History of Punic-era Tunisia, part I

History of Tunisia
ANCIENT HISTORY OF TUNISIA
Early eras
Berbers: origin, language, society, religion
Punic Era
Phoenicia, City of Carthage; Berbers; Romans
Roman Era
Berber kings; Africa Province; Vandals; Byzantines
MEDIEVAL HISTORY OF TUNISIA
Early Islamic Era
Ifriqiya: Umayyad, Aghlabid; Berbers; Fatimid
Medieval Era
Berber states: Zirid, Almohad, Hafsid; Ibn Khaldun
Ottoman Era
Pasha & Dey; Muradid, Husaynid; Modern reform
MODERN HISTORY OF TUNISIA
French Era
Protectorate; Independence movement
Modern Era
Republic: Bourghiba, Ben Ali; Revolution; Society & Culture

The History of Punic era Tunisia, part I introduces the region during its long period (commencing as early as the 12th century BCE) under the sway of a Semitic civilization from the eastern Mediterranean: Phoenicia. Arriving first as traders, the Phoenicians (known in the west under the name 'Punic') eventuallly founded the city-state of Carthage. This city grew in wealth and became the political focus in an extended network of Punic trading bases through out the western Mediterranean. Legends later arose about the foundation of this famous city, whose eligance and power were well known among the ancients. The potency of the Punic presence largely displaced the Berbers; Carthage became the prevailing culture in the region.

The native Berbers, however, retained their ethnic identity while under the long dominance of Carthage. During this era, which lasted until the 2nd century BCE, the Berbers were either politically mastered by Carthage or else retreated to satellite positions on the periphery of the Punic sphere. Nonetheless, the Berbers borrowed many of the city's cultural advances, specifically regarding government and commerce, agriculture and war.

As a transplant from its Phoenician base, Punic culture established itself on African soil, where it underwent its own unique cultural development. The city-state prospered, expanding the range of its commercial dominance across the western Mediterranean, incorporating the many other trading outposts, towns, and cities, founded by Phoenicians. Searching for trading opportunities, new lands were explored by sea. A rivalry with the Greeks (who had followed the Punic expansion westward across the Mediterranean) was inevitable, yet faded when the Greeks under Alexander turned eastward. The city of Carthage and the farmlands surrounding it rose to new heights; its trading partners and allies also sharing in its prosperity. Then another rival emerged in the western Mediterranean: Rome. After three long-remembered, epic wars, the city-state of Carthage fell to the Roman Republic.^[1][2][3]

Contents 1 Sea traders of the east 2 Founding of Carthage 3 Berber relations 4 Regional sovereignty 5 Rivalry with the Greeks 6 Economy and society 7 Punic Wars with Rome 8 Reference notes 9 See also

Sea traders of the east

The historical era opens with the advent of traders coming by sea from the eastern Mediterranean. Eventually they were followed by a stream of colonists, landing and settling along the coasts of Africa and Iberia, and on the islands of the western seas.

Technological innovations and economic development in the eastern Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, and along the Nile, increased the demand for various metals not found locally in sufficient quantity. Phoenician traders recognized the relative abundance and low cost of the needed metals among the goods offered for trade by local merchants in Hispania, which spurred trade.^[4] In the Phoenician city-state of Tyre, much of this Mediterranean commerce, as well as the corresponding trading settlements located at coastal stops along the way to the west, were directed by the kings, e.g., Hiram of Tyre (969-936).^[5]

By three thousand years ago the Levant and Hellas had enjoyed remarkable prosperity, resulting in population growth in excess of their economic base. On the other hand, political instability from time to time caused disruption of normal business and resulted in short term economic distress. City-states started organizing their youth to migrate in groups to locations where the land was less densely settled. Importantly, the number of colonists coming from Greece was much larger than those coming from Phoenicia.^[6]

To these migrants, lands in the western Mediterranean presented an opportunity and could be reached relatively easily by ship, without marching through foreign territory. Colonists sailed westward following in the wake of their commercial traders. The Greeks arrived later, coming to (what is now) southern France, southern Italy including Sicily, and eastern Libya. Earlier the Phoenicians had settled in (what is now) Sardinia, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Sicily, and Tunisia. At Tunisia the city of Carthage was founded, which would come to rule all the other Phoenician settlements.^[7]

