Carthage
Carthage was a prominent ancient city founded by the Phoenicians, a Semitic seafaring people known for their extensive trade networks across the Mediterranean. Established near a natural harbor, Carthage quickly rose to become one of the wealthiest cities of the classical world, surpassing its mother city, Tyre. The city is often associated with the legendary figure Dido, who is celebrated as its founder. Carthage's strategic position allowed it to control trade routes and develop a powerful navy. However, its expansion led to conflicts with Rome, culminating in the three Punic Wars. Ultimately, Carthage was destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C.E., marked by the complete devastation of the city.
Following its destruction, Romans rebuilt Carthage as a thriving capital of the province of Africa Proconsularis. The city became a center of Christian learning and agriculture, particularly wheat production. Meanwhile, Carthaginian culture was characterized by a polytheistic religion, advanced agricultural practices, and a complex societal structure. Despite its historical significance, the city faced decline under various rulers, including the Vandals and later the Byzantines, before ultimately falling to Arab forces in the 7th century C.E. Today, the ruins of Carthage serve as a testament to its rich and multifaceted past.
Carthage
Date: c. 800 b.c.e.-697 or 698 c.e.
Locale: Northern coast of Africa, present-day Tunisia
Carthage
Carthage (KAHR-thihj) was a city founded by Phoenicians, a Semitic seafaring people occupying the narrow coastal strip of the eastern Mediterranean, Phoenicia, with Tyre their most important city. Best known as traders, they also created a prized purple dye and are associated with the introduction of the alphabet. The Phoenicians traded with cities and settlements as far west as the Strait of Gibraltar. Carthage was at a midway point and served as a way station for obtaining provisions and trading.
History
According to legend, the city was founded by Dido, a princess from Tyre who became its first ruler. Her romance with the Trojan Aeneas, founder of Rome, is fiction ascribed to the Roman poet Vergil. The location of Carthage was ideal; it had a superb natural harbor, a defensible central mound, and a well-watered, fertile hinterland.
Because of a lack of records, little is known of the first four centuries of Carthage’s history, only that it soon supplanted Tyre as the leading Phoenician city and for a time was the richest city in the ancient classical world. The centralized mound topped by a formidable citadel became known as the Byrsa. Massive walls encircled the city. Supplementing the natural harbor were two human-made harbors to anchor the Carthaginian naval and commercial ships. As traders, the Carthaginians sailed the Mediterranean in their swift boats and poured wealth into Carthage. By the fourth century b.c.e., Carthage had created one of the greatest empires of the classical world, stretching west to the Strait of Gibraltar, north to the Ebro close to the Pyrenees, and east across most of Sicily.
The expansion of Carthage inevitably resulted in conflict with Greece and later Rome. The powerful Carthaginian naval fleet protected the home city, and mercenary armies were used for land operations. The complete conquest of Sicily, however, only 171 miles (275 kilometers) off shore eluded them.
The Greek menace was removed through Greek self-destruction in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 b.c.e.). The Roman menace, however, grew increasingly more ominous. Determined to make the Mediterranean a Roman sea (Mare Nostrum), Rome neither could nor would tolerate a rival power on its southern borders. Three Punic Wars, named “Punic” from the Latin for Phoenician, ensued and resulted in the defeat and finally in the destruction of Phoenician Carthage.
In the First Punic War (264-241 b.c.e.), Carthage lost its monopoly on naval power and control over Sicily. A bloody revolt of the Carthaginian mercenaries, breaking out in 240 b.c.e. and lasting forty months, further drained its resources. The Second Punic War (218-201 b.c.e.) produced a brilliant Carthaginian general, Hannibal, who carried the war into Italy. Only the delaying tactics of the Roman general Fabius saved Rome. A defeat at Zama in 202 b.c.e. sealed Carthage’s fate. It lost its entire navy and its possessions outside Africa. Defeats in both wars resulted in heavy indemnities. The Third Punic War (149-146 b.c.e.) occurred because an implacable Rome wished the physical destruction of Carthage itself. The city was stormed, the population slaughtered or removed, and the buildings burned or leveled. Salt was sown into the ruins so no other city would rise there again.
Rule by outsiders
The practical Romans, who ruled Carthage from 44 b.c.e. to 439 c.e., rebuilt the strategic and valuable site of Carthage. The city was resurrected as the new capital of the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis and was soon as rich as its destroyed predecessor. Agriculture was devoted almost exclusively to wheat to feed the Roman proletariat. By the beginning of the millennium, the province delivered to Rome more than 1,750 tons (1.5 million kilograms) a year. Beginning in the second century c.e., Carthage became the seat of a bishopric and a center of Christian learning with Saint Augustine (354-430 c.e.) as its most famous scholar.
