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Fall of Ancient Carthage
Phoenician city-state and empire
- 146 BCE
- Carthage
- North Africa
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Phoenician city-state and empire
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Ancient Carthage ( KAR-thij; Punic: 𐤒𐤓𐤕𐤟𐤇𐤃𐤔𐤕, lit. 'New City') was an ancient civilization based in North Africa. It grew from a small settlement in present-day Tunisia into the Carthaginian Empire, a major power that dominated the western half of the Mediterranean Sea.
Carthage was settled around 814 BC by merchants from Tyre, a leading Phoenician city-state located in present-day Lebanon. In the 7th century BC, following Phoenicia's conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Carthage became independent of its eastern neighbors. Leveraging its naval power, Carthage then began to grow a vast patchwork of colonies, vassals, and satellite states until it was the economic and political hegemon of the western Mediterranean. By 300 BC, Carthage controlled the coast of northwestern Africa, southern and eastern Iberia, and the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, and the Balearic Islands. Tripoli remained de facto autonomous under the authority of local Libyco-Phoenicians, a mixed Nation of local Libyans (specifically Macae) and Phoenicians, who paid nominal tribute.
Among the ancient world's largest and richest cities, Carthage's strategic location provided access to abundant fertile land and major maritime trade routes that reached West Asia and Northern Europe. This commercial empire was secured by one of the largest and most powerful navies in classical antiquity, and an army composed heavily of foreign mercenaries and auxiliaries, which included Iberians, Balearics, Gauls, Britons, Sicilians, Italians, Greeks, Numidians, and Libyans. Carthage's unique system of government combined at different times elements of primitive democracy, oligarchy, and republicanism, including early examples of separation of powers.
As the dominant power in the western Mediterranean, Carthage inevitably came into conflict with many neighbours and rivals, from the Berbers of North Africa to the nascent Roman Republic. Following centuries of conflict with the Sicilian Greeks, its growing competition with Rome culminated in the Punic Wars (264–146 BC), which saw some of the largest and most sophisticated battles in antiquity. Carthage narrowly avoided destruction after the Second Punic War, but was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC after the Third Punic War. The Romans later founded a new city in its place. All remnants of Carthaginian civilization came under Roman rule by the 1st century AD, and Rome subsequently became the dominant Mediterranean power, paving the way for the Roman Empire.
Despite having been one of the most influential civilizations of antiquity, Carthage is mostly remembered for its long and bitter conflict with Rome. Due to the destruction of virtually all Carthaginian texts after the Third Punic War, much of what is known about its civilization comes from Roman and Greek sources, many of which were written during or after the Punic Wars, and to varying degrees were influenced by the hostilities. Popular and scholarly attitudes towards Carthage historically reflected the prevailing Greco-Roman view, though archaeological research since the late 19th century has helped shed more light and nuance on Carthaginian civilization.
The name Carthage is the Early Modern anglicisation of Middle French Carthage /kar.taʒ/, from Latin Carthāgō and Karthāgō (cf. Greek Karkhēdōn (Καρχηδών) and Etruscan *Carθaza) from the Punic qrt-ḥdšt, vocalised by Brett Mulligan as Qart-Ḥadašt (Punic: 𐤒𐤓𐤕𐤟𐤇𐤃𐤔𐤕, lit. 'New City').
Punic, which is sometimes used synonymously with Carthaginian, derives from the Latin poenus and punicus, based on the Ancient Greek word Φοῖνιξ (Phoinix), pl. Φοίνικες (Phoinikes), an exonym used to describe the Canaanite port towns with which the Greeks traded. Latin later borrowed the Greek term a second time as phoenix, pl. phoenices. Both Punic and Phoenician were used by the Romans and Greeks to refer to all Phoenicians (both western and eastern varieties) across the Mediterranean; modern scholars use the term Punic exclusively for Phoenicians in the western Mediterranean, such as the Carthaginians. Specific Punic groups are often referred to with hyphenated terms, like "Siculo-Punic" for Phoenicians in Sicily or "Sardo-Punic" for those in Sardinia. Ancient Greek authors sometimes referred to the mixed Punic inhabitants of North Africa ('Libya') as 'Liby-Phoenicians'.
It is unclear what term, if any, the Carthaginians used to refer to themselves. Ancient Egyptian accounts suggest the people from the region identified as Kenaani or Kinaani, equivalent to Canaanite. A passage from Augustine claims that if asked, the people of Africa (modern day Tunisia) would reply that they are Chanani (Canaanites) in Phoenician. Despite that being almost universally accepted by scholars, some still dismiss Augustine's claims. For example, Josephine Quinn doubts the claim's truthfulness. Numismatic evidence from Sicily shows that some western Phoenicians made use of the term Phoinix.
