page_title: Battle of Zama
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Zama / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: Norsk bokmål: Slaget ved Zama, 202 f.Kr. Malt av Cornelis Cort, 1567. English: Battle of Zama, 202 B.C. Painted by Cornelis Cort, 1567. Русский: Картина Корнелиса Корта Битва при Заме 202 до н. э. (1567)
context_page_description: The Battle of Zama was fought in 202 BC near Zama, now in Tunisia, and marked the end of the Second Punic War. A Roman army led by Publius Cornelius Scipio, with crucial support from Numidian leader Masinissa, defeated the Carthaginian army led by Hannibal.
  After defeating Carthaginian and Numidian armies at the battles of Utica and the Great Plains, Scipio imposed peace terms on the Carthaginians, who had no choice but to accept them. At the same time, the Carthaginians recalled Hannibal's army from Italy. Confident in Hannibal's forces, the Carthaginians broke the armistice with Rome. Scipio and Hannibal confronted each other near Zama Regia. Hannibal had 36,000 infantry to Scipio's 29,000. One third of Hannibal's army were citizen levies, and the Romans had 6,100 cavalry to Carthage's 4,000, as most of the Numidian cavalry that Hannibal had employed with great success in Italy had defected to the Romans.
  Hannibal also employed 80 war elephants. The elephants opened the battle by charging the main Roman army. Scipio's soldiers avoided the elephants by opening their ranks and drove them off with missiles.
context_section_description: Soon after Scipio's victory at Zama the war ended, with the Carthaginian senate suing for peace. Unlike the treaty that ended the First Punic War, the terms Carthage acceded to were so punishing that it was never able to challenge Rome for supremacy of the Mediterranean again. The treaty bankrupted Carthage and destroyed any chance of its being a military power in the future, although its economic recovery was quick. One provision of the treaty was that the Carthaginians were not allowed to make war without Roman consent. This allowed the Romans to establish a casus belli for the Third Punic War when the Carthaginians defended themselves from Numidian encroachments in which the Romans did not intervene.
  When Rome waged war again on Carthage about 50 years later, the Carthaginians had little power and could not defeat the by-then very aged Masinissa in Africa. They organized a defense of their home city which, after an extended siege, was captured and completely destroyed in 146 BC. Only 55,000 survived.
caption: The Battle of Zama by Cornelis Cort, 1567.
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