What were the greatest battles of Carthage?
Zama in 202 BC tops our ranking: Scipio’s victory over Hannibal ended the Second Punic War and left Carthage disarmed. Next come the siege that destroyed Carthage in 146 BC, Hannibal’s victory at Cannae in 216 BC, Lake Trasimene in 217 BC and the Aegates Islands in 241 BC, the sea battle that ended the First Punic War.
Carthage fought the Greeks of Sicily from the fifth century BC and Rome in three Punic Wars, and most of the battles it is remembered for are ones it lost. These twelve are ranked by score, with most weight on how well known each battle is and on what it decided for Carthage, which is why Zama stands above Hannibal’s masterpiece at Cannae; see how we chose them. The list covers battles on land and at sea, and sieges that began a war or ended Carthage, from Himera in 480 BC to the fall of the city in 146 BC. No Carthaginian account of any of them survives. For the generals, see the greatest commanders of Carthage and Hannibal.1
1 Zama, 202 BC
- Where
- Plain near Zama, in today's Tunisia (exact site debated)
- War
- Second Punic War
- Sides
- Carthage under Hannibal vs Rome under Scipio, with the Numidian king Masinissa
- Strength
- About 40,000 a side (modern estimate); Hannibal fielded more than 80 elephants (Polybius)
- Result
- Carthaginian defeat: 20,000 killed and nearly as many captured (Polybius); Carthage sued for peace
Hannibal had fought in Italy since 218 BC when Scipio carried the war to Africa, made an ally of the Numidian king Masinissa and began burning the villages that fed Carthage. The city called Hannibal home to defend it. Near Zama he drew up his army: more than 80 elephants in front, some 12,000 mercenaries behind them, then the Libyans and the citizens of Carthage, and his veterans from Italy last of all. Modern writers put each army at about 40,000 men; the ancient totals are uncertain.2
The elephants failed first: some turned back on Hannibal's own Numidian horse, and others ran harmlessly down lanes Scipio had left open in his line. The infantry fought evenly until the Roman and Numidian cavalry came back from the pursuit and fell on Hannibal's rear. Polybius counts 20,000 Carthaginians killed and nearly as many taken, against more than 1,500 Romans.3
Polybius tells the story that when a senator rose to oppose Scipio's terms, Hannibal himself pulled him down from the platform and told the house to be grateful they were so mild. Carthage kept its African lands but gave up its warships except ten triremes and all its elephants, owed 10,000 talents over fifty years, and could make no war outside Africa, nor inside it without consulting Rome.4
Why it ranks here: No battle settled more for Carthage: Zama ended Hannibal's war and left the city disarmed and paying tribute, so decisiveness 5 and consequence 5. Recognition 4 puts it a point below Cannae; it ties the siege of 146 BC on every criterion but certainty, where Polybius' detailed account puts it one point ahead and at No. 1.
2 Carthage, 149 to 146 BC
- Where
- Carthage, on the coast near modern Tunis, Tunisia
- War
- Third Punic War
- Besiegers
- A Roman army of up to 80,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry in 149 BC; from 147 BC under Scipio Aemilianus
- Defenders
- The citizens, freed slaves and an army of 30,000 recalled from the Numidian border
- Outcome
- Stormed in spring 146 BC; 50,000 surrendered at the citadel (Appian), the survivors enslaved and the city razed
In 149 BC Carthage gave Rome what it asked: in Appian's account, it handed over complete armor for 200,000 men and 2,000 catapults. Then came the last demand: leave the city and resettle at least 16 km from the sea. Carthage refused, freed its slaves, recalled an army of 30,000 from the Numidian border and shut its gates on a Roman army of up to 80,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry. Temples became workshops where men and women worked day and night; Appian says they made 100 shields and 300 swords a day, and the women cut off their hair to string the catapults.5
In 147 BC Scipio Aemilianus walled the city off by land and built a mole across the entrance to its harbor; the Carthaginians dug a new channel to the sea. In the spring of 146 BC the Romans broke in by the harbor and fought for six days and nights through the streets toward the citadel of Byrsa, until 50,000 men and women came out to surrender. The commander Hasdrubal surrendered; his wife, Appian tells, killed their children and followed them into the burning temple. The survivors were enslaved, the city destroyed and its land made a Roman province. Myth vs fact: the Romans did not sow the ground with salt; that story is a later invention.6
Why it ranks here: This is where Carthage ended as a state, so full marks for decisiveness and consequence, with Zama's recognition (4) and memory (3). It rests chiefly on Appian's later narrative and fragments of Polybius, who stood beside Scipio at the end, so certainty 3 holds it one point below Zama.
