The ancient city of Carthage was founded by the Phoenicians on the north coast of Africa in 814 BC. Over time it became the largest of the Phoenician colonies and then a power in its own right. At the height of its power, until it was overthrown by Rome in 146 BC, it was the commercial center of the western Mediterranean Sea. The Phoenician name, Kart-hadasht, meant “New Town.” Today Carthage is a residential suburb of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.

Geography

Carthage was built on a triangle-shaped peninsula. The peninsula was covered with low hills and backed by the Lake of Tunis. The lake provided an abundant supply of fish and a safe anchorage for ships. Because the city was well protected, it could be defended easily.

The Byrsa, the citadel of ancient Carthage, stood on a low hill overlooking the Mediterranean. Tombs have been found there, but nothing remains of the ancient city's domestic and public buildings. In the Roman era the area of the Byrsa had a large temple dedicated to the Roman gods Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva. Roman sculptures have survived from the site. Other remains of Roman Carthage include two small theaters that were used for music and poetry competitions and an amphitheater used for public performances. In addition, there are several baths and temples. The Christian buildings within the city are mostly from the Byzantine period. In 1979 the archaeological site of ancient Carthage was named a World Heritage Site.

History

According to legend, Carthage was founded by Dido, daughter of the king of Tyre (in what is now Lebanon). She fled to the African coast after her brother killed her husband. Upon reaching the site, she was allowed to purchase as much land as could be enclosed by the hide of a bull. She had a hide cut into thin strips so that they surrounded a large piece of land. It was there that she built her citadel, the Byrsa, from the Greek for “bull's hide.”

The Phoenician settlers of Carthage were seafarers and traders. Much of the revenue of the city came from silver mines in North Africa and Spain. According to ancient sources, Carthage became a rich city. Archaeologists, however, have found few traces of its wealth. This can be explained by the fact that most of the trade of Carthage was in perishable items such as foodstuffs, textiles, and unworked metals. The most profitable trade was that which brought the Carthaginians tin, silver, gold, and iron in exchange for manufactured goods of small value. The city prospered with this trade from the late 6th century to the end of the 3rd century BC.

Carthage finally fell to Rome after a series of battles that lasted a century. These were called the Punic Wars, after Poeni, the Roman name for the Phoenicians. In the first Punic War, from 264 to 241 BC, Carthage lost Sicily to the Romans. In the second, from 218 to 201 BC, the Carthaginian general Hannibal's army crossed the Alps by elephant to defeat the Romans. Hannibal was later defeated by a Roman army in North Africa. In the third, from 149 to 146 BC, Rome emerged victorious over Carthage. The Romans looted and burned Carthage.

In 122 BC the Romans founded a colony of their own there. It prospered and became a favorite city of the Roman emperors, though they did not live there. In the middle of the 3rd century, however, the city began to decline. In the 5th century it was taken by the Vandal ruler Gaiseric, who made the city his capital. A century later an army of the Byzantine empire established control. After the city was captured by the Arabs in 705, it came to be overshadowed by the new town of Tunis.