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Carthage. Situated on a large peninsula, which stretched between salty lagoons
to the furthermost part of the gulf of Tunis, Carthage was twice in antiquity
a capital. Founded by Tyrians, who came from Phoenicia, the settlement quickly
became the metropolis of an empire, at first essentially maritime. Destroyed,
it was reconstructed and immediately raised to the rank of capital of the province
of Africa, a position it held almost to the end of antiquity. This past, covering
15 centuries of history, has left relatively few traces which strike the imagination
of the visitor of today. Since the end of the 19th c., modern life has progressively
covered over much of the ancient site.
During all the centuries of abandonment which preceded, the ruins
served as an inexhaustible stone quarry for Tunis and other towns as well as for
present-day structures built on the site. Very few monuments have escaped this
intensive exploitation. Further, the explorations of the 19th c. resulted in stripping
the remains of their archeological objects for private collections and museums.
Of the first Punic city there are known only the two harbors, the
tophet, the sacred area destined for cult sacrifices, and the necropoleis, which
form a large strip occupying the N heights of the town. Of the Roman period, several
monuments have survived which, in spite of their ruinous condition, bear witness
to their original importance. To the SW, no more of thie circus remains than traces
of foundation; a little farther to the N was the amphitheater, of which only the
arena and the substructures have survived; of the Odeon, situated on the summit
of the plateau, there exists no more than the platform of the foundation; of the
theater only a part of the cavea, backed against the side of the hill, is still
intact. There are also the large cisterns of Malga to the W and those of Borj
Jedid to the NE, fed by the aqueduct of Zaghouan; and finally, above all, the
Baths of Antoninus preserved today in a great archaeological park. This is the
most imposing monument of Roman Carthage and counts among the largest of the Empire.
Situated on the seashore at the foot of the hill of Borj Jedid, with one facade
towards the sea and the other towards the interior, it had an alternation of projections
and recesses formed by a succession of rectangular, hexagonal, and octagonal rooms.
Perfectly symmetrical in plan, it was covered by an immense vault supported by
enormous granite columns. The wings encircled two large palestrae with porticos
of white marble. The building was surrounded by an esplanade, itself circled by
porticos and building annexes of which two immense hemicycles sheltered the latrines.
In this city, subjected to incessant pillage of its materials and
objects, the most indestructible monument is certainly the city plan. A large-scale
work, thought out rationally and implanted by Rome even at the origins of the
re-founding of the town, this plan takes as its central axis the summit of the
acropolis of Byrsa and divides the area of the city into four quarters of equal
importance except for the one situated to the NW. A rectilinear, regular plan
of the streets determines the insulae in which are set all the monuments of the
town.
The most remarkable sector in this regard is that which stretches
along the slope of the hill of the Odeon. Uncovered by several campaigns since
1899, the villas included in these areas rose on successive levels up to the Baths
of Antoninus. The most remarkable of these dwellings is the House of the Aviary
named for a mosaic. Around a large peristyle open the rooms, which also give on
an octagonal garden situated in the center of the court. Cleared at the beginning
of this century, this aristocratic villa has been restored and transformed in
part into an antiquarium protecting some archaeological objects of various provenance.
From the Christian era, several basilicas have been found and cleared:
that of Dermech, situated in the archaeological park, that of Damous el Karita,
behind the plateau of the Odeon, and to the NE on a cliff dominating the gulf,
that of St. Cyprian.
Apart from the houses, which have been despoiled of their most beautiful
mosaics, the most complete recovery of the lost city has been carried out in the
necropoleis, which surround the town; the numerous furnishings that have been
recovered from there constitute the essence of the archaeological documentation
of ancient Carthage.
A. Ennabli, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Oct 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Carthago. A rich and powerful city on the northern coast of Africa, the
capital of one of the greatest empires of antiquity. The Roman name Carthago and
the Greek Karchedon are both corruptions of the native Punic Kirjath-Hadeshath,
or "New Town," so called to distinguish it from Tyre, or possibly from
the earlier settlement at Utica.
Carthage was situated on the peninsula forming the northeast
corner of modern Tunis, but topographers differ in their views of the exact locality.
One school holds that the city occupied the north of the peninsula, while the
other school places its site upon the southern portion. The most generally accepted
view is the latter.
