The Punic Wars

this is just a verbal ink blot test to gauge your maturity level based on your response.

okay, you ready?

the punic wars.

Lake Titicaca

All I remember is the Punic Wars ended saltily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy0SqN5YAJk

Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, the Alps, Cannae, 'Cartago delenda est' or something very close to that...oh and Hasdrubal while I'm at it.

Hasdrubal didn't do much but chill in Spain. I think they named the Barca Lounger after him.

Sounds like a smart guy to me.

his barca was worse than his bite-a.

pubic wars morelike

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pubic_Wars

also, lol @ punic "bearded head" amirite

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Head_man_Carthage_Louvre_AO3783.jpg

so much potential for immaturity and intentional dyslexia in the fact of the carthage lunar goddess being named tanit.

The origins of Tanit are to be found in the pantheon of Ugarit, especially in the Ugaritic goddess Anat (Hvidberg-Hansen 1982), a consumer of blood and flesh.

Would love Hasdrubal to be revived as a popular baby name

kind of sad that this isn't actually a discussion about the Punic Wars.

so much hope when i clicked, ya know?

hasdrubation

poonic wars

kind of sad that this isn't actually a discussion about the Punic Wars.

Go ahead and start. I'm sure enough classic history nerds here (myself included) can talk about it.

I've read "Pride of Carthage" but it was pretty fictionalized. Hannibal pretty cool imo. Don't know a lot about 1st or 3rd Punic Wars though...2nd is my Empire Strikes Back

Ha, I was just thinking about Pride of Carthage myself -- good read, I hear the author was going to tackle his own riff on epic fantasy as a follow-up, sounded interesting.

Durham, that was his name -- here's that series:

http://www.davidanthonydurham.com/novels/acacia.html

And back to said wars and that book:

http://www.davidanthonydurham.com/novels/pride.html

Anyone ever actually finish Flaubert's Salammbo?

It is pretty convincing, at least to me though I loaned it to a history nerd friend who pretty much pshawed it & I felt bad for not reading more real stuff. But it's pretty fun, I recommend it

Craziest thing about the Second Punic War was that Rome just willed itself to become a naval power in about six months, having no naval tradition whatsoever prior to that, and pretty soon they could hold their own with the Carthaginians, the premier naval power of the day. Absolutely bonkers development that says a lot about Rome's determination to win.

Pride of Carthage is what I call my pubes fwiw

I was gonna start a similarly juvenile thread but now I gotta wait a few weeks to not step on anyone's punes

You really didn't want the Romans on your tits is what I'm trying to say.

though I loaned it to a history nerd friend who pretty much pshawed it

It's terrible romanticized at many points but I like the way he worked against a variety of assumptions that are essentially culturally biased.

Also, what Aimless said. "Oh you have a navy? Fuck you."

Romans were scary. Fighting with, against...history's juggernaut

hannibal?

would like to know more about this era

Just ran across this article today: Ancient Shipwreck Points to Site of Major Roman Battle

The remains of a sunken warship recently found in the Mediterranean Sea may confirm the site of a major ancient battle in which Rome trounced Carthage.

The year was 241 B.C. and the players were the ascending Roman republic and the declining Carthaginian Empire, which was centered on the northernmost tip of Africa. The two powers were fighting for dominance in the Mediterranean in a series of conflicts called the Punic Wars.

Archaeologists think the newly discovered remnants of the warship date from the final battle of the first Punic War, which allowed Rome to expand farther into the Western Mediterranean.

"It was the classic battle between Carthage and Rome," said archaeologist Jeffrey G. Royal of the RPM Nautical Foundation in Key West, Fla. "This particular naval battle was the ultimate, crushing defeat for the Carthaginians."

The shipwreck was found near the island of Levanzo, west of Sicily, which is where historical documents place the battle.

In the summer of 2010, Royal and his colleagues discovered a warship's bronze ram — the sharp, prolonged tip of the ship's bow that was used to slam into an enemy vessel. This tactic was heavily used in ancient naval battles and was thought to have played an important role in the Punic fights.

would like to know more about this era

I highly, highly recommend the History Of Rome Podcast.

I approve of turning this into a real thread. will contribute when i am less tired.

Delenda est carthago! Cato the censor. Battle of....was it canae?

Have any of you read those Tom Holland books? Ancient Rome is so interesting.

Craziest thing about the Second Punic War was that Rome just willed itself to become a naval power in about six months

Wasn't this because a) they nicked the boat-building technology from the Carthaginians, and b) boat-building technology was some way short of being all that? Naval battles of the era were essentially two giant floating sheds humping into each other and then a fist fight over the gang-plank.

nah that was just how ben hur did it in the 50's