Did Rome and Carthage sign 1985 peace treaty for wars that began more than 2,000 years earlier?

Claim:

In 1985, the mayors of Rome and Carthage signed a peace treaty to officially end a series of wars that began more than 2,000 years earlier.

Rating:

Context

While the mayors of the cities did sign a peace treaty in 1985, it was a symbolic gesture. In reality, the wars between the two ancient civilizations ended more than 2,000 years prior when Rome destroyed Carthage.

For years, a rumor has circulated online that the mayors of Rome and modern-day Carthage, Tunisia, signed a peace treaty in 1985. The two ancient cities, which were central to their respective empires, fought a series of wars, known as the Punic Wars, between 264 B.C. and 146 B.C., a conflict that some social media users have posited was formally resolved more than 2,100 years later.

For example, in October 2025, a Reddit user posted a meme featuring the claim (archived). The image depicted, in part, a cartoon character wearing an Italian flag badge saying, “We never formally ended the Third Punic War, want to sign a peace treaty?” to another cartoon character wearing a Tunisian flag badge, who replied, “Sure, that would be awesome.” Both characters were in the bottom half of the graphic and placed under text that read: “Randomly in 1985.”

The rumor appeared on Instagram (archived) in May 2023 and elsewhere on Reddit in June that year. The latter user wrote (archived): “The Treaty was signed on 5 February 1985 between the then mayors of Carthage and Rome bringing an official end to the war 2131 years after It ended.”

It is true that the mayors of Rome and modern-day Carthage signed a peace treaty in 1985 to end the last of the Punic Wars. However, describing the agreement as an “official” end to the war stretches the truth as they had not been in conflict for thousands of years; rather, it was a symbolic gesture between the two cities. Therefore, we have rated this claim as being mostly true.

1985 Rome and Carthage treaty

On Feb. 5, 1985, Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, who was the mayor of modern Carthage, met in the latter city to sign a peace treaty and an accompanying pact of friendship and cooperation, The Associated Press reported at the time. 

The meeting was a “simple, symbolic ceremony” the two mayors hoped would “set an example to the rest of the troubled world,” according to an article in Saudi Aramco World, a bimonthly magazine primarily focused on the Arab and Muslim world. The magazine quoted Klibi as calling the peace treaty “the last act, sealing symbolically our final reconciliation.”

Snopes reached out to the mayor’s office of Rome for a copy of the treaty but did not receive a reply prior to publishing. It was not possible to find a copy of the document after searching for it in English, Italian, French and Arabic; however, reports from Italian and Tunisian news media sources expanded on what the treaty entailed.

Two Italian newspapers, la Repubblica and l’Unità, reported in February 1985 that the two cities intended to develop joint historical and archaeological research initiatives, cultural exchanges and tourism. The mayors intended for the agreement to be a symbolic appeal to cooperation in the Mediterranean and peace worldwide. Both newspapers reported that the next meeting between the two leaders was scheduled to take place April 21 that year, although l’Unità added that the agreement would be formally signed at the follow-up meeting if the two city councils approved it. Snopes found no reports confirming whether that second meeting took place and what happened during the meeting if it did.

In 2024, Assabah, an Arabic-language daily newspaper in Tunisia, reported that the meeting had some tangible benefits for Tunisia and Carthage. According to the outlet, the agreement led to Italy giving Tunisia significant funding to help preserve Carthage’s ruins and halt their deterioration.

Even so, in reality, the treaty did not end the last of the Punic Wars because they concluded more than 2,100 years earlier. Ancient Rome and Carthage did not sign a peace treaty at the time, but the 1985 agreement was more of a symbolic gesture than an official one.

The end of the Punic Wars and ancient Carthage

In 146 B.C., Rome conquered Carthage, plundered the city, slaughtered or otherwise removed its population and torched the rubble, according to EBSCO, a research database provider. Because Rome wiped out the city, Carthage could not sign an official peace treaty.

Rome rebuilt on the site of ancient Carthage roughly 100 years later. According to EBSCO, the city changed hands multiple times in the following centuries, before the Arabs conquered and once again destroyed it in 697 A.D.

The modern municipality of Carthage was established in 1919, according to the city’s website. It is a suburb of Tunis, Tunisia’s capital, located at about the same location as the prior two iterations of Carthage.

So while Carthage existed in 1985, and still exists today, it is not necessarily the same Carthage as the one that fought Rome. Even modern Rome is not the same political entity as the ancient Roman Republic and later Roman Empire; it is the capital of Italy, and has no capacity to fight in wars separate from Italy as a whole.