Roman Carthage with former military harbor
'Carthage' (, , from the
Phoenician ''Qart-ḥadašt'' meaning ''new town''; ) refers both to an ancient city in
Tunisia and to the civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence. The city of Carthage is located on the eastern side of
Lake Tunis across from the center of
Tunis.
Originally founded by
Phoenician colonists, Carthage became a large and rich city and thus a major power of the Mediterranean until her destruction in the
Third Punic War in
146 BC. Although the center of the Punic culture was destroyed, it continued in Roman times. Rome also refounded Carthage, becoming one of the three most important cities of the Empire, a position that would last until the Muslim conquest when it was destroyed a second time in
698. Today Carthage is being resettled as a suburb of Tunis.
Name
The name Carthage is derived by way of Greek and Latin dialects from the
Phoenician '' meaning "new city". More than one Phoenician settlement originally bore this name, although only one city has the distinction of being ''the'' Carthage of the ancient world.
While the term ''Carthaginian'' is used by many modern writers, many ancient writings used the adjective ''Punic'' to describe anything to do with Carthaginian civilization, because of the
Latin term ''Punicus'' (earlier ''Poenicus''), itself borrowed from Greek , "Phoenicia."
Topography
Carthage was built on a promontory with inlets to the sea to the north and south. The city's location made it master of the Mediterranean's maritime trade. All ships crossing the sea had to pass between
Sicily and the coast of Tunisia, where Carthage was built, affording it great power and influence.
Two large, artificial harbors were built within the city, one for harboring the city's massive navy of 220 warships and the other for mercantile trade. A walled tower overlooked both harbors.
The two Punic ports of Carthage.
The city had massive walls, 23 miles (37 kilometers) in length, longer than the walls of comparable cities. Most of the walls were located on the shore, and thus could be less impressive as Carthaginian control of the sea made attack from that direction difficult. The 2½–3 miles (4–4.8 kilometers) of wall on the
isthmus to the west were truly gargantuan and in fact were never penetrated.
The city had a huge
necropolis, religious area, market places, council house, towers, and a theatre, and was divided into four equally-sized residential areas with the same layout. Roughly in the middle of the city stood a high citadel called the Byrsa. It was one of the largest cities in
Hellenistic times (by some estimates only
Alexandria was larger) and was among the largest cities in pre-industrial history.
Layout of the city.
History
Main articles: History of Carthage
Question of Carthage
The historical study of Carthage is problematic. Because its culture and records were destroyed by the Romans at the end of the
Third Punic War, very few Carthaginian
primary historical sources survive. There are a few ancient translations of
Punic texts into Greek and Latin, as well as inscriptions on monuments and buildings discovered in North Africa.
[1] However, the main sources are
Greek and
Roman historians, including
Livy,
Polybius,
Appian,
Cornelius Nepos,
Silius Italicus,
Plutarch,
Dio Cassius, and
Herodotus.
The cultures of these authors were in competition and often in conflict with Carthage. Greek cities contested with Carthage for
Sicily,
[2], and the
Romans fought three
Punic Wars against Carthage.
[3] Inevitably, accounts of Carthage by outsiders include significant bias.
Recent excavation has brought much more primary material to light. Some of these finds contradict or confirm aspects of the traditional picture of Carthage, but much of the material is still ambiguous.
Foundation of Carthage
Carthage was founded in
814 BC by
Phoenician settlers from the city of
Tyre, bringing with them the
city-god,
Melqart.
Legends of the Foundation of Carthage
According to tradition, the city was founded by Queen
Dido (or Elissa or Elissar) who fled Tyre following the murder of her husband in an attempt by her younger brother to bolster his own power. A number of foundation myths have survived through
Greek and
Roman literature, see
Byrsa for one example.
Queen Elissar
Queen Elissar (also known as "Alissa", and by the
Arabic name
[4] اليسار also اليسا and عليسا)who in later accounts became ''Queen Dido'', was a princess of Tyre who founded Carthage. At its peak, her metropolis came to be called the "shining city," ruling 300 other cities around the western Mediterranean and leading the Phoenician Punic world.
Elissar was a Princess of Tyre. Her brother, King Pygmalion of Tyre, had murdered her husband, the high priest. Elissar escaped the tyranny of her own country and founded the "new city" of Carthage and subsequently its later dominions. Details of her life are sketchy and confusing, but the following can be deduced from various sources. According to Justin, Princess Elissar was the daughter of King Matten of Tyre (also known as Muttoial or Belus II). When he died, the throne was jointly bequeathed to her and her brother, Pygmalion. She married her uncle Acherbas (also known as Sychaeus) the High Priest of
Melqart, a man with both authority and wealth comparable to the king. Pygmalion was a tyrant, lover of both gold and intrigue, who desired the authority and fortune enjoyed by Acherbas. Pygmalion assassinated Acherbas in the temple and kept the misdeed concealed from his sister for a long time, deceiving her with lies about her husband's death. At the same time, the people of Tyre called for a single sovereign, causing dissent within the royal family.
Queen Dido
In the
Roman epic of
Virgil, the
Aeneid,
Queen Dido, the Greek name for Queen Elissar, is first introduced as an extremely respected character. In just seven years, since their exodus from
Tyre, the Carthaginians have rebuilt a successful kingdom under her rule. Her subjects adore her and present her with a festival of praise. Her character is perceived as even more noble when she offers asylum to
Aeneas and his men, who have recently escaped from
Troy. The messenger god,
Hermes, sent by
Jupiter, reminds Aeneas that his mission is not to stay in Carthage with his new-found love, Dido, but to sail to Italy to found Rome. When Aeneas tells Dido the news, her character takes a turn for the worse. Dido, her heart broken, orders a
pyre to be built where she falls upon Aeneas' sword. As she lay dying, she predicted eternal strife between Aeneas' people and her own: "rise up from my bones, avenging spirit" (4.625, trans. Fitzgerald) she says, an obvious invocation of
Hannibal.