3 Cannae, 216 BC
- Where
- Plain by the Aufidus river, Apulia, southern Italy
- War
- Second Punic War
- Sides
- Hannibal's Carthaginian army vs the consuls Aemilius Paullus and Terentius Varro
- Strength
- About 40,000 foot and 10,000 horse vs about 80,000 foot and over 6,000 horse (Polybius)
- Result
- Carthaginian victory; Roman dead 45,500 foot and 2,700 horse (Livy) to about 70,000 (Polybius)
Rome had never before fielded eight legions at once; Polybius gives the consuls about 80,000 infantry and more than 6,000 horse against Hannibal's 40,000 foot and 10,000 horse. Hannibal let his center of Gauls and Spaniards bow back under the legions while his African infantry waited on both flanks, and Hasdrubal's heavy cavalry routed the Roman horse by the river, then charged the legions from behind. Polybius counts about 70,000 Romans dead and some 10,000 taken in their camp, against some 4,000 Celts, 1,500 Spaniards and Africans and 200 horsemen of Hannibal's; Livy gives 45,500 infantry and 2,700 cavalry killed. Both are ancient figures and disputed.7
In Carthage it looked as if the war was won. Hannibal's brother Mago had the gold rings of dead Roman knights heaped in the porch of the senate house, and the senate voted Hannibal 4,000 Numidians, 40 elephants and 500 talents of silver. Only Hanno, the old enemy of the Barca family, asked whether Rome had sent a single envoy to talk of peace. It had not. The Samnites, Bruttians, Lucanians and much of the south went over to Hannibal, but when he sent the noble Carthalo to sound out terms, a lictor ordered him off Roman soil before nightfall, and the Senate refused to ransom the prisoners. Livy has Maharbal tell Hannibal that he knew how to win a victory, but not how to use one.8
Why it ranks here: Carthage's greatest victory takes full marks for recognition and memory, since its name is still the word for an encirclement. But Rome would not even hear of peace and went on to win the war, so decisiveness 2 and consequence 3.
4 Lake Trasimene, 217 BC
- Where
- North shore of Lake Trasimene, central Italy
- War
- Second Punic War
- Sides
- Hannibal's Carthaginian army vs the consul Gaius Flaminius
- Strength
- About 25,000 Romans and allies (our sum of Livius' breakdown); Carthaginian strength not recorded
- Result
- Carthaginian victory; about 15,000 Romans killed (Polybius, Livy) and Flaminius among them
In the spring of 217 BC Hannibal came through the marshes into Etruria and found the consul Gaius Flaminius encamped at Arretium. Judging him, in Polybius' words, a self-confident demagogue, he marched past and plundered the country ahead, sure Flaminius would follow. Flaminius had two legions of 5,000, 10,000 Italian allies, 2,000 archers and light troops and 2,500 to 3,500 horse: about 25,000 men by our sum of Jona Lendering's figures. Hannibal reached the lake first and by night hid his army on the hills above the shore road, with Celts closing the way back.9
At dawn, in a mist that hid the hills, the Roman column marched into the defile. Then Hannibal's men attacked front, flank and rear at once. Polybius says about 15,000 Romans fell in the valley; Flaminius was cut down by Celts, and men who waded into the lake were killed standing in the water. Livy, following the contemporary Fabius Pictor, gives the same 15,000 Roman dead and 2,500 Carthaginians; Polybius has about 1,500. Hannibal then tried politics: he kept the Roman prisoners under guard but sent the allies home free, saying he had come to fight Rome for the freedom of Italy, not the Italians. The allies stayed loyal, and Rome turned to the dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus.10
Why it ranks here: The textbook ambush, told alike by Polybius and Livy, takes certainty 4 and memory 4, but like Cannae it did not decide the war, so decisiveness 2 and consequence 3. It ties the Aegates Islands and the Metaurus on points and goes ahead of both on recognition (4).
5 Aegates Islands, 241 BC
- Where
- Off the Aegates (Egadi) Islands, west of Sicily
- War
- First Punic War
- Fleets
- Carthaginian relief fleet under Hanno vs the Roman fleet of the consul Gaius Lutatius Catulus
- Strength
- More than 200 Carthaginian warships and transports (RPM Nautical Foundation) vs 200 Roman quinqueremes (Polybius)
- Result
- Roman victory: 50 Carthaginian ships sunk, 70 captured, nearly 10,000 prisoners (Polybius); Carthage sued for peace
By 242 BC the war for Sicily had gone on for more than twenty years. Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal's father, still held out on Mount Eryx, but his army lived on supplies brought by sea. Rome built 200 new quinqueremes on loans from rich citizens and sent them under Gaius Lutatius Catulus to besiege Drepana. Carthage, which had let its navy run down because it never expected the Romans back at sea, loaded ships with grain and sent them under Hanno. The plan was to unload at Eryx, take on Hamilcar and his best mercenaries as marines, and only then fight.11
On 10 March 241 BC Lutatius caught the fleet first, rowing out against a rough head wind. His trained crews met heavily laden ships manned by new recruits. Polybius says 50 Carthaginian ships were sunk and 70 taken with their crews, nearly 10,000 men were captured, and the rest escaped only because the wind turned. Divers have since found the battlefield: by 2024 the RPM Nautical Foundation and its partners had recorded 27 bronze rams there, among Punic amphoras apparently thrown overboard. With no way left to supply Sicily, Carthage gave Hamilcar full powers, and he sued for peace. Carthage gave up Sicily and paid 3,200 talents over ten years.12
Why it ranks here: It ended Carthage's first war with Rome and cost it Sicily, so decisiveness 5 and consequence 4, but it is less known than Hannibal's battles (recognition 3) and rests largely on Polybius (certainty 3). It ties Lake Trasimene and the Metaurus on points, falling behind Trasimene on recognition and, level with the Metaurus on recognition and consequence, going ahead as the older battle.
