Carthage And The Carthaginians

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

The Carthaginians reveals the complex culture, society and achievements of a famous, yet misunderstood, ancient people. Beginning as Phoenician settlers in North Africa, the Carthaginians then broadened their civilization with influences from neighbouring North African peoples, Egypt, and the Greek world. Their own cultural influence in turn spread across the Western Mediterranean as they imposed dominance over Sardinia, western Sicily, and finally southern Spain. As a stable republic Carthage earned respectful praise from Greek observers, notably Aristotle, and from many Romans – even Cato, otherwise notorious for insisting that ‘Carthage must be destroyed’. Carthage matched the great city-state of Syracuse in power and ambition, then clashed with Rome for mastery of the Mediterranean West. For a time, led by her greatest general Hannibal, she did become the leading power between the Atlantic and the Adriatic. It was chiefly after her destruction in 146 BC that Carthage came to be depicted by Greeks and Romans as an alien civilization, harsh, gloomy and bloodstained. Demonising the victim eased the embarrassment of Rome’s aggression; Virgil in his Aeneid was one of the few to offer a more sensitive vision. Exploring both written and archaeological evidence, The Carthaginians reveals a complex, multicultural and innovative people whose achievements left an indelible impact on their Roman conquerors and on history.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1878 edition. Excerpt: ... APPIAN AND HIS HISTORY. 379 CHAPTER XX. DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE. (149-146 B.C.) Appian and his History--Polybius--Characteristics of his History-- His love of truth--Topography of Carthage--Causes of its obscurity --Changes made by Nature--Changes made by Man--The peninsula and the isthmus--The fortifications and triple wall--The Taenia--The harbours--Resolve of Rome respecting CarthageTreachery of Romans--Scene at Utica--Scene at Carthage--The Roman attack fails--Repeated failures and losses--Scipio DEGREESEmilianus --His character and connections--He takes the Megara--Siege of the city proper--Scipio's mole and the new outlet--Contradictions in Carthaginian character -- Scipio attacks the harbour quarter-- He takes Nepheris--The final assault--The three streets--The Byrsa--Fate of the city and its inhabitants--Curse of Scipio-- Unique character of the fall of Carthage--Its consequences--Subsequent cities on its site--Final destruction by the Arabs. OUR knowledge of the Third Punic War is derived almost exclusively from Appian, a mere compiler who did not live till the time of the Emperor Hadrian, and whose accuracy, where he draws upon his own resources, may be judged from the fact that he places Saguntum to the north of the Ebro, and makes Britain only half a day's sail from Spain.1 Fortunately for us, however, there is good reason to believe that his account of the fall of Carthage is drawn directly from Polybius, who not only stands in the highest rank as an historian, but was himself present and bore a part in the scenes which he described.1 Lord Bacon has remarked in one of his aphorisms, that while the.stream of time has brought down floating on its surface many works which are light and valueless, those which were weightier

The Carthaginian Empire: 550 – 202 BCE argues for a new history of the Phoenician polity. In contrast to previous studies of the Carthaginian Empire that privileged evidence from Greco-Roman sources, Nathan Pilkington bases his study on evidence preserved in the archaeological and epigraphic records of Carthage and its colonies and dependencies. Using this evidence, Pilkington demonstrates that the Carthaginian Empire of the 6th– 4th centuries BCE — as recovered archaeologically and epigraphically — bears little resemblance to currently accepted historical reconstructions. He then presents an independent archaeological and epigraphic reconstruction of the Carthaginian Empire. In this presentation, the author argues that the Carthaginian Empire developed later, chronologically, and was less extensive, geographically, than reconstructions based on the Greco-Roman source tradition suggest. Pilkington further shows that Carthage developed a similar infrastructure of imperial power to those developed in Rome and Athens. Like its contemporaries, Carthage used colonization, the establishment of metropolitan political institutions at dependent polities, and the reorganization of trade into a metropolitan hub-and-spoke system to develop imperial control over subordinated territories.

Carthage, the port-city in Tunisia first settled by Phoenicians from Tyre, grew to extend a competitive maritime trading empire all over the Western Mediterranean and beyond, increasingly defended by the best navy of the period. In the 6th century BC this came into confrontation with Greek colonists in Sicily, starting major wars that lasted through the 5th and 4th centuries, and involved much interaction with different Greek forces. During the 3rd century Carthage first clashed with Roman armies, and in the course of three wars that raged over Spain, Sicily and Italy the Romans suffered the greatest defeats in their early history at the hands of Hamilcar, Hannibal and Hasdrubal Barca, leading multinational armies of North Africans and Europeans.