Carthage

A great city of antiquity founded, according to tradition, on the north coast of Africa by the Phoenicians of Tyre in 814 BC and now a suburb of Tunis. However, Phoenician occupation on the site is archaeologically attested from about a century later. The Aeneid tells of the city's founding by the Tyrian princess Dido, who fled from her brother Pygmalion (a king of Tyre). Until around 500 BC Carthage was one of three great mercantile powers in the central Mediterranean, together with the Etruscans and Western Greeks. Much of Carthage's revenue came from its exploitation of the silver mines of North Africa and southern Spain, begun as early as 800 BC, and from its role as a middleman in trade. Carthage was for many years in conflict with the Greeks, especially in Sicily. Carthage lost both Sicily and Sardinia to Rome in 241 BC at the close of the First Punic War. From an enlarged domain in southern Spain, the Carthaginian general Hannibal in 218 BC led his army across the Alps to victories in Italy. When Hannibal returned to Africa, he was defeated at Zama in 202 BC. Though humiliated, Carthage survived until it was destroyed by Rome in 146 BC, after having fought the three Punic Wars of the 3rd and 2nd centuries. Carthage was then reconstructed as a Roman city by Julius Caesar and Octavian. The Roman city prospered by shipping grain and olive oil to Italy. Carthage replaced Utica as the capital of the African province and it became the second largest city in the western part of the empire, after Rome itself. The Phoenician/Punic remains include the citadel, Byrsa, the Sanctuary of Tanit, and two manmade harbors (all pre-146 BC); the Roman remains are the Antonine Baths, odeum, theater, circus, amphitheater, aqueduct, and areas of streets and houses. Also on the Byrsa site stood an open-air portico, from which the finest Roman sculptures at Carthage have survived. The standard of living in Carthage was probably far below that of the larger cities of the classical world. In Roman times, beds, cushions, and mattresses were luxuries. The Punic language and its distinctive alphabet remained in use long after the city's destruction. After the breakup of the Roman empire, the Vandals took Carthage in 439 and stayed in control until the Byzantine invasion in 533. Carthage was the capital of the Byzantine empire in Africa until the Arab takeover of 698.

The city of Carthage was founded as a colony from the Phoenician city of Tyre (the Phoenician name Qart Hadasht means ‘new city’); traditionally this occurred in 814 bc, although Phoenician occupation on the site is archaeologically attested from about a century later. The new city rapidly prospered from its position overlooking the straits which divide the eastern and western seas of the Mediterranean: by the mid-7th century bc it had planted its first colony at Ibiza in the Balearics. The Assyrian takeover of the Phoenician cities in the east had meanwhile cut the western Phoenicians off from their motherland. Until around 500 bc Carthage was one of three great mercantile powers in the central Mediterranean, together with the Etruscans and Western Greeks. Carthaginian wealth must have been derived mainly from activities as a middle-man, possibly supported (as was certainly the case in the 4th century) by a trade monopoly over certain areas, and the city had direct access to the mineral-rich areas of southwest Spain. In the 5th century bc Etruscan power was in decline and Carthage embarked on more than a century of fighting with the Greeks over control of Sicily. The Carthaginians then moved to establish a West Mediterranean empire out of a string of Phoenician trading stations along the southern and western coasts of the Mediterranean, extending also through the Straits of Gibraltar to Mogador, southern Morocco, in the south and Cadiz in the north. The previously small and seaward-facing city of Carthage turned to exploiting the fertile agricultural land of northern Tunisia and developed rapidly, so that in the 3rd and 2nd centuries it had become a Greek-style metropolis with a six-figure population. The emergence of Rome as a power throughout Italy led eventually to a clash with Three great wars in the 3rd and 2nd centuries culminated in the obliteration of Carthaginian power and destruction of the city in 146 bc. Carthage was re-established as a Roman colony by Julius Caesar and his heir Octavian, who sent 3000 settlers in 29 bc. The Roman city prospered as the port from which the grain and olive oil of Africa, on which Rome increasingly depended, were shipped overseas to Italy. Carthage replaced Utica as the capital of the province of Africa and became the second largest city in the western part of the empire after Rome itself. In the 4th and early 5th centuries it was a notable centre for Christianity and the home of St Augustine. The Vandals, who had moved first to Spain and then across North Africa with the break-up of the western Roman empire, took Carthage in 439 and retained control until the Byzantine invasion under Belisarius in 533. Carthage was the capital of the Byzantine emoire in Africa until the Arab take-over of 698, but with the reduction in Mediterranean trade in the 7th century the city had been in severe decline for some years before the Arab conquest. The site of ancient Carthage is now a suburb of Tunis but among the modern buildings there are remains of all periods: houses on the Byrsa hill, the Sanctuary of Tanit (or ‘Tophet’) and the two manmade harbours survive from the Punic (pre-146 bc) period; Roman monuments include the Antonine Baths, fourth largest in the empire, the circus, a theatre and amphitheatre and areas of streets and houses, together with a number of early Christian churches, but are poorly preserved or heavily restored.