Phoenician colonization
Carthage was one of a number of Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean. In the
10th century BC, the eastern Mediterranean shore was inhabited by various
Semitic-speaking populations. The people inhabiting what is now Lebanon called their language
Canaanite, but were referred to as ''Phoenicians'' by the
Greeks. The
Phoenician language was very close to ancient Hebrew, to such a degree that the latter is often used as an aid in translation of Phoenician inscriptions.
The Phoenician cities were highly dependent on trade, and included a number of major ports in the area. The Phoenicians' leading city was
Tyre, which established a number of trading posts around the Mediterranean. Carthage and a number of other settlements later evolved into cities in their own right.
Extent of Phoenician settlement
Carthage's zone of influence in the III B.C.
In order to provide a resting place for merchant fleets, to maintain a Phoenician monopoly on an area's natural resource, or to conduct trade on its own, the Phoenicians established numerous colonial cities along the coasts of the Mediterranean. They were stimulated to found their cities by a need for revitalizing trade in order to pay the tribute extracted from
Tyre,
Sidon, and
Byblos by the succession of empires that ruled them and by fear of complete Greek colonization of that part of the Mediterranean suitable for commerce. The Phoenicians lacked the population or necessity to establish self-sustaining cities abroad, and most cities had fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, but Carthage and a few other cities developed into large cities.
Some 300 colonies were established in Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria,
Iberia, and to a much lesser extent, on the arid coast of Libya. The Phoenicians controlled
Cyprus,
Sardinia,
Corsica, and the
Balearic Islands, as well as minor possessions in Crete and Sicily; the latter settlements were in perpetual conflict with the Greeks. The Phoenicians managed to control all of Sicily for a limited time. The entire area later came under the leadership and protection of Carthage, which in turn dispatched its own colonists to found new cities or to reinforce those that declined with
Tyre and
Sidon.
The first colonies were made on the two paths to Iberia's mineral wealth — along the North African coast and on
Sicily,
Sardinia and the
Balearic Islands. The centre of the Phoenician world was
Tyre, serving as an economic and political hub. The power of this city waned following numerous sieges and its eventual destruction by
Alexander the Great, and the role as leader passed to
Sidon, and eventually to Carthage. Each colony paid tribute to either Tyre or Sidon, but neither had actual control of the colonies. This changed with the rise of Carthage, since the Carthagineans appointed their own magistrates to rule the towns and Carthage retained much direct control over the colonies. This policy resulted in a number of Iberian towns siding with the Romans during the
Punic Wars.
Treaty with Rome
In
509 BC a treaty was signed between Carthage and
Rome indicating a division of influence and commercial activities. This is the first known source indicating that Carthage had gained control over
Sicily and
Sardinia.
By the beginning of the
5th century BC, Carthage had become the commercial center of the West Mediterranean region, a position it retained until overthrown by the
Roman Republic. The city had conquered most of the old Phoenician colonies e.g.
Hadrumetum,
Utica and
Kerkouane, subjugated the
Libyan tribes (with the
Numidian and Mauretanian kingdoms remaining more or less independent), and taken control of the entire North African coast from modern
Morocco to the borders of
Egypt (not including the
Cyrenaica, which was eventually incorporated into
Hellenistic Egypt). Its influence had also extended into the Mediterranean, taking control over
Sardinia,
Malta, the
Balearic Islands and the western half of
Sicily, where coastal fortresses such as
Motya or
Lilybaeum secured its possessions. Important colonies had also been established on the
Iberian peninsula. Their cultural influence in Spain is documented, but the degree of their political influence before the conquest by
Hamilcar Barca is disputed.
[5]
Antonine baths ruins, from the Roman period
The Sicilian wars
First Sicilian war
Carthage's economic successes, and its dependence on shipping to conduct most of its trade, led to the creation of a powerful Carthaginian navy to discourage both pirates and rival nations. This, coupled with its success and growing hegemony, brought Carthage into increasing conflict with the
Greeks, the other major power contending for control of the central Mediterranean.
The island of Sicily, lying at Carthage's doorstep, became the arena on which this conflict played out. From their earliest days, both the Greeks and Phoenicians had been attracted to the large island, establishing a large number of colonies and trading posts along its coasts. Small battles had been fought between these settlements for centuries.
By
480 BC,
Gelo, the
tyrant of Greek
Syracuse, backed in part by support from other Greek
city-states, was attempting to unite the island under his rule. This imminent threat could not be ignored, and Carthage — possibly as part of an alliance with
Persia, then engaged in a war with Greece — fielded its largest military force to date, under the leadership of the general
Hamilcar. Traditional accounts give Hamilcar's army a strength of three hundred thousand men; though these are almost certainly exaggerated, it must nonetheless have been of formidable force.
En route to Sicily, however, Hamilcar suffered losses (possibly severe) due to poor weather. Landing at Panormus (modern-day
Palermo), he was then decisively defeated by Gelo at the
Battle of Himera. He was either killed during the battle or committed suicide in shame. The loss severely weakened Carthage, and the old government of entrenched nobility was ousted, replaced by the Carthaginian Republic.
Second Sicilian war
By
410 BC, Carthage had recovered after serious defeats. It had conquered much of modern day
Tunisia, strengthened and founded new colonies in North Africa, and sponsored Mago Barca's journey across the
Sahara Desert,
Hanno the Navigator's journey down the African coast, and
Himilco the Navigator's exploration of the European Atlantic coast. Although, in that year, the Iberian colonies seceded — cutting off Carthage's major supply of
silver and
copper —
Hannibal Mago, the grandson of Hamilcar, began preparations to reclaim Sicily, while expeditions were also led into
Morocco and
Senegal, and also into the
Atlantic.