Founding of Carthage

The city-state of Carthage (its ruins near present day Tunis) was founded by Phoenicians coming from the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. The city's name, written KRT HDST in their Punic language (using the consonant-only letters of their alphabet) and pronounced Kart Hudesht, meant literally "city new".^[8][9] The Punic that was spoken in ancient North Africa developed there from its parent Phoenician, which is a Canaanite language, in the group of Northwest Semitic languages. Thus Punic was a "leaf" on the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic "tree"; native Berber languages form another Berber branch of the Afroasiatic language family.^[10][11]

Timaeus of Taormina, a Greek historian from Sicily c. 300 BC, gives the foundation date of Carthage as thirty-eight years before the first Olympiad (in 776), which accordingly would be the year 814 BC. Living in Sicily, Timaeus was close to Carthaginians and likely to hear their versions of the city's foundation; his date is generally accepted as approximate.^[12][13][14] Accord is found in lost Phoenician records, cited second-hand by the Jewish historian Josephus (37-100).^[15][16]

Founding dates several hundred years earlier are given by ancient authors (such as the aforementioned Timaeus, Pliny the Elder, and Strabo), for other Phoenician cities in the western Mediterranean. These include Gades (1110 BCE) in Hispania, and Utica (said by Pliny to be founded in 1101 BCE) near Carthage. Recent archeology has been unable to verify these earlier dates, yet objects made in Syria dating to the second millennium have been unearthed at and near Gades.^[17][18][19]

If so, Utica would long predate Carthage. As the first Punic trading center in the region, Utica would have been for centuries the leading Punic presence among the native Berbers. The name Utica is derived from a Punic stem 'dtāq, meaning "to be old",^[20] which lends some support to this chronology, for Carthage signifies "new city" (as stated above). The fleets of the King Hiram of Tyre, as recounted in the Bible, perhaps joined at times by ships assigned to Solomon, would date to the 10th century. "For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram."^{[21][22][23][24]} The Punic port city of Utica was originally situated at the mouth of the fertile Wadi Majardah (Medjerda River),^[25] at a point along the coast about 30 kilometers north of Carthage.^[26] "Utica is named besides Carthage in the second treaty with Rome (348), and... appears again as nominally equal with Carthage in the treaty between Hannibal and Philip of Macedon (215). She does not appear in the first treaty with Rome (508), which perhaps means she was fully independent and not even bound in the [Carthage-Rome] alliance."^[27] Of course, eventually Utica was surpassed by Carthage.

Tyre, the major maritime city-state of Phoenicia and prime mover in the Phoenician mercantile expansion into the western Mediterranean, first settled Carthage. Probably Carthage started as one of Tyre's permanent stations in route to its very profitable, ongoing trade in metals with southern Hispania.^[28] Such stations were often established by Tyre at intervals of about 30 to 50 kilometers along the African coast.^[29] Carthage would grow to out-rival all other Phoenician settlements.

Legends alive in the city for centuries assigned its foundation in 814 BC to a queen of Tyre, Elissa, also called Dido ("beloved").^[30][31][32] Dido's great aunt must have been Jezebel, who was also the daughter of a King of Tyre, in this case Ithobaal [the biblical Ethbaal] (r. 891-859); Jezebel became wife to King Ahab of Israel (r. 875-853), according to the Hebrew Books of Kings.^{[33][34][35][36][37]}

Dido's story is told by the Roman historian Pompeius Trogus (1st century BC), a near contemporary of Virgil. Trogus describes a sinister web of court intrigue in which the new king Pygmalion^[38] (brother of Dido) slays the chief priest Acharbas (husband of Dido), which causes the Queen Elissa (Dido) along with some nobles to flee the city of Tyre westward in a fleet of ships carrying royal gold.^[39][40] At Cyprus, four score temple maidens were taken aboard the ships.^[41][42] Then her fleet continues on, landing in North Africa to found Carthage. Shortly after becoming established, according to Trogus, it is said that Hiarbus, a local Mauritani tribal chief, sought to marry the newly arrived queen.^[43] Instead, in order to honor her murdered husband the priest, Dido took her own life by the sword, publicly casting herself into a ceremonial fire. Thereafter she was celebrated as a goddess at Carthage.^[44][45][46]

