219 BC
The fall of Saguntum
When the attacks resume, the rams bring down three towers and the wall between them, and the Carthaginians fight their way into the breach. Livy describes a movable tower higher than the walls, with catapults on every floor, and 500 Africans undermining the wall with pickaxes. The defenders build a new wall behind each breach. While Hannibal campaigns against the Oretani and the Carpetani, Maharbal presses the siege.
The Last Day of Saguntum, painting by Francisco Domingo Marqués, 1869Wikimedia Commons, Joan Gené, CC BY-SA 4.0 (L'Enigma Iber - Últim dia de Sagunt.jpg)
After eight months the town falls. Hannibal offers to let the inhabitants leave unarmed with two garments each, and the offer is refused. Livy writes that leading citizens throw their gold and silver into a fire and many throw themselves in after it, and that the adults are put to death when the town is stormed. Hannibal pays his army from the plunder, sends spoils to Carthage and winters at New Carthage.
In spring 218 BC a Roman embassy led by Quintus Fabius Maximus demands that Carthage hand over Hannibal. The Carthaginian senate refuses and argues that the Ebro Treaty was never ratified. The envoys declare war, and the Second Punic War begins.
Sources
- Livy, History of Rome, book 21, 11 to 15 and 18.
- Polybius, Histories, book 3, 17 and 20 to 21.
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