Dawn of Phoenicia

Battle of Ariminum:
One of the most important battles of punic wars is the battle of Ariminum.
According to the scouts all surviving Legions camped on the south bank of river Po near Ariminum.
Hannibal knew these were the last hope of North, so he decided to destroy it.



He won the battle. The last legions were destroyed, again at a heavy cost.


Hannibal needed more reinforcement, thanks to strong phoenician economy he had the treasury necessary to buy new mercenaries.

Battle of Melpum:

Hannibal mobilised all of his battalions to capture the countryside.

Romans found the opportunity they wanted.
With most of the army absent they killed the few guards and revolted.




Battle of Melpum was exhausting.
Melpum was very small and resource poor, so Hannibal decided to enslave its population and destroy it completely. Moreover, he wanted to send a message to locals: It was better for them to recognise Carthaginian rule else they might be enslaved.
Although, by modern means the practise is considered a war crime, in ancient times it was something usual.

Battle of Aquileia

Aquileia was the last village still resisting Carthaginian rule in Italy.
So Hannibal sent his last reinforcements to attack it.



After conquest of Aquileia, the last pockets of Italian resistance under the Alps surrended to Hannibal.


Illyrian cities saw Greek league for protection, while Iberian Roman colonies formed a new league, the "Iberian League". They also renamed "Nova Cathrago" to "Nova Roma" in order to stop irritating the Carthaginians.

The future: expedition to the Alps?

Hannibal wanted to continue his conquests further.
After seeing war elephants exhausting and nearly dying he retreated.
"What a terrible idea? Only a crazy man would make it through the Alps." He said.


Well, it seems Hannibal had to hold a new council in order to see what is next.​

Hasdrubal declared war on Iberian league.

He moved units beyond Iberian cities.
Iberian league was completely disorganised, so the victory would be easy.




Iberian league fell under Carthaginian control in a couple of years.


After second Punic war Carthage controlled all of western mediterranean.
At the same time Greece invaded Egypt and levant and controlled the eastern half.


Hasdrubal made sure to fully take advantage of Iberian wealth.
Rare and important goods like ores, especially silver and horses flew to Carthage.
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Hanno funded many explorers to see what there is in all directions.
Merchants have brought many rumors, but Hanno's explorers are the first to record down detailed informations about the lands and the people they inhabit it.

Inspired by Confucian Roman religion, the traditional phoenician religion Mesopotamian Polytheism, and neighbouring Hellenism a new religious cult appeared in Oea, Taoism.
Taoists follow the philosophy of Halao Barca, in which "Tao" plays central role.

Hanno was obsesed with saving.
Carthaginian treasury was the biggest in the world, but that wasn't enough according to Hanno.

Aquileia's rebels tried unsuccessfully to capture the city.
Carthaginian military was very powerful and could defend the empire against all kinds of external and internal threats.
The empire was secure.

The voyage to the east:

Hanno decided to visit the far east himself!
The empire was secure, enabling him to travel.
He prepared his ships full of luxuries and to the east let's go.
His caravan remained in history as "treasure caravans", because they were full of luxuries, presents for the kings and queens to be met.

The world was big, rumors about far and unknown kingdoms are many, but knowledge is little.
That inspired Hanno to his voyage.


Obviously, the first station was the greek cultural capital, Athens.
The visit strenghtened the relations of both nations who exchanged goods and ideas.
He saw Parthenon and discussed philosophy.
Moreover, he met greek travelers and told him their journeys making Hanno even more willing to continue travelling.

Second station was Levant.
Unfortunately, Hanno found nothing but pitty villages in the region.
Persian and Greek wars devastated the region.
Old Phoenicia was de jure part of the collapsing Seleucid Empire, but Maccabean revolution in the south let the region defacto indepedent.

Babylon, the legendary city, capital of Mesopotamia was under the rule of a greek dynasty, the seleucid dynasty.
Unfortunately, all ancient wonders of the city were destroyed.


Darius accepted Hanno to his palace.
Persia's Zoroastrianism was the first contact with the numerous religions of the east.



Hanno found at last a path to India, the land of religions.
Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism and many more religions coexisted in a peace and tolerant community.
Hanno visited as many holy shrines as he could.


Even easter there was an other civilisation, China.
Qin Shi Huang accepted Hanno.
China was an industrious community but lacked basic trading knowledge.

The east never fails to deliver new discoveries, Korea.
However, Wang Kon was hostile.

An unpassable jungle to the south, a hostile Xiognu kingdom in the north and a hostile Korean sea to the east.
Hanno was stuck in China.

Hanno decided to stay there for many years.
His knowledge was precious for the Chinese and he was curious to discover the chinese way of life.
He came back to home in deep old age.

Voyage to Egypt:
While Hanno was travelling to the east, other explorers mimiced him and traveled to other places.

Henna mapped mediterranean coast from Oea to Egypt.
Then he visited the ptolemid kingdom and visited the wonders of ancient Egyptians, like the Pyramids.


He discovered Kingdom of Axum and went to his capital.
However, further regions were too hostile to continue and came back to Carthage.

Voyage to the North:

Pafsan went to the North.
He mapped Atlantic Iberian coast and continue to atlantic Gaul.

Pafsan found nothing but small tribes and a lot of cold weather.
Going even North he found a completely new type of land, ice.
It was a strange extremely cold and solid type of soil that turns into water if kept in warm places.
Pafsan wanted to take a sample back in home, but he couldn't find a way to keep it cold.

The west:

There was a near and very rich spot in the west, so Carthaginians took advantage and settled it.
Whoever tried to explore western Africa rarely came back.
Those who made it back told about carnivorous and dangerous animals, rapid and almost invisible.

Map of the world:


Carthaginians used all their knowledge from the voyages to make a map of the world.
Their knowledge is much more extended now.
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