In
409 BC, Hannibal Mago set out for Sicily with his force. He was successful in capturing the smaller cities of Selinus (modern
Selinunte) and
Himera, before returning triumphantly to Carthage with the spoils of war. But the primary enemy, Syracuse, remained untouched and, in
405 BC, Hannibal Mago led a second Carthaginian expedition to claim the entire island. This time, however, he met with fierce resistance and ill-fortune. During the
siege of
Agrigentum, the Carthaginian forces were ravaged by plague, Hannibal Mago himself succumbing to it. Although his successor,
Himilco, successfully extended the campaign by breaking a Greek siege, capturing the city of
Gela and repeatedly defeating the army of
Dionysius, the new tyrant of Syracuse, he, too, was weakened by the plague and forced to
sue for peace before returning to Carthage.
In
398 BC, Dionysius had regained his strength and broke the peace treaty, striking at the Carthaginian stronghold of
Motya. Himilco responded decisively, leading an expedition which not only reclaimed Motya, but also captured
Messina. Finally, he laid siege to Syracuse itself. The siege was close to a success throughout 397 BC, but in 396 BC plague again ravaged the Carthaginian forces, and they collapsed.
Sicily by this time had become an obsession for Carthage. Over the next sixty years, Carthaginian and Greek forces engaged in a constant series of skirmishes. By 340 BC, Carthage had been pushed entirely into the southwest corner of the island, and an uneasy peace reigned over the island.
Third Sicilian war
In
315 BC,
Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, seized the city of
Messene (present-day Messina). In
311 BC he invaded the last Carthaginian holdings on Sicily, breaking the terms of the current peace treaty, and laid siege to
Akragas.
Hamilcar, grandson of
Hanno the Navigator, led the Carthaginian response and met with tremendous success. By
310 BC, he controlled almost all of Sicily and had laid siege to Syracuse itself. In desperation, Agathocles secretly led an expedition of 14,000 men to the mainland, hoping to save his rule by leading a counterstrike against Carthage itself. In this, he was successful: Carthage was forced to recall Hamilcar and most of his army from Sicily to face the new and unexpected threat. Although Agathocles' army was eventually defeated in 307 BC, Agathocles himself escaped back to Sicily and was able to negotiate a peace which maintained Syracuse as a stronghold of Greek power in Sicily.
Pyrrhic War
Main articles: Pyrrhic War
Between
280 and
275 BC,
Pyrrhus of Epirus waged two major campaigns in an effort to protect and extend the influence of the Macedonians in the western Mediterranean: one against the emerging power of the
Roman Republic in southern Italy, the other against Carthage in Sicily.
Pyrrhus sent an advance guard to Tarentium under the command of Cineaus with 3,000
infantry. Pyrrhus marched the main army across the Greek peninsula and engaged in battles with the Thessalians and the Athenian army. After his early success on the march Pyrrhus entered Tarentium to rejoin with his advance guard.
In the midst of Pyrrhus's Italian campaigns, he received envoys from the Sicilian cities of
Agrigentum,
Syracuse, and
Leontini, asking for military aid to remove the Carthaginian dominance over that island.
[6] Pyrrhus agreed, and fortified the Sicilian cities with an army of 20,000
infantry and 3,000
cavalry and 20 War Elephants, supported by some 200 ships. Initially, Pyrrhus' Sicilian campaign against Carthage was a success, pushing back the Carthaginian forces, and capturing the city-fortress of
Eryx, even though he was not able to capture
Lilybaeum.
[7]
Following these losses, Carthage sued for peace, but Pyrrhus refused unless Carthage was willing to renounce its claims on Sicily entirely. According to
Plutarch, Pyrrhus set his sights on conquering Carthage itself, and to this end, began outfitting an expedition. However, his ruthless treatment of the Sicilian cities in his preparations for this expedition, and his execution of two Sicilian rulers whom he claimed were plotting against him led to such a rise in animosity towards the Greeks, that Pyrrhus withdrew from Sicily and returned to deal with events occurring in southern Italy.
[8]
Pyrrhus's campaigns in Italy were inconclusive, and Pyrrhus eventually withdrew to Epirus. For Carthage, this meant a return to the status quo. For Rome, however, the failure of Pyrrhus to defend the colonies of ''
Magna Graecia'' meant that Rome absorbed them into its "
sphere of influence", bringing it closer to complete domination of the Italian peninsula. Rome's domination of Italy, and proof that Rome could pit its military strength successfully against major international powers, would pave the way to the future Rome-Carthage conflicts of the
Punic Wars.
The Punic Wars
When Agathocles died in
288 BC, a large company of Italian mercenaries who had previously been held in his service found themselves suddenly without employment. Rather than leave Sicily, they seized the city of Messana. Naming themselves
Mamertines (or "sons of Mars"), they became a law unto themselves, terrorizing the surrounding countryside.
The Mamertines became a growing threat to Carthage and Syracuse alike. In
265 BC,
Hiero II, former general of Pyrrhus and the new tyrant of Syracuse, took action against them. Faced with a vastly superior force, the Mamertines divided into two factions, one advocating surrender to Carthage, the other preferring to seek aid from Rome. While the
Roman Senate debated the best course of action, the Carthaginians eagerly agreed to send a garrison to Messana. A Carthaginian garrison was admitted to the city, and a Carthaginian fleet sailed into the Messanan harbor. However, soon afterwards they began negotiating with Hiero; alarmed, the Mamertines sent another embassy to Rome asking them to expel the Carthaginians.
