Carthage: Map & History

History

The specific date, circumstances, and motivations concerning Carthage's founding are unknown. Most surviving accounts of the city's origins come from Latin and Greek literature, which are generally legendary in nature and reflect Greco-Roman culture values.

The official Carthaginian foundation account as reported by the Phoenician prophet Cleodemus Malchus and transmitted by the Judean Flavius Joseph is that Carthaginians and other Tyrian migrants in North Africa were the descendants of Epher, a son of Midian and also a grandson of Abraham.

There are various conflicting Greco-Roman accounts of Carthage's founding. The oldest one is first recorded by Philistus of Syracuse, and corroborated by Eudoxus of Cnidus.

Government and politics

Modern scholars continue to debate whether Greek sources misunderstood Carthage's political structure, mistakenly referring to its leaders as “kings” due to unfamiliarity with its constitutional system. Historian Richard Miles argues that Carthage's oligarchic system dates back to the city's very founding. Phoenician monarchs traditionally shared authority with an advisory council known as the Adirim (“the mighty ones”), composed of wealthy merchant elites. Carthage appears to have followed a similar model with a governing council called the Blm, a group of nobles who oversaw key areas such as religion, administration, and military affairs.

Military

The military of Carthage was one of the largest in the ancient world. Although Carthage's navy was always its main military force, the army acquired a key role in extending Carthaginian power over the native peoples of northern Africa and the southern Iberian Peninsula from the sixth to third centuries BC.

Since at least the reign of Mago I in the early sixth century BC, Carthage regularly utilized its military to advance its commercial and strategic interests. According to Polybius, Carthage relied heavily, though not exclusively, on foreign mercenaries, especially in overseas warfare.

Economy

Carthage's commerce extended by sea throughout the Mediterranean and perhaps as far as the Canary Islands, and by land across the Sahara desert. According to Aristotle, the Carthaginians had commercial treaties with various trading partners to regulate their exports and imports. Their merchant ships, which surpassed in number even those of the original Phoenician city-states, visited every major port of the Mediterranean, as well as Britain and the Atlantic coast of Africa. These ships were able to carry over 100 tons of goods. Archaeological discoveries show evidence of all kinds of exchanges, from the vast quantities of tin needed for bronze-based civilizations, to all manner of textiles, ceramics, and fine metalwork.