In West Civ we learned that 5,000 soldiers, not in it for pay (not yet), the Romans army's elite heavy in fantry, recruited exclusively from Roman citizens. Group of eighty's a century, on horseback is the cavalry, they used shields, swords, dagger, amour, and tunic. The Punic War was from 264-46 BCE, Roman vs. Carthage, there were three years. Two empires fighting for control, the First Punic War (264-241 BCE), naval battles for control of the strategically located island of Sicily, Rome wins this one. The Carthaginian Empire Strikes back, the Second Punic War (218-201 BCE), 29-year-old Carthaginian general. Hannibal almost does the impossible: taking Rome, attacks Rome from the NORTH after crossing Iberia (Spain) and the Alps. Lays siege to much of the Peninsula for 15 years, but could never get back to Rome. Hannibal riding on elephant back crossing the Alps just to launch his attack. The Third and final Punic War (149-146 BCE), Rome wanted to finally remove the threat of Carthage. Scipio, Tiberius, Gracchus, and other mercilessly attacked the city. Carthage was burned for 17 days; the city walls and buildings were utterly destroyed. When the war ended, the last 50,000 people in the city were sold into slavery. The rest of Carthage's territories were annexed and made into the Roman province of Africa.