Western Civilization I / Unit 6 WC1 0508 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The First Punic War and the Birth of the Province
Captions available
The idea
Carthage, Phoenician-founded, was a trading empire and long a Roman partner. A quarrel in Sicily brought war in two sixty-four; Rome learned naval warfare and won by two forty-one. Carthage ceded Sicily, and Rome seized Corsica and Sardinia besides.
In practice
The provincial system: tribute, a senatorial governor with enormous power.
Where people slip
Punic means Phoenician. The province outlived the Republic.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it