The Siege of Carthage

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Uploaded by on May 31, 2010

The Romans elected the young but popular Scipio Aemilianus as consul, a special law being passed to lift the age restriction. Scipio restored discipline, defeated the Carthaginians in a field battle, and besieged the city closely, constructing a mole to block the harbor.

In the spring of 146 BC the Romans broke through the city wall but they were hard pressed to take the city. Every building, house and temple had been turned into a stronghold and every Carthaginian had taken up a weapon. The Romans were forced to move slowly, capturing the city house by house, street by street and fighting each Carthaginian soldier who fought with courage born of despair. Eventually after hours upon hours of house-to-house fighting, the Carthaginians surrendered. An estimated 50,000 surviving inhabitants were sold into slavery. The city was then leveled. The land surrounding Carthage was declared ager publicus, and it was shared between local farmers, and Roman and Italian ones.

Before the end of the battle, a dramatic event took place: the few survivors had found refuge in the temple of Eshmun, in the citadel of Byrsa, although it was already burning. They negotiated their surrender, but Scipio Aemilianus expressed that forgiveness was impossible either for Hasdrubal, the general who defended the city, or for the Roman deserters. Hasdrubal then left the Citadel to surrender and praying for mercy (he had tortured Roman prisoners in front of the Roman army). At that moment Hasdrubal's wife allegedly went out with her two children, insulted her husband, sacrificed her sons and jumped with them into a fire that the deserters had started. The deserters then jumped into the fire too, and Scipio Aemilianus started crying.

After the war, Scipio Aemilianus was given the honorific nickname Scipio Aemilianus Africanus (Scipio Aemilianus The African).

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  • rome total war ftw

  • 5:00 aw shiiit

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  • Even breast plates have 6 packs!

  • @TheChuchulainn2 stfu faget.

  • BULLSHIT. The Roman faggots never sowed the city with salt... it was re-established as a Roman colony.

    Fuck the Romans.

  • @babute21 thank you

  • @Robsfund don be a smart ass geek shit. where did 91.5% of the hans in china come from? your ass? dummy.

  • rofl 3:00 ...they do realize shields are for blocking right? ..right?

  • @DragonOfQin I hate arguing on the internet, but come on really? There are several different Chinese 'races' (i hesitate to use that term) just as there were several countries that make up China. I suggest you find an actual Chinese person to discuss history with as you don't seem to be listening to anything i'm saying, instead relying on insults to try and make yourself seem right... you are totally dumb as fuck (irony intended).

  • @Robsfund different dynasties same people dumbass.

  • @hipie63 FTW stands for For The Win

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