1985: The mayors of Rome and Carthage sign a symbolic peace

The Battle of Zama in a painting by Roviale Spagnolo painted between 1580 and 1582 located at the Capitoline Museums

 

Rome and Carthage: the rivalry between the two cities is undoubtedly one of the most emblematic of the ancient world. They fought each other in three wars, the Punic Wars, which took place over a century between 264 BC and 146 BC. All three ended in victory for Rome, which had to work hard to defeat its historic enemy, even conquering the enemy city of Carthage.
In the centuries that followed, the rivalry between the two cities remained relegated to history, but in 1985, a purely symbolic gesture was made to put an end to what had happened over two thousand years earlier. On February 5 of that year, Rome's mayor, Ugo Vetere, accompanied by a delegation from the capital, made an official visit to Tunisia. There, he met with Chedli Klibi, mayor of the municipality of Carthage, which had since become a suburb of Tunis. He also served as secretary general of the Arab League at the time.
The two mayors signed a symbolic peace agreement that de jure, albeit symbolically, put an end to the historic conflict that had effectively ended over two thousand years earlier. However, no treaty had ever been signed between Rome and Carthage, and the conflict had ended with Rome's victory and the de facto capitulation of the North African city. Furthermore, with this symbolic signature, the two men wanted to make an appeal for peace and cooperation to all Mediterranean cities.
This is not the only case of a "symbolic" signature to end a historic war that had existed for thousands of years. In 1996, the mayors of Athens and Sparta also wanted to sign a symbolic appeal for peace to put an end to the Peloponnesian War, which had effectively ended in 404 Before Christ.

Read more:

- Better late than never - in LA Times

- Pace tra Scipione e Annibale - in La Repubblica