after crushing the Roman army at Cannae, he was only partially successful. Why did some communities decide to side with Carthage and others to side with Rome? This is the fundamental question posed in this book, and consideration is given to the particular political, diplomatic, military and economic factors that influenced individual communities' decisions. Understanding their motivations reveals much, not just about the war itself, but also about Rome's relations with Italy during the prior two centuries of aggressive expansion. The book sheds new light on Roman imperialism in Italy, the nature of Roman hegemony, and the transformation of Roman Italy in the period leading up to the Social War. It is informed throughout by contemporary political science theory and archaeological evidence, and will be required reading for all historians of the Roman Republic.

This second edition examines all aspects of Roman history, and contains a new introduction, three new chapters and updated bibliographies.

The epic struggle between Carthage and Rome, two of the superpowers of the ancient world, is most famous for land battles in Italy, on the Iberian peninsula and in North Africa. But warfare at sea, which played a vital role in the First and Second Punic Wars, rarely receives the attention it deserves. And it is the monumental clashes of the Carthaginian and Roman fleets in the Mediterranean that are the focus of Christa Steinby's absorbing study. She exploits new evidence, including the latest archaeological discoveries, and she looks afresh at the ancient sources and quotes extensively from them. In particular she shows how the Romans' seafaring tradition and their skill, determination and resourcefulness eventually gave them a decisive advantage. In doing so, she overturns the myths and misunderstandings that have tend to distort our understanding of Roman naval warfare.

"A history of the Punic Wars intended for all audiences"--

*Includes pictures *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading Rome and Carthage rarely could maintain peace after the end of the 4th century BCE. As the two most powerful civilizations in the western Mediterranean, they were destined to clash, curse or not. Roman historians placed the foundation of Carthage at approximately 814 BCE, several decades before Rome. The settlers of Carthage were of Phoenician descent, tracing their ancestry back to the great city of Tyre on the southern coast of Lebanon, but Carthage soon transformed from a minor Phoenician colony into the capital of its own growing civilization. The city itself was well positioned for shipping, and it soon dominated maritime trade. Along with that, the Carthaginians built a powerful and well-trained navy, whose protection, combined with its strategic location, made the city of Carthage a formidable prospect to attack. At its height, Carthage housed several hundred thousand inhabitants, living under a republican governmental system operated by the Carthaginian Senate. As Carthage grew, it began to expand, conquering by sea and establishing new colonies to improve trade networks. One of the Carthaginians' key objectives was Sicily. Certain foreign policy decisions led to continuing enmity between Carthage and the burgeoning power of Rome, and what followed was a series of wars which turned from a battle for Mediterranean hegemony into an all-out struggle for survival. Although the Romans gained the upper hand in the wake of the First Punic War, Hannibal brought the Romans to their knees for over a decade during the Second Punic War. While military historians are still amazed that he was able to maintain his army in Italy near Rome for nearly 15 years, scholars are still puzzled over some of his decisions, including why he never attempted to march on Rome in the first place. After the serious threat Hannibal posed during the Second Punic War, the Romans didn't wait much longer to take the fight to the Carthaginians in the Third Punic War, which ended with Roman legions smashing Carthage to rubble. As legend has it, the Romans literally salted the ground upon which Carthage stood to ensure its destruction once and for all. Despite having a major influence on the Mediterranean for nearly five centuries, little evidence of Carthage's past might survives. The city itself was reduced to nothing by the Romans, who sought to erase all physical evidence of its existence, and though its ruins have been excavated, they have not provided anywhere near the wealth of archaeological items or evidence as ancient locations like Rome, Athens, Syracuse, or even Troy. Today, Carthage is a largely unremarkable suburb of the city of Tunis, and though there are some impressive ancient monuments there for tourists to explore, the large majority of these are the result of later Roman settlement. The Punic Wars spanned more than a century, brought the loss of approximately 400,000 lives, and eventually led to the utter defeat and destruction of Carthage, but it was no easy victory for Rome, and on several occasions the young Roman Republic was close to annihilation. Given what happened in the wake of the Punic Wars, historians have long been left to ponder what might have happened had the Carthaginians won, especially given how close Hannibal came to accomplishing such a victory against Rome during the Second Punic War. What if Carthage Won the Punic Wars? An Alternative History of the Conflict Between Rome and Carthage profiles the conflict and examines how events may have gone quite differently for Europe if Rome had been defeated.

Investigates the representation of the Carthaginian enemy and the revisionist history of the Punic Wars in Virgil's Aeneid.