In 439 c.e., the Vandal king Gaiseric sacked and conquered Carthage and made it his capital, bringing with him the heretical cult of Arianism. The commercial and cultural life of the city declined precipitously. Vandal misrule caused the Eastern Romans or Byzantines to attempt to reconquer the city, succeeding in 534 b.c.e. under a general named Belisarius. Hopes for a new golden age faded because of religious disputes. The city fell to the Arabs in 697 c.e., and the Arabs plundered and destroyed the city the following year. Its ruins were buried, and its artifacts hauled away.
Religion and ritual
The Carthaginians worshiped two chief gods personifying the male and female elements in nature, Baal-Haman and Tanith. A third god, Melkart, was protector of the city, and a fourth, Eshmun, was god of wealth and health. A host of lesser gods, many adopted from the Egyptians, were also worshiped. In times of crisis, human sacrifices of infants and children were made to Baal-Haman; those sacrificed were mercifully killed just before being thrown into the flames.
Agriculture and animal husbandry
The Carthaginians made agriculture a science and an industry. Guided by the manuals of the agronomist Mago and the use of irrigation, the phosphate-rich soil around Carthage blossomed into gardens, grain fields, vineyards, and orchards. Carthage was especially noted for its sweet wine and superlative figs. Selective breeding produced superior species of horses, mules, donkeys, sheep, and goats. Wild animals such as elephants were domesticated.
Navigation and transportation
Consistent with their Phoenician heritage, the Carthaginians were excellent sailors and master shipbuilders. Their keel-bottomed narrow ships propelled chiefly by oars moved swiftly through the waters. Smaller flat-bottomed boats were used to maneuver in shallow water. Always ready to explore, the Carthaginians sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar and down the African coast as far as modern-day southern Morocco. They sailed north to England and Ireland to procure the tin needed to make bronze.
Trade and commerce
Carthage was devoted to trade, which the Carthaginians preferred to engage in rather than making articles to be traded. For them, nothing profitable could be dishonorable. Their pack mules traversed the deserts; their ships carried goods to and from countless ports. Among the most valued commodities traded were silver, spices, gold, silk, ivory, wild animals, and slaves. The most common trading item was pottery, of which Carthage produced a superior type. The Carthaginians were among the first to use representative money. Leather straps stamped with signs of values were used and accepted throughout their trading areas.
War and weapons
The Carthaginians considered themselves too valuable as traders to be soldiers, so they preferred to hire mercenaries. They much preferred negotiations and bribery to armed conflict. They excelled at naval warfare, and their warships were superb, built with special devices for grappling and for boarding. Removable rams could be used repeatedly rather than staying in the sinking enemy ships. Domesticated elephants were used to frighten or to trample the enemy. The Carthaginians also excelled in fortifications and succeeded in making Carthage almost impregnable. In times of crisis, such as in the final defense of the city, the Carthaginians could be brave fighters.
Women’s life
Carthaginian women were veiled and secluded. A sensual people, the Carthaginians expected their women to be beautiful and seductive, adorned with spectacular jewelry and clad in exquisite fabrics. Consistent with the character of the founder of the city, the women could and did show spirit. In the last hours of Phoenician Carthage, its ruling general pleaded with the Romans for his life, but his wife, denouncing his cowardice, leaped with her sons into the flames of the burning city.
Government and law
It is almost impossible to write of the government of a city whose archives and records have been lost, but from all accounts, Carthage moved from royal absolutism to a republic controlled by an oligarchy of wealth representing maritime interests. The dividing date is given as approximately 395 b.c.e. Citizens elected both a popular assembly with limited powers and a senate. From nominations presented by the senate, the assembly annually chose two suffetes, or administrators. Above these bodies and the real ruler of Carthage was a tribunal of 104 judges, who held office for life. Administrators for both Roman and Byzantine Carthage were appointed by the emperors in Rome or in Constantinople.
Bibliography
Durant, Will. “Hannibal Against Rome.” In Caesar and Christ. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944.
Lancel, Serge. Carthage: A History. Translated by Antonia Nevill. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 1995.
Soren, David, Aicha Ben Abed Ben Khader, and Hedi Slim. Carthage from the Legends of the Aeneid to the Glorious Age of Gold. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990.
Warmington, Brian Herbert. Carthage. New York: Praeger, 1960.