The Roman poet Virgil (70–19 BC) presents Dido as a tragic heroine in his epic poem the Aeneid.^[47] The work contains inventions loosely based on the legendary history of Carthage, e.g., referring to the then well-known story how the Phoenician Queen cunningly acquired the citadel of the Byrsa.^[48][49][50] In Virgil's epic, the god Jupiter requires the hero Aeneas to leave his beloved Dido, who then commits suicide and burns in a funeral pyre.^[51] This episode employs not only the history or legends narrated by Trogus (mentioned above), but perhaps also subsequent mythic and cultic elements, as Dido would become assimilated to the Punic or Berber goddess Tanit. Each autumn a pyre was built outside the old city of Carthage; into it the goddess was thought to throw herself in self-immolation for the sake of the dead vegetation god Adonis-Eshmun.^[52][53]

"Nothing of historical value can be derived from the foundation legends transmitted to us in various versions by Greek and Roman authors", comments professor Warmington.^[54][55] Yet from such legends the modern reader may form some understanding of how the ancient people of Carthage spoke to each other about their city's beginnings, i.e., an aspect of their collective self-image, or perhaps even infer some of the subtlety in the cultural context of the accepted tradition, if not the personality of the characters nor the gist of the events themselves.^[56]

The 6th century Hebrew prophet Ezekiel in a lamentation nonetheless sings the praises of the Phoenicians, specifically of the cities of Tyre and Sidon.^[57][58] "Tyre, who dwells at the entrance to the sea, merchant of many peoples on many coastlands... . ... Tarshish traficked with you because of your great wealth of every kind; silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your wares."^[59][60] Homer describes such a Phoenician ship in the Odyssey.^[61][62]

Modern consensus locates this ancient, mineral-rich region (called Tarshish [TRSYS] by Ezekiel) in the south of Hispania,^[63][64] possibly linked to Tartessos, a native city of the Iberians.^[65] Here mining was already underway, and early on the Phoenicians founded the city of Gadir [GDR "strong wall"] (Latin Gades) (currently Cádiz).^[66][67] Bronze then was a highly useful and popular material, made from copper and tin. Tin being scarce though in high demand, its supply became very profitable.^[68] Yet Hispania was even more rich in silver. Originally Carthage was probably a stop on the way between Tyre and the region of Gadir, a stop where sailors might beach their boats and resupply with food and water.^[69] Eventually, local trade would begin, and huts built; later more permanent homes and warehouses constructed, then fortified, perhaps also a shrine. All would change and transform on the day when a Queen of Tyre arrived with a fleet of ships, carrying nobility and well-connected merchants, and royal treasure.^[70]

Berber relations

Coming from the most advanced multicultural sphere then known, the material culture of the Phoenicians was without doubt more functional and efficient, and their knowledge more explanatory, than that of the early Berbers. Hence, the interactions between Berber and Phoenician were often asymmetrical. The Phoenicians continuously retained their close connection with Tyre, the mother city.^[71]

The earliest Phoenician landing stations located on the coasts were probably meant merely to resupply and service ships bound for the lucrative metals trade with the Iberian peninsula.^[72] Perhaps these newly arrived sea traders were not at first particularly interested in doing much business with the Berbers, for reason of the little profit regarding the goods the Berbers had to offer.^[73] The Phoenicians established strategic colonial cities in many Berber areas, including sites outside of present day Tunisia, e.g., the settlements at Volubilis, Chellah and Mogador (now in Morocco). As in Tunisia these centres were trading hubs, and later offered support for resource development such as olive oil at Volubilis and Tyrian purple dye at Mogador. For their part, most Berbers maintained their independence as farmers or semi-pastorals although, due to the exemplar of Carthage, their organized politics increased in scope and acquired sophistication.^[74]

In fact for a time their numerical superiority enabled some Berber kingdoms to impose a tribute payable by Carthage, a condition that continued into the 5th century.^[75] Also perhaps due to the recent Berbero-Libyan Meshwesh dynasty ruling Egypt (945-715),^[76] the Berbers near Carthage commanded significant respect, although certainly more rustic than the pharaohs. Correspondingly, in early Carthage careful attention was given to securing the most favorable treaties with the Berber chieftains, "which included intermarriage between them and the Punic aristocracy."^[77] In this regard, perhaps the legend about Dido, the foundress of Carthage, as related by Trogus is apposite. Her refusal to wed the Mauritani chieftain Hiarbus might be indicative of the complexity of the politics involved.^[78]

