Carthage
The term Carthage refers both to an ancient city in North Africa — located on the eastern side of Lake Tunis across from the center of modern Tunis in Tunisia — and to the civilization which developed within the city's sphere of influence, in much the same way "Rome" can refer to Rome the city or the ancient civilization.
Originally a settlement of Phoenician colonists, Carthage grew into a vast economic power throughout the Mediterranean, accumulating wealth and influence through its economic prowess. Carthage was a contemporary superpower with the Roman Republic of the 2nd and 3rd Century B.C.E., and was its rival for dominance of the western Mediterranean. Eventually this rivalry led to a series of wars known as the Punic Wars, in which a series of losses led to a decline in Carthage's political and economic strength, mostly due to the harsh penalties imposed on Carthage by Rome as conditions of the cessation of hostilites. The third and final Punic war ended with the complete destruction of the city of Carthage and the annexation of the last remnants of Carthaginian territory by Rome. Although a distinct Carthaginian civilization ceased to exist, remnants of it contributed to later Mediterranean culture.
The name Carthage is derived by way of Greek and Latin from the Phoenician (QRT HDST) 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 Punius (earlier Poenius), itself borrowed from Greek Φοινικη, "Phoenician."
Question of Carthage
The historical study of Carthage is problematic. Due to the subjection of the civilization by the Romans at the end of the Third Punic War, very few Carthaginian historical 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. Some of these finds contradict or confirm aspects of the traditional picture of Carthage, but much of the material is still ambiguous.
Founding of Carthage
Carthage was founded in 814 B.C.E. by Phoenician settlers from the city of Tyre, bringing with them the city-god Melqart. 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 of bolstering his own power. A number of foundation myths have survived through Greek and Roman literature.
In 509 B.C.E. 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 B.C.E., 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 such as Hadrumetum, Utica and Kerkouane, subjugated the Libyan tribes, and taken control of the entire North African coast from modern Morocco to the borders of Egypt. Its influence had also extended into the Mediterranean, taking control over Sardinia, Malta, the Balearic Islands and the western half of Sicily. Important colonies had also been established on the Iberian peninsula.
Legends of the foundation of Carthage
Queen Elissar
Queen Elissar (also known as "Alissa", and by the Arabic name اليسار also اليسا and عليسا) was a princess of Tyre who 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 the Princess of Tyre. Her brother, King Pygmalion of Tyre, murdered her husband the high priest. Elissar escaped the tyranny of her own country and founded 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) 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, and desired the authority and fortune enjoyed by Acherbas. Pygmalion assassinated Acherbas in the temple and managed to keep 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 Aeneid, Queen Dido, Virgil's name for the Queen Elissar of greek legend, 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. In the 10th century B.C.E., 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 aide 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
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 and need to establish self-sustaining cities abroad, and most cities had less than 1,000 inhabitants, but Carthage and a few other cities developed into huge metropolises.
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 both Cyprus, Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands, and also minor possessions in Crete and Sicily; the latter settlements being 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 African coast and on Sicily, Sardinia, and the Balearic Islands. The centre of the Phoenician world was Tyre, serving as 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 Carthageans 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.
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. 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 city had massive walls, 23 miles in length, and 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 2 1/2-3 miles of wall on the isthmus to the west were truly gargantuan and in fact were never penetrated.
The city had a massive 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.
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. It has been sugested that either the Carthaginians or the Phoenicians of cities such as Tyre or Byblos may have mined gold in Zimbabwe.
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 most every Mediterranean people.
In addition to manufacturing, Carthage practiced highly advanced and productive agriculture, using iron plows (which were only implemented in Early Modern Europe during the 1600s), 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, 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, and 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 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
Carthage, like every other Phoenician city, was first governed by Kings.
Later, it became an oligarchy. Punic inscriptions show that its heads of state were called SPΘM /ʃuftˤim/, meaning "judges." SPΘ /ʃufitˤ/ might originally have been the title of the city's governor, installed by the mother city of Tyre. Later, two judges were elected annually from among the most wealthy and influential families. This practice descended from the plutocratic oligarchies that limited the King's power in the first Phoenician cities. These aristocratic families were represented in a supreme council that had a wide range of powers. However, it is not known whether the judges were elected by this council or by an assembly of the people. Judges 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. Polybius, in his History book 6, said that the Carthaginian public held more sway over the government than the people of Rome held over theirs. There was a system of checks and balances, as well as public accountability.
