It's spring 146 BCE in the city of Carthage on the north coast of Africa.

39-year-old Roman general Scipio Amelian, leads two dozen of his finest soldiers down a narrow passageway.

After a long siege, he's finally broken through the Carthaginian defenses, and now his men are

fighting street by street toward the temple in the heart of the city. There's a smash of breaking pottery,

and a soldier in front of Scipio collapses to the ground.

Scipio looks up. From the rooftops of the building on either side,

Carthaginian citizens are hurling pots and pans, even furniture at the invaders.

Scipio raises his shield above his head. As bowls and plates shatter on the ground around him,

Scipio orders his soldiers to deal with this new threat. Breaking off, a small group of them smashes through a door and heads for the roof.

The battle for the control of the city has lasted six days so far. It's been a brutal fight.

Skipio has ordered his men to leave no one alive,

and the Carthaginians are putting up fierce resistance.

But desperate civilians are no match for heavily armed and experienced Roman soldiers.

Skipio looks up as screams echo across the rooftop.

With a nod of satisfaction, he raises his sword and orders his men on, because they have a city to conquer.

By the time this battle is over, Carthage will be reduced to ashes and dust. The fall of the city will result in the deaths of tens of thousands of people, and those who survive will be sold into slavery.

But with no one left to sign an official surrender,

the war between Rome and Carthage will technically continue for hundreds of years,

until it's finally officially brought to an end

with the signing of a symbolic peace treaty on February 5,

1985.

I've discovered that I get a lot of good ideas from my live show right as I'm falling asleep.

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