Eventually the Phoenician trading stations would evolve into permanent settlements, and later into small towns, which would presumably require a wide variety of goods as well as sources of food, which could be satisfied in trade with the Berbers. Yet here too, the Phoenicians probably would be drawn into organizing and directing such local trade, and also into managing agricultural production. In the 5th century Carthage expanded its territory, acquiring Cape Bon and the fertile Wadi Majardah,^[79] later establishing its control over productive farm lands within several hundred kilometers.^[80] Appropriation of such wealth in land by the Phoenicians would surely inspire some resistance by the Berbers, although in warfare, too, the technical training, social organization, and weaponry of the Phoenicians would seem to work against the tribal Berbers.^[81] This social-cultural interaction in early Carthage has been summarily described:

"Because the Carthaginians imported their religion, their laws, and their governmental concepts from the more sophisticated lands of the Near East, they exposed the indigenous Berbers to a more complex and fully developed culture. This exposure set in motion the integration of the Berbers into a Mediterranean world in which they had previously functioned only on the fringes. The dichotomy between the lifestyle of the urban (and urbane) Carthaginians and that of the primitive, rural-dwelling Berbers was immediately apparent. Aside from commercial transactions, limited contact occurred between the two groups, and each retained a clear sense of identity."^[82]

Lack of contemporary written records make the drawing of conclusions here uncertain, which can only be based on inference and reasonable conjecture about matters of social nuance. Yet it appears that the Phoenicians generally did not interact with the Berbers as economic equals, but employed their agricultural labor, and their household services, whether by hire or indenture; many became sharecroppers.^[83] For a period the Berbers were in constant revolt. In 396 there was a great uprising. "Thousands of rebels streamed down from the mountains and invaded Punic territory, carrying the serfs of the countryside along with them. The Carthaginians were obliged to withdraw within their walls and were besieged." Yet the Berbers lacked cohesion, and although 200,000 strong at one point they succumbed to hunger; their leaders were offered bribes; "they gradually broke up and returned to their homes."^[84] Thereafter, "a series of revolts took place among the Libyans [Berbers] from the fourth century onwards."^[83]

As the centuries passed there naturally grew a Punic society of Phoenician-descent but born in Africa, called Libyphoenicians. This term later came to be applied also to Berbers acculturated to "higher" Phoenician culture.^[85] Yet the whole notion of a Berber apprenticeship to the Punic civilization has been called an exaggeration sustained by a point of view fundamentally foreign to the Berbers.^[86] There evolved a population of mixed ancestry, Berber and Punic. There would develop recognized niches in which Berbers had proven their utility. For example, the Punic state began to field Berber Numidian cavalry on a regular basis. The Berbers eventually were required to provide soldiers (likely not paid), and became "the largest single element in the Carthaginian army".^[83]

Yet in times of stress at Carthage, when a foreign force might be pushing against the city-state, some Berbers would see it as an opportunity to advance their interests, given their otherwise low status in Punic society. Thus, when the Greeks under Agathocles (361-289) of Sicily landed at Cape Bon and threatened Carthage (in 310), there were Berbers under Ailymas who went over to the invading Greeks.^[87] Also, during the crucial Second Punic War (218-201) with Rome, the Berber King Masinissa (c.240-148) joined with the invading Roman general Scipio, leading to the war-ending defeat of Carthage at Zama, despite the presence of their renown general Hannibal; on the other hand, the Berber King Syphax (d.202) had supported Carthage. The Romans too read these cues, so that they cultivated their Berber alliances and, subsequently, favored the Berbers who advanced their interests following the Roman victory.^[88]

