Carthaginians

650–146 BC

Being trade rivals with Magna Graecia, the Carthaginians had several clashes with the Greeks over the island of Sicily in the Sicilian Wars from 600 to 265 BC. The Carthaginians eventually also fought Rome in three Punic Wars between 265 and 146 BC but they were defeated in each one. In the First Punic War, they lost control of Sicily. In the Second Punic War, an invasion of Italy by Hannibal was unsuccessful in forcing the Romans to surrender and the Carthaginians were subsequently defeated by Scipio Africanus in Spain and at the Battle of Zama in northern Africa in 202 BC, marking the end of Carthage's position as a major Mediterranean power. Finally, in the Third Punic War, Carthage was destroyed in 146 BC. Victory in the Punic Wars enabled Roman settlement of Africa and eventual domination of the entire Mediterranean Sea.