Carthage

This article is about the ancient city-state of Carthage in North Africa. For other uses of the word, see Carthage (disambiguation).

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Carthaginian settlements in the western Mediterranean.

The term Carthage can refer either to an ancient city in North Africa, located on the eastern side of Lake Tunis across from the center of modern Tunis in Tunisia, or to the city's sphere of influence, in much the same way "Rome" can refer to the city or the ancient civilization.

Originally a settlement of Phoenician colonists, Carthage grew into a vast economic power throughout the Mediterranean, accumulating much wealth and influence through their economic prowess.

The name Carthage is derived by way of Greek and Latin from the Phoenician QRT HDST /qɑɾt ħɑdɑʃt/, 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 use the adjective Punic to describe anything to do with Carthaginian civilization. This is because of the Latin term Punius (earlier Poenius), itself borrowed from Greek Φοινικη, "Phoenician."

The Punic civilization eventually fell due to a series of ongoing wars with Rome known as the Punic Wars. A series of losses led to an erosion of Punic political and economic strength, mostly due to the harsh penalties imposed on Carthage by Rome as conditions of the cessation of hostilites. In the end, the Third Punic War, instigated by Rome's actions designed to guarantee that Carthage would never have the ability to threaten Rome again, ended with the complete destruction of the city of Carthage, the annexation of the last remnants of Carthaginian territory by Rome, and the end of distinct Carthaginian civilization, although aspects of Carthaginian culture probably exist even today.

The Question of Carthage

The historical study of Carthage is problematic. Because of the subjection of the civilization by the Romans at the end of the Third Punic War, very few Carthaginian primary 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 majority of available primary source material about Carthaginian civilization was written by Greek and Roman historians, such as Livy, Polybius, Appian, Cornelius Nepos, Silius Italicus, Plutarch, Dio Cassius, and Herodotus.

These authors participated in cultures which were nearly always in competition, and often in conflict, with Carthage. The Greeks contested with Carthage for Sicily^[2], for instance, and the Romans fought the Punic Wars against Carthage^[3]. Inevitably the accounts of Carthage written by outsiders include significant bias.

Recent excavation of ancient Carthaginian sites has brought much more primary material to light^{[citation needed]}. Some of these finds contradict or confirm aspects of the traditional picture of Carthage. But much of the material is still ambiguous^{[citation needed]}.

Founding of Carthage

In 814 BC, Carthage was founded by Phoenician settlers from the city of Tyre, bringing with them the city-god Melqart. Traditionally, the city was founded by Dido (or Elissa) (Dido fled from Tyre after her younger brother killed her husband to become the ruler), and a number of foundation myths have survived through Greek and Roman literature. (See Byrsa for one example.)

In 509 BC a treaty was signed between Carthage and Rome indicating a division of influence and commercial activities. It is the first known source that indicated Carthage had gained control over Sicily and Sardinia.

By the beginning of the 5th century BC, Carthage was the commercial center of the region, a position it would retain until overthrown by the Roman Republic. The city had conquered the territory of the old Phoenician colonies, such as Hadrumetum, Utica and Kerkouane, and the Libyan tribes, spreading its control along the North African coast from modern Morocco to the borders of Egypt. Its influence had also spread into the Mediterranean, with control over Sardinia, Malta, the Balearic Islands and the western half of Sicily. Colonies had also been established in Iberia.

Legends of the foundation of Carthage

Queen Elissar

Queen Elissar, a princess of Tyre founded Carthage. At its peak her metropolis came to be called a "shining city," ruling 300 other cities around the western Mediterranean and leading the Phoenician Punic world.

Elissar was Jezebel's grandniece — Princess Jezebel of Tyre was Queen of Israel. Her brother, Pygmalion king of Tyre, murdered her husband, the high priest. She escaped tyranny in her country and founded Carthage and thereafter its Phoenician Punic dominions. Carthage became later a great center of the western Mediterranean. One of its most famous sons was Hannibal. Details of her life are sketchy and confusing, however, following is what one can deduce from various sources. According to Justin, Princess Elissar was the daughter of King Matten or Muttoial of Tyre (Belus II of classical literature). After his death, the throne was jointly bequeathed to her and her brother, Pygmalian. She was married to her uncle Acherbas (Sychaeus of classical literature), High Priest of Melqart and a man of authority and riches like that of a king. Tyrannical Pygmalion, a lover of gold and intrigue, was eager to be acquire the authority and fortune of Acherbas. He assassinated him in the Temple and kept his evil deed a secret for a long time from his sister. He cheated her with fictions about his death. Meanwhile, the people of Tyre were pressing for a single sovereign that caused dissension within the royal family.

