Battle of Tarentum (212 BC) Battle of Tarentum (212 BC) The Battle of Tarentum in March 212 BC was a military engagement in the Second Punic War. The Romans had been waiting for a chance to strike at Capua, the capital of Campania in southern Italy, after it revolted against them following their defeat by the Carthaginian Hannibal at Cannae in 216 BC. Hannibal had made the city his winter headquarters, and his proximity deterred the Romans. In 212 BC, however, Hannibal was called south to Tarentum, giving the Romans a chance to strike. Hannibal hoped for a success big enough to risk the loss
Carthago delenda est seafaring Phoenician city-state of Carthage in North Africa (modern day Tunisia), they suffered a number of humiliations and damaging reverses in the course of these engagements, especially at the Battle of Cannae (216 BC). This grew into an attitude of seeking vengeance and total victory, which was expressed by these phrases. The city of Carthage was indeed finally razed by the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus after the Third Battle of Carthage in 146 BC, and its entire remaining population was sold into slavery. It thus never again posed a threat to Rome—at least until taken over by the Vandals, who