arthage

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This article is about the historical city. For the Phoenician republic, see Ancient
Carthage. For the modern municipality, see Carthage (municipality). For the airport,
see Tunis–Carthage International Airport. For other uses, see Carthage
(disambiguation).

Carthage

Top: Carthage Saint-Louis Cathedral, Malik-ibn Anas

Mosque, Middle: Carthage Palace, Bottom: Baths of Antoninus,

Amphitheatre of Carthage (all items from left to right)

 Shown within Tunisia

Location Tunisia

Region Tunis Governorate

Coordinates 36.8528°N 10.3233°E

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Type Cultural

Criteria ii, iii, vi

Designated 1979 (3rd session)

Reference no. 37
 Region North Africa

Carthage[1] was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake
of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs
of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classical
world.
The city developed from a Canaanite Phoenician colony into the capital of
a Punic empire which dominated large parts of the Southwest Mediterranean during
the first millennium BC.[2] The legendary Queen Alyssa or Dido, originally from Tyre, is
regarded as the founder of the city,[3] though her historicity has been questioned.
According to accounts by Timaeus of Tauromenium, she purchased from a local tribe
the amount of land that could be covered by an oxhide. As Carthage prospered at
home, the polity sent colonists abroad as well as magistrates to rule the colonies. [4]
The ancient city was destroyed in the nearly-three year siege of Carthage by
the Roman Republic during the Third Punic War in 146 BC and then re-developed
as Roman Carthage, which became the major city of the Roman Empire in the
province of Africa. The question of Carthaginian decline and demise has remained a
subject of literary, political, artistic, and philosophical debates in both ancient and
modern histories.[4][5]
Late antique and medieval Carthage continued to play an important cultural and
economic role in the Byzantine period. The city was sacked and destroyed
by Umayyad forces after the Battle of Carthage in 698 to prevent it from being
reconquered by the Byzantine Empire.[6] It remained occupied during the Muslim
period[7] and was used as a fort by the Muslims until the Hafsid period when it was
taken by the Crusaders with its inhabitants massacred during the Eighth Crusade.
The Hafsids decided to destroy its defenses so it could not be used as a base by a
hostile power again.[8] It also continued to function as an episcopal see.
The regional power had shifted to Kairouan and the Medina of Tunis in the medieval
period, until the early 20th century, when it began to develop into a coastal suburb of
Tunis, incorporated as Carthage municipality in 1919. The archaeological site was
first surveyed in 1830, by Danish consul Christian Tuxen Falbe. Excavations were
performed in the second half of the 19th century by Charles Ernest Beulé and
by Alfred Louis Delattre. The Carthage National Museum was founded in 1875
by Cardinal Charles Lavigerie. Excavations performed by French archaeologists in
the 1920s first attracted an extraordinary amount of attention because of the
evidence they produced for child sacrifice. There has been considerable
disagreement among scholars concerning whether child sacrifice was practiced by
ancient Carthage.[9][10] The open-air Carthage Paleo-Christian Museum has exhibits
excavated under the auspices of UNESCO from 1975 to 1984. The site of the ruins is
a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[11]
Reconstruction of Carthage, capital of the Canaanites

Contents

 1Name
  2Topography, layout, and society
o 2.1Overview
o 2.2Layout
o 2.3Society and local economy
 3Ancient history
o 3.1Punic Republic
 3.1.1Salting legend
o 3.2Roman Carthage
o 3.3Islamic period
 4Modern history
o 4.1Archaeological site
 4.1.1Climate change
o 4.2Commune
 5Trade and business
 6Constitution of state
 7Contemporary sources
 8In Art and Literature
 9References
o 9.1Sources
 10External links

Name[edit]
Further information: Phoenicia §  Etymology
The name Carthage /ˈkɑːrθɪdʒ/ is the Early Modern anglicisation of Middle
French Carthage /kar.taʒ/,[12] from Latin Carthāgō and Karthāgō (cf. Greek Karkhēdōn 
(Καρχηδών) and Etruscan *Carθaza) from the Punic qrt-ḥdšt (𐤕𐤔𐤃𐤇 𐤕𐤓𐤒) "new city",
[13]
 implying it was a "new Tyre".[14] The Latin adjective pūnicus, meaning "Phoenician",
is reflected in English in some borrowings from Latin—notably the Punic Wars and
the Punic language.
The Modern Standard Arabic form ‫قرطاج‬ ( Qarṭāj) is an adoption of French Carthage,
replacing an older local toponym reported as Cartagenna that directly continued the
Latin name.[15]

Topography, layout, and society[edit]

Modern reconstruction of Punic Carthage. The circular harbor at the front is the Cothon, the military port of
Carthage, where all of Carthage's warships (Biremes) were anchored