Queen Dido

In Virgil's Aeneid Queen Dido 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. However, when Aeneas is reminded by the messenger god, Mercury, that his mission is not to stay in Carthage with his new-found love, Dido, but to travel to Italy to found Rome, Dido’s character takes a turn for the worse. When Aeneas deserts her, Dido becomes vengeful and orders a pyre to be built so that she may burn the possessions he left behind. It is on this pyre that Dido has a vision of the future Carthaginian general, Hannibal, avenging her, with her final breath she stabs herself.

Phoenician Colonization

Carthage was one of a number of Phoenician settlements in the western Mediterranean. Around 1000 BC, the eastern Mediterranean shore was settled by various Semitic populations ("Semitic" is a linguistic term referring to a group of related languages including Arabic, Hebrew and Aramaic). Those in the area of North Africa and modern Lebanon were called Canaanites. The Semites in modern Lebanon were called Phoenicians by the Greeks. The Phoenician language is very close to the Original Hebrew. much of it used by Tunisian Historians in translation of Phoenician inscriptions. The Phoenician cities were very much involved in trade. There were a number of major ports in the area, and the leading city was Tyre, from which Carthage had originally been colonized. From Tyre a number of trading posts were established overseas.

Extent Of Phoenician Settlement

The Phoenicians moved west along the coast of North Africa. The area directly west of Egypt is fairly inhospitable (Libya), but there are a few settlements in the area. Much more numerous are settlements in the area of Tunisia (where Carthage was). The Phoenicians also settled the southern shore of Iberia (the area south of the Pyrenees, now Portugal and Spain), western Sicily and Sardinia.

In the beginning all these towns maintained allegiance to Tyre. In the early sixth century Tyre became seriously weakened after a long Babylonian siege. At the same time the Phoenicians settlers came into conflict with the Greeks, and the settlements fell under the leadership of Carthage in the absence of help from distant Tyre.

Life in Carthage

Language

Carthaginians spoke Punic, a dialect of Phoenician.

Topography

Carthage was built on a promontory with inlets to the sea to the north and south. Two large, artificial harbors were built within the city. Here the Carthaginian fleet was stationed.

The city had massive walls, 23 miles in circuit. Most of the walls were along the shore, and thus could be less impressive as Carthaginian control of the sea made attack from that direction difficult. The 2 1/2-3 miles of wall on the isthmus to the west were truly gargantuan and in fact were never penetrated.

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 and, even more importantly, tin ore, which was essential to the manufacture of bronze objects by the civilizations of antiquity. Carthage followed trade routes already established by her parent city, Tyre. When Tartessos fell, the Carthaginian ships went directly to the primary sources of tin in the northwestern section of the Iberian peninsula and further north, in Cornwall in the British Isles. Other Carthaginian ships went down the Atlantic coast of Africa and brought back gold from Senegal. 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). Non-permanent trade relations were established as far west as Madeira and the Canary Islands, and as far south as southern Africa.

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

Carthage's government was an oligarchy. Punic inscriptions show the term used to refer to her heads of state which was Sōfetīm "Judges", which might originally have been the title of the city's governor installed by the mother city of Tyre. Later, one sōfet or two sōfetêm, who were believed to have exercised judicial and executive (but not military) functions, were elected annually from among the most wealthy and influential families. These aristocratic families were represented in a supreme council that had a wide range of powers. However, it is not known whether the sōfetīm were elected by this council or by an assembly of the people. 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. There was a system of checks and balances, as well as public accountability.

The was a chief magistrate "the sufes", who did not take part in military affairs (the title means "judge," and the position was a civil government) The Carthaginians appointed professional generals, who were separate from the civil government. The Tribes voted and appointed an agent to represent them in a governing council. There was also a council of elders with fairly strong powers but only as an advisory role to the younger council. There was also an assembly of nobles.

