Key Facts
- Duration
- Nearly 3 years (149–146 BCE)
- Prisoners enslaved
- 50,000
- Resulting Roman province
- Province of Africa, capital Utica
- Carthage rebuilt as Roman city
- ~100 years after destruction
Strategic Narrative Overview
Early Roman assaults repeatedly failed through 149 and 148 BCE, with the siege stalemated under poor commanders. Public pressure led Rome to elect Scipio Aemilianus commander in 147 BCE, waiving normal age restrictions. Scipio tightened the blockade with a massive mole, cutting off supplies. A Carthaginian naval sortie initially surprised Rome but ended in heavy Carthaginian losses. Rome then erected a dominant structure in the harbour, controlling the city walls and preparing the final assault.
01 / The Origins
Tensions between Rome and Carthage reignited in the mid-2nd century BCE as Carthage, though militarily weakened, showed signs of economic recovery. Roman senators, alarmed by Carthaginian resurgence, pushed for war. In 149 BCE Rome issued impossible demands, including the relocation of Carthage's entire population inland. When Carthage refused, Rome dispatched a large army to North Africa, landing at Utica, initiating the final and decisive conflict of the Punic Wars.
03 / The Outcome
In early 146 BCE Roman forces launched a systematic assault lasting one week, destroying Carthage street by street and killing most inhabitants. Only on the final day were survivors taken prisoner — 50,000, subsequently sold into slavery. Carthage's territory became the Roman province of Africa, administered from Utica. The city itself lay in ruins for roughly a century before being refounded as a Roman colonial city, marking the complete elimination of Carthage as a political and cultural entity.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Scipio Aemilianus.
Side B
1 belligerent
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.