Overview[edit]
Carthage was built on a promontory with sea inlets to the north and the 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 prodigious navy of 220
warships and the other for mercantile trade. A walled tower overlooked both harbors.
The city had massive walls, 37 km (23 mi) long, which was longer than the walls of
comparable cities. Most of the walls were on the shore and so could be less
impressive, as Carthaginian control of the sea made attack from that direction
difficult. The 4.0 to 4.8 km (2.5 to 3 mi) of wall on the isthmus to the west were truly
massive and were never penetrated.
Carthage was one of the largest cities of the Hellenistic period and was among the
largest cities in preindustrial history. Whereas by AD 14, Rome had at least 750,000
inhabitants and in the following century may have reached 1 million, the cities
of Alexandria and Antioch numbered only a few hundred thousand or less.
[16]
 According to the history of Herodian, Carthage rivaled Alexandria for second place
in the Roman empire.[17]
Layout[edit]

The layout of the Punic city-state Carthage, before its fall in 146 B.C.

The Punic Carthage was divided into four equally sized residential areas with the
same layout, had religious areas, market places, council house, towers, a theater,
and a huge necropolis; roughly in the middle of the city stood a high citadel called
the Byrsa. Surrounding Carthage were walls "of great strength" said in places to rise
above 13 m, being nearly 10 m thick, according to ancient authors. To the west, three
parallel walls were built. The walls altogether ran for about 33 kilometres (21 miles) to
encircle the city.[18][19] The heights of the Byrsa were additionally fortified; this area
being the last to succumb to the Romans in 146 BC. Originally the Romans had
landed their army on the strip of land extending southward from the city. [20][21]
Outside the city walls of Carthage is the Chora or farm lands of
Carthage. Chora encompassed a limited area: the north coastal tell, the
lower Bagradas river valley (inland from Utica), Cape Bon, and the adjacent sahel on
the east coast. Punic culture here achieved the introduction of agricultural sciences
first developed for lands of the eastern Mediterranean, and their adaptation to local
African conditions.[22]
The urban landscape of Carthage is known in part from ancient authors,[23] augmented
by modern digs and surveys conducted by archeologists. The "first urban nucleus"
dating to the seventh century, in area about 10 hectares (25 acres), was apparently
located on low-lying lands along the coast (north of the later harbors). As confirmed
by archaeological excavations, Carthage was a "creation ex nihilo", built on 'virgin'
land, and situated at what was then the end of a peninsula. Here among "mud brick
walls and beaten clay floors" (recently uncovered) were also found extensive
cemeteries, which yielded evocative grave goods like clay masks. "Thanks to
this burial archaeology we know more about archaic Carthage than about any other
contemporary city in the western Mediterranean." Already in the eighth century,
fabric dyeing operations had been established, evident from crushed shells
of murex (from which the 'Phoenician purple' was derived). Nonetheless, only a
"meager picture" of the cultural life of the earliest pioneers in the city can be
conjectured, and not much about housing, monuments or defenses. [24][25] The Roman
poet Virgil (70–19 BC) imagined early Carthage, when his legendary
character Aeneas had arrived there:
"Aeneas found, where lately huts had been,
marvelous buildings, gateways, cobbled ways,
and din of wagons. There the Tyrians
were hard at work: laying courses for walls,
rolling up stones to build the citadel,
while others picked out building sites and plowed
a boundary furrow. Laws were being enacted,
magistrates and a sacred senate chosen.
Here men were dredging harbors, there they laid
the deep foundations of a theatre,
and quarried massive pillars... ."[26][27]

