Carthage A Threat To Rome
With the elimination of Greek bases in Italy itself, only the city of Carthage on the North African coast served as a power which could seriously threaten further Roman expansion. Carthage had been founded around the year 800 BC by the mixed Mediterranean/Semitic Phoenicians, and had become an independent and powerful force in its own right.
Carthage had grown over the centuries, with a large Nordic infusion having taking place after the region's occupation by Alexander the Great, and by the time of the wars with Rome, Carthage was at its peak.
The Latin word for Phoenician was Punicus - from which the word Punic was to derive, hence the Roman wars against Carthage are called the Punic wars.
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