In reading Harris’ thoughts on the 3rd Punic War, he made it clear that this war was not really instigated by the Carthaginians but instead had been planned by Rome years before. He reads through many of the original texts which point to Rome just wanting to destroy Carthage because they were scared that they would become too powerful. At the time Carthage was paying huge taxes to Rome from the treaty that ended the 2nd Punic War and had been very obedient. The Romans found one excuse in a small military transaction that Carthage had had with a neighboring King Massinissa which was against the treaty mentioned above. This was one excuse they could use to destroy Carthage. However, it seems clear that Rome did not want to compete with Carthage’s trading port or have to possibly compete with them militarily as they grew in population. So in 149 BCE they went to war and eventually destroyed Carthage and took the inhabitants into slavery.
Map of Roman Empire
Appian in his account of the 3rd Punic War paints a similar picture to that of Harris just more in depth. He really goes to show that Carthage did nothing to really deserve being destroyed. They had even in negotiations given up 100 of their best infants but also all of their arms to the Romans. They did everything in their power to try and convince the Romans to take pity on them and not come into their city. They sent many ambassadors to try to persuade the Romans that they should not attack Carthage. However, the Romans were not willing to hear any of this and with that attacked a Carthaginian city that was truly overmatched.
Roman ships maneuvering out of port: (1) a merchant ship, (2) a trireme, (3) a liburna
Not only had the Carthaginians just given up all of their arms to the Romans but they had also just fought a war in which 50,000 soldiers had been killed. This was in the war versus Massinissa which was the excuse the Romans used to show that Carthage was gaining military strength and might be a threat. So when Rome finally attacked Carthage they were a beaten down city who had very few weapons and not a full army. However, the people of Carthage held of the Romans for three years before the genocide was brought down on their people.
In Thucydides account of the dialogue between Athens and Melos he tells of the Athenian delegation giving the Melians the options of either becoming a colonized nation or being destroyed by their army.
Thucydides
The Melians refuse to give up the freedom of their people and in discussion tell the Athenians that they think the Gods and the Spartans are on their side. They feel that they cannot just surrender over their island which they had ruled for 700 year without at least putting up a good fight. However, in the end their civilization was destroyed and the remaining inhabitants became slaves to the Athenians.
Map of Athenian Empire with the Isle of Melos located toward the South Eastern part of the map
These two genocides have similarities but also some differences. The main similarity is that in both cases a much stronger nation was attacking a much weaker nation. In the genocide of Melos it was a small island nation against a burgeoning empire while in the case of Carthage it was a falling empire who had given up their weapons supply to the enemy against the strongest empire in the world at that time. So in both cases a much strong force was attacking these nations. The main difference is that the people of Melos brought the war to themselves. In Thucydides Melian Dialogue he shows that Melos was not going to give up its freedom without and fight and because of this the much more powerful Athenian empire crushed them and took the rest of their people into slavery. The slavery part is actually another similarity as survivors of both wars (men, women, and children) were captured as slaves.
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