© 2019 Vita e Pensiero / Pubblicazioni dell’Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore Aevum, 93 (2019), fasc. 1 Piotr Berdowski WAS CARTHAGO NOVA CAPTURED BY GNAEUS POMPEIUS IN 46 B.C.E. AND SEXTUS POMPEIUS IN 44 B.C.E.? summary: The article addresses the question of the role of Carthago Nova during the turbulent years of the war in Hispania in 46-44 B.C.E. The traditional view holds that the city was cap- tured twice during this time by the sons of Pompeius Magnus: frstly by Gnaeus Pompeius in 46 B.C.E. and secondly by Sextus Pompeius in 44 B.C.E. It is argued in this article that there is no compelling evidence to support this thesis, and that the city was captured by neither Gnaeus nor by Sextus, and that it did not play a signifcant role during the war in Hispania in the years 46-44 B.C.E. keywords: Carthago Nova, Hispania, Cn. Pompeius the Younger, Sextus Pompeius, Roman civil wars. ISSN: 0001-9593 (print); 1827-787X (digital) DOI: 10.26350/000193_000037 Both sons of Pompeius Magnus stood before the walls of Carthago Nova at various moments of the Roman civil wars: Gnaeus Pompeius in 46, and Sextus Pompeius in 44 1 . Gnaeus initiated a siege of the city, which for many researchers was suffcient cause to assume its ultimate success. Nevertheless, no single ancient source confrms that the city fell. Persuasive proof is provided by neither the narrative texts nor the numismatic evidence. Even more enigmatic is the nature of the presence of Sextus before Carthago Nova in 44. I consciously use the preposition “before” as there is nothing to indicate that Sextus entered the city itself. In this article I pose the hy- pothesis that neither Gnaeus nor Sextus successfully captured Carthago Nova, a city which, contrary to widely-held opinions, played an insignifcant role during the time of the revolt of 46 in Hispania, and in the period of war in 45 and 44. 1 Unless otherwise indicated, all dates refer to the epoch B.C.E. The article was written under a National Science Centre grant UMO-2012/07/B/HS3/03368. I owe special thanks to Fernando López Sánchez and José Miguel Noguera Celdrán for reading this paper and their valuable com- ments. I am, of course, entirely responsible for any errors that remain. I would also like to thank Andrew Stiles for his kind help with the improvement of the English in this article.