Hiero's intervention had placed Carthage's military forces directly across the narrow channel of water that separated Sicily from Italy. Moreover, the presence of the Carthaginian fleet gave them effective control over this channel, the
Strait of Messina, and demonstrated a clear and present danger to nearby Rome and her interests.
As a result, the Roman Assembly, although reluctant to ally with a band of mercenaries, sent an expeditionary force to return control of Messana to the Mamertines.
The Roman attack on the Carthaginian forces at Messana triggered the first of the
Punic Wars. Over the course of the next century, these three major conflicts between Rome and Carthage would determine the course of Western civilization. The wars included a Carthaginian invasion led by
Hannibal, which nearly prevented the rise of the
Roman Empire.
Shortly after the First Punic War, Carthage faced a major
mercenary revolt which changed the internal political landscape of Carthage (bringing the
Barcid family to prominence), and affected Carthage's international standing, as Rome used the events of the war to base a claim by which it seized
Sardinia and
Corsica.
The Fall of Carthage
The fall of Carthage was at the end of the third Punic War in
146 BC. In spite of the initial devastating Roman naval losses at the beginning of the series of conflicts and Rome's recovery from the brink of defeat after the terror of a 15-year occupation of much of Italy by Hannibal, the end of the series of wars resulted in the end of Carthaginian power and the complete destruction of the city by
Scipio Aemilianus. The Romans pulled the Phoenician warships out into the harbor and burned them before the city, and went from house to house, capturing and enslaving the people. The city was set ablaze, and in this way was razed with only ruins and rubble to field the aftermath.
Roman Carthage
There is a widespread notion that the Carthaginian farmland was
salted to ensure that no crops could be grown there. However such an action would have been impossible except in a symbolic sense, since salt in the required amounts would be extremely expensive (salt in Roman times was so expensive soldiers were paid with it, hence "salary"), and to use salt water would have been very ineffective. This claim has been alleged to have originated in the 20th century.
[9] However a symbolic and religious "salting of the land" with no practical consequences could have been practised to emphasise final defeat of the enemy by the Romans, both for local and Roman propagandistic effect.
When Carthage fell, its nearby rival
Utica, a Roman ally, was made capital of the region and replaced Carthage as the leading center of Punic trade and leadership. It had the advantageous position of being situated on the Lake of Tunis and the outlet of the
Majardah River, Tunisia's only river that flowed all year long. However, grain cultivation in the Tunisian mountains caused large amounts of
silt to erode into the river. This silt was accumulated in the harbor until it was made useless, and Rome was forced to rebuild Carthage.
A new city of Carthage was built on the same land, and by the
1st century it had grown to the second largest city in the western half of the
Roman empire, with a peak population of 500,000. It was the center of the Roman province of
Africa, which was a major breadbasket of the empire.
Roman villas, Carthage
Carthage also became a center of early
Christianity. In the first of a string of rather poorly reported Councils at Carthage a few years later, no fewer than seventy bishops attended. Tertullian later broke with the mainstream that was represented more and more by the bishop of Rome, but a more serious rift among Christians was the
Donatist controversy, which
Augustine of Hippo spent much time and parchment arguing against. In
397 at the
Council at Carthage, the
biblical canon for the western Church was confirmed.
The political fallout from the deep disaffection of African Christians is supposedly a crucial factor in the ease with which Carthage and the other centres were captured in the 5th century by
Gaiseric, king of the
Vandals, who defeated the
Roman general Bonifacius and made the city his capital. Gaiseric was considered a heretic too, an
Arian, and though Arians commonly despised Catholic Christians, a mere promise of toleration might have caused the city's population to accept him. After a failed attempt to recapture the city in the
5th century, the Byzantines finally subdued the Vandals in the
6th century.
During the emperor
Maurice's reign, Carthage was made into an
Exarchate, as was
Ravenna in
Italy. These two exarchates were the western bulwarks of Byzantium, all that remained of its power in the west. In the early
7th century, it was the Exarch of Carthage,
Heraclius (of
Armenian origin), who overthrew Emperor
Phocas.
The Byzantine Exarchate was not, however, able to withstand the
Arab conquerors of the
7th century. The first Arab assault on the Exarchate of Carthage was initiated from
Egypt without much success in
647. A more protracted campaign lasted from
670 to
683. In
698 the
Exarchate of Africa was finally overrun by
Hassan Ibn al Numan and a force of 40,000 men, who destroyed Roman Carthage, just as the Romans had done in
146 BC. Carthage was replaced by
Tunis as the major regional center. The destruction of the Exarchate of Africa marked a permanent end to Roman or Byzantine influence there, as the rising tide of Islam shattered the empire.
Carthaginian military
Main articles: Punic Military Forces
As evidenced by ancient sources such as Polybius, Carthage relied heavily, though not exclusively, on foreign mercenaries
[10], especially in overseas warfare. The core of its army was from its own territory in Africa (ethnic Libyans and Numidians, as well as "Liby-Phoenicians" - i.e. Punics proper). These troops were supported by mercenaries from different ethnic groups and geographic locations across the Mediterranean who fought in their own national units;
Celtic,
Balearic, and
Iberian troops were especially common. Later, after the Barcid conquest of Iberia, Iberians came to form an even greater part of the Carthaginian forces. Carthage seems to have fielded a formidable cavalry force, especially in its African homeland; a significant part of it was composed of Numidian contingents of light cavalry. Other mounted troops were
African Forest Elephants, trained for war, which were used for frontal assaults or as anti-cavalry protection. An army could field up to several hundreds of these animals, but on most reported occasions less than a hundred were deployed.