An important feature of the city was the hill with its citadel
(Byrsa), surrounded by walls, and approached by a series of sixty steps. On the
land side a triple wall, on which were mounted towers and casemates, surrounded
the city, and afforded shelter for 300 elephants and some 4000 horses. Two artificial
harbours--one rectangular, for merchant vessels, opening into the Bay of Tunis,
and with a narrow passage that could be closed by chains, and a second circular
harbour for ships of war--gave Carthage access to the sea. The second harbour
(Kothon) contained in its centre an island with the official residence of the
naval commander-in-chief. Although these harbours are now much diminished in size,
their situation is still readily identified. Between the lagoon and the sea a
strip of land, called by Roman writers the Taenia, is also plainly to be recognized
to-day. Beyond the walls of the city was the beautiful suburb of Magalia or Megara
(now Mara), and still farther a great necropolis of sepulchres strongly built
and carefully preserved.
The people of Carthage were members of the great Semitic race,
and belonged to the Ph?nician branch, since Carthage was settled (probably about
the middle of the ninth century B.C.) either by a colony directly sent from the
Phoenician city of Tyre, or from the Tyrian offshoot, Utica. They were closely
akin to the Canaanites who held Palestine before the Jewish invasion, and their
language resembled the Hebrew. Because of their generally known Phoenician origin,
the Romans called them Poeni or Punici, from Phoinikes, signifying "the Red
Men," or perhaps referring to the palms (phoinikes), the symbol of the Syrian
coast. The name Sarranus, given to Ph?nician wares, serves also to connect the
Poeni with their original Syrian home.
Carthage was the youngest of the Phoenician colonies in the
northern territory of Africa, the earlier ones being Utica, Tunis, and Hadrumetum,
in the district of Zeugitana, Hippo, and Leptis. Over all these, which were once
independent of her, Carthage finally attained at once commercial and political
supremacy. The history of this gradual rise to power is unknown, for no historical
notices earlier than the sixth century B.C. are now available; and at that period
Carthage was already the centre and the capital of a mighty empire, extending
from the borders of Cyrene to the Straits of Gibraltar, and holding as provinces
the Balearic Islands, Malta, Sardinia, and some settlements on the coast of Spain
and Gaul. An immense revenue flowed into the coffers of the State from the rich
grain lands of Emporia and Byzacium southeast of the city, and commerce extending
over the known world brought wealth to the citizens. South of the African coast,
the power of Carthage extended as far as Lake Tritonis, which was connected by
a canal with the Lesser Syrtis. Besides the Carthaginians of pure Ph?nician descent,
the aristocracy of the Empire, three other classes of subjects are mentioned.
These are: (a) the Libyo-Phoenicians, a mixed race, the offspring of intermarriages
between the Libyans and the original Phoenician settlers; (b) the Libyans, an
entirely different race from the Phoenicians, and to some extent ignorant even
of the Punic language; and (c) the Nomads, who lived on the borders of the Empire
towards the south, and professed an allegiance of a doubtful sort to the government
of Carthage. The Libyo-Ph?nicians formed the agricultural class, tilling the fields
in Zeugitana; but were regarded with a certain suspicious dislike by the Carthaginians
of pure blood, much as the Mexican gentry of unmixed Spanish lineage regard their
fellow-countrymen of mixed descent. The Libyans, who were the original owners
of the soil, and had been dispossessed by the Phoenician colonists, formed the
bulk of the Carthaginian army; but the harsh treatment which they received, and
perhaps the remembrance of their former ownership of the land, made them discontented,
and, at times, mutinous. The Nomads furnished Carthage with a fierce and warlike
irregular cavalry; yet their loyalty was always uncertain, and, in fact, it was
by their aid that Rome finally subdued the Carthaginian people.
The commercial and maritime enterprise of the people of Carthage
was remarkable in antiquity. They were great navigators and explorers. One of
their admirals, Hanno, as early as the sixth century B.C., sailed through the
Straits of Gibraltar out into the Atlantic, passed down the western coast of Africa,
entered the Senegal (Chretes?), and having reached a bay supposed to be on the
southern borders of Sierra Leone, returned only when compelled to do so by the
difficulty of provisioning his ship. A Greek MS. in the library of Heidelberg
University professes to be the translation of the account which Hanno placed among
the archives kept in the great Temple of Molech at Carthage. A little later, a
second Carthaginian, one Himilco, is believed to have visited the northern coasts
of Europe.