6 The Metaurus, 207 BC
- Where
- The Metaurus River, near the Adriatic coast of central Italy
- War
- Second Punic War
- Sides
- Rome (the consuls Gaius Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius Salinator) vs Carthage (Hasdrubal Barca)
- Strength
- Not given in full by the ancient writers; Nero brought 6,000 foot and 1,000 horse north to join his colleague
- Result
- Roman victory; Hasdrubal killed; Carthaginian dead at least 10,000 (Polybius) or 56,000 (Livy), Roman dead 2,000 (Polybius) or about 8,000 (Livy)
Hannibal had fought in Italy since 218 BC without the reinforcements he needed to finish Rome. In 207 BC his brother Hasdrubal crossed the Alps from Spain with a second army. Romans caught the riders carrying his letter to Hannibal, and the consul Gaius Claudius Nero, facing Hannibal in the south, slipped away with 6,000 picked foot and 1,000 horse to join his colleague Marcus Livius Salinator in the north.13
Warned by two trumpets in the Roman camp, Hasdrubal retreated by night, but his guides slipped away and dawn found his army lost along the winding river. Nero, unable to reach the Gauls on their hill, led his men behind the Roman line onto the Carthaginian flank. Hasdrubal rode into the fighting and died sword in hand. The ancient counts are far apart: Polybius gives at least 10,000 Carthaginians and Gauls killed against 2,000 Romans, Livy 56,000 killed and 5,400 captured against about 8,000 Romans and allies. Nero marched back south and had his enemy’s head thrown in front of Hannibal’s outposts; Hannibal, Livy says, saw in it the fate of Carthage and drew back into Bruttium. In 1851 Edward Creasy made the Metaurus one of his Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World.14
Why it ranks here: It ended Hannibal’s last real hope in Italy and Creasy made its name, but Zama settled the war five years later, so decisiveness and consequence 4, and the two main sources are five times apart on the dead, certainty 3. It ties Lake Trasimene and the Aegates Islands on 34 and comes last of the three: Trasimene is better known, and the Aegates, level on recognition and consequence, is older.
7 Himera, 480 BC
- Where
- Outside Himera, on the north coast of Sicily
- War
- Greek and Carthaginian wars in Sicily
- Sides
- Gelon of Syracuse and Theron of Akragas vs Carthage under Hamilcar
- Strength
- 300,000 Carthaginians and allies in Herodotus and Diodorus (not a credible figure) vs at least 50,000 foot and 5,000 horse with Gelon (Diodorus)
- Result
- Greek victory; Hamilcar killed; Carthage paid 2,000 talents of silver for peace (Diodorus)
In 480 BC, the year Xerxes invaded Greece, Terillus, driven out of Himera by Theron, tyrant of Akragas, called in Carthage. Its general Hamilcar landed at Panormus, now Palermo, and besieged Himera until Theron’s ally Gelon of Syracuse came to relieve it. Diodorus gives Gelon not less than 50,000 foot and more than 5,000 horse; Herodotus and Diodorus both give Hamilcar 300,000 men, a round number no one could have counted.15
Diodorus tells of a trick: after catching a courier from Selinus, a Greek ally of Carthage, Gelon’s horsemen rode into the Carthaginian naval camp at sunrise posing as the promised Selinuntine cavalry, killed Hamilcar at his sacrifice and fired the ships, and Gelon attacked the land camp. He claims 150,000 dead and says Carthage bought peace for 2,000 talents of silver. Herodotus heard another story from the Carthaginians themselves: the battle lasted from dawn to evening, and when Hamilcar saw his army routed he threw himself into the sacrificial fire. Myth vs fact: Herodotus puts Himera on the same day as Salamis and Diodorus on the day of Thermopylae, a coincidence Livius.org calls later legend. Syracuse led Greek Sicily for some seven decades; in 409 BC, 71 years later by our count, Hamilcar’s grandson Hannibal razed Himera and killed 3,000 captives where his grandfather had fallen.16
Why it ranks here: It decided Carthage’s first great war with the Sicilian Greeks and held Carthage back for some seventy years, decisiveness 5 and consequence 4, but it is less known than the Punic Wars, recognition 3, and rests on Herodotus and the much later Diodorus with their 300,000 invaders, certainty 2, one point short of the Metaurus.
