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Line 1: − Rome fought and won a series of important wars known as the Punic (PYOO-nik) Wars between 264 and 146 B.C. against the Phoenician North African city of [[Carthage]] on the Mediterranean Sea. This enabled the Roman republic to gain control of the Mediterranean Sea and exclusive control over trade of wine, olive oil, food and many other goods. There were three Punic Wars in all, named “Punic” after the Roman term for Phoenician. − In the First Punic War (264-241 B.C.), Rome conquered Sicily and acquired grain-producing territory. Rome developed a navy as a result of this war. With no previous knowledge of shipbuilding, the Roman ships were no match for the powerful Carthaginian navy. However, the invention of the "corvus" (a hook-like device by which the Romans could attach their ships to Carthaginian ships) allowed the Romans to board enemy ships, displaying their superior hand-to-hand combat and effectively winning the war. − − In the Second Punic War (218-202 B.C.), Rome fought against [[Hannibal]], the leader of Carthage who took his entire army through Spain and then, in a preemptive move, crossed the Italian Alps in merely 15 days to the great surprise of the Romans. Hannibal's crossing of the Alps with 30,000 men and some elephants is considered one of the greatest military feats of the ancient world. He then beat the Romans in a series of battles for 16 years but could not conquer Rome itself. Hannibal had to retreat to Africa when the Roman general attacked Carthage. Rome acquired Spain as a result of the Second Punic War. − − In the Third Punic War, the Romans destroyed Carthage (146 B.C.), killed its inhabitants or took them as slaves, and salted its farms to make it impossible to grow crops. The Romans then went into Macedonia and Greece to defeat it in revenge for having helped Hannibal. By the end, Rome controlled all around the Mediterranean Sea, which was the entire western civilized world. The Roman senator [[Cato the Elder]] encouraged this revenge by ending every speech with the conclusion, Carthago delenda est: "Carthage must be destroyed." The Roman soldiers returned home with their winnings, and with Greek knowledge. Rome itself became Hellenistic, fascinated by the culture of the Greeks, including their architecture, their language, and their system of justice. The Roman empire helped spread Greek knowledge further than the Greeks themselves could.
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