The Navy
The navy of Carthage was the city's primary security, and it was the preeminent force patrolling the Mediterranean in Carthage's golden age. This was due to its central location, existing familiarity with the people and terrain of their former homeland in present-day
Lebanon, control of the pathway between Sicily and Tunisia through which all ships must travel in order to cross the Mediterranean, and the skill with which its ships were designed and built for their time. In fact, there remains proof that Phoenicians sailed as far as the southern tip of
Africa and although less likely, even the
New World.
Polybius wrote in the sixth book of his History that the Carthaginians were, "more exercised in maritime affairs than any other people."
[11] Their navy included some 300 to 350 warships or armed
merchant ships that continuously patrolled the expanse of the Mediterranean Sea. This provided Carthage with control of the lucrative trade across the Mediterranean for centuries. The Romans, who had virtually no native experience in naval warfare prior to the
First Punic War, managed to finally defeat them with a combination of
reverse engineering captured Carthaginian ships, recruitment of experienced
Latin or
Greek sailors from the ranks of its conquered cities, the unorthodox
corvus device, and deft flanking maneuvers at both
New Carthage and
Syracuse.
Culture
Language
Carthaginians spoke
Punic, a subset of
Phoenician.
Commerce
The empire of Carthage depended heavily on its trade with
Tartessos and other cities of the Iberian peninsula, from which it obtained vast quantities of
silver,
lead, and, even more importantly,
tin ore, which was essential to the manufacture of
bronze objects by the civilizations of antiquity. Its trade relations with the Iberians and the naval might that enforced Carthage's monopoly on trade with tin-rich Britain and the Canary Islands allowed it to be the sole significant broker of tin and maker of bronze. Maintaining this monopoly was one of the major sources of power and prosperity for Carthage, and a Carthaginian merchant would rather crash his ship upon the rocky shores of Britain than reveal to any rival how it could be safely approached. In addition to being the sole significant distributor of tin, its central location in the Mediterranean and control of the waters between Sicily and Tunisia allowed it to control the eastern nations' supply of tin. Carthage was also the Mediterranean's largest producer of silver, mined in Iberia and the North African coast, and, after the tin monopoly, this was one of its most profitable trades. One mine in Spain provided Hannibal with 300 (Roman) pounds of silver a day (Pliny, ''Nat His'' 33,96).
Carthage's economy began as an extension of that of its parent city,
Tyre. Its massive merchant fleet traversed the trade routes mapped out by Tyre, and Carthage inherited from Tyre the art of making the extremely valuable dye
Tyrian Purple. It was one of the most highly-valued commodities in the ancient Mediterranean, being worth fifteen to twenty times its weight in gold. High Roman officials could only afford togas with a small stripe of it. Carthage also produced a less-valuable crimson pigment from the
cochineal.
Carthage produced finely embroidered and dyed
textiles of
cotton,
linen,
wool, and
silk, artistic and functional
pottery,
faience,
incense, and perfumes. It worked with glass, wood,
alabaster, ivory, bronze, brass, lead, gold, silver, and precious stones to create a wide array of goods, including mirrors, highly-admired furniture and cabinetry, beds, bedding, and pillows, jewelry, arms, implements, and household items. It traded in salted Atlantic fish and fish sauce, and brokered the manufactured, agricultural, and natural products of almost every Mediterranean people.
In addition to manufacturing, Carthage practiced highly advanced and productive agriculture, using iron plows, irrigation, and crop rotation.
Mago wrote a famous treatise on agriculture which the Romans ordered translated after Carthage was captured. After the Second Punic War,
Hannibal promoted agriculture to help restore Carthage's economy and pay the war indemnity to Rome (800,000 (Roman) lbs of silver (Pliny 33,51)), and he was largely successful.
Carthage produced wine, which was highly prized in Rome, Etrusca, and Greece. Rome was a major consumer of raisin wine, a Carthaginian specialty. Fruits, nuts, grain, grapes, dates, and olives were grown, and olive oil was exported in competition with Greece. Carthage also raised fine horses, similar to today's
Arabian horses, which were greatly prized and exported.
Carthage's merchant ships, which surpassed even those of the cities of the
Levant, visited every major port of the Mediterranean, Britain, the coast of Africa, and the
Canary Islands. These ships were able to carry over 100 tons of goods. The commercial fleet of Carthage was comparable in size and tonnage to the fleets of major European powers in the
18th century.
Merchants at first favored the ports of the east: Egypt, the Levant, Greece, Cyprus, and Asia Minor. But after Carthage's control of Sicily brought it into conflict with Greek colonists, it established commercial relations in the western Mediterranean, including trade with the
Etruscans.
Carthage also sent caravans into the interior of Africa and
Persia. It traded its manufactured and agricultural goods to the coastal and interior peoples of Africa for salt, gold, timber, ivory, ebony, apes, peacocks, skins, and hides. Its merchants invented the practice of sale by auction and used it to trade with the African tribes. In other ports, they tried to establish permanent warehouses or sell their goods in open-air markets. They obtained amber from Scandinavia and tin from the Canary Islands. From the Celtiberians, Gauls, and Celts, they obtained amber, tin, silver, and furs. Sardinia and Corsica produced gold and silver for Carthage, and Phoenician settlements on islands such as
Malta and the
Balearic Islands produced commodities that would be sent back to Carthage for large-scale distribution. Carthage supplied poorer civilizations with simple things, such as pottery, metallic products, and ornamentations, often displacing the local manufacturing, but brought its best works to wealthier ones such as the Greeks and Etruscans. Carthage traded in almost every commodity wanted by the ancient world, including spices from Arabia, Africa, and India and slaves.