The specific date, circumstances, and motivations concerning Carthage's founding are unknown. Most surviving accounts of the city's origins come from Latin and Greek literature, which are generally legendary in nature and reflect Greco-Roman culture values.
The official Carthaginian foundation account as reported by the Phoenician prophet Cleodemus Malchus and transmitted by the Judean Flavius Joseph is that Carthaginians and other Tyrian migrants in North Africa were the descendants of Epher, a son of Midian and also a grandson of Abraham.
There are various conflicting Greco-Roman accounts of Carthage's founding. The oldest one is first recorded by Philistus of Syracuse, and corroborated by Eudoxus of Cnidus. Philistus claims Carthage was founded by the Tyrian brothers, Azoros (Phoenician: 𐤏𐤆𐤓 ʿAzar) and Karkhedon.
A more widely-known account tells the story of King Pygmalion (Phoenician: 𐤐𐤌𐤉𐤉𐤕𐤍 Pumayyatan), Sycharbas (Phoenician: 𐤆𐤊𐤓𐤁𐤏𐤋 Zakarbaʿl), and Elissa (Phoenician: 𐤏𐤋𐤔𐤕 ʿAlišat), more commonly known as Dido. In it, Elissa's brother, King Pygmalion, murders her husband, Sycharbas. Elissa and her allies flee and establish Carthage, which, under Elissa's rule, becomes a flourishing city. Elissa's grandfather, the mythic Balazeros (𐤁𐤏𐤋𐤏𐤑𐤅𐤓 Baʿl-ʿazar), is thought by some scholars to be the real-life King Baʿli-maanzer of Tyre. Likewise, Frank Moore Cross has theorized that the king referenced by the Nora Stone is in fact Pygmalion.
In the second century AD, the Roman historian Justin draws on the earlier work of Trogus to provide a modified account of the Pygmalion and Elissa founding story. In his version, Elissa is the daughter of the King Belus II of Tyre, who bequeaths the throne to both Elissa and her brother Pygmalion. However, upon Belus's death, Pygmalion not only cheats his sister out of her share of political power, but also greedily murders her wealthy husband Acerbas (Phoenician: Zakarbaal), also known as Sychaeus. Before her tyrannical brother can take her late husband's wealth, Dido immediately flees with her followers to establish a new city abroad.
Upon landing in North Africa, she is greeted by the local Berber chieftain, Iarbas (also called Hiarbas) who promises to cede as much land as could be covered by a single ox hide. With her characteristic cleverness, Elissa cuts the hide into very thin strips and lays them end to end until they encircle the entire hill of Byrsa. While digging to set the foundation of their new settlement, the Tyrians discover the head of an ox, an omen that the city would be wealthy "but laborious and always enslaved". In response they move the site of the city elsewhere, where the head of a horse is found, which in Phoenician culture is a symbol of courage and conquest. The horse foretells where Dido's new city will rise, becoming the emblem of Carthage, derived from the Phoenician Qart-Hadasht, meaning "New City".
The city's wealth and prosperity attracts both Phoenicians from nearby Utica and the indigenous Libyans, whose king Iarbas now seeks Elissa's hand in marriage. Threatened with war should she refuse, and also loyal to the memory of her deceased husband, the queen orders a funeral pyre to be built, where she commits suicide by stabbing herself with a sword. She is thereafter worshiped as a goddess by the people of Carthage, who are described as brave in battle but prone to the "cruel religious ceremony" of human sacrifice, even of children, whenever they seek divine relief from troubles of any kind.
Carthage and Elissa again make an appearance in Virgil's epic poem the Aeneid. Written over a century after the Third Punic War, the poem retools Carthage's founding myth to link it inextrably to Rome's, and to provide a mythic reason for the Punic Wars. The poem's introduction begins by mentioning "an ancient city" that many readers likely assumed was Rome or Troy, but is revealed to be Carthage, with Virgil describing the city as "held by colonists from Tyre, opposite Italy... a city of great wealth and ruthless in the pursuit of war." Virgil then establishes the city as being both beloved by Juno, and destined to fall by a descendant of Troy. Thus, Juno becomes the poem's main antagonist in her attempts to prevent Aeneas, a Trojan man, from establishing the empire that will eventually destroy Carthage.
