Question

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.
check answer
reset

Explanation:

• Option a: The Carthaginians (not Phoenicians) had a strong navy, Romans built a strong navy. So a is false.
• Option b: Rome took over Spain but Carthage retained its African territory. So b is false.
• Option c: Hannibal defeated Roman armies but never captured Rome. So c is false.
• Option d: Rome used a boarding bridge (corvus) to connect ships, but Carthaginians were the opponents, not Phoenicians. However, the method of using planks to hook and link ships (corvus) was a Roman naval tactic. But the opponent was Carthage (Carthaginians, descendants of Phoenicians). So the description has a minor error in naming the opponent, but the tactic part is related. However, option e is more straightforwardly correct.
• Option e: Hannibal was defeated by Scipio Africanus in the Battle of Zama. So e is true. Also, for option d, the correct opponent was Carthage (Carthaginian ships), not Phoenician. But the Roman tactic of using the corvus (boarding planks) was key in defeating Carthage's navy earlier. But among the options, e is clearly true, and d has an error in the opponent's name (Phoenicians instead of Carthaginians). So the true statement is e, and also d has a partial truth about the tactic but wrong opponent. But mainly e is true. Wait, let's re - check:
• The Punic Wars were between Rome and Carthage (Carthaginians were descendants of Phoenicians).
• Option d: Rome's naval tactic was using the corvus (a boarding device) to connect to Carthaginian ships, not Phoenician. So the opponent name is wrong.
• Option e: Hannibal was defeated by Scipio (Scipio Africanus) at the Battle of Zama. So e is true.

Answer:

e. Hannibal was defeated by General Scipio.