8 The Trebia, 218 BC
- Where
- Banks of the Trebia river near Placentia (Piacenza), northern Italy
- War
- Second Punic War
- Sides
- Hannibal's Carthaginian army vs the consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus
- Strength
- About 20,000 foot, 8,000 light troops and over 10,000 horse vs 36,000 foot and 4,000 horse (Polybius); Livy has 38,000 foot
- Result
- Carthaginian victory; about 10,000 Romans broke out to Placentia, most of the rest were killed
Hannibal came down from the Alps into the Po valley in 218 BC. The two consular armies sent against him joined near Placentia, and Tiberius Sempronius Longus wanted a battle. Hannibal had already found his ground: a flat, treeless plain crossed by a watercourse with steep banks overgrown with brambles, where Romans wary of woods would never look for an ambush. By night he sent his young brother Mago there with 1,000 picked horsemen and 1,000 foot.17
At daybreak, about the winter solstice, Numidian horsemen rode up to the Roman camp and drew Sempronius out before his men had eaten. The Romans waded the swollen Trebia breast-deep in sleet, while the Carthaginians breakfasted and oiled their limbs by their fires. Polybius gives Hannibal about 20,000 infantry, 8,000 light troops and more than 10,000 horse, against 16,000 Romans, 20,000 allies and 4,000 horse; Livy has 18,000 Romans. The Carthaginian cavalry and elephants broke the Roman wings, then Mago's men rose out of the stream bed behind the Roman center. About 10,000 Romans cut their way through Hannibal's line to Placentia; most of the rest died by the river. His losses fell chiefly on the Gauls, though the cold afterward killed all but one of his elephants, Polybius says. The Gauls of the north now went over to Carthage.18
Why it ranks here: Hannibal's first great victory in Italy is told in every account of his war, so recognition 4, and Polybius and Livy agree closely, certainty 4. Like Cannae it did not decide the war, so decisiveness 2 and consequence 3, and with less living memory (3) than Lake Trasimene it falls a point short of Himera.
9 Saguntum, 219 BC
- Where
- Saguntum (modern Sagunto), near Valencia, eastern Spain
- War
- Second Punic War (its opening)
- Besiegers
- Hannibal’s Carthaginian army, said by Livy to number 150,000
- Defenders
- The citizens of Saguntum, a wealthy Iberian town under Rome’s protection (numbers not recorded)
- Outcome
- Stormed after eight months (Polybius); Rome declared war on Carthage in 218 BC
Saguntum was a rich Iberian town seven stades, under a mile, from the sea, south of the Ebro, and it had put itself under Rome’s protection; Rome had already warned Carthage that an attack on it would mean war. In 219 BC Hannibal, Carthage’s new commander in Spain, marched from New Carthage and besieged it anyway. Polybius says he wanted its wealth for his war, and no enemy behind him when he marched on Italy.19
Hannibal was badly wounded in the thigh by a javelin, and his army, said to be 150,000 strong, brought the walls down tower by tower. Polybius says the city fell by storm after eight months; Livy gives the eight months only as what “some writers” say, and admits that his dates do not fit. Appian adds that the starving Saguntines melted down their gold and silver and died in a last night sally. Rome demanded that Carthage hand over Hannibal, Carthage refused, and the Second Punic War began; when the peace was made at the end of it, Scipio reminded the Carthaginian envoys that they had begun the war by taking Saguntum. Myth vs fact: Polybius dismisses the tale of a Senate debate after the fall as barbershop gossip, though Appian records one during the siege in which the case for delay won.20
Why it ranks here: The siege began the Second Punic War, consequence 4, but it decided nothing beyond one town’s fate, decisiveness 2, and it is remembered mostly as the war’s opening, memory 2, which keeps it below the field battles of the war it started. It ties New Carthage on 28 and goes ahead as the better known name.
10 New Carthage, 209 BC
- Where
- New Carthage (Carthago Nova, modern Cartagena), south-east Spain
- War
- Second Punic War
- Besiegers
- Publius Cornelius Scipio with about 25,000 foot and 2,500 horse, and Gaius Laelius with the fleet (Polybius, Livy)
- Defenders
- Mago with about 1,000 soldiers and 2,000 armed citizens (Polybius); Livy’s sources put the garrison at 2,000 to 10,000
- Outcome
- Taken by storm in a single day; more than 600 talents and over 300 hostages captured (Polybius)
Publius Cornelius Scipio took command in Spain after his father and uncle were killed there in 211 BC, and struck not at the three Carthaginian field armies but at their base. New Carthage held their money, their war stores and the hostages taken from the Spanish peoples, and Polybius says its garrison was only about 1,000 men, since no one imagined an attack. Fishermen had told Scipio that the lagoon on its landward side was shallow and usually drained away toward evening.21
Scipio attacked by land and Gaius Laelius by sea; the first escalade was beaten back. Then, as the water fell, he sent 500 men with ladders wading across the lagoon; they found that stretch of wall empty, because the defenders were all at the gate on the isthmus, climbed it without a blow and opened the gate from inside. The city fell that day and Mago surrendered the citadel. Polybius, who says he saw the city for himself, counts more than 600 talents of public money and over 300 hostages, whom Scipio treated kindly to win over their peoples. Livy admits that his sources disagree wildly, putting the garrison at anything from 2,000 to 10,000 men and the hostages at 300 or 3,724.22
Why it ranks here: In one day Scipio took Carthage’s treasury, arsenal and hostages in Spain and turned the war there, decisiveness 3 and consequence 4, and Polybius, who saw the place, tells it in detail, certainty 4; but few outside military history know the name, recognition 2. It ties Saguntum on 28 and goes below it on recognition.
