Lucius Marcius Censorinus (consul 149 BC)

The precise reasons for the war continue to be debated,[1] but the Romans had been displeased by the end of Carthage's reparations payments in 151 BC,[2] its general economic prosperity[3] and attendant commercial competition, and the large and technically illegal army raised under Hasdrubal the Boeotarch the same year to respond to the constant raiding by Masinissa's Numidian Kingdom.

[4][5] With most of that force massacred by the Numidians after the disastrous Battle of Oroscopa[6] and the vital nearby port city of Utica allying with Rome in 149 BC, the Romans quickly declared war.

[8] All of this done, Censorinus then further demanded that the Carthaginians entirely abandon their city, relocating at least 16 km (10 mi) away from the sea and allowing the Romans to destroy the current fortifications.

[10] The initial two-pronged assault of the Siege of Carthage did not go well and was repulsed by forces under the generals Hasdrubal the Boeotarch and Himilco Phameas,[11] as well as illness across the unhealthful Roman emcampments.

When Censorinus was finally forced to relocate, his less defensible new location allowed the fleet to be damaged by Carthaginian fireships[12] until further fortifications could be constructed.