Archaeological sites of modern Carthage

The two inner harbours, named cothon in Punic, were located in the southeast; one
being commercial, and the other for war. Their definite functions are not entirely
known, probably for the construction, outfitting, or repair of ships, perhaps also
loading and unloading cargo.[28][29][30] Larger anchorages existed to the north and south
of the city.[31] North and west of the cothon were located several industrial areas, e.g.,
metalworking and pottery (e.g., for amphora), which could serve both inner harbours,
and ships anchored to the south of the city. [32]
About the Byrsa, the citadel area to the north,[33] considering its importance our
knowledge of it is patchy. Its prominent heights were the scene of fierce combat
during the fiery destruction of the city in 146 BC. The Byrsa was the reported site of
the Temple of Eshmun (the healing god), at the top of a stairway of sixty steps. [34][35] A
temple of Tanit (the city's queen goddess) was likely situated on the slope of the
'lesser Byrsa' immediately to the east, which runs down toward the sea. [36] Also
situated on the Byrsa were luxury homes.[37]
South of the citadel, near the cothon was the tophet, a special and very old cemetery,
which when begun lay outside the city's boundaries. Here the Salammbô was
located, the Sanctuary of Tanit, not a temple but an enclosure for placing
stone stelae. These were mostly short and upright, carved for funeral purposes. The
presence of infant skeletons from here may indicate the occurrence of child sacrifice,
as claimed in the Bible, although there has been considerable doubt among
archeologists as to this interpretation and many consider it simply a cemetery
devoted to infants.[38] Probably the tophet burial fields were "dedicated at an early
date, perhaps by the first settlers."[39][40] Recent studies, on the other hand, indicate that
child sacrifice was practiced by the Carthaginians. [41][42]
Between the sea-filled cothon for shipping and the Byrsa heights lay
the agora [Greek: "market"], the city-state's central marketplace for business and
commerce. The agora was also an area of public squares and plazas, where the
people might formally assemble, or gather for festivals. It was the site of religious
shrines, and the location of whatever were the major municipal buildings of Carthage.
Here beat the heart of civic life. In this district of Carthage, more probably, the
ruling suffets presided, the council of elders convened, the tribunal of the 104 met,
and justice was dispensed at trials in the open air. [43][44]
Early residential districts wrapped around the Byrsa from the south to the north east.
Houses usually were whitewashed and blank to the street, but within
were courtyards open to the sky.[45] In these neighborhoods multistory construction
later became common, some up to six stories tall according to an ancient Greek
author.[46][47] Several architectural floorplans of homes have been revealed by
recent excavations, as well as the general layout of several city blocks. Stone stairs
were set in the streets, and drainage was planned, e.g., in the form of soakways
leaching into the sandy soil.[48] Along the Byrsa's southern slope were located not only
fine old homes, but also many of the earliest grave-sites, juxtaposed in small areas,
interspersed with daily life.[49]
Artisan workshops were located in the city at sites north and west of the harbours.
The location of three metal workshops (implied from iron slag and other vestiges of
such activity) were found adjacent to the naval and commercial harbours, and
another two were further up the hill toward the Byrsa citadel. Sites
of pottery kilns have been identified, between the agora and the harbours, and further
north. Earthenware often used Greek models. A fuller's shop for preparing woolen
cloth (shrink and thicken) was evidently situated further to the west and south, then
by the edge of the city.[50] Carthage also produced objects of rare refinement. During
the 4th and 3rd centuries, the sculptures of the sarcophagi became works of art.
"Bronze engraving and stone-carving reached their zenith." [51]
The elevation of the land at the promontory on the seashore to the north-east (now
called Sidi Bou Saïd), was twice as high above sea level as that at the Byrsa (100 m
and 50 m). In between runs a ridge, several times reaching 50 m; it continues
northwestward along the seashore, and forms the edge of a plateau-like area
between the Byrsa and the sea.[52] Newer urban developments lay here in these
northern districts.[53]

Punic ruins in Byrsa

Archaeological Site of Carthage

Due to the Roman's leveling of the city, the original Punic urban landscape of
Carthage was largely lost. Since 1982, French archaeologist Serge Lancel excavated
a residential area of the Punic Carthage on top of Byrsa hill near the Forum of the
Roman Carthage. The neighborhood can be dated back to early second century BC,
and with its houses, shops, and private spaces, is significant for what it reveals about
daily life of the Punic Carthage.[54]
The remains have been preserved under embankments, the substructures of the
later Roman forum, whose foundation piles dot the district. The housing blocks are
separated by a grid of straight streets about 6 m (20 ft) wide, with a roadway
consisting of clay; in situ stairs compensate for the slope of the hill. Construction of
this type presupposes organization and political will, and has inspired the name of
the neighborhood, "Hannibal district", referring to the legendary Punic general
or sufet (consul) at the beginning of the second century BC. The habitat is typical,
even stereotypical. The street was often used as a storefront/shopfront; cisterns were
installed in basements to collect water for domestic use, and a long corridor on the
right side of each residence led to a courtyard containing a sump, around which
various other elements may be found. In some places, the ground is covered with
mosaics called punica pavement, sometimes using a characteristic red mortar.
Society and local economy[edit]
Archaeological Site of Carthage

