James Baquet Today we’re back to the Punic Wars — this time the second one — for the Battle of the Metaurus. Why are the Punic Wars so important? The powers involved — Rome and Carthage — were fairly well-matched. Rome won each of the three wars, but never by much. “European culture,” then, hung in the balance. Much of European civilization evolved from Roman origins — the Romance languages (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Romanian and others), and Roman script; Latin literature; calendrics; Christianity (which spread as it did only because of sponsorship by the Emperor Constantine); Greek science, philosophy, and political systems; and many modern cities — even our styles of architecture — evolved from Roman origins. If Rome had lost to Carthage, the civilization of Europe would have grown from a Middle-Eastern, Semitic-speaking (and writing) culture that had more in common with modern Israel than with anything European. Bad? Not necessarily. Different? Absolutely! Now, to the Metaurus, a river in Italy: The battle was fought in 207 B.C. in what is now northern Italy, near the Adriatic Sea and due east from Florence. The Romans were led by Marcus Livius and Gaius Claudius Nero (not to be confused with the later Emperor Nero). The Carthaginians were under Hasdrubal Barca, who was on his way to reinforce his brother Hannibal with men and equipment. Claudius Nero had just done battle with Hannibal far to the south, and joined Marcus Livius after a forced march that neither Hannibal nor Hasdrubal expected; they were surprised at being outnumbered. Using their numerical superiority, the Romans outflanked and routed the Carthaginian army, killing or capturing 15,400 men, including Hasdrubal. (Claudius Nero had Hasdrubal’s severed head thrown into Hannibal’s camp to announce his brother’s defeat.) The battle secured Italy for the Romans, for a time; Hannibal evacuated the towns he had occupied in southern Italy and withdrew to Bruttium (modern Calabria, at the “toe” of Italy’s “boot”). He stayed there for four years, until the Battles of Crotona. Vocabulary: 1. in the same language family as Arabic, Hebrew, etc. 2. having fewer men 3. having more men 4. leave under pressure 5. writing system 6. traveling farther and faster than troops are used to 7. having roughly equal power 8. cut off 9. forced to flee in a disorderly manner 10. the science of making calendars | 