Empire814 BCE – 146 BCE · 668 years
Carthaginian Empire
A North African mercantile superpower that nearly broke Rome before Rome broke it.
What it was
Carthage controlled the western Mediterranean through commerce, naval power, and a network of colonies across modern-day Spain, Sicily, and Sardinia. Three Punic Wars with Rome (264–146 BCE) ended with the city razed and its territory annexed.
Why it mattered
Hannibal's 218 BCE crossing of the Alps with elephants is the textbook example of operational audacity; the Roman decision to permanently destroy Carthage set a precedent for total war.
From Wikipedia
Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa founded by the legendary queen Dido on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classical world. It became the capital city of the civilization of Ancient Carthage and later Roman Carthage.
Wikipedia: Carthage·CC BY-SA 4.0
Borders & accuracy
Solid borders are reconstructed from canonical historical-basemap data or hand-crafted from scholarly atlases.
- SOURCEaourednik / historical-basemaps
- DETAILhistorical-basemaps
- SNAPSHOT300 BCE
- POLITY TYPEstate
Wars of this empire81
Conflicts whose belligerents name this polity, best-documented first.
- Second Punic War218–201 BCEWorld-changing · 500K dead
- Battle of Cannae216 BCEWorld-changing · 55K dead
- Punic Wars264–146 BCEMajor conflict · 1.2M dead
- First Punic War264–241 BCEMajor conflict · 400K dead
- Third Punic War149–146 BCEMajor conflict · 150K dead
- Battle of Zama202 BCEMajor conflict · 50K dead
- Battle of Trebia218 BCEMajor conflict · 40K dead
- Mercenary War241–237 BCEMajor conflict
- Battle of Lake Trasimene217 BCEMajor conflict
- Battle of the Metaurus207 BCEMajor conflict
- Sicilian Wars (Greek–Punic)580–265 BCESignificant
- Roman–Gallic wars390–50 BCESignificant
- Pyrrhus's Sicily Campaign278–276 BCESignificant
- Battle of Baecula208 BCESignificant
- Battle of Ilipa206 BCESignificant
- Battle of Alalia535 BCERegional
- Battle of Himera480 BCERegional
- Battle of Himera409 BCERegional
- Battle of Selinus409 BCERegional
- Battle of Acragas406 BCERegional
- Battle of Motya397 BCERegional
- Battle of Syracuse396 BCERegional
- Battle of Cabala383 BCERegional
- Battle of Cronium383 BCERegional
+ 57 more in the atlas.
Open in the atlas →Seeks the timeline to 814 BCE and fits the map to these borders.
Cite as: Carthaginian Empire (814 BCE – 146 BCE). War Atlas. https://waratlas.org/e/carthaginian-empire · Sources & methodology