Religion.--The religion of the Carthaginians, like that of
the other Canaanitish peoples, was a form of fire-worship. As with all Semites,
the rites and practice of religion formed a part of the daily life, and profoundly
influenced the development of their civilization. Their chief god, Molech, represented
the destructive influence of the sun, and in his temples human victims were immolated
with fire. These victims were usually prisoners taken in war, but not always,
for when Agathocles besieged the city, we are told that 200 noble children belonging
to native families were offered up to secure the favour of the god. The moon-goddess
Tanith or Tanist (Tanis) appears to have been identical with Ashtaroth, Melkart
with Heracles, and a seagod whom the Greeks identified with Poseidon was probably
the same as the Philistine deity, Dagon. Rites in honour of deified heroes were
celebrated, while animals--e. g. the lion, bull, serpent, etc.--and such of the
Greek divinities as the Carthaginians had heard of in Sicily also received special
worship. There is no evidence that the priests formed a separate caste, confined
to certain families. On the contrary, sacrifices appear to have been offered by
the magistrates and military leaders. The inscriptions and bas-reliefs thus far
discovered and studied afford no confirmation of the charges made by the Greek
and Roman writers, that the Carthaginians were guilty of obscene and unnatural
practices in the conduct of their worship; and it is probable that the statements
of the Christian Fathers refer to Roman and not to Ph?nician Carthage. The morality
of the Carthaginians, in fact, appears to have been originally of even an ascetic
character, as befitted an industrious and largely agricultural people.The Phoenician
theory of cosmogony was given by a native author, Sanchoniathon, born either at
Tyre or Berytus in the tenth century B.C., who wrote in Ph?nician a history in
nine books, containing an account of the theology and antiquities of Ph?nicia,
and of the neighbouring states. This work was translated into Greek under Hadrian
by Philo of Byblus, and of it some fragments have been preserved in the history
of Eusebius of Caesarea. An interesting summary of the substance of these fragments
is given in Davis's Carthage.
Government.--The form of government at Carthage, which Aristotle
praises for its stability and for its success in securing the general happiness
and prosperity of the people, was aristocratic in its constitution. The principal
magistrates (suffetes, Heb. sophetim) have been compared to both the Roman consuls
and the Spartan kings. Their number, however, is not definitely known, nor the
extent of their term of office. They were eligible for re-election. A Senate,
elected by popular vote, participated in the government with the suffetes, and
was filled largely from the ranks of the wealthy. There appears to have been a
sort of referendum to the people when the suffetes and the Senate disagreed upon
any course of action. There existed also, side by side with the regular governmental
organization, a power which, like that of the Spartan ephors, gradually gained
the real control of the State. This was the highest aristocracy, which elected
bodies of commissions (pentarchies) so constituted that the outgoing members preserved
their power for another year, and thus impressed upon the institution a consistent
and symmetrical policy. These pentarchies elected a council of 104 members, who
at last usurped the authority of the State; though Hannibal succeeded in checking
their power, and in restoring to the people some real share in the government.
History.--The history of Carthage falls naturally into four
periods: (1) from the foundation of the city to the beginning of the wars with
Syracuse, B.C. 410; (2) to the beginning of the war with Rome, B.C. 265; (3) to
the destruction of the city by the Romans, B.C. 146; (4) from the restoration
of the city to its final destruction by the Arabs, A.D. 698.
The foreign conquests of Carthage were undertaken with the
object of securing her commerce. Justin tells us of a king, Malchus (the Latin
form of the royal title), who, after successes in Africa and Sicily, was defeated
in Sardinia, and turned his arms against his country. He must have lived between
B.C. 600 and 550. A more historical personage is his successor Mago (between B.C.
550 and 500), said to be the founder of the military power of the Carthaginians.
