Second Punic War
WarHannibal crosses the Alps to invade Italy, but Rome ultimately prevails and Carthage loses its status as a great power.
- Date
- 218 BCE – 201 BCE · View on map
- Regions
- EuropeNorth Africa
- Importance
- ★★★★★
Hannibal crosses the Alps to invade Italy, but Rome ultimately prevails and Carthage loses its status as a great power.
Hannibal encircles and destroys a much larger Roman army in southern Italy, one of Rome's worst defeats.
The mathematician and engineer Archimedes is killed by a Roman soldier during the fall of Syracuse.
Scipio Africanus defeats Hannibal in North Africa, forcing Carthage to sue for peace and ending the Second Punic War.
Eratosthenes estimates the Earth's circumference by comparing the angle of the Sun's rays at Syene and Alexandria, with a remarkably close result.
Rome and Carthage fight for control of Sicily; Rome wins and gains its first overseas province.
Ending the Third Punic War, Rome captures and destroys Carthage, making its territory the province of Africa.