Eratosthenes, head of the Greek 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 wrote about 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, Carthage was ruled mainly by the Barcid family, who was given control of the Carthaginian Miltary, and all the Carthaginian Territories outside of Africa.

Religion

Carthaginian religion was based on Phoenician religion. Phoenician religion was inspired by the powers and processes of nature. Many of the gods they worshipped, however, were localized and are now known only under their local names. A pantheon was presided over by the father of the gods, but a goddess was the principal figure in the Phoenician pantheon.

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.

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. The majority was set up over urns containing the ashes of human sacrifices, which had been placed within open-air sanctuaries. Such sanctuaries constitute striking relics of the Western Mediterranean Phoenician or Punic civilisation.

Child sacrifice

Carthage under the Phoenicians was notorious to its neighbors for child sacrifice. Plutarch (ca. 46–120 AD) mentions the practice, as do Tertullian, Orosius and Diodorus Siculus. Livy and Polybius do not. The Hebrew Bible also mentions child sacrifice practiced by the Caananites, ancestors of the Carthaginians, and by some Israelites. According to Diodorus Siculus, "There was in their city a bronze image of Cronus extending its hands, palms up and sloping toward the ground, so that each of the children when placed thereon rolled down and fell into a sort of gaping pit filled with fire."

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. In modern archaeology, it derives from the finding of large cemeteries for children and infants, though these may have been used as graves for stillborn infants.

Evidence from archaeology

Modern archeological excavations have been interpreted as confirming Plutarch's reports of Carthaginian child sacrifice. 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 sacrifice and the well-being of the city. In bad times (war, poor harvests) sacrifices became more frequent, indicating an increased assiduousness in seeking divine appeasement.

Carthaginian votive steles (several in Egyptian style) display a priest carrying a living-child, apparently to sacrifice.

Recent evidence from the island of Motya (off Sicily) suggests that child sacrifice did indeed take place, the remains in the sacred cemetery showing that children buried there were all males aged between two and six. This is consistent with the common (ancient) Middle Eastern custom of sacrificing the first-born son.

Their bones showed no evidence of chronic disease, suggesting that the children did not die of natural causes. Whilst bone analysis cannot rule out all common diseases that killed children in that era, quickly or slowly, an ordinary cemetery populated with numerous burials over a period of a few generations should contain many bones showing evidence of disease.

The Tophet

The sacred precinct of Carthage, now called the Tophet, after a Biblical term, was the location of the temple of the goddess Tanit and the necropolis.

The word "Tophet" can be translated "place of burning" or "roaster." The Biblical text (2 Kings, 23:10), which uses the word with reference to illicit Israelite sacrifices, does not specify that the victims were buried, only burned, although the "place of burning" was probably adjacent to the place of burial. Indeed, soil in the Carthage Tophet was found to be full of olive wood charcoal, probably from the sacrificial pyres. We have no idea how the Phoenicians themselves referred to the places of burning or burial or to the practice itself, since no large body of Phoenician writing has come down to us.

Accounts of child sacrifice in Carthage report that beginning at the founding of Carthage in about 814 B.C., mothers and fathers buried their children who had been sacrificed to Baal 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. During the political crisis of 310 B.C., some 500 were killed. On a moonlit night, after the child was mercifully killed, the body was placed on the arms of the god, where it rolled into the fire pit. The sound of flutes, lyres, and tambourines helped to drown out the cries of the anguished parents. Later, the remains were collected and placed in special small urns. The urns were then buried in the Tophet.

Evidence from Roman sources

Child sacrifice is impossible for a modern mind to accept, but the Roman condemnation of this tradition is somewhat hollow, gladiator contests being a feature of Roman life for at least four centuries after the fall of Carthage. Furthermore, Roman tradition also included human sacrifice, the last recorded instance of which is the votive service to Mars during the Cimbrian invasion.

Arguments against the existence of child sacrifice

It is sometimes argued, however, that the bodies of children found in Carthaginian and Phoenician cemeteries were merely the cremated remains of children that died naturally. However, in light of other Canaanite evidence this seems less likely. 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.

It has been argued by some modern scholars that evidence of Carthaginian child sacrifice is sketchy, 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.

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 the Hanno the Navigator were also of mixed origin, the former identified from his Celti[Iberian] 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.