Carthage was faulted by her ancient rivals for the "harsh treatment of her subjects" as well as for "greed and cruelty".^[89] Her Libyan Berber sharecroppers, for example, were required to pay one-half of their crops as tribute to the city-state during the emergency of the First Punic War. The normal exaction taken by Carthage was likely "an extremely burdonsome" one-quarter.^[83] Carthage once famously attempted to short its Libyan and foreign soldiers, leading to the Mercenary revolt (240-237).^[90][91][92] Also the city-state seemed to reward those leaders known to deal ruthlessly with its subjects. Hence the frequent Berber insurrections. Moderns fault Carthage for failure "to bind her subjects to herself, as Rome did" her Italians. Yet Rome and the Italians held far more in common perhaps than did Carthage and the Berbers. Nonetheless, a modern criticism tells us that the Carthaginians "did themselves a disservice" by failing to promote the common, shared quality of "life in a properly organized city" that inspires loyalty, particularly with regard to the Berbers.^[93] Again, the tribune demanded by Carthage was onerous.^[94]

The Punic relationship with the majority Berbers continued throughout the life of Carthage. The unequal development of material culture and social organization perhaps fated the relationship to be an uneasy one. A long-term cause of Punic instability, there was no melding of the peoples. It remained a source of stress and a point of weakness for Carthage. Yet there were degrees of convergence on several particulars, discoveries of mutual advantage, occasions of friendship, and family.^[95]

Regional sovereignty

By the middle of the 6th century BC, Carthage had grown into a fully independent thalassocracy. Under Mago (r., c.550-530) and later his Magonid family, Carthage became preeminent among the Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean, which included nearby Utica. Mago, the 6th century ruler of Carthage, initiated the practice of recruiting the army from subject peoples and mercenaries, because "the population of Carthage was too small to provide defense for so widely scattered an empire." Hence, Libyans, Iberians, Sardinians, and Corsicans were soon enlisted.^[96]

The commercial territories regularly visited by Punic traders encompassed all the western maritime region. Trading partnerships were established nearby, among the Numidian Berbers to the west along the African coast as well as to the east with Berbers in Libya. Carthage founded many trading stations in the western Mediterranean, which often developed into cities. Island posts included: Palermo in western Sicily, Nora in southern Sardinia, Ibiza in the Balearics. In the Iberian peninsula: Cartagena and other posts along its south and east coasts, including Gades north of the straits on the Atlantic side. South of the straits was Lixus in Mauretania. Further, Carthage enjoyed an alliance with the Etruscans, who had established a powerful state in northwest Italy. Among the clients of the Etruscans was the then infant city of Rome. A sixth-century Punic-Etruscan treaty reserved for Carthage a commercial monopoly in southern Iberia.^{[97][98][99][100]}

Punic ships sailed into the Atlantic. A merchant sailor of Carthage, Himilco, explored in the Atlantic to the north of the straits, i.e., along the coast of the Lusitanians and perhaps as far north as Oestrymnis (modern Brittany), c. 500 BC. Carthage would soon supplant the Iberian city of Tartessus in carrying the tin trade from Oestrymnis southward into the Mediterranean. Another sailor, Hanno the Navigator, explored the Atlantic to the south, along the African coast well past the River Gambia. The traders of Carthage were known to be secretive about business and particularly about trade routes; it was their practice to keep the straits to the Atlantic closed to the Greeks.^[101][102]

Rivalry with the Greeks

In the 530s there had been a three sided naval struggle between the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and the Etrusco-Punic allies; the Greeks lost Corsica to the Etruscans and Sardinia to Carthage. Then the Etruscans attacked Greek colonies in the Campania south of Rome, but unsuccessfully. As an eventual result, Rome threw off their Etruscan kings of the Tarquin dynasty. Then the Roman Republic and Carthage in 509 entered into a treaty, which had the purpose of defining their respective commercial zones.^[103][104]

The Greeks were energetic traders by sea,^{[105][106][107]} who had been establishing emporia throughout the Mediterranean region in furtherence of their commercial interests. These parallel activities both by the Greeks and by Carthage led to persistent disputes over influence and control of commercial spheres, particularly in Sicily. When combined with the permanent foreign conquest of Phoenicia in the Levant, these Greek commercial challenges had caused many Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean to choose the leadership of Carthage. In 480 BC (concurrent with Persia's invasion of Greece), Mago's grandson Hamilcar landed a large army in Sicily in order to confront Syracuse (a colony of Corinth) on the island's eastern coast; yet the Greeks decisivelly prevailed at the Battle of Himera. A long struggle ensued, with intermittent warfare between Syracuse and Carthage. In 367 Hanno I the Great won a major naval victory over the tyrant Dionysius I of Syracuse (r.405-367), thereby blocking his attempt to take Punic Lilybaeum in western Sicily.^{[108][109][110]}

