Editing Third Punic War (section)

==Primary sources==
The main source for most aspects of the Punic Wars{{refn|The term ''Punic'' comes from the [[Latin]] word ''Punicus'' (or ''Poenicus''), meaning "[[History of Carthage|Carthaginian]]" and is a reference to the Carthaginians' [[Phoenicia]]n origins.{{sfn|Sidwell|Jones|1998|p=16}}|group=note}} is the historian [[Polybius]] ({{circa|200}} – {{circa|118&nbsp;BC}}), a Greek sent to Rome in 167&nbsp;BC as a hostage.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=20–21}} His works include a now-lost manual on [[military tactics]],{{sfn|Shutt|1938|p=53}} but he is best known for [[The Histories (Polybius)|''The Histories'']], written sometime after 146&nbsp;BC.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=20}}{{sfn|Walbank|1990|pp=11–12}} He accompanied his patron and friend,{{sfn|Astin|2006|p=5}} the Roman general [[Scipio Aemilianus]], in North Africa during the Third Punic War;{{sfn|Champion|2015|pp=96, 108}} this causes the normally reliable Polybius to recount Scipio's actions in a favourable light.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=21}}{{sfn|Astin|2006|pp=5–6}}{{sfn|Walbank|1979|p=662}} In addition, significant portions of ''The Histories''{{'}} account of the Third Punic War have been lost.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=21}}{{sfn|Hoyos|2015|p=2}}

The account of the Roman annalist [[Livy]], who relied heavily on Polybius, is much used by modern historians of the Punic Wars,{{sfn|Champion|2015|p=95}} but all that survives of his account of events after 167&nbsp;BC is a list of contents.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=22}}{{sfn|Mineo|2015|p=123}} Other ancient accounts of the Third Punic War or its participants which have also been largely lost include those of [[Plutarch]], [[Dio Cassius]]{{sfn|Mineo|2015|p=126}} and the Greek [[Diodorus Siculus]].{{sfn|Mineo|2015|p=119}} Modern historians also use the account of the 2nd-century&nbsp;AD Greek [[Appian]].{{sfn|Le Bohec|2015|p=430}}{{sfn|Mineo|2015|p=125}} The modern historian Bernard Mineo states that it "is the only complete and continuous account of this war".{{sfn|Mineo|2015|p=126}} It is thought to have been largely based on Polybius's account, but several problems with it have been identified.{{sfn|Walbank|1979|p=662}}{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=22–23}} These issues mean that of the three Punic Wars, the third is the one about which the least is reliably known.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|p=24}} Other sources include coins, inscriptions, [[Archaeology|archaeological]] evidence and empirical evidence from reconstructions.{{sfn|Goldsworthy|2006|pp=23, 98}}