11 Ilipa, 206 BC
- Where
- Near Ilipa (Livy’s Silpia), in Further Spain
- War
- Second Punic War
- Sides
- Rome under Publius Cornelius Scipio vs Carthage under Hasdrubal son of Gisco and Mago
- Strength
- About 45,000 foot and 3,000 horse (Polybius) or 55,000 in all (Livy) vs 70,000 foot, 4,000 horse and 32 elephants (Polybius) or 50,000 to 70,000 foot and 4,500 horse (Livy)
- Result
- Roman victory; the Carthaginian army broke up and Carthage was driven out of Spain
After the loss of New Carthage, Carthage made one last effort to hold Spain. In 206 BC Hasdrubal son of Gisco and Mago gathered a great army near Ilipa, which Livy calls Silpia: about 70,000 foot, 4,000 horse and 32 elephants by Polybius’ count, 50,000 foot and 4,500 horse in Livy, who adds that some writers say 70,000 foot. Scipio had about 45,000 foot and 3,000 horse, many of them Spanish allies he did not trust to fight.23
For several days both armies drew up on the plain between the camps, late in the day and in the same order, Libyans in Hasdrubal’s center and Romans in Scipio’s. On the day of battle Scipio fed his men before dawn, sent his cavalry and light troops against the Carthaginian camp at first light and formed up with the Spaniards in the center and the Romans on the wings. Hasdrubal’s men rushed out unfed. Scipio’s Spaniards came on slowly while his wings wheeled out and fell on the weak Carthaginian flanks, leaving the Libyans, Hasdrubal’s best infantry, idle before an enemy that never closed. In the midday heat the hungry Carthaginians gave way and fled to their camp, saved only by a sudden downpour. The army then melted away, Hasdrubal fled to Gades, and Livy sums up: so the Carthaginians were driven out of Spain, fourteen years after the war began.24
Why it ranks here: It cost Carthage Spain, the silver and soldiers that fed Hannibal’s war, decisiveness and consequence 4, but the ancient armies are too large to trust, certainty 3, and few remember it, memory 1. It ties Tunis on 27 and, equal on recognition, goes first on consequence.
12 Tunis, 255 BC
- Where
- The plain near Tunis, North Africa
- War
- First Punic War
- Sides
- Carthage, its army led by the Spartan mercenary Xanthippus, vs Rome under the consul Marcus Atilius Regulus
- Strength
- 12,000 foot, 4,000 horse and nearly 100 elephants vs the 15,000 foot and 500 horse Regulus kept in Africa (Polybius)
- Result
- Carthaginian victory; about 2,000 Romans escaped, Regulus and some 500 men captured; Carthage lost about 800 (Polybius)
In 256 BC Rome carried the First Punic War to Africa. The consul Marcus Atilius Regulus stayed on with 15,000 foot and 500 horse, beat a Carthaginian army, took Tunis and offered peace on terms so harsh that Carthage refused them. Then mercenaries arrived from Greece, among them a Spartan, Xanthippus, who said Carthage had been beaten by its own generals, not by the Romans. The Carthaginians gave him their army: 12,000 foot, 4,000 horse and nearly 100 elephants.25
Polybius names no battlefield; we name it after Tunis, the Roman base. Xanthippus chose level ground, put the elephants in a single line before his infantry and the cavalry on both wings. The Roman cavalry was driven off at once, the elephants trampled the front ranks, the Carthaginian horse closed round the rear, and the men who forced their way through met the Carthaginian phalanx fresh. Polybius says only about 2,000 Romans escaped, Regulus was taken with some 500 men, and Carthage lost about 800 mercenaries. Myth vs fact: the famous story that Regulus was sent to Rome on parole, advised against a prisoner exchange and went back to die under torture comes from later Roman writers such as Cicero; Polybius, who moralizes at length on Regulus’ fall, never mentions it.26
Why it ranks here: One hired Spartan destroyed the first Roman invasion of Africa and captured its consul, decisiveness 4, but the war went on fourteen more years and was settled at sea, consequence 3, and beyond the Regulus legend the battle is little known, recognition 2. It ties Ilipa on 27 and follows it on consequence.
How we chose and ranked these battles of Carthage
We counted a battle on land or at sea fought by Carthage, from its wars with the Greeks of Sicily in the fifth century BC to the Roman siege that destroyed the city in 146 BC, including the battles Carthage lost, which are most of the famous ones. Sieges and sea battles count when they decided a war, began one or ended a state, which is why Saguntum and the siege of Carthage itself are here; Rome's siege of Syracuse, in which a Carthaginian army came only to relieve the city, is not. Carthage fought fewer battles that the sources tell well than Rome or the Greeks did, and no Carthaginian account of any of them survives, so the list has twelve entries, not fifteen. Cannae, Zama and others also appear in our guide to the greatest ancient battles, which ranks them against the whole ancient world; the Roman side of these wars is told in the greatest battles of ancient Rome, Himera and the Greek wars in Sicily also in the greatest battles of ancient Greece, and the generals in the greatest commanders of Carthage.27
We considered 25 candidates and scored each one from 1 to 5 on five criteria. Recognition counts three times, because this page answers the question of which battles of Carthage are the greatest and best known; decisiveness, consequence and memory count twice, and certainty once:
- Recognition (×3). 5 if the name is known far beyond military history and appears on most published lists of Carthaginian and Punic War battles, 1 if only specialists know it.
