Why did the romans treat Carthage with such brutality afer the third punic war?

Answer 1

Rome sought to permanently cripple any Carthaginian potential to once again recover and become a competitor for commercial interests throughout the Mediterranean thus leaving Rome as the sole power in the region . Rome's punitive measures assured Rome that Carthage would never again be a future problem to Rome .

Answer 2

The Romans destroyed the Carthaginian empire in order to be the predominant force in the eastern Mediterranean area . Carthage had proven to be a resurgent competitor and was eliminated for Rome to be the ascendant power .

Answer 3

The Romans did not want Carthage to become a prosperous city which could become a rival military power again. Carthage regained prosperity after the second war thanks to her land being among the most fertile lands in the Mediterranean and through the savings that came through not having to maintain an army (Carthage had been demilitarised under the term of the peace treaty).

Cato the Elder, a prominent Roman politician, used Carthage's agricultural prosperity to argue that Carthage was becoming a threat again and that she had to be destroyed. In a telling episode, after a visit to Carthage, Cato pretended to accidentally drop some big figs he had picked there during a meeting of the senate. He used these figs to show that Carthage was becoming rich and dangerous. Cato ended all his speeches on whatever matter with 'Furthermore I think that Carthage must be destroyed.'

A Factor must have played a part were the memories of Hannibal's massively devastating campaign in Italy in the second war.

Answer 4

The defeat of Carthage in the Third Punic War involved the destruction of the city which was the war aim of Rome. Many Carthaginians died of starvation during a two-year long siege or were killed during the six-day storming of the city. The Romans promised to spare the lives of the remaining 50,000 Carthaginians (1/10th of the original population), but sold them as slaves. They also took over Carthage's remaining territories: Tunisia and western Libya (Tripolitania). The nearby city of Utica, which had been a rival of Carthage and had allied with Rome, was turned into the capital of the area and the main centre of Punic trade.

When Utica's port silted, Julius Caesar had a Roman Carthage built. Augustus made it the capital of the Roman province of Africa. Roman Carthage became one of the biggest cities of the empire.

Answer 5

Not all Romans wanted to destroy Carthage. The war party was worried about the economic resurgence of this city. Carthage's economy had been crippled during the Second Punic War and Rome imposed a hefty was indemnity with annual payments for 50 years to keep her on her knees. The peace treaty reduced Carthage's navy to just 10 ships for protection against pirates and the city was not allowed to have an army or to attack other peoples without Rome's consent.

The demilitarisation favoured Carthage economically. The huge savings made by not incurring military expenses helped with economic recovery even despite the payments which were made to Rome. This was because Carthage had one of the most fertile areas in the Mediterranean. When the 50 years were over, Carthage considered herself free form the peace treaty, but the Romans did not. She created a poorly trained army to defend herself from the attacks by their next door neighbours, the Numidians of Algeria (which Rome had been ingnoring) and attacked them. The war party used this as an excuse to wage war. They wanted Carthage to be destroyed to remove her threat.

Hatred was also a motivating factor for the war party. Many Romans hated Carthage because of the large amount of destruction which Hannibal had caused with his invasion of Italy in the Second Punic War and the tens of thousands of Romans who were killed in the battles against him.