Maximum extent of the Carthaginian empire, ca. 500 BC.
Carthage (from the Phoenician “New City”) was founded in 814 BC by Phoenician settlers from the city of Tyre. By 500 BC, Carthage was the commercial center of the region, a position it would retain until overthrown by the Roman Republic. The city had conquered the territory of several old Phoenician colonies, such as Hadrumetum, Utica and Kerkouane, and the Libyan tribes, spreading its control along the North African coast from modern Morocco to the borders of Egypt. Its influence had also spread into the Mediterranean, with control over Sardinia, Malta, the Balearic Islands and the western half of Sicily. Colonies had also been established in Iberia.
The empire of Carthage depended heavily on its trade with Tartessos and other cities of Iberia, for silver and, even more importantly, tin ore, which was essential to the manufacture of bronze. When Tartessos fell, the Carthaginian ships went directly to the primary sources of tin in the northwestern section of the Iberian peninsula and further north, in the British Isles. Carthage is perhaps best known as Rome’s antagonist in the Punic Wars, and in particular, for its brilliant general, Hannibal.
When Hannibal was born in 247 BC, his birthplace Carthage was losing a long and terrible war. Carthage had been the Mediterranean’s most prosperous seaport and possessed wealthy provinces, but it had suffered severe losses from the Romans in the First Punic War (264-241). After Rome’s victory, it stripped Carthage of its most important province, Sicily, and subsequently Sardinia and Corsica as well.
In 221 BC Hannibal was elected commander by the Carthaginian army in Iberia. He adopted his father’s aggressive military politics and his conquest of Iberia spread. In 219 BC, he besieged Saguntum, a Roman ally which fell after a blockade of eight months.
In response to the speed of Hannibal’s conquest and an attack on an ally, Rome began mobilizing for war. Hannibal decided to strike with a bold invasion before Rome was prepared. In a lightning campaign, he crossed the Pyrenees with an army of 50,000 infantry, 9,000 cavalry and 37 elephants. He ferried his elephants across the river Rhone on large rafts. He subsequently won major victories over the Romans at the Battles of the river Trebia (218 BC), Lake Trasimene (217 BC) and Cannae (216 BC). Based on these brilliant victories many consider him to be the father of military strategy.
After years of occupying Roman territory and with his supply lines dwindling, a counterinvasion of North Africa by the Romans under Scipio Africanus in 204 BC forced Hannibal to return to Carthage, where Scipio defeated him at Zama 202 BC. The city of Carthage was razed and its farmland sown with salt.
In AD 183 or 182 agents of Rome tracked Hannibal to the court of King Prusias I of Bithynia. When they demanded that Persians surrender him, Hannibal committed suicide rather than submit. Livy writes that he had poison in readiness. Taking the cup into his hand he said, “Let us ease the Romans of their continual dread and care, who think it long and tedious to await the death of a hated old man.” With Hannibal’s death, it would be almost six centuries before Roman power was seriously challenged again.
Dido
According to Justinus, Dido was the daughter of a a king of Tyre who named Dido and his son, Pygmalion as joint heirs. On his death the people took Pygmalion alone as their ruler though Pygmalion was yet still a boy. Elissa married Acerbas her uncle who as priest of Hercules was second in power to King Pygmalion and was rumored to have great wealth. King Pygmalion subsequently had Acerbas murdered in hopes of gaining the wealth he was rumored to have. Dido, desiring to escape Tyre, pretended to wish to move into Pygmalion’s palace. But then she ordered the attendants whom Pygmalion sent to aid in the move to throw all Acerbas’ bags of gold into the sea as an offering to his spirit, or so it seemed. In fact the bags contained only sand. Then Dido persuaded the attendants to join her in flight to another land rather than face Pygmalion’s anger when he discovered what had supposedly become of Acerbas’ wealth.
Eventually Dido and her followers arrived on the coast of North Africa where Dido asked the local inhabitants for a small bit of land for a temporary refuge until she could continue her journeying, only as much land as could be encompassed by an oxhide. They agreed. Dido cut the oxhide into fine strips so that she had enough to use it to surround an entire nearby hill, which was therefore afterwards named Byrsa “hide.” That would become their new home. Many of the locals joined the settlement and both locals and envoys from the nearby Phoenician city of Utica urged the building of a city. In digging the foundations an ox’s head was found, indicating a city that would be wealthy but subject to others. Accordingly another area of the hill was dug instead where a horse’s head was found, indicating that the city would be powerful in war.
But when the new city of Carthage had been established and become prosperous, Hiarbas, a native king of the Maxitani or Mauritani (mansucripts differ), demanded Dido for his wife or he would make war on Carthage. Dido’s envoys, fearing Hiarbas, told Dido only that Hiarbas’ terms for peace were that someone from Carthage must dwell permanently with him to teach Phoenician ways and they added that of course no Carthaginian would agree to dwell with such savages. Dido condemned any who would feel that way when they should indeed give their lives for the city if necessary. Dido’s envoys then explained that Hiarbas had specifically requested Dido as wife.
Dido was trapped by her words. But Dido preferred to stay faithful to her first husband and after creating a ceremonial funeral pyre and sacrificing many victims to his spirit in pretense that this was a final honoring of her first husband in preparation for marriage to Hiarbas, Dido ascended the pyre, announced that she would go to her husband as they desired, and then slew herself with her sword. After this self-sacrifice Dido was deified and was worshipped as long as Carthage endured. In this account, the foundation of Carthage occurred 72 years before the foundation of Rome.
