Who was ancient Rome's enemy?

Answer 1

There were a great many enemies during the 1,200 years of ancient Roman history and they varied over time. The first enemies were Rome's neighbours, other Latin cities which were worried about Rome's power, the Sabines and various Etruscan cities. The Romans also fought three wars against the Samnites (343-290 BC) who lived further south and the Pyrrhic War (280-275 BC) against Pyrrhus, a Greek king who tried to invade southern Italy.

The Romans clashed with Carthage, a Phoenician city in Tunisia which dominated trade in the western Mediterranean. These two enemies fought the three Punic Wars (246 -146 BC), which ended with the destruction of Carthage and Rome’s control of the western Mediterranean. Other enemies of that time were the Illyriansof the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, next door to Italy, because they were engaged in piracy, and the Gauls of northern Italy with whom Rome clashed. Both these peoples were conquered.

The next enemy was king Mithridates IV, the king of Pontus (in northwestern Turkey), who fought three wars (88-63 BC) against Rome and lost. When Julius Caesar fought the Gallic Wars (58-50 BC), the Gauls of France and Belgium and some Germanic peoples who lived in the northern part of the area were enemies. The Celtic peoples of the Alpine area raided the empire and were conquered in the second decade of the first century AD. The Dacians of Romania and Moldova also attacked the empire and were conquered by Trajan. The Macomanni and other related Germanic peoples in Bohemia also attacked the empire and were defeated by Marcus Aurelius.

The Persians were a great foe of Rome. The Romans and Persians fought each other over Iraq, Armenia and Syria several times. The Persian Empire was strong enough to be able defeat the Romans.

In the last few centuries of the empire, the frontiers of the empire were under constant attacks by the Scythians (Iranian speakers who moved into Eastern Europe) and the Germanic peoples who lived in northern and central Europe. For a short while the Huns were a formidable enemy. Ultimately, it was the Germanic peoples who invaded the western part of the Roman Empire.

Answer 2

The Carthaginians. Rome fought three wars against them, finally defeating them and razing the city of Carthage in 146 BC.