The 'Byrsa'

Historically, the city was probably established as a trading post toward the end of the 9th century BC by Phoenicians from the Phoenician capital city of Tyre. The name is a deformation of "Kart Hadasht" ("the new town").

There are two foundation myths of Carthage (in Latin 'Carthago'), the great city of antiquity, on the northern coast of Africa, near modern Tunis:

• 1215 BC, some 30 years before the fall of Troy, Carthage is founded by Zoros and Karkhedon. Zoros (Azoros) is a derivation of the name Tyre (=Sor or Sur, 'rock' in Phoenician). Karkhedon is the Greek transcription of Qart Hadasht the 'New Town' founded in Cyprus.

• 814/3 BC In Greek sources Carthage founded by Elissa. Elissa's husband was killed by her brother King Pygmalion of Tyre. She fled with loyal followers to Cyprus and later to Libya. Here she was called Dido (Deido, 'wanderer') and founded and was queen of Carthage. Tanit (the Latin Juno) indicated the spot by a horse's head in the ground. The Tyrians bought as much land from the na�ve Libyans as they could encircle with the skin of a bull, for which reason it was called Byrsa (bursa, Greek for ox-hide). The skin cut into very fine strips covered about 4 kilometres in circumference!!!

The earliest datable archaeological remains are no earlier than 725, but some pottery seems to be earlier than this. Hence the traditional date may be slightly too early but is roughly correct.

The Phoenician settlements were at first independent of one another, but Carthage gradually obtained the supremacy as Tyre had obtained it in Phoenicia. The position of Utica towards Carthage was precisely that of Sidon towards Tyre. It was the more ancient city of the two, and it preserved a certain kind of position without actual power. Carthage and Utica, like Tyre and Sidon, were at one time always spoken of together.

Dido and Aeneas | Phoenician colonisation