| People | Comment |
| Capua | Greek city located in Campania. An old Roman ally, it broke with
Rome after the Roman defeat in the Battle of Cannae. The Romans then laid siege to the city; Hannibal was unable to break the siege, and Capua fell. In 73 the great slave rebellion under Spartacus began in Capua. |
| Carthaginians | The inhabitants of Carthago and its adjacent regions.
Of Phoenician descent, the Carthaginians were the dominant maritime power of the western Mediterranean, their Empire being based on trade. Faced the Romans in the 1st (264-241) and 2nd Punic Wars (218-201). After 201 Carthago was reduced to a minor state, conquered by Rome in the 3rd Punic War (149-146 B.C.). |
| Carthago Nova | The modern city of Cartagena, Spain. Located on a promontory,
in a location similar to that of Syracuse. The Cartaginian rule over Spain was based on hostages taken from the various Iberian peoples, usually the children of kings. These were raised by Carthaginians at Carthago Nova. When Scipio Africanus Major in 209 took Carthago Nova by assault, he sent the hostages back to their families, thus gaining the support of the Iberian peoples against Carthago. |
| Celts | A large group of peoples living in Gaul, Britain, Ireland, southern Germany,
Bohemia, northern Italy (the Po river plain : Gallia Cisalpina). In 390 or 387 a band of Celts under Brennus took Rome except the Capitoline Hill. In the 2nd Punic War, the recently subjugated Celts of the Po plain rebelled against Rome and entered into an alliance with Hannibal. Transalpine Gaul was conquered by Julis Caesar in 58-50 B.C., Britain in A.D. 43 by Claudius. Celts were more sophisticated than the Germanics, with oppida (townships), but less advanced than the Mediterranean civilization. They faught naked and had unhardened swords which lost their edges after the first blows. |
| Cimbri | A Germanic people which shortly before 113 B.C. left their homes in
Jutland (mainland Denmark) to migrate southward in search for better land. On their way joined by the Germanic Ambrones and Celtic Teutones, they defeated a Roman army at Noreia (Noricum, modern Austria) in 113, another one in 109 and again were victorious in 105, closing in on the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis (SE France). The Romans appointed C. Marius as imperator; he reformed the army and defeated the Teutones at Aquae Sextiae in 102, the Cimbri at Vercellae in 101. Both peoples disappear from the records, the survivors having been sold as slaves. |
| Etruscans | The early inhabitants of Tuscany. They have dominated the
western Mediterranean (Tyrrhenean Sea is Greek for Etruscan Sea) until defeated by Syracuse in 474. The Etruscans were split into a number of city states, among them Tarquinium, Clusium, Caere. From the 4th century onward outshadowed by Rome. The Etruscans had a distinct culture and script; early Rome is thought to have been influenced by the Etruscan culture. |
| Iberians | Inhabitants of Spain in Antiquity, partly of Celtic descent. There were
many peoples (tribes) independent of each other. The most successful in resisting the Romasn conquest were the Numantians and the Vascones (predecessors of the Basques). |
| Illyrians | Inhabitants of Bosnia, Dalmatia, Montenegro, N. Albania in Antiquity.
Split in many independent peoples (tribes). |
| Magna Graecia |
Expression describing the string of Greek cities along the southern coast of Italy and along the coast of Sicily. In the 3rd to first century B.C., the most important of these cities were Syracuse, Tarentum, Capua and Neapolis (Naples), the latter a loyal Roman ally. |
| Numidians | Inhabitants of stretches of Tunisia and eastern Algeria, inland from
the coastal, Carthaginian territory. Initially Carthaginian allies; the Numidian cavalry played a crucial role in Hannibal's victory over the Romans on the Trebbia (218) and at Cannae (216). The defection of the Numidians into a Roman alliance indicated the Carthaginian defeat in the 2nd Punic War, shortly afterward sealed in the defeat in the Battle of Zama 201. Numidia, as a Roman ally, expanded at Carthago's expense. After the Roman conquest of Carthago in 146, Numidia became expendable as a Roman ally; it was conquered in the Jugurthine war, by Marius and Sulla (106 B.C.), the kingdom being turned into a Roman province. |
| Sabines | a people inhabiting the hills of central Italy, northeast of Rome. They
appear in the records as Roman enemies in the 5th century B.C., were conquered by the Romans in 290 B.C., granted Roman citizenship in 268. |
| Saguntum | Small coastal city on the Spanish Mediterranean coast, south of the
Ebro River, thus located within the Carthaginian sphere of interest. In 218 B.C. Hannibal laid siege to it; envoys of Saguntum went to Rome where they entered an alliance with Rome. Meanwhile, Saguntum had fallen to the Carthaginians, and Rome declared war. The event marks the begin of the 2nd Punic War (218-201). |
| Samnites | Inhabitants of Samnium (southern-central Italy), inscriptions in Oscian
language are preserved. The Samnite Federation fought Rome in 3 wars (343-341, 326-304, 298-290). From then under Roman rule, the Samnites joined Pyrrhus (280-275), Hannibal (216) and later Marius' party in the civil war; they were finally defeated by Sulla in 82 B.C. |
| Syracuse | The most important Greek city in Magna Graecia, a natural fortress
and harbour located on Sicily's east coast. Defeated an Athenian assault under Alcibiades in the Peloponnesian War (415-413). Attempted to establish it's domination over Sicily under Agathocles (c. 300 B.C.). A Roman ally at the begin of the 2nd Punic War, it broke with Rome and entered into a Carthaginian alliance after the Battle of Cannae 216. The Romans attempted to take the city by assault in 212, to be repelled by the defense machinery of Archimedes, one of the most memorable events of the history of Antiquity. The city fell after a three year long siege. |
| Tarent | A Greek city in Apulia (Magna Graecia, s. Italy). The Tarentines called
Pyrrhus to come to their aid against the Romans (280-275), who defeated the Romans three times but was unable to hold on to his conquest. A Roman ally, the city broke with Rome and entered into a (short-lived) alliance with Carthage after the Battle of Cannae (216). |
| Teutones | A Celtic people which shortly before 113 B.C. joined the Cimbri on
their migration southward in search for better land to settle. Together, they defeated a Roman army at Noreia (Noricum, modern Austria) in 113, another one in 109 and again were victorious in 105, closing in on the Roman province of Gallia Narbonensis (SE France). The Romans appointed C. Marius as imperator; he reformed the army and defeated the Teutones at Aquae Sextiae in 102, the Cimbri at Vercellae in 101. Both peoples disappear from the records, the survivors having been sold as slaves. |