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Conflict202 BC

Battle of Zama

In 202 BC a Roman army under Scipio defeated Hannibal’s Carthaginians at Zama in North Africa, ending the Second Punic War.

The Battle of Zama — engraving by Cornelis Cort, 1567, after Giulio Romano
The Battle of Zama — engraving by Cornelis Cort, 1567, after Giulio Romano

Unknown author · Public domain · Source

Allied with Masinissa of Numidia, Scipio landed in Africa and threatened Carthage. Hannibal, recalled from Italy, led with his war elephants, but the Romans opened lanes in their ranks to let the elephants pass through, and the Numidian cavalry struck from behind to win a crushing victory. The exact site of the battle is uncertain.

Carthage lost all its overseas territory, paid a heavy indemnity and could no longer make war without Rome’s permission. Scipio earned the title “Africanus”. A few years later, around 194 BC, Wiman took the throne of Gojoseon on the Korean peninsula.

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States at the time
Roman Republic · victor
Carthage · defeated
Numidia · allied force

People

  • Scipio Africanus236 BC – 183 BC

    commander · Roman general of the Second Punic War who carried the fight to Spain and Africa and defeated Hannibal at Zama in 202 BC

  • Hannibal247 BC – 183 BC

    commander · Carthaginian general who crossed the Alps into Italy in the Second Punic War and crushed the Romans at Cannae, but was defeated at Zama

Themes that include this event

  • Greece and Rome2000 BC – AD 476

    From the Aegean civilisation to the fall of the Western Roman Empire — the classical civilisation built by the democracy of the polis and the Roman republic and empire