CARTHAGE

It was an African empire which was claimed to have been established in 814 BC
by Phoenicians. The Phoenicians were ancient Lebanese. They were called
Libyphoenicians (the African Phoenicians) by the Greeks.

The name Carthage was derived from Latin (Carthago ) and was a corruption of the
name Kart Hadasht, meaning a New City.

Carthage was located in the present day North Africa close to present Tunisia.

It was said to have been founded by Queen Elissa or Dido, who fled with her
supporters out of Phoenicia following the assassination of her husband.

Achievements of Carthage

Economically: unlike ancient Egypt which was blessed with fertile land
particularly around the Nile River, agricultural land was relatively scarce in
Carthage, as such the empire depended heavily on trade. Thus, it was a great
trading city that moved far and wide.

It participated in Mediterranean trade and therefore traded with Egyptian, Rome

and Greek empires etc. therefore, it established trade monopoly in the area. This
was not welcome especially by Roman Empire.

It also participated greatly in the famous Trans-Saharan trade which connected

major African towns. This was reported by the Greek writer, Herodatus.

It had prominent sailors who had voyaged the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea
and engaged trading monopolies, particularly under Hanno the navigator.

Some of the major trading items that had been under the monopoly of the empire
included: textile, pottery, glass ware, ivory etc.

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Politically, unlike Egyptians who established big political institution, Carthage did
not as it had no hereditary system. Consequently, it was oligarchal republic using
checks and balances as powers were not concentrated under single political
institution.

At the top- it had sufets meaning two (2) judges or governors who were elected
annually.

Next was the senate – whose responsibility was primarily to serve as check on the
judges or governors. The Senate was however divided into two (2) Committees:

i. A Tribunal with 100 members who were to oversee the judiciary of the
empire.
ii. Then a committee with 30 members, who were responsible for finances of
the empire.

Religiously, they had different religious beliefs with emphasis on human sacrifice
but with the advent of Christianity, it had played prominent role in development of
the religion as it produced a number of Bishops and even Popes such as St. Victor
I, St. Miltiades, and St. Galasius.

Still on religion, with the coming of Islam in the 6 th century AD, the area was
blessed with Islam and had played significant role in promoting Islam.

Linguistically, the people of Carthage spoke Punic language, which was a branch
of Semitic language.

Educationally, they invented their own alphabets, which were modified later by
the Greeks.

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In terms of arts and architecture: they built many libraries and the city rose to
become a centre of learning where magnificent buildings and temples were
recovered by archaeologists.

Collapse of Carthage: one of the major factors that led to the decline and collapse
of Carthage was its trade monopoly that had been unwelcomed by its neibours,
Sicilian Greeks and Rome. However, their prosperity was envied with high enmity
particularly by Rome. This led to series of encounters between Carthage and Rome
in what came to be known as Punic Wars.