Virgil describes Queen Elissa—for whom he uses the ancient Greek name, Dido, meaning "beloved"—as an esteemed, clever, but ultimately tragic character. Similar to earlier legends, Dido's brother Pygmalion murders her husband, Sychaeus. After Pygmalion's treachery is revealed to Dido in a dream, Dido tricks Pygmalion into funding her voyage under the guise of wanting to bring him riches. Instead, Dido and her followers flee with the provided gold and search for a new home
Echoing Justin's account, Dido lands in North Africa and is greeted by Iarbas. When Iarbus offers as much land as could be covered by a single ox hide, she cuts the hide into very thin strips and encircles all of Byrsa.
Virgil adds in that while digging to set the foundation of their new settlement, the Tyrians discover the head of a horse, a Phoenician symbol of courage and conquest. The horse foretells where Dido's new city will rise. Thus, the Tyrians make the horse the emblem of the "New City" Carthage.
Seven years later, the Carthaginians had built a successful kingdom under the rule of their beloved Dido. When Aeneas and his men wash up on Dido's shore, Dido falls in love with Aeneas and offers him and his compatriots asylum. During a hunting expedition, Dido comes to believe that Aeneas and her will marry. Aeneas disagrees, though he loves Dido. However, Jupiter sends Mercury to remind Aeneas that his destiny is to sail to Italy to found Rome, regardless of his love for Dido. Aeneas and his men depart, and a heartbroken Dido commits suicide by stabbing herself upon a funeral pyre with Aeneas' sword. As she lies dying, she prophesizes eternal strife between Aeneas' people and her own, proclaiming "rise up from my bones, avenging spirit" in an invocation of Hannibal. Aeneas sees the smoke from the pyre as he sails away, and though he does not know the fate of Dido, he identifies it as a bad omen. Ultimately, his descendants go on to found the Roman Kingdom, the predecessor of the Roman Empire.
Like Justin, Virgil's story essentially conveys Rome's attitude towards Carthage, as exemplified by Cato the Elder's utterance, "Carthago delenda est"—"Carthage must be destroyed". In essence, Rome and Carthage were fated for conflict: Aeneas chose Rome over Dido, eliciting her dying curse upon his Roman descendants, and thus providing a mythical, fatalistic backdrop for a century of bitter conflict between Rome and Carthage.
Carthage was one of numerous colonies and trading posts established by the Phoenicians along the coasts of the Mediterranean. Most of these colonies were small, with less than 1,000 inhabitants, and were founded for commercial reasons. Between Phoenician's small numbers and their organization into fiercely independent city-states, there seemed to be little desire or ability to seriously expand overseas. Thus very few of their colonies would grow large.
Phoenician colonization was often commercial in nature. They sought safe harbors for their merchant fleets, monopolies over natural resources, access to popular trade goods, and areas where they could trade freely and without outside influence. Over time, escape from tributary obligations to the foreign powers subjugating the Phoenician homeland also became a motivation for colonization. Colonization efforts by the Greeks, a nascent maritime power and competitor, also served to inspire Phoenician colonization.
The Phoenicians' colonization efforts first began in the eastern and central Mediterranean. They had holdings in Cyprus, Crete, Corsica, the Balearic Islands, Sardinia, and Sicily, as well as on the European mainland, in what are today Genoa and Marseilles. Their settlements in Crete and Sicily continually clashed with the Greeks, foreshadowing the later Sicilian Wars. In the end, Phoenician control over all of Sicily was brief. In the western Mediterranean, colonies first arose following the two paths of to Iberia's mineral wealth: either along the northwest African coast or on Sicily, Sardinia, and the Balearic Islands. Colonies following the former route were usually trading stations at intervals of about 30 to 50 kilometres along the African coast.
Tyre, as the largest and the wealthiest of the Phoenician city-states, and often led the way in colonizing coastal areas. Strabo claims that the Tyrians alone founded three hundred colonies on the west African coast; though clearly an exaggeration, many colonies did arise in Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Iberia, and in Libya. One of these colonies was Carthage.
The site of Carthage was likely chosen by the Tyrians for several reasons. Firstly, it's geographic position was strategic. The Gulf of Tunis afforded Carthage both access to the Mediterranean and protection from the region's violent storms. It was close to the Strait of Sicily, a key bottleneck for maritime trade between the east and west. Secondly, its terrain was invaluable. Built on a hilly, triangular peninsula connected to the mainland by a single, narrow strip of land, the city would prove easily defensible. Adding to its defenses was a citadel built on Byrsa, a low hill overlooking the sea. Behind the city lay the Lake of Tunis, which provided an abundant supply of fish and a place for safe harbor. Finally, Carthage would be conduit of two major trade routes: one between the Tyrian colony of Cadiz in southern Spain, which supplied raw materials for manufacturing in Tyre, and the other between North Africa and the northern Mediterranean, namely Sicily, Italy, and Greece.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Ancient Carthage”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.