In 311 near Syracuse, Punic armies under another Hamilcar defeated the Greek leader Agathocles (r.317-289). Agathocles then attempted a bold strategic end-run by putting his forces aboard ships, leaving Sicily, and landing his Greek army at Cape Bon very near Carthage. The city became alarmed with palpable anxiety.^[111] Yet Carthage again defeated Agathocles (310-307). Thereafter the Greek world, preoccupied with its conquest of the Persian Empire in the east, lost interest in expanding its colonies in Sicily. Greek influence in the western Mediterranean became supplanted by Rome, the new rival of Carthage.^{[112][113][114]}

During these centuries Carthage enlarged its commercial sphere, augmenting its markets along the African coast, in southern Iberia, and among the islands of the western Mediterranean, venturing south to develop rudiments of the Saharan trade, and exploring commercial opportunities in the Atlantic. Carthage also established its authority directly among the Numidian Berber peoples in the lands immediately surrounding the city, which grew more prosperous.^{[115][116][117]}

Economy and society

A widely admired work on agriculture by Mago (c.300) was, following the fall of Carthage, translated into Latin by Decimus Silanus (a Roman expert in the Punic language), and later into Greek; yet the original and both translations are lost. Mago's text, however, is quoted by Varro (116-27), a Roman polymath, in his de Re Rustica, and by Columella (1st century AD), a Roman writer on agriculture; also it is praised by Pliny the Elder (23-79), a Roman encyclopedist.^[118][119] Olive trees (e.g., grafting), fruit trees (pomegranate, almond, fig), viniculture, cattle, implements, and farm management were ancient topics Mago discussed. Many amphorae subsequently found around the Mediterranean testify to Carthaginian trade in their olive oil and wine.^[120] Under Roman rule grain production (corn and barley) for export increased dramatically, which later fell with the rise in Egypt's export of grains. In general, Carthage's agricultural production rivaled that of Rome. Visitors to the region spoke very well of the lush green gardens, orchards, fields, irrigation channels, and the hedgerows for boundaries, as well as the many prosperous farming towns across the rural landscape.^[121]

The urban landscape of Carthage is known from ancient authors, augmented modernly by archeological digs and surveys.^[122][123] Its two inner harbors [called in Punic cothon] were located in the southeast; their function is not entirely clear, probably for the construction, outfitting, or repair of ships, perhaps also loading and unloading cargo.^{[124][125][126]} Larger anchorages existed to the north and south of the city.^[127] West of the cothon were located several industrial areas, e.g., metalworking and pottery (for amphora), which could serve both inner harbors, and ships anchored to the south of the city.

The Byrsa, the citadel to the north,^[128] considering its importance remains largely unknown. It was the reported site of the Temple of Eshmun, at the top of a stairway of sixty steps.^[129][130] South of the citadel, near the inner harbors, was the tophet, a special and very old cemetery, which when begun lay outside the city boundaries. Here the Salammbô was located, the Sanctuary of Tanit, not a temple but an enclosure for placing stelae, and "dedicated at an early date, perhaps by the first settlers."^[131][132] Just north of these inner harbors, southeast of the Byrsa, lay the agora [Greek: "market"], i.e., the central marketplace for business and commerce. It was also an area of public squares and plazas, where public assembly and gatherings were held, the site of temples, and the location of the major municipal buildings. Here beat the heart of civil life. In this district of Carthage, the ruling suffets presided, the council of elders convened, and justice was dispensed in the open air.^[133]

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.^[134] In these neighborhoods multistory construction later became common, some up to six stories tall according to an ancient author.^[135][136] Several architecutural 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.^[137] Along the Byrsa's southern slope were located not only fine old homes, but also many of the earliest gravesites, interspersed.^[138] The elevation of the land to the east, at the promontory on the seashore, was twice as high at 100 meters as the Byrsa at about 50 m. In between runs a ridge that several times reaches 50 meters; this ridge continues northward along the seashore, and forms the edge of a plateau; this plateau occupies much of northern Carthage. Newer urban developments lay here in these northern districts.^[139] Surrounding Carthage were walls "of great strength" said in places to rise above forty feet, being nearly thirty feet thick; the walls altogether ran about thirty-three kilometers to encircle the city.^[140][141] The heights of the Byrsa were fortified; this area being the last to succumb to the Romans in 146 B.C.^[142][143]

