ii
War, a word that causes you to want the facts and full truth of what the full picture is. In
early history though it is difficult to truly know what happened which is why there are many
different accounts or depictions of why something may have happened. This is the case in what
caused the Second Punic War as there are accounts by Livy and Polybius who are both known
historians from the time. When reading their works on what caused and what happened during
this war, some things are similar in why it occurred while there are also points that they disagree
with.
In Livy’s account of what caused the Second Punic war there is much of the blame on
what0Hannibal did. According to History of Rome 21, “This book describes the beginning of the
Second Punic War, and how Hannibal, the general of the Phoenicians, crossed the river Ebro in
violation of the treaty.” (Livy, n.d) Livy believes that this is what caused the Second Punic War
because when they violated this treaty, they had besieged0Saguntum, which was an ally of Rome.
It is also good to mention that the Romans highly valued truth and wisdom so when that treaty
was broken it could be taken as disrespect towards the republic of Rome and disrespect to their
people. The Romans even sent out envoys to warn Hannibal that he should pull out and respect
the treaty that had been made but the Carthaginians decided to not communicate with the envoys.
There were also other reasons such as the success that the Carthaginians were having in Spain at
the time, and they needed revenge from the losses of Sardinia and Corsica. The need for revenge
was strong in the Romans as they prided0themselves on their strength and wisdom, so those
losses were not something that the Romans favored or wanted to be remembered by their people.
It is also important to note that Livy wrote a lot about that of right and wrong and decisions that
were made by people that were and were not just. “Livy believed that human character and the
moral character of history outweighed historical accuracy. Livy was interested in stories of right
iii
and wrong and the triumph of virtue.” (Knorr, Richwagen., 2017) Overall it is clear to see that
Livy felt strongly about the violation of the treaty being a main cause of the Second Punic War
and that the actions of the people involved being highly important in the telling of what he
believed truly did happen.
In Polybius’s account of what caused the Second Punic War there is again a huge amount
of blame placed on Hannibal who was the general of the Phoenicians. It is very clear that the
breaking of the treaty was a major part of what caused the Second Punic War. He also wrote
about the siege of0Saguntum being a cause of the war. With the treaty being made in only 226 B.
C the early violation made by the Carthaginians can easily be seen as a major issue by the
Romans. When the Romans sent down embassy members to talk with the Carthaginians in 219
B.C., they hoped that they would stop their invasions but when they chose not to communicate
with them, the Romans declared war a little bit later in 218 B.C … To add to this point according
to The Histories, " Therefore, if we take the destruction of0Saguntum to be the cause of the war
we must allow that the Carthaginians were in the wrong.” (Polybius n.d). It is also important to
know that Polybius mentioned what happened in the past between the two peoples and how that
one's actions of the past can bring to the light the true intentions of man and why they did what
they did. (Polybius, n.d) When thinking about the issues that the Romans and Carthaginians had
shortly before the Second Punic War it is no shock to why they chose to declare war on them
after they chose not to discuss what they had done to their envoys.
Both Livy and Polybius agreed on three of the main causes of what caused the Second
Punic War between the Romans and Carthaginians. These three things being the violation of the
treaty by Hannibal and the siege of0Saguntum, revenge for the loss of Sardinia and Corsica, and
the success of the0Carthaginians in Spain. Although Polybius also saw the siege of0Saguntum as
iv
the beginning of the war and not just an underlying cause of it. These three factors played major
roles in the starting of the Second Punic Wars. These three things show much of how the
Romans did not much approve of loss and being blatantly disrespected by the breaking of a
treaty or that of them attacking the Roman allies. It can also be said that Livy focused more on
that of the people and decisions made while Polybius looked at events and asked more
philosophical questions and points about history.
In conclusion, the Second Punic Wars were clearly started by things that had happened
between the time of the first war and the decisions made by Hannibal. It is also important that the
three main causes of the Second Punic War the two historians agree on, which shows that they
could have very much been the driving force and last straw for the Romans regarding
the0Carthaginians.
v
Bibliography
Book III: Chapter 1. (n.d.). Loeb Classical Library. https://www.loebclassics.com/view/polybius-
histories/2010/pb_LCL137.3.xml
BOOK XXI: Book 21: Chapter 1. (n.d.). Loeb Classical Library.
https://www.loebclassics.com/view/livy-history_rome_21/2019/pb_LCL233.3.xml?
rskey=jLz3z5&result=1
Knorr, S., & Richwagen, N. (2017, December 11). The second Punic War according to Livy.
Seventh Coalition: History. https://seventhcoalition.org/2017/07/02/the-second-punic-
war-according-tolivy/#:~:text=Titus%20Livius%20(Livy)%20wrote%20an,in%
20her%20struggle%20against%20Hannibal.
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