Carthage's growing wealth and power led to several confrontations with the nascent Roman Republic known as the Punic Wars. Spanning well over a century, the conflict saw some of the largest and most complex battles in antiquity. The wars would determine the fate of the Mediterranean world, and by extension human history, putting Phoenician civilization versus Greco-Roman civilization. Notwithstanding a number of decisive and stunning victories, particularly under the leadership of Hannibal Barca in the Second Punic War, Carthage gradually lost territory, power, and prestige, culminating in its complete destruction by Roman forces after the third and final Punic War in 146 BC. The entirety of the Carthaginian Empire was absorbed into Rome, and Carthage itself was reduced to rubble, along with any written records. Although the Romans later built a new city of Carthage in its place—which grew into one of the largest and most important cities in the Roman Empire—Phoenician civilization in the western Mediterranean was all but extinguished.