His sons were Hasdrubal and Hamilcar, his grandsons Hannibal, Hasdrubal, and Sappho,
sons of Hasdrubal, and Himilco, Hanno, and gisco, sons of Hamilcar. By the energy
of this family the Carthaginian Empire was established over Sardinia, which was
not lost till after the First Punic War, over the Balearic Islands and part of
Sicily, and over portions of Liguria and Gaul. There are, however, few events
of which the chronology is certain. The first is the seafight between the Etruscans
and Carthaginians on the one hand and the Phoc?ans of Aleria in Corsica on the
other, which occurred in B.C. 536. The Phocaeans, driven from Asia Minor by Harpagus
in 564, had settled at Aleria or Alalia in Corsica, but engaged in piracy, which
demanded the interference of the commercial naval powers. The Phocaeans won the
battle, but with such loss that they abandoned Corsica, and settled at Velia in
Italy. Polybius has preserved three treaties between Carthage and Rome, the first
of which belongs to the year B.C. 509, the second probably to the period between
B.C. 480 and 410. Their object is to restrict Roman commerce in Punic waters,
and it is noticeable that the second treaty prescribes stricter limits than the
first, and testifies to a considerable superiority of Carthage over Rome. To the
period of about B.C. 500 belong the expeditions of Hanno and Himilco--the one
to found colonies on the west coast of Africa, which was probably explored as
far as the mouths of the Senegal and Gambia, the other to obtain a knowledge of
the Atlantic, which resulted in the discovery of Britain. But the most important
event of the first period was the battle of Himera, fought between Hamilcar and
Gelo of Syracuse, about the year B.C. 480. Terillus, tyrant of Himera, on the
north coast of Sicily, driven out by Thero of Agrigentum, implored and obtained
help from the Carthaginians. Thero was assisted by Gelo of Syracuse. An account
of this battle is given by Herodotus. The forces of Hamilcar consisted of 3000
ships and 300,000 men--Ph?nicians, Libyans, Iberians, Ligurians, Helysci (perhaps
Volscians), Sardinians, and Corsicans. He was defeated with great loss. For seventy
years the Carthaginians made no further effort for the subjugation of Sicily.
This battle is one of the most important in ancient history. The expedition in
which it terminated was undertaken in conjunction with that of the Persians against
the Greeks of Attica. The nearly simultaneous defeats at Himera and Salamis decided
the question whether Semitic or Aryan nations should hold the empire of the West.
The only other events of any importance in this period of which we have an account
are the more complete subjugation of the African dependencies by the family of
Mago, and the settlement of the disputed boundary between Carthage and Cyrene.
The second period of 140 years (B.C. 410-269) is occupied with
the attempts of Carthage to reduce Sicily to the condition of a subject province.
At this time her settlements were confined to the western corner of the island,
while on the eastorn coast Syracuse undertook the defence of Grecian nationality,
and waged the battle of Aryans against Semites, until both combatants fell before
the supremacy of Rome. The repulse of the Athenians from Syracuse, and the same
rivalry between Egesta and Selinus which had invited Athenian interference in
the affairs of the island, induced the Carthaginians to renew an enterprise which
had been interrupted for seventy years. Hannibal, son of Giso, stormed Selinus,
and avenged at Himera the death of his grandfather. Overtures of peace were rejected,
and preparations made for a more vigorous attack. In 406, Hannibal and Himilco
destroyed the great city of Agrigentum, overthrew the mighty columns of her temples,
and covered a flourishing site with a mass of ruins. Hannibal died before Agrigentum;
Himilco proceeded to attack Gela. Syracuse was now governed by Dionysius, who
from an obscure position had raised himself to the rank of despot. In 405, a treaty
made by Carthage secured to her the possession of her conquests, and to Dionysius
a firmer position on the throne. But he no sooner felt himself secure than he
hastened to drive the enemy from the island. War broke out in 398, all Sicily
fell before the Punic arms, and Dionysius, driven by Himilco to take refuge within
the walls of Syracuse, was there besieged. Pestilence came to his assistance,
and the Carthaginians were defeated; 150,000 Punic corpses lay unburied on Grecian
soil; and Himilco, unable to bear the contempt of his fellow-citizens, starved
himself to death. The Libyans rose in rebellion, and Carthage was threatened by
an army of 200,000 men. The attempt of Mago, between 396 and 392, to procure a
more favourable result had little effect. Ten years afterwards he led another
expedition. The defeat of Cabala nearly lost the possession of the whole of Sicily,
but the brilliant victory of Corsica restored the balance, and the Halycus was
accepted as the boundary between the two peoples. Fourteen years of peace ensued.
In 368, the misfortunes of Carthage encouraged Dionysius to a new but unsuccessful
effort to complete the purpose of his life, but his death put an end to a renewal
of the attempt, and his son and successor made peace with the Carthaginians. The
weak government of Dionysius II. was favourable to the extension of Carthaginian
Empire in Sicily; but they found an antagonist of different mettle in the Corinthian
Timoleon, who, after liberating Syracuse from its tyrants, made war against Carthage
for six years (B.C. 345-340). The defeat of the Crimissus (B.C. 340) was most
crushing. The Holy Legion, composed of 2500 men of the best families of Carthage,
was destroyed, and the host of mercenaries cut to pieces. Peace restrained the
Carthaginians within their old boundary of the Halycus; the Greek cities were
declared free; and Carthage promised never again to support a despot in Syracuse.