View of two columns at Carthage

Punic culture and agricultural sciences, after arriving at Carthage from the eastern
Mediterranean, gradually adapted to the local conditions. The merchant harbor at
Carthage was developed after settlement of the nearby Punic town of Utica, and
eventually the surrounding African countryside was brought into the orbit of the Punic
urban centers, first commercially, then politically. Direct management over cultivation
of neighbouring lands by Punic owners followed.[55] A 28-volume work on agriculture
written in Punic by Mago, a retired army general (c. 300), was translated into Latin
and later into Greek. The original and both translations have been lost; however,
some of Mago's text has survived in other Latin works. [56] Olive trees (e.g., grafting),
fruit trees (pomegranate, almond, fig, date palm), viniculture, bees, cattle, sheep,
poultry, implements, and farm management were among the ancient topics which
Mago discussed. As well, Mago addresses the wine-maker's art (here a type
of sherry).[57][58][59]
In Punic farming society, according to Mago, the small estate owners were the chief
producers. They were, two modern historians write, not absent landlords. Rather, the
likely reader of Mago was "the master of a relatively modest estate, from which, by
great personal exertion, he extracted the maximum yield." Mago counselled the rural
landowner, for the sake of their own 'utilitarian' interests, to treat carefully and well
their managers and farm workers, or their overseers and slaves. [60] Yet elsewhere
these writers suggest that rural land ownership provided also a new power base
among the city's nobility, for those resident in their country villas. [61][62] By many,
farming was viewed as an alternative endeavour to an urban business. Another
modern historian opines that more often it was the urban merchant of Carthage who
owned rural farming land to some profit, and also to retire there during the heat of
summer.[63] It may seem that Mago anticipated such an opinion, and instead issued
this contrary advice (as quoted by the Roman writer Columella):
The man who acquires an estate must sell his house, lest he prefer to live in the town
rather than in the country. Anyone who prefers to live in a town has no need of an
estate in the country."[64] "One who has bought land should sell his town house, so
that he will have no desire to worship the household gods of the city rather than
those of the country; the man who takes greater delight in his city residence will have
no need of a country estate.[65]
The issues involved in rural land management also reveal underlying features of
Punic society, its structure and stratification. The hired workers might be considered
'rural proletariat', drawn from the local Berbers. Whether there remained Berber
landowners next to Punic-run farms is unclear. Some Berbers became
sharecroppers. Slaves acquired for farm work were often prisoners of war. In lands
outside Punic political control, independent Berbers cultivated grain and raised
horses on their lands. Yet within the Punic domain that surrounded the city-state of
Carthage, there were ethnic divisions in addition to the usual quasi feudal distinctions
between lord and peasant, or master and serf. This inherent instability in the
countryside drew the unwanted attention of potential invaders. [66] Yet for long periods
Carthage was able to manage these social difficulties. [67]
The many amphorae with Punic markings subsequently found about ancient
Mediterranean coastal settlements testify to Carthaginian trade in locally made olive
oil and wine.[68] Carthage's agricultural production was held in high regard by the
ancients, and rivaled that of Rome—they were once competitors, e.g., over their olive
harvests. Under Roman rule, however, grain production (wheat and barley) for export
increased dramatically in 'Africa'; yet these later fell with the rise in Roman Egypt's
grain exports. Thereafter olive groves and vineyards were re-established around
Carthage. Visitors to the several growing regions that surrounded the city wrote
admiringly of the lush green gardens, orchards, fields, irrigation channels, hedgerows
(as boundaries), as well as the many prosperous farming towns located across the
rural landscape.[69][70]
Accordingly, the Greek author and compiler Diodorus Siculus (fl. 1st century BC),
who enjoyed access to ancient writings later lost, and on which he based most of his
writings, described agricultural land near the city of Carthage circa 310 BC:
It was divided into market gardens and orchards of all sorts of fruit trees, with many
streams of water flowing in channels irrigating every part. There were country homes
everywhere, lavishly built and covered with stucco. ... Part of the land was planted
with vines, part with olives and other productive trees. Beyond these, cattle and
sheep were pastured on the plains, and there were meadows with grazing horses. [71][72]

Ancient history[edit]
Main article: History of Carthage
Greek cities contested with Carthage for the Western Mediterranean culminating in
the Sicilian Wars and the Pyrrhic War over Sicily, while the Romans fought three
wars against Carthage, known as the Punic Wars,[73][74] from the Latin "Punic" meaning
"Phoenician", as Carthage was a Phoenician colony grown into an empire.
Punic Republic[edit]
Main article: Ancient Carthage

Downfall of the Carthaginian Empire

  Lost to Rome in the First Punic War (264–241 BC)
  Won after the First Punic War, lost in the Second Punic War
  Lost in the Second Punic War (218–201 BC)
  Conquered by Rome in the Third Punic War (149–146 BC)

The Carthaginian republic was one of the longest-lived and largest states in the
ancient Mediterranean. Reports relay several wars with Syracuse and finally, Rome,
which eventually resulted in the defeat and destruction of Carthage in the Third Punic
War. The Carthaginians were Phoenician settlers originating in the Mediterranean
coast of the Near East. They spo

arthage
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
This article is about the historical city. For the Phoenician republic, see Ancient
Carthage. For the modern municipality, see Carthage (municipality). For the airport,
see Tunis–Carthage International Airport. For other uses, see Carthage
(disambiguation).

