May 6

5000 soldiers not in it for pay (not yet)

• the Roman army's elite heavy infantry recruited exclusively from Roman citizens

The Punic Wars (264 - 146 BCE)

• Rome vs. Carthage
• three wars

First Punic War (264 - 241 BCE)

• naval battles for control of the strategically located island of Sicily
• Rome wins this one

Second Punic War (218 - 201 BCE)

• 29 year old Carthaginian general Hannibal almost takes Rome
• attacks Rome from North after crossing Iberia
• lays siege to much of the peninsula for 15 years
• never gets to Rome

Third Punic War (149 - 146 BCE)

• Scipio, Tiberius Gracchus attack city
• Rome threatens Carthage for money to not attack them
• Rome attacked - Carthage burned 17 days
• when war ended, last 50,000 people in Carthage sold into slavery in Rome
• rest of city annexed, made into Roman province of Africa
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