These trade ships went all the way down the Atlantic coast of Africa to
Senegal and Nigeria. One account has a Carthaginian trading vessel exploring Nigeria, including identification of distinguishing geographic features such as a coastal volcano and an encounter with gorillas (See
Hanno the Navigator). Irregular trade exchanges occurred as far west as Madeira and the
Canary Islands, and as far south as southern Africa. Carthage also traded with
India by traveling through the
Red Sea and the perhaps-mythical lands of
Ophir (India/Arabia?) and
Punt, which may be present-day
Somalia.
Archeological finds show evidence of all kinds of exchanges, from the vast quantities of tin needed for a bronze-based metals civilization to all manner of textiles, ceramics and fine metalwork. Before and in between the wars, Carthaginian merchants were in every port in the Mediterranean, buying and selling, establishing warehouses where they could, or just bargaining in open-air markets after getting off their ship.
The Etruscan language has not yet been deciphered, but archaeological excavations of Etruscan cities show that the Etruscan civilization was for several centuries a customer and a vendor to Carthage, long before the rise of Rome. The Etruscan city-states were, at times, both commercial partners of Carthage and military allies.
Government
The government of Carthage was
republican and could be described as an
oligarchy, although it also relied on a system of
checks and balances and ensured a form of public accountability. The Carthaginian heads of state were called
Suffets (thus rendered in Latin by
Livy 30.7.5, attested in Punic inscriptions as SPΘM /ʃuftˤim/, meaning "judges" and obviously related to the
Biblical Hebrew ruler title ''Shophet'' "Judge"). Greek and Roman authors more commonly referred to them as "kings". SPΘ /ʃufitˤ/ might originally have been the title of the city's governor, installed by the mother city of Tyre. In the historically attested period, the two Suffets were elected annually from among the most wealthy and influential families and ruled collegially, similarly to
Roman consuls (and equated with these by Livy). This practice might have descended from the
plutocratic oligarchies that limited the Suffet's power in the first Phoenician cities. The aristocratic families were represented in a supreme council (Roman sources speak of a Carthaginian "
Senate", and Greek ones of a "council of
Elders" or a
gerousia), which had a wide range of powers. However, it is not known whether the Suffets were elected by this council or by an assembly of the people. Suffets appear to have exercised judicial and executive power, but not military . Although the city's administration was firmly controlled by oligarchs , democratic elements were to be found as well: Carthage had elected legislators, trade unions and town meetings.
Aristotle reported in his
''Politics'' that unless the Suffets and the Council reached a unanimous decision, the Carthaginian popular assembly had the decisive vote - unlike the situation in Greek states with similar constitutions such as
Sparta and
Crete.
Polybius, in his History book 6, also stated that at the time of the Punic Wars, the Carthaginian public held more sway over the government than the people of Rome held over theirs (a development he regarded as evidence of decline). Finally, there was a body known as the
Hundred and Four, which Aristotle compared to the Spartan
ephors. These were judges who oversaw the actions of generals , who could sometimes be sentenced to
crucifixion.
Eratosthenes, head of the
Library of Alexandria, noted that the Greeks had been wrong to describe all non-Greeks as barbarians, since the Carthaginians as well as the Romans had a constitution.
Aristotle also knew and discussed the Carthaginian constitution in his ''Politics'' (Book II, Chapter 11).
During the period between the end of the First Punic War and the end of the Second Punic War, members of the
Barcid family dominated in Carthaginian politics. They were given control of the Carthaginian military and all the Carthaginian territories outside of Africa.
See also
''Ancient History Sourcebook: Aristotle: On the Constitution of Carthage, c. 340 BC''
Carthaginian ethnicity and citizenship
In Carthaginian society, advancement was largely relegated to those of distinctly Carthaginian descent, and the children of foreign men generally had no opportunities. However, there are several notable exceptions to this rule. The Barcid family after Hamilcar himself was half Iberian through their mother, Hamilcar's wife — a member of the Iberian nobility, whose children all rose to leading positions in both their native cultures. Adherbal the Red and Hanno the Navigator were also of mixed origin, the former identified from his
Celtiberian epithet, and the latter from a coupling much like the later Barcids. Other exceptions to this rule include children of prominent Carthaginians with Celtic nobles, as well as a single half-Sardinian admiral who was elevated simply by virtue of his own ability.
Owing to this social organization, citizenship in Carthage was exclusive only to those of a select ethnic background (with an emphasis on paternal relationships), though those of exceptional ability could escape the stigma of their background. Regardless, acceptance of the local religious practices was requisite of citizenship — and by extension any sort of advancement, which left many prominent and well regarded peoples out of the empire's administration.
Religion
Main articles: Religion in Carthage
Ruins of Punic houses on the Byrsa Hill
Stelae on the Tophet
Carthaginian religion was based on Phoenician religion, a form of
polytheism. Many of the gods the Carthaginians worshipped, however, were localized and are now known only under their local names.
Pantheon
The supreme divine couple was that of
Tanit and
Ba'al Hammon. The goddess
Astarte seems to have been popular in early times. At the height of its cosmopolitan era, Carthage seems to have hosted a large array of divinities from the neighbouring civilizations of Greece, Egypt and the Etruscan city-states. A pantheon was presided over by the father of the gods, but a goddess was the principal figure in the Phoenician pantheon.
Caste of priests and acolytes
Surviving Punic texts are detailed enough to give a portrait of a very well organized caste of temple priests and acolytes performing different types of functions, for a variety of prices. Priests were clean shaven, unlike most of the population. In the first centuries of the city ritual celebrations included rhythmic dancing, derived from Phoenician traditions.
