17 Ancient Carthage
Learning Objective
- Explain Carthage’s culture and the Punic Wars
Key Points
- Ancient Carthage was the empire born of the Phoenician city-state Carthage.
- Carthage practiced highly advanced and productive agriculture and manufacturing.
- Carthage traded in almost every commodity wanted by the ancient world, including spices from Arabia, Africa, and India. It also participated in the slave trade.
- The military of Carthage was one of the largest military forces in the ancient world; its navy was its strongest force.
- The Punic Wars were fought with Rome from 265 BCE to 146 BCE. The main cause was the conflict of interest between the existing Carthaginian Empire and the expanding Roman Republic.
- The Third Punic War began in 149 BCE, and culminated in the defeat of Carthage.
Terms
Phoenician
A Semitic people inhabiting ancient Phoenicia and its colonies.
polytheism
The belief in, or worship of, more than one god.
Punic Wars
A set of three wars between Carthage and Rome that culminated in the fall of Carthage.
Ancient Carthage was a North African, Phoenician civilization that lasted from c. 650 BCE to 146 BCE. They were defeated by the Romans in 146 BCE. Carthage eventually extended across northern Africa and into the south of modern-day Spain.
Culture
Carthaginian religion was based on Phoenician religion (derived from the faiths of the Levant), a form of polytheism. Many of the gods the Carthaginians worshiped were localized, and are now known only under their local names.
Carthage produced finely embroidered silks, dyed textiles of cotton, linen,and wool, artistic and functional pottery, and perfumes. Its artisans worked expertly with ivory, glassware, and wood, as well as with metals and precious stones. It traded in salted Atlantic fish and fish sauce (garum), and brokered the products of almost every Mediterranean people. In addition to manufacturing, Carthage practiced highly advanced and productive agriculture, using iron ploughs, irrigation, and crop rotation.
Carthaginian commerce extended by sea throughout the Mediterranean, and perhaps into the Atlantic as far as the Canary Islands, and by land across the Sahara desert. According to Aristotle, the Carthaginians and others had treaties of commerce to regulate their exports and imports.The empire of Carthage depended heavily on its trade with cities of the Iberian peninsula, from which it obtained vast quantities of silver, lead, copper and—most importantly —tin ore, which was essential for the manufacture of bronze objects by the civilizations of antiquity.
Carthaginian trade-relations with the Iberians (and the naval strength that enforced Carthage’s monopoly on Iberian trade and that with tin-rich Britain), made it the sole significant broker of tin and maker of bronze in its day. Maintaining this monopoly was one of the major sources of power and prosperity for Carthage; Carthaginian merchants strove to keep the location of the tin mines secret. In addition to