- Decisiveness (×2). 5 if it decided a war or the fate of Carthage, 3 if it decided a campaign, 1 if the war went on as if it had not happened.
- Consequence (×2). 5 if it changed the course of Mediterranean history for generations (a state ended, Sicily or Spain changed hands, a war began or ended), 1 if its effects were local and short.
- Memory (×2). 5 if it is still a living part of culture (a word, a saying, a painting, a novel), 1 if it is forgotten.
- Certainty (×1). 5 if a near contemporary account tells the battle in detail and other writers agree with it, 1 if it rests on one late source; no Carthaginian account survives, so every battle is told by Greek or Roman writers, and head counts from Herodotus, Diodorus or Livy lower the score.
The list is ranked by total score, not by date. Ties go to the better known battle, then to the one with the greater consequence, then to the older one. The scores are our editorial judgment, made on the evidence in the sources below, and the table shows every one of them. It explains, for example, why Cannae, Carthage's greatest victory and the most famous battle it ever fought, is only third: Hannibal destroyed a Roman army there, but Rome refused to make peace and won the war, while Zama ended that war on Rome's terms and the siege of 146 BC ended Carthage itself.28
| Rank | Name | Recognition ×3 | Decisiveness ×2 | Consequence ×2 | Memory ×2 | Certainty ×1 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zama | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 42 |
| 2 | Carthage | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 41 |
| 3 | Cannae | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 39 |
| 4 | Lake Trasimene | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 34 |
| 5 | Aegates Islands | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 34 |
| 6 | The Metaurus | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 34 |
| 7 | Himera | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 33 |
| 8 | The Trebia | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 32 |
| 9 | Saguntum | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 28 |
| 10 | New Carthage | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 28 |
| 11 | Ilipa | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 27 |
| 12 | Tunis | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 27 |
Close calls
Four battles came close and did not make the twelve:
Mylae, 260 BC. Rome's first victory at sea: the consul Gaius Duilius met 130 Carthaginian ships off Mylae, and the boarding bridges Polybius calls “ravens” (corvi in Latin) grappled the enemy, so the first thirty ships to engage were taken with their crews. The war went on until 241 BC, so decisiveness 2; it ties the Saw on 26, one point below the twelfth entry, and goes ahead of it on recognition.29
The Saw, 238 BC. In the Mercenary War that followed the First Punic War, Hamilcar Barca hemmed the rebel army in until, Polybius writes, famine drove its men to eat one another; when their leaders came out to treat he held them, and then cut to pieces more than 40,000 Libyans near the place called the Saw. It saved Carthage, decisiveness 5, but it is known almost only from Polybius and almost only to specialists, recognition 1.30
Motya, 397 BC. Dionysius I of Syracuse attacked Carthage's island city, six stades off western Sicily, with battering rams, wheeled towers six stories high and catapults, which Diodorus calls a new invention of that time, and his men took it in fighting from house to house. Himilco took Motya back the next year, and the siege rests on Diodorus alone, certainty 2.31
Crimisus, about 340 BC. Timoleon of Corinth caught a Carthaginian army crossing the river Crimisus; a storm of rain and hail blew into the Carthaginians' faces, and Diodorus counts 2,500 citizens of the Sacred Band cut down, more than 10,000 others killed and 15,000 taken. Carthage soon made peace with the river Lycus as the border, but the battle is told only by Diodorus and Plutarch, certainty 2, and it ties Motya on 24 and goes below it as the younger battle.32
Why is Cannae only third on the list?
Because Cannae won a battle and Zama won a war. In 216 BC Hannibal destroyed the largest army Rome had ever put into one field, but Rome would not even hear of peace and went on to win, while Zama in 202 BC ended the Second Punic War on Rome’s terms and the siege of 146 BC ended Carthage itself.33
On our scores Cannae is the only battle on the list with full marks for both recognition and memory, but it takes only 2 for decisiveness and 3 for consequence, where Zama and the siege of Carthage take 5 and 5: 39 points against 42 and 41. Polybius drew the same lesson. After Cannae, he writes, the Romans were “incontestably beaten” and their military reputation shattered, yet by the virtues of their constitution and by wise counsel they recovered their supremacy in Italy and afterward defeated the Carthaginians.34
Which famous battles of Carthage are not on the list?
Four names often found on lists of Punic War battles are left out on purpose: Rome’s siege of Syracuse, the sea battles of Drepana and Ecnomus, and the Great Plains in Africa. Each one either falls outside a list of the battles Carthage itself fought or decided less than an entry above it.
