Question

lesson 2: greek and roman civilizations (2000 bce–476 ce)
lesson 2: greek and roman civilizations (2000 bce–476 ce)
the roman republic (753 bce–27 bce)
which of the following are true about the punic wars?
a. the phoenicians had a strong army and the romans a strong navy.
b. rome took over spain and forced carthage to give up all its territories including africa.
c. hannibal defeated several of the roman armies and captured rome.
d. rome defeated carthage by using wooden planks to hook and link their ships onto phoenician ships.
e. hannibal was defeated by general scipio.
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Explanation:

• Option a: Carthaginians (not Phoenicians) had a strong navy, Romans a strong army initially. So a is false.
• Option b: After Punic Wars, Rome took Spain and forced Carthage to give up many territories, but Carthage retained part of Africa. So b is false.
• Option c: Hannibal defeated Roman armies but never captured Rome. So c is false.
• Option d: Rome used wooden planks (corvus) to hook onto Carthaginian (not Phoenician) ships. So d has a mistake in the opponent's name but the tactic is correct. However, more accurately, in the First Punic War, Rome used the corvus against Carthage. But the option says "Phoenician ships" which is incorrect as Carthaginians were the opponents. But among the options, e is clearly true.
• Option e: Hannibal was defeated by Scipio Africanus in the Battle of Zama. So e is true. Also, re - evaluating d: The Punic Wars were between Rome and Carthage (Carthaginians were descendants of Phoenicians, but the ships were Carthaginian, not Phoenician in the context of the war). But e is a definite true statement.

Answer:

e. Hannibal was defeated by General Scipio. Also, d has a minor error in naming the opponent's ships (should be Carthaginian, not Phoenician), but if we consider the tactic, and e is clearly true. So the true statement is e. Hannibal was defeated by General Scipio.