Introduction to Carthaginian History

Louis Leeves, Cardiff University

The Phoenicians • Predominantly a seaborne Empire,

their development as a culture was orientated around trade across the rich Near Eastern regions.

• Traded in: tin & copper; cedar wood; textiles & glass; and the famous regal ‘purple-dye’ (scarlet).

• The ancient wonder that is the City of Tyre, was supposedly founded as early as 2750BC.

• The Phoenician alphabet is seen as the precursor for both the Greek & Latin language.

•The Phoenician world was not a unified, political entity. Instead, it was subdivided into something similar to the City-States of 5th century Greece (i.e. Athens, Sparta). Although these cities had a shared cultural ethnicity, they were autonomous and were governed by regional dynasties.

• It has been argued by many that the Phoenician trade-network expanded as far as Britain, in search of the rich tin-deposits to found in the Cassiterides (‘Tin-Island’) - possibly Cornwall.

• Furthermore, an international project to trace the expanse of Phoenician trade, took DNA samples from across Africa & Europe. The researchers estimate that as many as one in 17 men from the Mediterranean may have Phoenician ancestry.

Phoenician colonists and the founding of Carthage

• There is much debate regarding the date of the City’s foundation. Certain ancient authors suggest that Phoenician traders settled in Northern Africa (Tunis) as early as 1234-1214. BC.

• However, these dates are contested and a more realistic date-range of 825-819. BC is more typically agreed upon.

• The latter date is supported by archaeological evidence, which is datable to the decades before the 750s.

A very Roman foundation ‘myth’

• The myth, immortalised in Virgil’s Aeneid, tells the story of the Tyrian Queen Dido (Elissa).

• Dido had fled from her ‘evil’ brother Pygmalion (King of Tyre) and settled with her followers in North Africa, at a site they called Carthage.

• However, the story was simply the invention of the Roman-poet Virgil. It’s main purpose was to provide a mythic origin for Carthaginian hatred against Rome (yes, by blaming it all on them!); and to create a fabricated image of the barbarian-Punic.

• Virgil’s story also places the foundation of Carthage in the less than accepted chronology of 1234-1214. BC.

Virgil, Aeneid IV, ‘unknown avenger’, Hannibal?

Let there be no love or treaties between our peoples. Rise, some unknown avenger, from my dust, who will pursue

the Trojan colonists with fire and sword, now, or in time to come, whenever the strength is granted him.

I pray that shore be opposed to shore, water to wave, weapon to weapon: let them fight, them and their descendants.

Early-Carthage• The earliest settlement of Carthage was

placed on the Byrsa (birtu, fortress); a hill which remained the centre point for Carthage throughout its history.

• A gold pendent found in a burial near the hilltop, refers to Pygmalion and has been used to date the site to the 9th century.

• The geographical location was incredibly favourable, and it was set into a well-populated and productive region. Furthermore, its position enabled quick access to the two most important trading routes in the region (EW, NS).

(The Douimes Pendant Inscription, 9th. BC) !L'STR / T LPGMLYN / YD'MLK BN / PDY HLS / 'S HLS / PGMLYN. ‘For Asarte and for Pygmalion (dedicated by a soldier named Yadomilk son of Paday) whom Pygmalion equipped.’

State formation and government

• Similarly to Rome, Carthage was a Republic: that is, a state with annually elected officials, accountable to and voted in by the citizen body.

• However, just as in Rome, Carthaginian politics were dominated by a ruling elite. Although this was the case, entry to the ruling class was flexible and open to talent - perhaps more so than in Rome.

• The chief officials of the republic were an annually elected pair of ‘sufetes’, ‘magistrates.

The Carthaginians are also considered to have an excellent form of government, which differs from that of any other state in several respects, though it is in some regards very like the Spartan. Indeed, all three states---the Spartan, the Cretan, and the Carthaginian---nearly resemble one another, and are very different from any others. Many of the Carthaginian institutions are excellent.

(Aristotle, On the Constitution of Carthage, 4th.BC)

- It is worth noting that at this point in time, Aristotle does not even mention the political structure of Rome.

Carthaginian Religion • Religious ritual lay at the heart

of Carthage’s developing identity, not least because it provided a vital tool for elite political control.

• The two most significant deities in Carthage were Baal Hammon & Tanit.

• Significant money and resources were spent on temple complexes and architecture, which were Carthage’s greatest and wealthiest institutions.

The debate about child-sacrifice: did they, or didn’t they?

• From the third millennium BC onwards Near Eastern texts allude to the practise of molk (mlk), which simply meant ‘gift’ or ‘offering.’ However, the word was often used for the sacrifice of firstborn children to appease the gods, in a calamitous situation.

• In the book of Exodus, for instance, the Israelites are given the command to sacrifice their firstborn sons (Exodus 22:29).

• Furthermore, it is claimed by at least (later) Greek texts that in times of peril the Carthaginians has also sacrificed their sons by beheading them, as an offering to the god El - in pious emulation of the god himself (Eusebius, evangelical preparation 1.10.44).

• ‘There was in their city a bronze image of Cronus extending its hands, palms up and sloping towards the ground, so that each of the children when placed thereupon rolled down and fell into a sort of gaping pit filled with fire.’ (Diodorus 20.14.4-7).

• Diodorus had also claimed that a Carthaginian commander had sacrificed a child to Cronus as his forces besieged a city (13.86.3).

• …they themselves offered up their own children, and those who had no children would buy little ones from poor people and cut their throats as if they were so many lambs or young birds; meanwhile the mother stood by without a tear or moan; but should she utter a single moan or let fall a single tear, she had to forfeit the money, and her child was sacrificed nevertheless; and the whole area before the statue was filled with a loud noise of flutes and drums took the cries of wailing should not reach the ears of the people.

(Plutarch, On Superstition 171)

!

‘New’ research? • Recent research has sort to affirm what

Greek & Roman propagandists stated about child-sacrifice in Carthage.

• However, though the evidence seems irrefutable, this was by no means a common occurrence - there are very few examples in the archaeological record.

• The funerary process, which included both cremation & burial was incredibly expensive so this must have been a custom of elite families only - to perhaps bless the community?

• It is my own opinion, that sacrifice is not the only explanation for these rituals. Infant mortality was high in the ancient world (30-40%), as was the exposure of unwanted children - the Greeks & Romans did this too.

An Empire of the Sea:• Carthage’s trade and influence

developed vigorously in her first two or three centuries.

• By the late 6th Century, if not earlier, Carthage was asserting her dominance over much of the Mediterranean.

• By this point Carthaginian merchants had been trading with the Etruscans of mainland Italy for two centuries.

• During this period Carthage also began trading with the newly founded Roman Republic, 509.BC)

Pyrgi gold sheets, 500.BC

There is to be friendship between the Romans and their allies and the Carthaginians and their allies on these terms: The Romans and their allies are not to sail with long ships beyond the Fair Promontory unless forced by storm or by enemies…Men coming to trade may conclude no business except in the presence of a herald or town-clerk, and the price of whatever is sold in the presence of such shall be secured to the vendor by the state, if the sale take place in Libya or Sardinia. If any Romans come to the Carthaginian province in Sicily, he shall enjoy equal rights with the others. The Carthaginians shall do no wrong to the peoples of Ardea, Antium, Laurentium, Circeii, Terracina, or any other city of the Latins who are subject to Rome.

(Polybius, The Histories 3.22.4 - First treaty between Rome and Carthage)