The siege of Syracuse in 213 to 212 BC, remembered for the machines with which Archimedes held off Marcellus, was a Roman siege of a Greek city, so it is out by scope. Drepana in 249 BC was Carthage’s one great victory at sea over Rome: Adherbal pinned the fleet of the consul Publius Claudius Pulcher against the shore and took 93 ships, but Rome built a new fleet and won off the Aegates eight years later. Ecnomus in 256 BC, where Polybius counts about 140,000 Romans and more than 150,000 Carthaginians, was one of the largest sea battles ever fought, but the Roman landing in Africa that it opened ended in defeat near Tunis. At the Great Plains in 203 BC Scipio routed a Carthaginian and Numidian army, and in Carthage the boldest senators demanded that Hannibal be summoned home; Zama, the battle that followed, is first on the list.35
Notes
A number in the text points to a note; each note names the works that paragraph draws on, listed in full under Sources.
- Livius.org, “Himera (480 BCE)”; World History Encyclopedia, “Third Punic War”; Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.01.43, “Review of Dexter Hoyos (ed.), A Companion to the Punic Wars”. ↩
- World History Encyclopedia, “The Battle of Zama - The Beginning of Roman Conquest”; World History Encyclopedia, “Second Punic War”; Polybius, “Polybius, Histories, Book XV”. ↩
- Polybius, “Polybius, Histories, Book XV”. ↩
- Polybius, “Polybius, Histories, Book XV”. ↩
- Appian, “Appian, The Punic Wars 16”; World History Encyclopedia, “Third Punic War”; Appian, “Appian, The Punic Wars 19”. ↩
- Appian, “Appian, The Punic Wars 25”; Appian, “Appian, The Punic Wars 26”; Appian, “Appian, The Punic Wars 27”; World History Encyclopedia, “Third Punic War”. ↩
- Polybius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book III”; Livy, “From the Founding of the City, Book 22”. ↩
- Livy, “From the Founding of the City, Book 23”; Livy, “From the Founding of the City, Book 22”. ↩
- Polybius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book III”; Livius.org, “Lake Trasimene (217 BCE)”. ↩
- Polybius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book III”; Livy, “From the Founding of the City, Book 22”; Livius.org, “Lake Trasimene (217 BCE)”. ↩
- Polybius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book I”; RPM Nautical Foundation, “Egadi Islands Project”. ↩
- Polybius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book I”; RPM Nautical Foundation, “Egadi Islands Project”. ↩
- Livy, History of Rome. ↩
- Livy, History of Rome; Polybius, Histories; Edward S. Creasy, The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World. ↩
- Livius.org, “Himera (480 BCE)”; Herodotus, Histories; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History. ↩
- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History; Herodotus, Histories; Herodotus, Histories; Livius.org, “Himera (480 BCE)”; Diodorus Siculus, Library of History. ↩
- Livy, “From the Founding of the City, Book 21”; Polybius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book III”. ↩
- Polybius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book III”; Livy, “From the Founding of the City, Book 21”. ↩
- Polybius, Histories; Livy, History of Rome. ↩
- Livy, History of Rome; Polybius, Histories; Livy, Ab urbe condita; Appian, The Spanish Wars; Polybius, “Polybius, Histories, Book XV”. ↩
- Polybius, Histories; Livius.org, “Carthago Nova (Cartagena)”. ↩
- Polybius, Histories; Livy, History of Rome. ↩
- Polybius, Histories; Livy, History of Rome. ↩
- Polybius, Histories; Livy, History of Rome; Livius.org, “Carthago Nova (Cartagena)”. ↩
- Polybius, Histories. ↩
- Polybius, Histories; Cicero, De Officiis. ↩
- Livius.org, “Himera (480 BCE)”; World History Encyclopedia, “Third Punic War”; World History Encyclopedia, “Saguntum”; Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.01.43, “Review of Dexter Hoyos (ed.), A Companion to the Punic Wars”. ↩
- World History Encyclopedia, “Second Punic War”; World History Encyclopedia, “The Battle of Zama - The Beginning of Roman Conquest”; World History Encyclopedia, “Third Punic War”. ↩
- Polybius, Histories. ↩
- Polybius, Histories. ↩
- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History. ↩
- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History; Plutarch, Life of Timoleon. ↩
- Polybius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book III”; Livy, “From the Founding of the City, Book 22”; Polybius, “Polybius, Histories, Book XV”. ↩
- Polybius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book III”. ↩
- Polybius, Histories; Polybius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book I”; Polybius, Histories. ↩
Sources
- Livius.org (Jona Lendering), “Himera (480 BCE)”
- World History Encyclopedia (Mark Cartwright), “Third Punic War”
- Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2013.01.43 (Dan-el Padilla Peralta), “Review of Dexter Hoyos (ed.), A Companion to the Punic Wars”
- World History Encyclopedia (Joshua J. Mark), “The Battle of Zama - The Beginning of Roman Conquest”
- World History Encyclopedia (Mark Cartwright), “Second Punic War”
