Wellesley College Wellesley College Digital Scholarship and Archive Honors Thesis Collection 2019 Cause, Course, and Consequence: The Punic aW rs (264 BCE to 146 BCE) Angela Coco [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.wellesley.edu/thesiscollection Recommended Citation Coco, Angela, "Cause, Course, and Consequence: The unicP Wars (264 BCE to 146 BCE)" (2019). Honors Thesis Collection. 645. https://repository.wellesley.edu/thesiscollection/645 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Wellesley College Digital Scholarship and Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Thesis Collection by an authorized administrator of Wellesley College Digital Scholarship and Archive. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Cause, Course, and Consequence: The Punic Wars ( 264 BCE to 146 BCE) Angela Anne Coco A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Prerequisite for Honors in History At Wellesley College Under the advisement of Professor Guy M. Rogers April 2019 © 2019 Angela Coco Acknowledgements This thesis could not have been written without the support and forbearance of a number of people and institutions. Thank you to Wellesley College for giving me the opportunity to create this work and for embracing me throughout my time here. Thank you to the Samuel and Hilda Levitt Foundation and The F.A.O Schwarz Foundation for funding my research and travel throughout Sicily. I would especially like to recognize and thank my incredible advisor and mentor, Professor Guy M. Rogers. I am infinitely thankful for his hard work, edits, encouragement, direction, and knowledge on this project and in general. Without Professor Rogers, this project would not be a fraction of what it is. Thank you for your honest and insightful feedback, for your endless encouragement and trust in me, for teaching me “ menefreghista ” when I needed it, and for supporting my endeavors beyond the classroom. Additionally, thank you to Professors Pietro Militello, Margherita Cassia and Gaetano Arena of the University of Catania (Sicily) and to Professor Alex Walthall of the University of Texas at Austin for their encouragement and advice on whom to contact, what to read, and where to visit on the island of Sicily. I would also like to recognize Professor Cain and Professor Starr for their invaluable support and guidance (on my thesis and on my life). Additionally, thank you to Professor Quinn Slobodian and the other three members of the History Department Honors Program (Jacqueline, Maddie, and Alex). Thank you to my readers—Professors Simon Grote, Tak Matsusaka , and William Cain—for sitting on my thesis panel and for teaching some of my favorite classes at Wellesley. Lastly, thank you to my family for teaching me that nothing that can stop me from achieving my dreams. Dorothy, Christina, Mom, Dad, I would be lost without your guidance. I would most especially like to thank my Aunt, Dr. Maria Coco, and my mother who traveled with me during my research around the island of Sicily. Without these two great women, whom I dragged over 2000 km and through hundreds of years of history (sometimes driving an hour out of the way to see an unlisted mosaic, on a dirt road, deep in a vineyard), my project would be missing its most vital components. Thank you also to my Zia Maria and Zio Giovanni for inviting us to stay in their home in Fiumefreddo, Sicily. To mia Zia Maria Pia e Zio Nino per il loro amore (e cucina!). To all my cousins for offering advice on highlights, adventures, and even driving us up a mountain, especially my cugino, Dario. I would also like to acknowledge all four of my grandparents who bestowed in me a love of Italian culture and pride in being Sicilian. It is through their sacrifices that I am where I am today. Without everyone listed above and many more professors, researchers, and friends (that I e­mailed, called, and questioned about this project), my Punic War(s) adventure would not have been possible. I am so thankful to all. Grazie mille a tutti. Supra lu majuri si 'nsigna lu minuri. We learn by standing on the shoulders of the wise. 2 Abstract The Punic Wars (264 BCE­ 146 BCE) continued for over a century and brought ruin on a tremendous scale. The wars changed the socio­economic structure in Rome by eliminating the middle or farmer/soldier class of Roman society, affected the distribution of wealth by funneling money to the highest socio­economic classes, and altered religious and political institutions through extended contact with the East and the acquisition of new land. It is the goal of this thesis to explore how the introduction of new peoples and cultures, a new economic structure, and a new primary mode of religious thought, following the three Punic Wars, affected the life of the individual Roman citizen. These changes altered the subsequent trajectory, growth, and overall character of the empire. Whether or not these changes to the Roman order were positive or negative is for the reader to decide. However, it is certain that the Punic Wars altered the Roman Empire forever. The descriptions of Rome (and Sicily) before and after the wars show the destructive and transformative quality of extreme and long­lasting warfare. It is important for a modern reader to understand these changes and influences because the new Rome that emerged at the turn of the century served as a foundational block of Western civilization. 