Carthage. Detailed history

Carthage, on the northern coast of Africa, was a Phoenician colony that interacted with the Greek cities of the Western Mediterranean, especially in Sicily. The city was founded by colonists from Tyre in 814 according to Roman authors, and this accords with radiocarbon dating of remains dating to the ninth century. Ancient mythology had Queen Dido, the daughter of the king of Tyre, ruled Tyre with her brother Pygmalion after their father’s death.

Pygmalion then murdered Dido’s husband and Dido fled west where she established the city of Carthage. In actuality, Tyre continually controlled the city until about 650, when Carthage broke free and established control over the northern African region.

As with other ancient cultures, Carthage was polytheistic. Similar to Tyre, the Carthaginian religion held Baal as its chief deity. The religion had a hierarchy of officials surrounding the temple. At the top were the priests, who were clean shaven, unlike the general public. Below them were minor officials who performed various religious roles. As in Phoenician culture, the religion included dancing.

Debate has centered on whether the Carthaginians performed child sacrifice. One theory is that this practice existed from the beginning of Carthage’s foundation and was done in honor of Baal and his consort, Tanit, in what has been called the Tophet. This was a place where children were sacrificed; it owed its name to the location of the Valley of Hinnom in Jerusalem, where the Canaanites sacrificed children to Baal.

In Carthage, several cemeteries have been found that contain the remains of children; but some believe that these are merely the final resting places of children who died naturally. It is possible that there were some forms of human sacrifice, but it was less pervasive than ancient detractors of Carthage indicated.

The Phoenicians established their colonies as trading posts with a small number of citizens, roughly 1,000 at each city, although Carthage was an exception, with a larger contingent. The colonies were tied more closely to their homeland mother cities than Greek colonies were with their mother cities. They were established to grant commercial freedom to the mother cities from the successive empires that continually controlled the coast of Phoenicia—namely, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and finally the Persians.

In addition, the Phoenicians wanted to make sure that they could compete with Greek cities for trade and prevent Greek monopoly rule of the western Mediterranean. The Phoenicians established colonies on the islands of Cyprus and Sicily, where they came into conflict with the Greek colonies.

When Carthage gained its independence and established its own colonies in the west along the coast of Africa, Spain, Sardinia, and southern France, it too came into conflict with the Greek colonies. Ultimately, Sicily was the most important arena of struggle, and Carthage engaged in a series of wars for control of the island, even occasionally succeeding for a short time.

The Phoenicians had already established trading posts on the coast of Sicily and were content to limit their activities to these regions and not try to conquer the inland native regions. Their main centers were on the western part of the island at Motya, Panormus, and Soluntum, when the Greeks had arrived around 700. These cities in Sicily would ultimately fall under Carthaginian control during the sixth century.

Carthage did not seem to object to Greek colonies arriving in Sicily, but when they went to Spain, it began to exert pressure to stop further colonization. Carthage now began to expand its control and establish a maritime empire that lasted until the third century. The Carthaginians and the native Sicilian Elymians defeated the Greeks near Lilybaeum in a naval battle in 580, preventing further expansion by the Greeks for the next century.

The Greek colonies on Sicily were controlled either by the Ionians or the Dorians. The Dorian colonies were more aggressive and began to expand inland. The Spartan prince Dorieus lost his bid for the throne about 519 then embarked on a plan to establish a new kingdom, first in Libya, where he was expelled by the Carthaginians in 511, and then in Sicily. Dorieus was defeated and killed in 510, and his comrades established Heraclea Minoa, on the southwestern coast. During the succeeding generation, the Dorians at Gela under the leadership of the tyrants Cleander and his brother, Hippocrates, took over many cities, including Syracuse, in 485, which then became its capital under Gelo.

The Ionians who were supplanted called for help from Carthage, leading to the First Sicilian War in 480. It is possible that Carthage was allied with Persia at this time as part of the Persian campaign into Greece. The Carthaginian general Hamilcar led a large army from Carthage in an attempt to take over the island. His fleet was badly damaged, and in the Battle of Himera, he was defeated and either killed or committed suicide.

Supposedly the battle was fought on the same day as the Battle of Salamis, with the Greeks winning twin battles for their independence in the east and west against two tyrannical foes, Persia and Carthage. The battle was important for Carthage, as it led the government to change from a monarchy to a republic.

The Carthaginians derived most of their wealth from trade. They were known to have visited areas in the Atlantic along the western coast of Africa, past the Canary Islands, and traveled through the Sahara. Their chief trading areas were Spain and Sicily. Spain was clearly the most important trading area, receiving silver, copper, tin, and slaves. The tin trade in particular was crucial because it allowed the manufacturing of bronze.

The silver trade and control of mines in Spain allowed Carthage to finance many of its commercial adventures. Carthage took over the trade routes established by Tyre after the latter lost its preeminence during the Persian period. The area around Carthage included extensive grain fields and viticulture. The trade industry and exploration allowed Carthage to extend its influence over the entire western Mediterranean.

During the next century, Carthage concentrated on North Africa, conquering the region of modern Tunisia and reinforcing their hold on northwest Africa. It was during this time that they began to explore the western coast of Africa. Hanno the Navigator, leading a fleet of sixty ships, planned to colonize the western coast. He sailed through the Gibraltar Straits and established a series of colonies along the Moroccan coast. It is possible that his expedition reached Gabon, although some believed that it went no farther than southern Morocco.

Another Carthaginian explorer, Hamilco, sailed in the opposite direction, exploring the northwest coast of Europe. He sailed along the coast of Portugal, Spain, France, and England, again for the purpose of establishing trading partners with the various peoples. In 410, the Spanish colonies seceded from Carthage, which caused a loss of silver and copper for Carthage. It is probably for this reason that Hannibal Mago, grandson of Hamilcar, led a force in 409 to conquer Sicily.

His first expedition successfully captured the cities of Selinus and Himera, allowing him to return triumphantly to Carthage. In 405, he led another expedition to take the whole island, concentrating on Syracuse. He attacked the city of Akragas in the west, but his forces were decimated by a plague, and Hannibal himself died.

His successor captured the city of Gela and defeated the Syracuse army, but his forces were also wracked with the plague and sued for peace. Syracuse broke the peace treaty, and Carthage again returned in 398-396, taking over much of the island, but yet another plague decimated their forces during a siege at Syracuse. In 387, the Carthaginians again attacked with 50,000 men and a great fleet, and they seemed unstoppable.

But their forces were hit with another epidemic and weakened; their ships were destroyed while the crews were on shore, and their army was badly defeated. For the next forty years, the Carthaginians were pushed back to the southwestern part of the island.

As a mercantile empire, Carthage relied on a military drawn from its conquered regions and mercenaries. Divided in their own independent units, mercenaries were extensively used in Sicily. Many of these fighters came from Numidia in Africa and Spain.

The Carthaginians were known for their use of cavalry and elephants. During most of its time, the navy was the most important element of its military. Like most other ancient navies, the sailors were citizens, and stable professions were maintained in both peace and war.

The Carthaginian fleet usually had around 300 to 400 warships at any one time, mass-produced to keep expenses down. The wealth of Carthage allowed the city to grow and establish control over the mercantile routes in the west. This growth led it to conflict, first with the Greeks in Sicily, as both expanded within the resource-rich island, and then with Rome, which ultimately led to its destruction.