The next thirty years contain little of note except traces of friendly intercourse
between Carthage and Rome, and a record of assistance given to the Tyrians when
besieged by Alexander the Great. She, however, sent ambassadors to Babylon to
congratulate the conqueror on his return from Asia. Agathocles was the first to
discover that the secular enemies of his countrymen were vulnerable in Africa.
After becoming despot of Syracuse, and establishing his authority over the great
towns in Sicily, he found that he had to reckon with the Carthaginians. Unsuccessful
in the island, he transferred his forces to the mainland in 310, reduced Carthage
to the last extremities, and would probably have obtained more signal success
had not the revolt of Agrigentum called him home. Peace made in 306 continued
till the death of Agathocles in 289. His loss encouraged the extension of Punic
dominion, and at last obliged the Syracusans to call in the assistance of Pyrrhus,
the chivalrous king of Epirus. He left Italy in 277, and in a short time drove
the Carthaginians from the west and besieged them in the distant fortress of Lilybaeum.
But his allies were untrue to him. Carthage and Rome were leagued against him.
He left Sicily in 276, and his departure from Italy in the following year left
the Carthaginians to stand in sharp antagonism to the Latin branch of the Aryan
stock. The third period of Carthaginian history extends from B.C. 264 to 146--from
the outbreak of the first war with Rome to the final annihilation of the city
by the conquerors. This is not the place for a detailed account of the Punic wars,
which occupy a large space in every Roman history. We must content ourselves with
a hasty summary. The first war, which lasted from B.C. 264 to 241, was a contest
for the possession of Sicily. The Carthaginians in undertaking it felt secure
of their mastery over the sea. Their ambassadors told the Romans that they could
not even wash their hands in the sea without permission of the Carthaginians.
Montesquien considers it one of the chief causes of the rise of Roman greatness
that they were careful to borrow from their enemies whatever was calculated to
improve their own efficiency. The Romans not only built a fleet, but developed
a novelty of tactics which precisely secured the object which they had in view.
They were encouraged to further exertion by the victories of B.C. 260 and B.C.
256, and were schooled to caution by the defeat of the following year. The war
was practically ended by the brilliant success of Catulus in B.C. 242, and Sicily
was lost to the Carthaginians. The next three years and a half (241-237) were
occupied by a civil war, which shows us on what insecure foundations the power
of Carthage was based. The large army of mercenaries which had been employed against
Rome was incautiously admitted into the city. Under pretence of demanding pay
they rose against their employers, and were joined by the Libyans and Numidians,
who cultivated the surrounding lands in unwilling subjection. The insurrection
was quelled with difficulty, but a similar revolution in Sardinia was more successful--700
Carthaginians were barbarously murdered, and the possession of the island passed
to the Romans. All we know of the twenty years which elapsed before the beginning
of the second war with Rome is confined to the successes of Hamilcar and his family
in Spain. In B.C. 218, Hannibal, who had sworn as a boy eternal enmity to the
Romans, began the enterprise to which he devoted his life. His object was not
so much to conquer Italian soil or Italian cities as to break up the confederacy
upon which the greatness of Rome depended, and to undo the fabric of its empire
stone by stone. He sought, therefore, on the one hand to rouse Greeks and Orientals
to a joint attack upon the common foe, and on the other to sow dissension among
the Latin, Sabellian, and Oscan tribes, and to urge them to reduce Rome to that
position of comparative inferiority which she had occupied many centuries before.
Both these plans failed. Hannibal was badly supported from home; he found that
to combine in unity the shifting policy of the East was to weave a rope of sand;
and he discovered, above all, that Roman supremacy was established on a basis
of complete security. Far different, in fact, was her position, seated among kindred
peoples bound to her by affinities of blood and language as well as interest,
governed by the wise policy of a patriotic Senate, and restrained by the overpowering
force of devoted legions, from that of the city of merchants, torn by factions,
surrounded by alien and even hostile tribes, defended by mercenaries, and swayed
by interest and passion. The defeat of Hasdrubal at the Metaurus in B.C. 207 crushed
the last hope of the invader; Spain was recovered by the genius of Scipio; and
in B.C. 203, Hannibal, not unwillingly, obeyed the order to embark from Italy
to retard the ruin of his country which it was too late to save. The battle of
Zama, in 202, put an end to the war in the following year. It was due to the magnanimity
of Scipio and Hannibal that peace was concluded on such terms that, while Rome
had no longer to fear Carthage as a rival, she was content to recognize her existence
as a commercial community.
