Romans the victors

In the letter “Ancient Carthage Secret” (April ’06, pg. 39), the assertion that Carthage won the first two Punic Wars is wrong. Rome won all three Punic Wars. Only the second one was a close call, with the Romans suffering years of defeats before winning the battle of Xama over Hannibal and restricting the Carthaginian empire to the city of Carthage.

The writer is correct that the Romans destroyed Carthage after the third Punic War, only to rebuild it some years later as a colony.

HARVEY LAMPERT
North Bethesda, MD