- Polybius, Histories 15.5, 11 to 14 and 17 to 19, tr. W. R. Paton, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Polybius, Histories, Book XV”
- Appian, The Punic Wars 76 to 80, tr. Horace White, Livius.org, “Appian, The Punic Wars 16”
- Appian, The Punic Wars 91 to 95, tr. Horace White, Livius.org, “Appian, The Punic Wars 19”
- Appian, The Punic Wars 121 to 125, tr. Horace White, Livius.org, “Appian, The Punic Wars 25”
- Appian, The Punic Wars 126 to 130, tr. Horace White, Livius.org, “Appian, The Punic Wars 26”
- Appian, The Punic Wars 131 to 135, tr. Horace White, Livius.org, “Appian, The Punic Wars 27”
- Polybius, Histories 3.107 to 118, tr. W. R. Paton, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book III”
- Livy, History of Rome 22.4 to 61, tr. Canon Roberts, on Wikisource, “From the Founding of the City, Book 22”
- Livy, History of Rome 23.11 to 13, tr. Canon Roberts, on Wikisource, “From the Founding of the City, Book 23”
- Polybius, Histories 3.80 to 85, tr. W. R. Paton, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book III”
- Livius.org (Jona Lendering), “Lake Trasimene (217 BCE)”
- Livy, History of Rome 22.4 to 7, tr. Canon Roberts, on Wikisource, “From the Founding of the City, Book 22”
- Polybius, Histories 1.58 to 63, tr. W. R. Paton, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book I”
- RPM Nautical Foundation, “Egadi Islands Project”
- Livy, History of Rome 27.43 to 51 (Nero’s march, the Metaurus, Hasdrubal’s head), tr. Canon Roberts, on Wikisource, “From the Founding of the City, Book 27”
- Polybius, Histories 11.1 to 3 (the Metaurus) and 11.20 to 24 (Ilipa), tr. W. R. Paton, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Polybius, Histories, Book XI”
- Edward S. Creasy, The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World (1851), chapter IV, “The Battle of the Metaurus, B.C. 207”, on Project Gutenberg, “The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World”
- Herodotus, Histories 7.165 (Terillus calls in Carthage; 300,000 men), tr. A. D. Godley, on Perseids, “Histories 7.165”
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- Herodotus, Histories 7.167 (the Carthaginian account of Hamilcar’s death), tr. A. D. Godley, on Perseids, “Histories 7.167”
- Herodotus, Histories 7.166 (Himera on the day of Salamis), tr. A. D. Godley, on Perseids, “Histories 7.166”
- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 13.59 to 62 (Hannibal destroys Himera, 409 BC), tr. C. H. Oldfather, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Diodorus Siculus, Book XIII”
- Livy, History of Rome 21.46 to 56, tr. Canon Roberts, on Wikisource, “From the Founding of the City, Book 21”
- Polybius, Histories 3.70 to 75, tr. W. R. Paton, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book III”
- Polybius, Histories 3.17 (the siege of Saguntum) and 3.20 (the Senate and the fall of the city), tr. W. R. Paton, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Polybius, Histories, Book III”
- Livy, History of Rome 21.6 to 15 (the siege of Saguntum), tr. Canon Roberts, on Wikisource, “From the Founding of the City, Book 21”
- Livy, Ab urbe condita 21.7.1 (“Dum ea Romani parant consultantque”) and 21.15.3 (“Octavo mense ... quidam scripsere”), Latin text, The Latin Library, “Livy, Book XXI” (in Latin)
- Appian, The Spanish Wars 11 to 12 (the end of Saguntum), tr. Horace White, on Livius.org, “Appian, The Spanish Wars 3”
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- Livius.org (Jona Lendering), “Carthago Nova (Cartagena)”
- Livy, History of Rome 26.42 to 49 (the capture of New Carthage), tr. Canon Roberts, on Wikisource, “From the Founding of the City, Book 26”
- Livy, History of Rome 28.12 to 16 (Silpia, that is Ilipa, and the end of Carthaginian Spain), tr. Canon Roberts, on Wikisource, “From the Founding of the City, Book 28”
- Polybius, Histories 1.29 to 35 (Regulus in Africa, Xanthippus and the battle), tr. W. R. Paton, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Polybius, Histories, Book I”
- Cicero, De Officiis 3.99 to 100 (Regulus on parole), tr. Walter Miller, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Cicero, De Officiis, Book III”
- World History Encyclopedia (Mark Cartwright), “Saguntum”
- Polybius, Histories 1.20 to 28 (Mylae and Ecnomus), 1.49 to 51 (Drepana) and 1.84 to 85 (the Saw), tr. W. R. Paton, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book I”
- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 14.47 to 55 (Motya), tr. C. H. Oldfather, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Diodorus Siculus, Book XIV, chapters 40 to 78”
- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 16.77 to 82 (the Crimisus), Loeb Classical Library, vol. VIII (1963), on LacusCurtius, “Diodorus Siculus, Book XVI, chapters 66 to 95”
- Plutarch, Life of Timoleon 25 to 29 and 34, Loeb Classical Library translation, on LacusCurtius, “Plutarch, Life of Timoleon”
- Polybius, Histories 8.3 to 7 (Archimedes at Syracuse), tr. W. R. Paton, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book VIII”
- Polybius, Histories 14.8 to 9 (the Great Plains), tr. W. R. Paton, Loeb Classical Library, on LacusCurtius, “Polybius, The Histories, Book XIV”
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