The First Genocide - Carthage, 146 BC

Aug 27, 2026

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An analysis of Rome’s destruction of Carthage in 146 BC, tracing the political and ideological build-up to a three-year siege and the mass deaths that followed. The text examines Cato the Censor’s repeated rhetoric, the Senate’s prior secret decision, and the legal and historical framing of genocide under the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. It weighs military explanations against socio-political motivations, highlighting how hatred, expansionism, and cultural prejudice shaped policy.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Military expansion

Cato’s rhetoric and Senate policy

Siege, extermination claims, and aftermath

The First Genocide:Carthage,146 BC Ben Kiernan Delenda est Carthago(Carthage Must be Destroyed!')may be the first recorded incite-ment to genocide.These were the words of Marcus Porcius Cato,the Censor.Plutarch tells us that Cato's call ended his every speech in the Roman Senate,'on anymatter whatsoever′,from 153 BC to his death aged 85 in 149.Scipio Nasica-son-in-law of Scipio Africanus,conqueror of Hannibal in the Second Punic War(218-202BC)-would always reply:Carthage should be allowed to exist.But such chal-lengers were silenced.²Rome decided on war 'long before'it launched the ThirdPunic War just prior to Cato's death.³One of his last speeches in the Senate,before aCarthaginian delegation in 149,was critical: Who are the ones who have often violated the treaty?...Who are the ones who havewaged war most cruelly?...Who are the ones who have ravaged Italy?The Carthaginians.Who are the ones who demand forgiveness?The Carthaginians.See then how it would suitthem to get what they want. The Carthaginian delegates were accorded no right of reply.Rome soon began athree-year siege of the world's wealthiest city.⁴Of a population of 2-400,000,5at least150,000 Carthaginians perished.Appian described one battle in which 70,000,including non-combatants'were killed,probably an exaggeration.But Polybius,whoparticipated in the campaign,confirmed that 'the number of deaths was incrediblylarge’and the Carthaginians 'utterly exterminated'.6In 146,Roman legions underScipio Aemilianus,Cato's ally and brother-in-law of his son,razed the city,and dis-persed into slavery the 55,000 survivors,including 25,000 women.Plutarch con-cluded:"The annihilation of Carthage ...was primarily due to the advice andcounsel of Cato'.? It was not a war of racial extermination.The Romans did not massacre the sur-vivors,nor the adult males.8 Nor was Carthage victim of a Kulturkrieg.Though theRomans also destroyed five allied African cities of Punic culture,they spared sevenother towns which had defected to them.9 Yet,the Carthaginians had complied in149 with Rome's demand to surrender their 200,000 individual weapons and 2000 Copyright CICPHS 2004SAGE:London,Thousand Oaks,CA and New Delhiwww.sagepublications.comDOI:10.1177/0392192104043648 Diogenes 203 catapults.They did not know the Senate had already secretly decided 'to destroyCarthage for good,once the war was ended.10 The surprise new demand,that theynow abandon their city,meant desertion of its shrines and religious cults.11 This iswhat the Carthaginians vainly resisted.Rome decided on 'the destruction of thenation'.12 Its policy of 'extreme violence’,the 'annihilation of Carthage and most ofits inhabitants',ruining'an entire culture’,fits the modern legal definition of the 1948United Nations Genocide Convention:the intentional destruction 'in whole or inpart,[of]a national,ethnical,racial or religious group,as such'.13 It would be as unfair to condemn ancient Roman violations of 20th-century inter-national criminal law,as to ignore the spirited opposition Cato's policy provokedin Rome itself.14 But what ideology demanded the disappearance of a disarmedmercantile city?Whatever the military reasons for pursuing the siege after 149,thesocio-political motivation of the destruction's leading proponent is significant.Catoultimately won a Senate majority,but the depth of his personal preoccupation wasunusual.His catalogue of Punic atrocities resonated with his audience,who remem-bered the suffering Hannibal's army had visited on Italy.Badian writes that hatredand resentment towards [Carthage]seem to have smouldered in the minds of theSenate,although right down to the fifties there was never any reasonable doubt ofCarthaginian loyalty'.5Cato's purported list of Carthaginian treaty breaches was notonly legalistic-no other writer 'put such emphasis on the topic′-but historicallyflimsy.6 Cato's broader thinking also shared more modern features with recent tragediessuch as the Armenian genocide,the Ho

FAQs

What role did Cato the Censor play in Rome’s decision to destroy Carthage?

Cato repeatedly pushed for Carthage to be destroyed, ending speeches with the demand “Delenda est Carthago.” His advocacy helped secure a Senate majority and shaped the justification for war and annihilation.

How did the siege and destruction of Carthage in 146 BC unfold?

Rome began a three-year siege after the Carthaginian delegates were denied a reply. The city was razed, and survivors were dispersed into slavery, with accounts describing extremely high death tolls.

Why does the text argue the event fits the concept of genocide?

The work links Rome’s stated policy of “extreme violence” and “annihilation of Carthage” to the 1948 Genocide Convention’s focus on intentional destruction of a group as such, emphasizing nation-level destruction rather than merely wartime killing.

Aug 27, 2026

Upload by Aurora