The Burning of Carthage - Rome's Final Punic War

In the spring of 146 BC, flames consumed the great city of Carthage.
Once the richest port in the ancient world, Carthage stood for centuries as Rome’s only equal — a maritime power built on trade, science, and diplomacy.
But prosperity made it dangerous.

What followed was not conquest, but extermination.
Rome besieged the city for three years, starved its people, burned its temples, and enslaved its survivors. Then it buried the truth beneath propaganda that painted Carthage as barbaric and itself as righteous.

This episode uncovers the real history behind Rome’s destruction of Carthage — the politics, the fear, and the deliberate erasure of a civilisation that dared to rival an empire.