Punic stelae
Cippi and stelae of limestone are characteristic monuments of Punic art and religion, and are found throughout the western Phoenician world in unbroken continuity, both historically and geographically. Most of them were set up over urns containing cremated human remains, placed within open-air sanctuaries. Such sanctuaries constitute striking relics of Punic civilization.
Child sacrifice
Carthage under the Phoenicians was notorious to its neighbors for
child sacrifice.
Plutarch (''c.''
46–
120) mentions the practice, as do
Tertullian,
Orosius,
Philo and
Diodorus Siculus.
[12] Livy and
Polybius do not. The
Hebrew Bible also mentions child sacrifice practiced by the
Caananites, ancestors of the Carthaginians, and by some Israelites.
Modern
archaeology in formerly Punic areas has discovered a number of large cemeteries for children and infants. But there is some argument that the reports of child sacrifice were based on a misconception, later used as
blood libel by the Romans who destroyed the city. These cemeteries may have been used as graves for
stillborn infants or children who died very early.Modern archeological excavations have been interpreted as confirming Plutarch's reports of Carthaginian child sacrifice.
[13] In a single child cemetery called the Tophet, an estimated 20,000 urns were deposited between
400 BC and
200 BC, with the practice continuing until the early years of the Christian period. The urns contained the charred bones of newborns and in some cases the bones of fetuses and 2-year-olds. These remains have been interpreted to mean that in the cases of stillborn babies, the parents would sacrifice their youngest child. There is a clear correlation between the frequency of cremation and the well-being of the city. In bad times (war, poor harvests) cremations became more frequent, but it is not possible to know why. The correlation could be because bad times inspired the Carthaginians to pray for divine intervention (via child sacrifice), or because bad times increased child mortality, leading to more child burials (via cremation).
Accounts of child sacrifice in Carthage report that beginning at the founding of Carthage in about
814 BC, mothers and fathers buried their children who had been sacrificed to Ba`al Hammon and Tanit there. The practice was apparently distasteful even to Carthaginians, and they began to buy children for the purpose of sacrifice or even to raise servant children instead of offering up their own. However, in times of crisis or calamity, like war, drought or famine, their priests demanded the flower of their youth. Special ceremonies during extreme crisis saw up to 200 children of the most affluent and powerful families slain and tossed into the burning pyre.
It has been argued by some modern scholars that evidence of Carthaginian child sacrifice is incomplete, and that it is far more likely to have been Roman
blood libel against the Carthaginians to justify their conquest and destruction. The debate is ongoing among modern archeologists and historians. Skeptics suggest that the bodies of children found in Carthaginian and Phoenician cemeteries were merely the cremated remains of children that died naturally. Sergio Ribichini has argued that the Tophet was "a child necropolis designed to receive the remains of infants who had died prematurely of sickness or other natural causes, and who for this reason were "offered" to specific deities and buried in a place different from the one reserved for the ordinary dead".
[14] The few Carthaginian texts which have survived make absolutely no mention of child sacrifice, though most of them pertain to matters entirely unrelated to religion, such as the practice of agriculture.
Carthage in modern times
Carthage remains a popular
tourist attraction and residential
suburb.
Carthage in fiction
★ ''
Hannibal's Children'', an
alternate history novel, about the Carthaginians.
★
Gustave Flaubert, ''
Salammbô'', a novel on the mercenary wars in North Africa and around Carthage.
★
Isaac Asimov, ''
The Dead Past'', a science fiction story in which Carthage is a scientific interest of one of the characters; concisely mentions all major facts about it.
★
John Barnes wrote the Timeline wars series of science fiction stories, which has several timelines where Carthage wins and enslaves other timelines.
★ ''
Pride of Carthage'', a novel accounting Hannibal Barca's campaign against Rome, by
David Anthony Durham.
★ ''
The Purple Quest'', a novel about a Phoenician sea captain by
Frank Slaughter.
★ ''The Young Carthaginian'', a novel about the Carthaginians by
G. A. Henty.
★ ''
Carthage trilogy'' of
Ross Leckie — each book depicting different personal history, interwoven with the Carthaginian history. The first two are ''
Hannibal'' and ''
Scipio'', written in a first perspective like ''
I, Claudius'' of
Robert Graves, starting from the teen years of the two brilliant generals till their death (at the same year).
★ Carthage is the codename of the mysterious fifth sector in the French animation series, ''
Code Lyoko'', and a password is required to reach it. The code is "
Scipio" (Reference to the man who conquered Carthage,
Scipio Aemilianus Africanus). Also, references are also made to 'Project Carthage', a military-sponsored technology-development project.
★ Carthage is one of a number of factions in the 2004 PC game ''. Carthage's troops include a good mixture of infantry and cavalry and powerful elephants (note that Carthage did not used huge armored elephants with
howdahs, only small ones with just a
mahout and ''perhaps'' one or two archers). Each of Carthage's starting territories holds the location of an ideal sea-port, with very few nearby factions who place as much naval emphasis as Carthage, meaning that it is a simple matter for Carthage to ferry troops back and forth from landmass to landmass, without much worry that enemy navies will threaten the passengers.
★ Carthage is a playable civilization in the PC game
★ attributes Carthage to the
Brujah, who founded the city-state in hopes that Kindred and Kine could walk freely amongst each other, and that the city could be a fountain of strength and knowledge. The Brujah blame its fall on
Ventrue-controlled
Rome, and hold a grudge against the high clan to this day because of it. Carthage is used by many idealist Brujah as a rallying cry, and their hope is to some day rebuild the fabled city. The Ventrue hold that they were justified in destroying the city, which had become in a festering sore of demonic corruption in the service of the
Baali.
★ ''
The Celestial Plot'', a short story by Argentinian writer
Adolfo Bioy Casares, in which a pilot wakes up after an accident in an alternative universe where Carthage has not been defeated by Rome.