Carthage
 Top: Carthage Saint-Louis Cathedral, Malik-ibn Anas

Mosque, Middle: Carthage Palace, Bottom: Baths of Antoninus,

Amphitheatre of Carthage (all items from left to right)

Shown within Tunisia

 Location Tunisia

Region Tunis Governorate

Coordinates 36.8528°N 10.3233°E

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Type Cultural

Criteria ii, iii, vi

Designated 1979 (3rd session)

Reference no. 37

Region North Africa

Carthage[1] was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake
of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs
of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classical
world.
The city developed from a Canaanite Phoenician colony into the capital of
a Punic empire which dominated large parts of the Southwest Mediterranean during
the first millennium BC.[2] The legendary Queen Alyssa or Dido, originally from Tyre, is
regarded as the founder of the city,[3] though her historicity has been questioned.
According to accounts by Timaeus of Tauromenium, she purchased from a local tribe
the amount of land that could be covered by an oxhide. As Carthage prospered at
home, the polity sent colonists abroad as well as magistrates to rule the colonies. [4]
The ancient city was destroyed in the nearly-three year siege of Carthage by
the Roman Republic during the Third Punic War in 146 BC and then re-developed
as Roman Carthage, which became the major city of the Roman Empire in the
province of Africa. The question of Carthaginian decline and demise has remained a
subject of literary, political, artistic, and philosophical debates in both ancient and
modern histories.[4][5]
Late antique and medieval Carthage continued to play an important cultural and
economic role in the Byzantine period. The city was sacked and destroyed
by Umayyad forces after the Battle of Carthage in 698 to prevent it from being
reconquered by the Byzantine Empire.[6] It remained occupied during the Muslim
period[7] and was used as a fort by the Muslims until the Hafsid period when it was
taken by the Crusaders with its inhabitants massacred during the Eighth Crusade.
The Hafsids decided to destroy its defenses so it could not be used as a base by a
hostile power again.[8] It also continued to function as an episcopal see.
The regional power had shifted to Kairouan and the Medina of Tunis in the medieval
period, until the early 20th century, when it began to develop into a coastal suburb of
Tunis, incorporated as Carthage municipality in 1919. The archaeological site was
first surveyed in 1830, by Danish consul Christian Tuxen Falbe. Excavations were
performed in the second half of the 19th century by Charles Ernest Beulé and
by Alfred Louis Delattre. The Carthage National Museum was founded in 1875
by Cardinal Charles Lavigerie. Excavations performed by French archaeologists in
the 1920s first attracted an extraordinary amount of attention because of the
evidence they produced for child sacrifice. There has been considerable
disagreement among scholars concerning whether child sacrifice was practiced by
ancient Carthage.[9][10] The open-air Carthage Paleo-Christian Museum has exhibits
excavated under the auspices of UNESCO from 1975 to 1984. The site of the ruins is
a UNESCO World Heritage Site.[11]
Reconstruction of Carthage, capital of the Canaanites

Contents

 1Name
 2Topography, layout, and society
o 2.1Overview
o 2.2Layout
o 2.3Society and local economy
 3Ancient history
o 3.1Punic Republic
 3.1.1Salting legend
o 3.2Roman Carthage
o 3.3Islamic period
 4Modern history
o 4.1Archaeological site
 4.1.1Climate change
o 4.2Commune
 5Trade and business
 6Constitution of state
 7Contemporary sources
 8In Art and Literature
 9References
o 9.1Sources
 10External links

Name[edit]
Further information: Phoenicia §  Etymology
The name Carthage /ˈkɑːrθɪdʒ/ is the Early Modern anglicisation of Middle
French Carthage /kar.taʒ/,[12] from Latin Carthāgō and Karthāgō (cf. Greek Karkhēdōn 
(Καρχηδών) and Etruscan *Carθaza) from the Punic qrt-ḥdšt (𐤕𐤔𐤃𐤇 𐤕𐤓𐤒) "new city",
[13]
 implying it was a "new Tyre".[14] The Latin adjective pūnicus, meaning "Phoenician",
is reflected in English in some borrowings from Latin—notably the Punic Wars and
the Punic language.
The Modern Standard Arabic form ‫قرطاج‬ ( Qarṭāj) is an adoption of French Carthage,
replacing an older local toponym reported as Cartagenna that directly continued the
Latin name.[15]

Topography, layout, and society[edit]

Modern reconstruction of Punic Carthage. The circular harbor at the front is the Cothon, the military port of
Carthage, where all of Carthage's warships (Biremes) were anchored

