Second Punic War

The Second Punic War was a conflict that was fought from 218 to 201 BC between the Roman Republic and Carthage. Most of Carthaginian forces were led by Hannibal Barca. He scared the Romans by invading them over the mountains from Hispania with war elephants. He won the Battle of the Trebia and kept winning battles by clever strategy. In the Battle of Cannae, he destroyed with his small army the largest army that the Romans had ever used.

The Romans then avoided fighting Hannibal and concentrated on defeating his allies. That became known as the Fabian strategy. Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal fought Rome's allies in Sicily. Each side had many allies. However, most of Rome's allies stayed loyal, but Carthage's allies switched sides.

Hannibal did well in Italy but in 204 BC Scipio Africanus invaded Carthaginian North Africa and Hannibal had to go there. Scipio defeated him in the Battle of Zama, which cemented Rome's victory over Carthage.

The Second Punic War ruined the power of Carthage. The Third Punic War destroyed the city itself. Rome became the dominant power in the Mediterranean for the next 600 years.

Second Punic War Media

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  The relief stele of Kleitor supposedely depicting the Achaean statesman and historian Polybius, 2nd century BC, Hellenistic Greek artwork from the Peloponnese. Dimensions are as follows: height of the stele, 2.18 m (7.2 ft); width of the stele, 1.11 m (3.6 ft); height of the carved figure of Polybios, 1.96 m (6.4 ft).

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  The approximate extent of territory controlled by Rome and Carthage immediately before the start of the First Punic War
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  A Carthaginian quarter-shekel, dated 237–209 BC, depicting the Punic god Melqart, who was associated with Hercules/Heracles. On the reverse is an elephant, possibly a war elephant; these were linked with the Barcids.
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  Hannibal's route from Iberia to Italy
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  Hannibal, depicted in the Capuan bust
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  A 1777 statue of Fabius
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  Hannibal's allies in southern Italy c. 213 BC, shown in blue
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  An Iberian warrior from bas-relief c. 200 BC. He is armed with a falcata and an oval shield.
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  2nd century BC marble bust of the younger Scipio, Glyptoteket