Maritime trade was the lifeblood of the city. Carthage, of course, drew upon the experience, commodities, and lore of the Phoenicians regarding business affairs. Phoenicians excelled as traders, rather than as producers. Yet they crafted quality textiles, and developed a purple dye from marine life [the murex shellfish], which became famous for its regal color and endurance (fade resistance) throughout the ancient Mediterranean.^[144] Jewelry, glass, and ceramics were also fabricated and entered commerce.^[145] That Carthage functioned also as a "manufacturing" colossus was shown when, during the Third Punic War, Carthage which had previously been disarmed "suddenly organised the manufacture of arms" in order to withstand the fatal Roman siege. According to Strabo (63BC-AD21) in his Geographica:

"[Carthage] each day produced one hundred and forty finished shields, three hundred swords, five hundred spears, and one thousand missiles for the catapults... . Furthermore, [Carthage although surrounded by the Romans] built one hundred and twenty decked ships in two months... for old timber had been stored away in readiness, and a large number of skilled workmen, maintained at public expense."^[146]

Phoenician merchant ventures were often run as a family enterprise, putting to work its members and its clients. Such family-run businesses might perform a variety of tasks: (a) own and maintain the ships, providing the captain and crew; (b) by barter or purchase procure from native producers the commodities (foodstuffs, metals, etc.) to carry and trade, and (c) send their agents to distant outposts in order to make local contacts, eventually managing a warehouse of shipped goods and conducting the negotiations for sale or exchange. Over generations, such activity might result in the establishment of a wide-ranging network of trading operations, and the growth of reciprocity between different family firms.^[147][148]

State protection was extended to its sea traders by the Phoenician city of Tyre and later likewise by Carthage.^[149] Stéphane Gsell, the well-regarded French historian of ancient North Africa, summarized the major principles guiding the city-state of Carthage with regard to its policies for trade and commerce: (1) to open and maintain markets for its merchants, whether by entering into direct contact with foreign peoples using either treaty negotiations or force, or by providing security for isolated trading stations; (2) reservation of markets exclusively for the merchants of Carthage, or where competition could not be eliminated, to regulate it by agreements; (3) suppression of piracy and Carthage's ability to freely navigate the seas.^[150]

Both the Phoenicians and Cathaginians were well known in antiquity for their secrecy in general, and especially pertaining to commercial contacts and trade routes.^{[151][152][153]} Both cultures excelled in commercial dealings. Strabo (63BC-AD21) the Greek geographer wrote that before its fall (in 146 BC) Carthage enjoyed a population of 700,000, and directed an alliance of 300 cities.^[154] The Greek historian Polybius (c.203-120) referred to Carthage as "the wealthiest city in the world".^[155]

Punic Wars with Rome

The emergence of the Roman Republic led to sustained rivalry with the more anciently established Carthage for dominion of the western Mediterranean. As early as 509 BC. Carthage and Rome had entered into treaty status, chiefly regarding trading areas; later in 348, another similar treaty was made between Carthage, Tyre, Utica, and Rome; a third Romano-Punic treaty in 280 regarded wars against the Greek invader Pyrrhus.^[156][157] Yet eventually their opposing interests led to disagreement, suspicion, and conflict.

