The Punic Wars
What does Punic mean? Why was the wars named the “Punic Wars”? Who did it involve? Why and how did it start? Carthage was a major colonial city of Phoenicia in North Africa. Carthage meant “new city” in Phoenician. When Phoenicia conquered Persia and Assyria, all the cultures mixed and Phoenicia was no more. However the new change did not affect Carthage, since they were a Phoenician colony and Phoenicia no longer existed. That meant Carthage was an independent state. Carthage was a very powerful state. They controlled almost all the trade in the Mediterranean Sea, which gave it plenty of gold and silver from Spain. Rome met Carthage during the third century BC. The two have fought before, however neither felt threatened by the other. The Romans knew about the Carthaginians history so they called them by their former empire name… The Phoenicians, but in Latin it was Peoni or Punic.