chapter twenty-nine: Rome’s War With Carthage (3)

chapter twenty-nine: Rome’s War With Carthage (3)

The Punic Wars

Rome took over all of Italy. But the Romans still weren’t happy. They wanted more!

Unfortunately, another city, Carthage, also wanted more. Do you remember reading about Carthage? The Phoenicians built the city of Carthage on the northern coast of Africa. They sailed their trading ships in and out of Carthage for hundreds of years. Carthage made a lot of money trading with cities all around the Mediterranean Sea. They wanted to keep on trading with these cities, and they didn’t want Rome to get in the way! But the Romans also wanted to trade with these cities without Carthage interfering. So Rome and Carthage began to fight. They fought for years and years and years. These wars were called the Punic Wars. They began in 264 BC/BCE. And they didn’t finally end until 146 BC/BCE, over a hundred years later. At first, Carthage had the advantage because it had a navy—soldiers who knew how to sail ships. Rome didn’t have a navy. But when a Carthaginian ship wrecked on the coast of Italy, the Romans took it apart and figured out how to copy it. They built ships of their own and learned how to sail them. Soon the Romans could match the Carthaginians in a sea battle.

But Carthage was a tough enemy. The Romans had to

work hard to beat them. They made lots of sacrifices to their

gods, asking for victory. One Roman general named Claudius

Pulcher actually took sacred chickens with him on his ship! He

hoped that the sacred chickens would give him good fortune

in battle. And he also thought that he could foretell the future

by watching the way the chickens ate.

Unfortunately, the chickens got seasick and wouldn’t eat at

all. This was a very bad sign. The Roman soldiers on Claudius

Pulcher’s boat got more and more nervous. “The gods are against

us!” they whispered. “We can tell, because the chickens aren’t

eating! We are doomed to fail!”

Claudius Pulcher got more and more irritated. Nothing he

could do would make those chickens eat. So finally he ordered,

“Throw the chickens overboard!”

Sure enough, he got badly beaten in the next battle. And

all of his soldiers thought that they were defeated because they

had thrown the sacred chickens into the sea.

The Carthaginians and Romans fought back and forth for

a long time. Neither side could win. And then, one of the Car-

thaginian generals got a wonderful idea. Instead of attacking the

Romans with ships, he would attack them with elephants.

Roman soldiers were camping near the Alps, up in the

north of Italy, when they heard strange noises. They peered out

of their tents into the swirling snow and mist. Suddenly, huge

dark shapes loomed up in the snow. The ground shook. A herd

of wild elephants was charging through the camp.

The Roman soldiers fled in terror. Many of them had

never seen an elephant before. And these were no ordi-

nary elephants. They were specially trained for battle. When

they were told to attack, they spread their ears wide out to

make their heads even larger. Their heads and ears were painted

red, white and yellow, to make them look even more terrifying.

Some of them were pulling carts full of armed Carthaginian sol-

diers, shooting arrows at the Roman troops. Others were carrying

wooden boxes that contained even more attacking soldiers.

Some of the Romans did try to fight back. They ran for

their horses and mounted, ready to attack the thundering beasts

head on. But the horses were stricken with terror. They bolted,

carrying the Roman soldiers off into the dark.

The Carthaginian general who planned this attack was

named Hannibal. Hannibal saw that the battle between Car-

thage and Rome at sea was a stalemate—no one was winning.

So while the two navies fought with each other, Hannibal took

his army and forty elephants around the Mediterranean Sea by

land. He surprised the Romans by coming down over the moun-

tains into Italy. His invasion took place in 218 BC/BCE.

Once Hannibal had gotten into Italy with his elephants, he

roamed up and down Italy, burning villages and leaving Roman

soldiers dead all through the countryside. The Romans were

terrified. And they were afraid that Hannibal would come all

the way to the city of Rome and burn it too.

Then a Roman general named Scipio thought of a plan to

defeat Hannibal and his men. He gathered together the best

Roman soldiers, sailed down to Carthage, and attacked the

city itself. The city of Carthage wasn’t expecting to be attacked!

And all the best Carthaginian soldiers were over in Italy. So the

people of Carthage sent a message to Hannibal: “Come back

to Carthage and help us!”

Hannibal left Italy and sailed across the African Sea to

defend his home town. But his soldiers were so worn out from

burning and sacking towns in Italy that they were defeated!

Hannibal himself ran away and hid, in Asia Minor.

Finally, the city of Carthage was forced to surrender to

Rome. When Hannibal heard this news, over in Asia Minor,

he drank poison. He could not bear to think that his great city,

Carthage, had been beaten by the Romans who were afraid of

his elephants.

Multiple Choice

Why did Rome and Carthage fight for so many years?

• a. The both wanted to control trade around the Mediterranean Sea.

• b. Rome wanted to take over all of the Carthaginian land.

• c. Carthage wanted to take over all of the Roman land.

• d. They both wanted to rule India.

Multiple Choice

How did the Romans learn how to build ships like the Carthaginians?

• a. They captured some Carthaginian soldiers.

• b. The Romans sent spies to Carthage.

• c. A Carthaginian sailor betrayed his country and moved to Rome.

• d. They took apart a Carthaginian ship that wrecked on the coast of Italy.

Multiple Choice

A Roman general named Claudius Pulcher took sacred _________ on his ship to bring him good fortune in battle.

• a. elephants

• b. cows

• c. chickens

• d. peacocks

Multiple Choice

What unusual thing did the Carthaginians use to attack the Romans?

• elephants

• cannons

• ships

Multiple Choice

How did the Carthaginians sneak into Italy?

• a. They came over the mountains.

• b. They came at night.

• c. They sailed on ships.

• d. They came through Greece.

Multiple Choice

How did the Roman general get the Carthaginians to leave Italy?

• a. He pretended to surrender.

• b. He drove them out with his strong army.

• c. He attacked the city of Carthage.

• d. He surrounded their camp and starved them.

Multiple Choice

Who finally won these wars?

• Carthage

• Rome

• Gaul

• Greece

Multiple Choice

After the Romans took over all of Italy, they were content and peaceful.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

When the great general of Carthage heard that the war was over, he killed himself by drinking poison.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

The Romans made many sacrifices to their gods asking for help in defeating Carthage.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

The wars between Rome and Carthage took place mainly on land.

• True

• False