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 2 Abstract 3 Introduction 6 Part I: Chapter 1: Rome and Carthage: A Brief Background Sketch 13 Rome 13 Carthage 16 Tension Builds­ Causes for War 19 Chapter 2: Short Overview of The Wars 23 The First Punic War (264 BCE­ 241 BCE) 23 The Second Punic War (218 BCE­ 202 BCE) 33 The Third Punic War (149 BCE­ 146 BCE) 42 Part II: An Introduction to the Effects of the Punic Wars 44 Chapter 3: The Price of Power: The Debilitation of Italy's Native Population, the Rise of Latifundia, and the Large Scale Introduction of Slavery 47 Widespread Destruction, New Jobs, and Resilient Growth 47 Latifundia and Mass­Slavery 55 Chapter 4: Inheriting an Empire: Trade, Wealth, the Formation of Luxurious Habits, and the Introduction of Sumptuary Laws 66 Growth and Acquisition 66 Wealth Expanded 72 Sumptuary Laws 90 Conclusion 94 Chapter 5: Are You There God(s)?: Changes in Religious Practices 96 Mixing of Religious Influences 96 Egypt and the East 101 Greece 106 Religious Evolution 108 Chapter 6: The Beginning of the End: New Trajectory, Change in Military and Political Practices, A “Decline” in Morality, and Social Upheaval 113 New Goals 113 Military and Politics 115 A Decline in Morality: Violence, Social Unrest, and Rebellion 119 4 The Rise of Generals 125 Spartacus 128 Curtain Call: The Toppling of the Roman Republic 129 Conclusion 131 Conclusion: Influence on Rome 133 Epilogue: Influence on the West 138 How the Punic Wars Birthed the Modern World 140 Figures: 145 Works Cited 181 Ancient Source Bibliography 181 Secondary Source Bibliography 184 5 Introduction Throughout the course of history, warfare has influenced individuals, families, and nations. The long years of warfare between Rome and Carthage marked a critical period in the history of these two nations. For Carthage, they spelled annihilation; for Rome, the beginnings of a world­empire and the incipient evolution toward what is considered the “Roman way of life.” The object of this thesis is to examine the influence of the Punic Wars (264 BCE­ 146 BCE) on the lives of Roman citizens, as well as its influence upon the development of the Roman Empire. I will show that the Punic Wars dramatically altered the mode of life for the individual Roman citizen and later brought Rome to the very height of her power and dominion. It hardly needs to be said that this new Rome would later go on to impact the subsequent development of western civilization. While the Punic Wars were probably among the largest conflicts of the ancient world, the century­long struggle is also one of the best documented (although there still remains gaps in our knowledge). The three wars fought between the two great cities were truly epic in scale, filled with intensity, drama, and remarkable characters. The wars opened the door to future Roman conquests, brought great wealth and opened trade routes to the state, and set into motion other significant and lasting effects on economic, political, military, social, and religious institutions. As a result of these wars, the Romans became the only people in history to have successfully “united” the lands and cultures of what today comprises Western Europe, North Africa, and the eastern Mediterranean under one polity. By the mid­second century CE, Rome’s empire extended “from the highlands of Scotland to the Persian Gulf, from the Atlantic coast of Portugal almost to 6 the steppes of Russia.”1 No other empire in history has managed to unite Europe and the Middle East, and Rome would do far more than just that in only five centuries.2 The famed quote "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," can be directly applied to our knowledge of the Punic Wars.3 Like the “Great War,” (WWI , 1914­ 1918 CE), the Punic Wars functioned like the first ever World War.4 The Second Punic War greatly reduced Rome’s population. In fact, the war probably eliminated about one­eighth of the whole Roman population.5 There are events in history that, if they had not happened, would have set life on earth on an alternative route.