Overview[edit]
Carthage was built on a promontory with sea inlets to the north and the 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 prodigious navy of 220
warships and the other for mercantile trade. A walled tower overlooked both harbors.
The city had massive walls, 37 km (23 mi) long, which was longer than the walls of
comparable cities. Most of the walls were on the shore and so could be less
impressive, as Carthaginian control of the sea made attack from that direction
difficult. The 4.0 to 4.8 km (2.5 to 3 mi) of wall on the isthmus to the west were truly
massive and were never penetrated.
Carthage was one of the largest cities of the Hellenistic period and was among the
largest cities in preindustrial history. Whereas by AD 14, Rome had at least 750,000
inhabitants and in the following century may have reached 1 million, the cities
of Alexandria and Antioch numbered only a few hundred thousand or less.
[16]
 According to the history of Herodian, Carthage rivaled Alexandria for second place
in the Roman empire.[17]
Layout[edit]
The layout of the Punic city-state Carthage, before its fall in 146 B.C.

The Punic Carthage was divided into four equally sized residential areas with the
same layout, had religious areas, market places, council house, towers, a theater,
and a huge necropolis; roughly in the middle of the city stood a high citadel called
the Byrsa. Surrounding Carthage were walls "of great strength" said in places to rise
above 13 m, being nearly 10 m thick, according to ancient authors. To the west, three
parallel walls were built. The walls altogether ran for about 33 kilometres (21 miles) to
encircle the city.[18][19] The heights of the Byrsa were additionally fortified; this area
being the last to succumb to the Romans in 146 BC. Originally the Romans had
landed their army on the strip of land extending southward from the city. [20][21]
Outside the city walls of Carthage is the Chora or farm lands of
Carthage. Chora encompassed a limited area: the north coastal tell, the
lower Bagradas river valley (inland from Utica), Cape Bon, and the adjacent sahel on
the east coast. Punic culture here achieved the introduction of agricultural sciences
first developed for lands of the eastern Mediterranean, and their adaptation to local
African conditions.[22]
The urban landscape of Carthage is known in part from ancient authors,[23] augmented
by modern digs and surveys conducted by archeologists. The "first urban nucleus"
dating to the seventh century, in area about 10 hectares (25 acres), was apparently
located on low-lying lands along the coast (north of the later harbors). As confirmed
by archaeological excavations, Carthage was a "creation ex nihilo", built on 'virgin'
land, and situated at what was then the end of a peninsula. Here among "mud brick
walls and beaten clay floors" (recently uncovered) were also found extensive
cemeteries, which yielded evocative grave goods like clay masks. "Thanks to
this burial archaeology we know more about archaic Carthage than about any other
contemporary city in the western Mediterranean." Already in the eighth century,
fabric dyeing operations had been established, evident from crushed shells
of murex (from which the 'Phoenician purple' was derived). Nonetheless, only a
"meager picture" of the cultural life of the earliest pioneers in the city can be
conjectured, and not much about housing, monuments or defenses. [24][25] The Roman
poet Virgil (70–19 BC) imagined early Carthage, when his legendary
character Aeneas had arrived there:
"Aeneas found, where lately huts had been,
marvelous buildings, gateways, cobbled ways,
and din of wagons. There the Tyrians
were hard at work: laying courses for walls,
rolling up stones to build the citadel,
while others picked out building sites and plowed
a boundary furrow. Laws were being enacted,
magistrates and a sacred senate chosen.
Here men were dredging harbors, there they laid
the deep foundations of a theatre,
and quarried massive pillars... ."[26][27]

