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Carthage
was founded according to classical tradition in 814/13 B.C. by
Phoenician emigrants from Tyre in present-day Lebanon under the
guidance of a princess called Elissa or Dido.
Its
Phoenician name, Qart hadasht, means “New City” which
acknowledged its relationship to Tyre, i.e., Carthage was the new Tyre.
To date, archaeological research has not uncovered traces of this city
earlier than c. 760 B.C. Thus, the exact date and nature of the
foundation remains one of the mysteries of Carthage.
Dominance in the W. Mediterranean
The
city-state built up trade and in the 6th and 5th cent. B.C. began to
acquire dominance in the W Mediterranean. Merchants and explorers
established a wide net of trade that brought great wealth to Carthage.
Carthage was a once 'shining' city state with, according to the Greek
geographer Strabo, ruling 300 cities in Libya and 700,000 people in its
own city.
The
state was tightly controlled by an aristocracy of nobles and wealthy
merchants. Although a council and a popular assembly existed, these
soon lost power to oligarchical institutions, and actual power was in
the hands of the judges and two elected magistrates (suffetes). There
was also a small but powerful senate.
The
greatest weakness of Carthage was the rivalry between landholding and
maritime families. The maritime faction was generally in control, and
about the end of the 6th cent. B.C. the Carthaginians established
themselves on Sardinia, Malta, and the Balearic Islands. The navigator
Hanno is supposed to have sailed down the African coast as far as
Sierra Leone in the early 5th cent. The statesman Mago concluded
treaties with the Etruscans, the Romans, and some of the Greeks.
Expansion into Sicily
Sicily,
which lay almost at the front door of Carthage, was never brought
completely under Carthaginian control. The move against the island,
begun by settlements in W Sicily, was brought to a halt when the
Carthaginian general Hamilcar (a name that recurred in the powerful
Carthaginian family usually called the Barcas) was defeated (480 B.C.)
by Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse, in the battle of Himera. The Greek
city-states of Sicily were thus preserved, but the Carthaginian threat
continued and grew with the steadily increasing power of Carthage.
Following
the defeat of Himera, Carthage adopted an isolationist policy. Carthage
moved southward, increasing contact with indigenous populations and
setting up farms. They spread their form of government and religion all
along the Medjerda River valley.
Hamilcar�s
grandson, Hannibal (another name much used in the family), destroyed
Himera (409 B.C.), and his colleague Himilco sacked Acragas (modern
Agrigento) in 406 B.C. Syracuse resisted the conquerors, and a century
later Carthage was threatened by the campaign (310�307?) of the tyrant
Agathocles on the shores of Africa. After his death, however, Carthage
had practically complete control over all the W Mediterranean.
The
4th c BC was the time of great expansion throughout Carthage. Two
harbours were built. One accommodated the rebuilt Punic fleet and the
other was for a renewed commercial program.
The Punic Wars and the Decline of Carthage
In
the 3d century B.C. Rome challenged Carthage�s control of the W
Mediterranean in the Punic Wars (so called after the Roman name for the
Carthaginians, Poeni, i.e., Phoenicians). The First Punic War (264�241)
cost Carthage all remaining hold on Sicily. Immediately after the First
Punic War a great uprising of the mercenaries occurred (240�238).
Hamilcar Barca put down the revolt and compensated for the loss of
Sicilian possessions by undertaking conquest in Spain, a conquest
continued by Hasdrubal.
The
growth of Carthaginian power again activated trouble with Rome, and
precipitated the Second Punic War (218�201). Although the Carthaginian
general was the formidable Hannibal, Carthage was finally defeated,
partly by the Roman generals Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus
('Cunctator') and Scipio Africanus (Major), and partly by the fatal
division of the leading families in Carthage itself, which prevented
Hannibal from receiving proper supplies.
After
Scipio had won (202) the battle of Zama, Carthage sued for peace. All
its warships and its possessions outside Africa were lost, but Carthage
recovered commercially and remained prosperous. Deep divisions among
the Carthaginian political parties, however, gave Rome (and
particularly Cato the Elder) the pretext to fight the Third Punic War
(149�146 B.C.), which ended with the total destruction of Carthaginian
power and the razing of the city by Scipio Africanus (Minor).
Romans
later undertook to build a new city (Colonia Junonia) on the spot in
122 B.C., but the project failed. Although the city was officially
re-founded as a colony, Colonia Iulia Concordia Carthago, by Octavian
(later named Augustus) in 29 B.C., recent excavations on the site by
the Universit�t Hamburg indicate an earlier Roman occupation dating to
the Late Republican period, perhaps to the time of Caesar in 44 B.C.
Soon after its re-founding, Carthage became the capital of the Roman
province of Africa Proconsularis.
In
Late Antiquity (4th till 7th centuries A.D.) Carthage turned into a
“Christian Metropolis”, as one scholar has recently defined
it. Carthage was the capital of the Vandals 439�533 A.D. and was
briefly recovered (533) for the Byzantine Empire by Belisarius.
Thereafter, the city practically disappears from the historical and
archaeological records. Although practically destroyed by Arabs
in 698, the site was populated for many centuries afterward.
Today's Carthage
There
are hardly any remains of the ancient Carthage, although a few Punic
cemeteries, shrines, and fortifications have been discovered. Most of
the ruins that remain are from the Roman period, including baths, an
amphitheater, aqueducts, and other buildings. Louis IX of France (St.
Louis) died there while on crusade. A chapel in his honor stands on the
hill that is traditionally identified as Byrsa Hill, site of the
ancient citadel. The Lavigrie Museum is also there.
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