★ ''
Cabiria'', an influential epic 1914 Italian silent film set in Carthage during the
Second Punic War.
References
1. The Neo-Punic Inscriptions and Coin Legends
2. Herodotus, V2. 165–7
3. Polybius, World History: 1.7–1.60
4. Al-Watan Daily
5. Pedro Barcelo, ''Karthago und die Iberische Halbinsel vor den Barkiden'', 1988, ISBN 3-7749-2354-X
6. Plutarch, ''Life of Pyrrhus'', ★ class=wikiexternal target=_blank>.html#22 22:1–22:3
7. Plutarch, ''Life of Pyrrhus '', ★ class=wikiexternal target=_blank>.html#22 22:4–22:6
8. Plutarch, ''Life of Pyrrhus '', ★ class=wikiexternal target=_blank>.html#23 Chapter 23
9. Ridley, R.T., "To Be Taken with a Pinch of Salt: The Destruction of Carthage," Classical Philology vol. 81, no. 2 (1986).
10. Polybius, Book 6, 52. On the ''Perseus'' project
The former (the Romans - editor's note) bestow their whole attention upon this department (upon military service on land - editor's note): whereas the Carthaginians wholly neglect their infantry, though they do take some slight interest in the cavalry. The reason of this is that they employ foreign mercenaries, the Romans native and citizen levies. It is in this point that the latter polity is preferable to the former. They have their hopes of freedom ever resting on the courage of mercenary troops: the Romans on the valour of their own citizens and the aid of their allies.
11. Polybius, History Book 6
12. Diodorus Siculus. Trans. C.H. Oldfather. ''Diodorus of Sicily 1, VI, VIII, IX''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1954-1963 (The Loeb Classical Library).
13. Kelly A. MacFarlane, University of Alberta, ''Hittites and Phoenician''
14. Sergio Ribichini, "Beliefs and Religious Life" in Moscati, Sabatino (ed), ''The Phoenicians'', 1988, p.141
Sources
Commerce, Topography, Cities and Colonies
★ Holst, Sanford. ''Phoenicians: Lebanon's Epic Heritage''. Cambridge and Boston Press, 2005.
★ Salim Khalaf. "Phoenician Settlements Outside the Mainland."
Phoenician Colonies. 1999. ''Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies''.
★ Roy A Decker.
Economy of the Punic Phoenician Empire. 1999. ''Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies''.
★ William J. Broad. "
Phoenician Ship Wreck: Teaming up to find Ancient Mariners". 1999. ''New York Times''.
★ Salim Khalaf.
Phoenician Trade and Ships. 1999. ''Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies''.
★ Anthony Bonanno. "Malta's Role in the Phoenician, Greek, and Etruscan Trade in the Western Mediterranean."
Malta's Role in Phoenicia's Trade. 1999.'' Melita Historica''.
★ Salim Khalaf. "Metals and Processees."
Phoenician Mining. 1999. ''Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies''.
★ Salim Khalaf. "Britain, Phoenicia's Secret Treasure, and its Conversion to Christianity – the Legendary Tin Mines of Cornwall."
Britain, Phoenicia’s Secret Treasure. 1999. ''Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies''.
★ Adopted by Salim Khalaf from original text by R.N. Hall and W.G. Neal. "Was South-East Africa a Major Source of Phoenician Gold Import?"
Phoenician Gold Mines of Zimbabwe. 1999. ''Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies''.
★ Summarized by Salim Khalaf from original text by Dr Touhami Garnaoui. "The Pursuit of the Lost Times of Deceit and Illusions: The Case of Tunisia"
The Case of Tunisia. 1999. ''Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies''.
★ Salim Khalaf. "Phoenician Wine."
Phoenician Wines and Vines. 1999. ''Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies''.
★ Salim Khalaf. "Elissar Dido: Queen of Carthage."
Elissar, Dido, The Queen of Carthage and her City. 1999. ''Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies''.
★ Roy A Decker. "Carthaginians in the New World, a radical theory."
Carthaginians in the New World. 1999. Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies''.
★ William Serfaty. "The Pillars of the Phoenicians."
Gibraltar, Pillars of the Phoenicians. 1997. Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies''.
Each site has its own sources listed. Also see
Phoenicia.org Bibliography for an extensive list of references.
Religion
★
Phoenician Religion
★ ''
Polybius [1]
★ ''
Hannibal's Campaigns''. Tony Bath. New York, NY: Barnes & Noble Books, 1981.
★ ''La vie quotidienne à Carthage au temps d'Hannibal.'' Gilbert et Colette Charles-Picard. Paris: Hachette, 1958.
★ ''La légende de Carthage''. Azedine Beschaouch. Paris: Gallimard, 1993.
★ ''Carthage: Uncovering the Mysteries and Splendors of Ancient Tunisia''. David Soren, Aicha Ben Abed Ben Kader, Heidi Slim. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990.
★ ''The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, colonies and trade''. Maria Eugenia Aubet. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
★ ''Itineraria Phoenicia''.Edward Lipinski. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters en Departement Oosterse Studies, 2004. "Aeneid" Virgil
Navy
★ ''Polybius. Ancient History Sourcebook'': Polybius (c
200–
118 BC):
Rome at the End of the Punic Wars History, Book 6.
★ Myers, P.V.N., ''A General History for Colleges and High Schools@'
See also
★
List of Kings of Carthage
★
History of Tunisia
★
Phoenician languages
★
Umayyad conquest of North Africa
★
Hannibal: Published by Decapo Books, an excellent source of military history about ancient Carthage and the tactics of Hannibal and the Roman Republic
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