The Carthaginians appointed professional generals and admirals, 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 members of the Barcid family, who were given control of the Carthaginian military and all the Carthaginian territories outside of Africa.
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, 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.
Originally based on Tyrian designs with two or three levels of rowers that were perfected by generations of Phoenician seamanship, it also included quadriremes and quentiremes, warships with four and five levels for rowers, respectively. This advance in design was never achieved by the Lebanese Phoenicians.
A large part of the sailors on the fleet were recruited from the lower class citizenry, the navy offering a profession and financial security. This helped to contribute to the city's political stability, since the unemployed, debt ridden poor in other cities were frequently inclined to support revolutionary leaders in the hope of improving their own lot. [4]
It included some 300 warships that continuously patrolled the expanse of the Mediterranean and held the Straits of Gibraltar against any foreign ship. It was once remarked that the Mediterranean was a Phoenician lake and no man dared to wash his hands in it without Carthaginian permission [5].
Polybius wrote in the sixth book of his History that the Carthaginians were, "more exercised in maritime affairs than any other people." [6] The Romans, unable to defeat them through conventional maritime tactics, were forced to simply board the ships and fight in hand to hand combat.
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. Most of them were set up over urns containing cremated human remains, placed within open-air sanctuaries. Such sanctuaries constitute striking relics of Punic civilisation.
Child sacrifice
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
'Commerce, Topography, Cities, and Colonies:'
Holst, Sanford. Phoenicians: Lebanon's Epic Heritage. Los Angeles, CA : Cambridge & Boston Press, 2006 ISBN 1887263306
Khalaf, Salim. "Phoenician Settlements Outside the Mainland." Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies, 1999 Phoenician Colonies.
Decker, Roy A. "Economy of the Punic Phoenician Empire." Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies, 1999. Economy of the Punic Phoenician Empire.
Broad, William J. "Phoenician Ship Wreck: Teaming up to find Ancient Mariners." New York Times, 1999. Phoenician Ship Wreck.
Khalaf, Salim. "Phoenician Trade and Ships." Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies, 1999. Phoenician Trade and Ships
Bonanno, Anthony. “Malta’s Role in the Phoenician, Greek, and Etruscan Trade in the Western Mediterranean.” Melita Historica, 1999. Phoenicia’s Trade with Malta.
Khalaf, Salim. “Metals and Processees.” Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies, 1999. Phoenician Mining
Khalaf, Salim. “Britain, Phoenicia’s Secret Treasure, and its Conversion to Christianity – the Legendary Tin Mines of Cornwall.” Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies, 1999. Britain.
Adopted by Khalaf, Salim from original text by Hall, R.N. and Neal, W.G. “Was South-East Africa a Major Source of Phoenician Gold Import?” Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies, 1999. Gold Mines of Zimbabwe
Summarized by Khalaf, Salim from original text by Dr. GARNAOUI, Touhami. “The Pursuit of the Lost Times of Deceit and Illusions: The Case of Tunisia.” Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies, 1999. The Case of Tunisia
Khalaf, Salim. “Phoenician Wine.” Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies, 1999. Phoenician Wines and Vines
Khalaf, Salim. “Elissar Dido: Queen of Carthage. ” Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies, 1999. Elissar
Decker, Roy A. “Carthaginians in the New World, a radical theory.” Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies, 1999. Carthaginians in the New World.
Serfaty, William. “The Pillars of the Phoenicians.” Virtual Center for Phoenician Studies, 1997. Pillars of the Phoenicians.
Each site has its own sources listed. Also see Phoenicia.org Bibliography for an extensive list of references.
Religion:
Phoenician Religion [1]
Polybius [2]
Bath, Tony. Hannibal's Campaigns: the Story of One of the Greatest Military Commanders of All Time . Cambridge (Cambridgeshire): P. Stephens, 1981 ISBN 0850594928
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. ?
Soren, David, Ben Khader, Aicha Ben Abed and Slim, Hédi. Carthage: Uncovering the Mysteries and Splendors of Ancient Tunisia. New York: Simon and Schuster, c1990 ISBN 0671669028
Aubet, María Eugenia. The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, Colonies and Trade. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001 ISBN 0521795435 Translated from the Spanish by Mary Turton.
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