The First Punic War (264-241) started over Messina, a city in eastern Sicily. "[P]robably both sides miscalculated the reaction of the other. The war... escalated beyond anyone's expectations... . [B]egun over one town in Sicily [it] became a struggle for the whole island."^[158] The conflict developed into a naval war in which the Romans learned how to fight at sea and then decisively defeated the Punic fleet. Carthage lost Sicily (all of its western portion) and paid a huge indemnity. Following their defeat, the Mercenary revolt erupted, which threatened the survival of the Punic social order; yet Carthage endured, under their opposing leaders Hanno II the Great, and Hamilcar Barca. During this crisis at Carthage, Rome refused to aid the rebels, but later occupied Sardinia.^[159][160]

As to the Second Punic War (218-201), the ancient Greek historian Polybius gives three causes: the anger of Hamilcar Barca (father of Hannibal) whose army in Sicily the Romans never defeated in the first war; the Roman seizure of Sandinia during the Mercenary revolt; and, creation by the Barcid military family of a new Punic power base in Hispania.^{[161][162][163][164]} Nonetheless, the immediate cause was a dispute concerning Saguntum (near modern Valencia) in Hispania. After prevailing there, Hannibal Barca set out, eventually leading his armies over the Alps into Italy. At first Hannibal ("grace of Baal") won great military victories against Rome on their own territory, at Trasimeno (217), and at Cannae (216), which came close to destroying Rome's ability to wage war. But the majority of Rome's Italian allies remained loyal; Rome drew on all her resources and managed to rebuild her military strength. For many years Hannibal enjoyed the support of those cities who defected from Rome, including Capua and Tarentum in the south; he remained on campaign there in southern Italy, maintaining his army and posing a dangerous threat to Rome and her Italian allies. Yet the passage of the years appeared to forestall Hannibal's chances.^[165]

Meanwhile, Hispania remained throughout 211 the domain of armies under Hannibal's three brothers: Hasdrubal, Mago, and Hanno, and also the Punic leader Hasdrubal Gisco. Yet Roman armies soon began contesting Carthage for control of Hispania. In 207 an overland attempt by his brother Hasdrubal to reinforce Hannibal in Italy failed. By 206, fortune had turned; the Roman general Cornelius Scipio (later Africanus) had defeated Punic power in the peninsula.

In 204 Rome landed armies under Scipio at Utica near Carthage, which forced Hannibal's return to Africa. One Numidian king, Syphax, supported Carthage; however, Syphax met an early defeat. Rome found an old ally in another Berber king of Numidia, Masinissa, who would soon grow in power and fame. Decisively he fought with Rome against Carthage. At the Battle of Zama in 202 the Roman general Scipio Africanus, with Masinissa commanding Numidian cavalry on his right wing, defeated Hannibal Barca, ending the long war.^[166][167] Carthage lost all of its trading cities and silver mines in Hispania, and other possessions in the Western Mediterranean; also lost: its influence over the Berber Kingdoms (Numidia and Mauretania), which became independent Roman allies (Masinissa being the most important). Carthage became reduced to its immediate surroundings, its actions restricted by treaty, and required to pay a large indemnity to Rome.^{[168][169][170]}

Carthage soon revived under the reforms initiated by Hannibal and, free of defense burdens, prospered as never before. In 191 Carthage offered to pay off early the idemnity due Rome, causing alarm in the anti-Punic faction there. The corrupt and rigid oligarchy in Carthage joined with this Roman faction to terminate the Punic reforms; eventually Hannibal was forced to flee the city. Many Romans continued to nurse a blind opposition to Carthage.^[171][172]

The Third Punic War (149-146) began following a war between Carthage and the Numidian king Masinissa (240-148), who for decades had been attacking and provoking Carthage. By this Numidian war Carthage had broken its treaty with Rome, and hence surrendered due to Rome's superior strength. But the war faction in Rome was determined to undo Carthage; cleverly hiding its true aims while talks proceeded (wherein Carthage gave up significant military capabilities), it then presented Carthage with an ultimatum: either evacuate the city which would then be destroyed; or war. Roman armies landed in Africa and began to lay siege to the magnificent city of Carthage, which rejected further negotiations. The end came: Carthage was destroyed; its surviving citizens enslaved.^[173][174]

In the aftermath, the region (much of modern Tunisia) was annexed by the Roman Republic as the new Province of Africa. The city of Carthage was eventually rebuilt by the Romans (beginning in 46 BCE. under Julius Caesar). It became capital of Africa Province and a leading city of the Empire. The entire province, Berber and Punic with a large Latin influx, then experienced a centuries-long renaissance. Long after the fall of Rome, the re-built city of Carthage would be again undone.^[175]

Reference notes

See also

• History of Punic-era Tunisia, part II
• Carthage
• Early Berber History of Tunisia
• History of Tunisia

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