Archaeological sites of modern Carthage

The two inner harbours, named cothon in Punic, were located in the southeast; one
being commercial, and the other for war. Their definite functions are not entirely
known, probably for the construction, outfitting, or repair of ships, perhaps also
loading and unloading cargo.[28][29][30] Larger anchorages existed to the north and south
of the city.[31] North and west of the cothon were located several industrial areas, e.g.,
metalworking and pottery (e.g., for amphora), which could serve both inner harbours,
and ships anchored to the south of the city. [32]
About the Byrsa, the citadel area to the north,[33] considering its importance our
knowledge of it is patchy. Its prominent heights were the scene of fierce combat
during the fiery destruction of the city in 146 BC. The Byrsa was the reported site of
the Temple of Eshmun (the healing god), at the top of a stairway of sixty steps. [34][35] A
temple of Tanit (the city's queen goddess) was likely situated on the slope of the
'lesser Byrsa' immediately to the east, which runs down toward the sea. [36] Also
situated on the Byrsa were luxury homes.[37]
South of the citadel, near the cothon was the tophet, a special and very old cemetery,
which when begun lay outside the city's boundaries. Here the Salammbô was
located, the Sanctuary of Tanit, not a temple but an enclosure for placing
stone stelae. These were mostly short and upright, carved for funeral purposes. The
presence of infant skeletons from here may indicate the occurrence of child sacrifice,
as claimed in the Bible, although there has been considerable doubt among
archeologists as to this interpretation and many consider it simply a cemetery
devoted to infants.[38] Probably the tophet burial fields were "dedicated at an early
date, perhaps by the first settlers."[39][40] Recent studies, on the other hand, indicate that
child sacrifice was practiced by the Carthaginians. [41][42]
Between the sea-filled cothon for shipping and the Byrsa heights lay
the agora [Greek: "market"], the city-state's central marketplace for business and
commerce. The agora was also an area of public squares and plazas, where the
people might formally assemble, or gather for festivals. It was the site of religious
shrines, and the location of whatever were the major municipal buildings of Carthage.
Here beat the heart of civic life. In this district of Carthage, more probably, the
ruling suffets presided, the council of elders convened, the tribunal of the 104 met,
and justice was dispensed at trials in the open air. [43][44]
Early residential districts wrapped around the Byrsa from the south to the north east.
Houses usually were whitewashed and blank to the street, but within
were courtyards open to the sky.[45] In these neighborhoods multistory construction
later became common, some up to six stories tall according to an ancient Greek
author.[46][47] Several architectural floorplans of homes have been revealed by
recent excavations, as well as the general layout of several city blocks. Stone stairs
were set in the streets, and drainage was planned, e.g., in the form of soakways
leaching into the sandy soil.[48] Along the Byrsa's southern slope were located not only
fine old homes, but also many of the earliest grave-sites, juxtaposed in small areas,
interspersed with daily life.[49]
Artisan workshops were located in the city at sites north and west of the harbours.
The location of three metal workshops (implied from iron slag and other vestiges of
such activity) were found adjacent to the naval and commercial harbours, and
another two were further up the hill toward the Byrsa citadel. Sites
of pottery kilns have been identified, between the agora and the harbours, and further
north. Earthenware often used Greek models. A fuller's shop for preparing woolen
cloth (shrink and thicken) was evidently situated further to the west and south, then
by the edge of the city.[50] Carthage also produced objects of rare refinement. During
the 4th and 3rd centuries, the sculptures of the sarcophagi became works of art.
"Bronze engraving and stone-carving reached their zenith." [51]
The elevation of the land at the promontory on the seashore to the north-east (now
called Sidi Bou Saïd), was twice as high above sea level as that at the Byrsa (100 m
and 50 m). In between runs a ridge, several times reaching 50 m; it continues
northwestward along the seashore, and forms the edge of a plateau-like area
between the Byrsa and the sea.[52] Newer urban developments lay here in these
northern districts.[53]
Punic ruins in Byrsa

Archaeological Site of Carthage

Due to the Roman's leveling of the city, the original Punic urban landscape of
Carthage was largely lost. Since 1982, French archaeologist Serge Lancel excavated
a residential area of the Punic Carthage on top of Byrsa hill near the Forum of the
Roman Carthage. The neighborhood can be dated back to early second century BC,
and with its houses, shops, and private spaces, is significant for what it reveals about
daily life of the Punic Carthage.[54]
The remains have been preserved under embankments, the substructures of the
later Roman forum, whose foundation piles dot the district. The housing blocks are
separated by a grid of straight streets about 6 m (20 ft) wide, with a roadway
consisting of clay; in situ stairs compensate for the slope of the hill. Construction of
this type presupposes organization and political will, and has inspired the name of
the neighborhood, "Hannibal district", referring to the legendary Punic general
or sufet (consul) at the beginning of the second century BC. The habitat is typical,
even stereotypical. The street was often used as a storefront/shopfront; cisterns were
installed in basements to collect water for domestic use, and a long corridor on the
right side of each residence led to a courtyard containing a sump, around which
various other elements may be found. In some places, the ground is covered with
mosaics called punica pavement, sometimes using a characteristic red mortar.
Society and local economy[edit]

