What if carthage had won?

[carthage_supreme]

What if hannibal had eradicated rome and carthage had presisted during the punic wars. See this as an alternative historical scenerio, how would our world look today if carthage had won?.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I don't think Hannibal ever intended to completely destroy Rome, just defeat them and make them suffer. Plus, the Romans are tenatious, you would have to kill off nearly all of them to completely stop them from comming back.

But as for the question, the whole world would have been completely different. Modern western society is based off of Roman and Christian origins.

I doubt Carthage would have taken Rome's place in history, but without Rome the Parthians and Sassanids would have been more powerful and may have tried invading Europe at some point. Also, the Gauls would have someday become united and powerful.

[Redmeth]

Also, the Gauls would have someday become united and powerful.

You know what that would've meant right?

Torques and poligamy for everyone

[keravnos]

The big question for me, is had Hannibal defeated Roma, what would Antiochos 3 do then?

[Sarkiss]

The big question for me, is had Hannibal defeated Roma, what would Antiochos 3 do then?

there would never be great Parthia then.

[Bava]

The big question for me, is had Hannibal defeated Roma, what would Antiochos 3 do then?

He certainly would have found another opponent to loose against.

j/k

But this is really the more interesting question. Quart Hadasht wasnt an expansionist empire (the conquest of iberia was some sort of "self-defence") and the complete destruction of Rome was never an option for hannibal imo.

But the Seleukids certainly would have tried to expand into western europe, given the right opportunity.

[Primus Inter Duces]

"If" (the laconic answer)

[Moros]

...Rome would have lost...

[Beefy187]

Then the Greeks would be still fighting each other I guess. Eventually Makedon will unite them again.

[woad&fangs]

The number of people attending church(or temple, whatever) would skyrocket

[hoom]

I'd like to think something like this:
Without Romes high availability of slaves, the Hellenes would have kept on with their technological improvements & brought about the industrial revolution 1000+ years earlier.
There may have been no Christianity or Islam & so no monotheism wars.
Polytheism would probably still be widespread in the West.
I'm pretty sure its been said that modern Western Justice has more to do with Celtic & Hellenic Justice than Roman so that side of things may have been not too different.

[Maeran]

I'd like to think something like this:
Without Romes high availability of slaves, the Hellenes would have kept on with their technological improvements & brought about the industrial revolution 1000+ years earlier.

Unlikely IMO. Without monotheism getting a boost through the Roman empire, the mindset needed for the development of science wouldn't have been widespread enough to make a difference. So while Greek technology became highly sophisticated- and it did, look at Hiero's steam engine- science as a way of developing ideas and furthering technology would never have happened. To the Greeks whose opinion has survived, technology was at best an interesting toy. To the enlightenment scientist, scientific principles held the key to changing the world. Better yet, there were people with money willing to back these ideas, which I don't think the Greek philosophical (or worse, polytheist religious) classes would have done.

Philosophy would have probably developed in a completely different way though.

[konny]

I'd like to think something like this:
There may have been no Christianity or Islam & so no monotheism wars.
Polytheism would probably still be widespread in the West.

When Konstantin made Christianty the major faith of the Roman Empire, it was already one of the three main religions in the East, while the West remained very much pagan even after Konstantin, in some cases until the Barabrians' invasion of whom many - like the Goths - were already Christians. In fact in Western Europe the people outside the Roman Empire were much more willing to become Christians than the (West-)Romans themselves; think of the Irish for example.


For the political aspect: Karthago was usualy satisfied by placing a trading outpost there and there. So Rome might have had a strong Karthagian garrison for some time, but Italy would have never become an Karthagian colony, leave alone the idea of an 'Karthagian Empire' in the West. On the other hand, Karthago wasn't alone in the world. For example, Pyrrhos is said to have been more or less on his way to Africa when setting sails for Sicily.

There might have been other Hellenist leaders searching for lands and glory in Italy if that would have been just a collection of Karthagian allied tribes and towns. And, for sure, their first address for help when fighting the Karthagians and their allies would have been...... Rome.

So history would have been as it was, with just a few centuries delay.