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The Punic Wars were a series of three wars fought between Rome and the Phoenicia n city of Carthage . They are known as the ''Punic'' Wars because the Latin term for Carthaginian was ''Punici'' (older ''Poenici'', from their Phoenician ancestry). The primary cause of the Punic Wars was the clash of interests between the expanding Carthaginian and Roman spheres of influence. The Romans were particularly interested in expansion via Sicily , most of which lay under Carthaginian control. At the start of the first Punic War, Carthage was the dominant power of the Mediterranean , with an extensive maritime empire, while Rome was the rapidly ascending power in Italy . By the end of the third war, after the death of many hundreds of thousands of soldiers from both sides, Rome had conquered Carthage's empire and razed the city, becoming in the process the most powerful state of the Western Mediterranean. With the end of the Macedonian Wars — which ran concurrently with the Punic wars — and the defeat of the Seleucid Emperor Antiochus III The Great ( Treaty Of Apamea , 188 BC ) in the eastern sea, Rome emerged as the dominant Mediterranean power and the most powerful country in the world.
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