Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Third Punic War's Brutal End

The Story of Italy: Rome, Renaissance, and the Birth of Modern Europe — Fexingo History · Jul 9, 2026 · 5m · transcript

After Hannibal's defeat, Carthage was a shadow of its former self—but Rome's paranoia wouldn't let it rest. In the third and final Punic War, the Roman senator Cato the Elder ended every speech with 'Carthago delenda est'—Carthage must be destroyed. This episode follows Rome's relentless campaign against a weakened city, the 149 BCE ultimatum demanding Carthage dismantle itself, the desperate Carthaginian defense under Hasdrubal the Boeotarch, and the brutal 146 BCE siege where Scipio Aemilianus—the adopted grandson of Scipio Africanus—ordered the city razed to…