Archaeological Site of Carthage

View of two columns at Carthage

Punic culture and agricultural sciences, after arriving at Carthage from the eastern
Mediterranean, gradually adapted to the local conditions. The merchant harbor at
Carthage was developed after settlement of the nearby Punic town of Utica, and
eventually the surrounding African countryside was brought into the orbit of the Punic
urban centers, first commercially, then politically. Direct management over cultivation
of neighbouring lands by Punic owners followed.[55] A 28-volume work on agriculture
written in Punic by Mago, a retired army general (c. 300), was translated into Latin
and later into Greek. The original and both translations have been lost; however,
some of Mago's text has survived in other Latin works. [56] Olive trees (e.g., grafting),
fruit trees (pomegranate, almond, fig, date palm), viniculture, bees, cattle, sheep,
poultry, implements, and farm management were among the ancient topics which
Mago discussed. As well, Mago addresses the wine-maker's art (here a type
of sherry).[57][58][59]
In Punic farming society, according to Mago, the small estate owners were the chief
producers. They were, two modern historians write, not absent landlords. Rather, the
likely reader of Mago was "the master of a relatively modest estate, from which, by
great personal exertion, he extracted the maximum yield." Mago counselled the rural
landowner, for the sake of their own 'utilitarian' interests, to treat carefully and well
their managers and farm workers, or their overseers and slaves. [60] Yet elsewhere
these writers suggest that rural land ownership provided also a new power base
among the city's nobility, for those resident in their country villas. [61][62] By many,
farming was viewed as an alternative endeavour to an urban business. Another
modern historian opines that more often it was the urban merchant of Carthage who
owned rural farming land to some profit, and also to retire there during the heat of
summer.[63] It may seem that Mago anticipated such an opinion, and instead issued
this contrary advice (as quoted by the Roman writer Columella):
The man who acquires an estate must sell his house, lest he prefer to live in the town
rather than in the country. Anyone who prefers to live in a town has no need of an
estate in the country."[64] "One who has bought land should sell his town house, so
that he will have no desire to worship the household gods of the city rather than
those of the country; the man who takes greater delight in his city residence will have
no need of a country estate.[65]
The issues involved in rural land management also reveal underlying features of
Punic society, its structure and stratification. The hired workers might be considered
'rural proletariat', drawn from the local Berbers. Whether there remained Berber
landowners next to Punic-run farms is unclear. Some Berbers became
sharecroppers. Slaves acquired for farm work were often prisoners of war. In lands
outside Punic political control, independent Berbers cultivated grain and raised
horses on their lands. Yet within the Punic domain that surrounded the city-state of
Carthage, there were ethnic divisions in addition to the usual quasi feudal distinctions
between lord and peasant, or master and serf. This inherent instability in the
countryside drew the unwanted attention of potential invaders. [66] Yet for long periods
Carthage was able to manage these social difficulties. [67]
The many amphorae with Punic markings subsequently found about ancient
Mediterranean coastal settlements testify to Carthaginian trade in locally made olive
oil and wine.[68] Carthage's agricultural production was held in high regard by the
ancients, and rivaled that of Rome—they were once competitors, e.g., over their olive
harvests. Under Roman rule, however, grain production (wheat and barley) for export
increased dramatically in 'Africa'; yet these later fell with the rise in Roman Egypt's
grain exports. Thereafter olive groves and vineyards were re-established around
Carthage. Visitors to the several growing regions that surrounded the city wrote
admiringly of the lush green gardens, orchards, fields, irrigation channels, hedgerows
(as boundaries), as well as the many prosperous farming towns located across the
rural landscape.[69][70]
Accordingly, the Greek author and compiler Diodorus Siculus (fl. 1st century BC),
who enjoyed access to ancient writings later lost, and on which he based most of his
writings, described agricultural land near the city of Carthage circa 310 BC:
It was divided into market gardens and orchards of all sorts of fruit trees, with many
streams of water flowing in channels irrigating every part. There were country homes
everywhere, lavishly built and covered with stucco. ... Part of the land was planted
with vines, part with olives and other productive trees. Beyond these, cattle and
sheep were pastured on the plains, and there were meadows with grazing horses. [71][72]

Ancient history[edit]
Main article: History of Carthage
Greek cities contested with Carthage for the Western Mediterranean culminating in
the Sicilian Wars and the Pyrrhic War over Sicily, while the Romans fought three
wars against Carthage, known as the Punic Wars,[73][74] from the Latin "Punic" meaning
"Phoenician", as Carthage was a Phoenician colony grown into an empire.
Punic Republic[edit]
Main article: Ancient Carthage
Downfall of the Carthaginian Empire
  Lost to Rome in the First Punic War (264–241 BC)
  Won after the First Punic War, lost in the Second Punic War
  Lost in the Second Punic War (218–201 BC)
  Conquered by Rome in the Third Punic War (149–146 BC)

The Carthaginian republic was one of the longest-lived and largest states in the
ancient Mediterranean. Reports relay several wars with Syracuse and finally, Rome,
which eventually resulted in the defeat and destruction of Carthage in the Third Punic
War. The Carthaginians were Phoenician settlers originating in the Mediterranean
coast of the Near East. They spo