Conflicts with other civilizations

First Sicilian war

Carthage's success led to the creation of a powerful 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 Greek support, 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 and Hanno the Navigator's journey down the African 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 BCE Hannibal Mago led a second Carthaginian expedition, this time to claim the island in its entirety. 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 met with great success throughout 397 BCE, but in 396 BCE 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.

Pyrrhus of Epirus

Between 280 BCE and 275 BCE, Pyrrhus of Epirus waged two major campaigns in an effort to protect and extend the influence of the Greeks in the western Mediterranean: one against the emerging power of the Roman Republic to defend the Greek colonies in southern Italy, the other against Carthage in a renewed attempt to wrest Sicily wholly from their control.

After winning a complete victory over Rome at Heraclea, and another complete yet very costly victory (hence the phrase "Pyrrhic victory") at Asculum, Pyrrhus was soon distracted by opportunities in mainland Greece which had recently been invaded by the Gauls, and the Greeks of Sicily. Making a temporary peace with the Romans he left for Sicily and between 278-276 BCE, defeated every Carthaginian force against him. Pyrrhus even managed to take Eryx, the strongest Carthaginian holdout. Yet at Lilybaeum, the Carthaginians were able to hold out against Pyrrhus, and the invader soon found that he was no longer welcome by the Greek Sicilians. Leaving once again for Italy, he fought the Romans once more to a draw. Not having the resources and manpower to continue, Pyrrhus left for Epirus. For Carthage, this meant a return to the status quo. For Rome, however, it meant capturing Tarentum and holding the entirety of Italy. The result was a shift in the balance of power in the western Mediterranean: the Greeks were effectively reduced to their toehold in Sicily, while Rome's growing strength and territorial ambitions brought it directly into conflict with Carthage for the first time.

The Messanan Crisis

When Agathocles died in 288 BCE, 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 BCE, 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. As a result, embassies were sent to both cities.

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 Punic Wars

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. Eventual victory by Rome was a turning point which meant that the civilization of the ancient Mediterranean would pass to the modern world via Southern Europe instead of North Africa.

The First Punic War (264 BCE to 241 BCE)
The Second Punic War (218 BCE to 201 BCE)
The Third Punic War (149 BCE to 146 BCE)

The fall of Carthage

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. Roman soldiers went from house to house, slaughtering the people of Carthage and enslaving any who survived. Carthage's harbor was burned and the city razed. Finally the Romans were said to have heavilly salted the soil around the city to ensure that no crops could be grown there. This harsh end was inspired by the fear that Carthage might rise again.

Between the first and the second Punic war, Carthage faced a major mercenary revolt. During the mercenary revolt Rome was able to acquire Sardinia.

There is a widespread notion that the Carthaginian farmland was salted following the Battle of Carthage. The veracity of this notion is disputed.

Roman Carthage

The site was too well-chosen to let it go to waste, however, and a new city grew up there, eventually becoming the second largest city in the western half of the Roman empire. By the 1th century, Carthage was the center of the Roman province of Africa, with a peak population of 500,000 people, it was one of the largest cities in pre industrial history. It briefly became the capital of an usurper, Domitius Alexander, in 308-311.

Carthage also became a centre of early Christianity. Tertullian rhetorically addresses the Roman governor with the fact that the Christians of Carthage that just yesterday were few in number, now "have filled every place among you—cities, islands, fortresses, towns, market-places, the very camp, tribes, companies, palaces, senate, forum; we have left nothing to you but the temples of your gods." (Apologeticus written at Carthage, c. 197.) It is worth noting that Tertullian omits any mention of the surrounding countryside or its network of villas not unlike colonial hacienda society.

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 was 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 Byzantine 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. Using Gaiseric's grandson's deposal by a distant cousin, Gelimer, as a pretext, the Byzantines dispatched an army to conquer the Vandal kingdom. On Sunday, October 15 533, the Byzantine general Belisarius, accompanied by his wife Antonina, made his formal entry into Carthage, sparing it a sack and a massacre.

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 670-683. In 698 the Exarchate of Africa was finally overrun by the rising forces of Islam, and Carthage itself was destroyed by the Arab invaders, to be 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.

Carthage Today

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 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 reference is also made to 'Project Carthage', a military-sponsored tech-development project.

References

Phoenician Religion [[1]]

Polybius[[2]]
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.
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