For the next six years, Hannibal governed the city which he
had not been able to preserve. He reformed the constitution in a democratical
sense, and paid with surprising facility the enormous indemnity demanded by Rome.
He was engaged in planning a combination against Rome with Antiochus of Syria
when he was driven from power, and forced to take refuge in the East, where shortly
afterwards he fell a victim to Roman hatred.
The interval between B.C. 183 and 150 contains little besides
the history of internal dissensions-- struggles between the Roman party, the democratical
party, and the party of Masinissa, which tore the city in sunder by their quarrels.
The socalled Third Punic War (B.C. 149-146) is one of the saddest events in all
history, and the greatest blot upon the reputation of the Romans. Jealousy of
their old antagonists had been shown by constant acts of injustice, and at last
the sight of the prosperity and riches of the city impressed upon the narrow mind
of Cato the conviction that Carthage must be blotted out. A pretext for war was
wantonly invented. The anxieties of the Carthaginians to secure peace at any sacrifice
was made the instrument of their destruction. When they saw that their ruin was
resolved upon, and that compromise was hopeless, they defended themselves with
an energy which would have saved them at an earlier period. The sentence of the
Roman Senate was ruthlessly carried out. The city burned for seventeen days, and
concealed its very site under a heap of ashes. The plough was passed over it,
and the ground was cursed forever. In the words of Mommsen, "where the industrious
Ph?nicians bustled and trafficked for five hundred years, Roman slaves henceforth
pastured the herds of their distant masters."
The history of Roman Carthage, which constitutes the fourth
period, can be given in a few words. In B.C. 122, Gaius Gracchus led 6000 colonists
to Africa, and founded the city of Iunonia. The colony did not prosper. In B.C.
29, a second colony (Colonia Carthago) was sent out by Augustus in fulfilment
of a design of Iulius Caesar. This became so prosperous that Herodian declares
it to have disputed with Alexandria the second place in the Empire. In the middle
of the fifth century, it became, under Genseric, the capital of the Vandal kingdom
(439), and in A.D. 533 it was stormed by Belisarius. In A.D. 698, it was entirely
destroyed by the general of the calif Abd-ul-Melek.
For centuries after this final destruction, the site of Carthage
was a quarry for both the Africans and for the merchants of Europe. Genoese vessels,
trading with Tunis in the Middle Ages, seldom returned without a cargo of Carthaginian
marble. The cathedral of Pisa is even said to have been built out of the ruins
of Carthage. Recent times, also, have aided in the work of devastation, since
the marble blocks of the ancient walls have been within the last few years in
part destroyed by the operations of the Tunisian railway. The aqueduct, over fifty
miles in length, is the only remnant of the greatness of the city's past that
still preserves a real impressiveness.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Carthage. City of northern Africa, west of Sicily.
Carthage was located on what is now the Bay of Tunis,
on the shores of North Africa, and was only about 100 miles away from the western
tip of Sicily. It was founded
by Phoenician settlers from the city of Tyre
(a city along the shores of what is now Lebanon)
in the IXth or VIIIth century B. C., under the leadership of Queen Dido, the daughter
of the then king of Tyre.
It is because of this Phoenician origin that Carthage avoided being subjected
by Cambyses, the son of Cyrus the Great and king of Persia
toward the end of the VIth century B. C., whose fleet, mostly composed of Phoenicians
from the motherland, refused to wage war against kinsmen.
During the VIth century B. C., Carthage establishes settlements in
western Sicily. After the
Carthaginians were beaten by Gelon, the tyrant of Syracuse,
at the battle of Himera in
480, they left most of Sicily.
But, toward the end of the Vth century B. C., a new war broke out between Carthage
and the Sicilians. The Carthaginians took several cities of Sicily,
including Acragas and Gela,
but were defeated by Dionysius I, the Elder when trying to take Syracuse.
Carthage had been allied to Rome
since the end of the VIth century B. C., and continued to wage recurrent wars
against the Greeks of Sicily
until, in 264 B. C., a war broke out between Carthage and Rome
when the Romans set out to invade Sicily.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
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