Carthaginians were renowned for their commercial prowess, ambitious explorations, and unique system of government, which combined elements of democracy, oligarchy, and republicanism, including modern examples of checks and balances.ĭespite having been one of the most influential civilizations of antiquity, Carthage is mostly remembered for its long and bitter conflict with Rome, which threatened the rise of the Roman Republic and almost changed the course of Western civilization. Like other Phoenician people, its society was urban, commercial, and oriented towards seafaring and trade this is reflected in part by its more famous innovations, including serial production, uncolored glass, the threshing board, and the cothon harbor. Notwithstanding the cosmopolitan character of its empire, Carthage's culture and identity remained rooted in its Phoenician-Canaanite heritage, albeit a localized variety known as Punic. All remnants of Carthaginian civilization came under Roman rule by the first century AD, and Rome subsequently became the dominant Mediterranean power, paving the way for its rise as a major empire. Having narrowly avoided destruction in the Second Punic War, the Romans destroyed Carthage in 146 BC after the third and final Punic War, later founding a new city in its place. Following centuries of conflict with the Sicilian Greeks, its growing competition with Rome culminated in the Punic Wars ( 264– 146 BC), which saw some of the largest and most sophisticated battles in antiquity. This commercial empire was secured by one of the largest and most powerful navies in the ancient Mediterranean, and an army composed heavily of foreign mercenaries and auxiliaries, particularly Iberians, Balearics, Celtic Gauls, Sicilians, Italians, Greeks, Numidians and Libyans.Īs the dominant power of the western Mediterranean, Carthage inevitably came into conflict with many neighbours and rivals, from the indigenous Berbers of North Africa to the nascent Roman Republic.
Its extensive mercantile network reached as far as west Asia, west Africa and northern Europe, providing an array of commodities from all over the ancient world, in addition to lucrative exports of agricultural products and manufactured goods. Īmong the ancient world's largest and richest cities, Carthage's strategic location provided access to abundant fertile land and major maritime trade routes. By 300 BC, through its vast patchwork of colonies, vassals, and satellite states, Carthage controlled the largest territory in the region, including the coast of northwest Africa, southern Iberia ( Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar) and the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, and the Balearic archipelago. In the seventh century BC, following Phoenicia's conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Carthage became independent, gradually expanding its economic and political hegemony across the western Mediterranean. At its height in the fourth century BC, the city-state grew to become the largest metropolis in the world, and the center of the Carthaginian Empire, a major power in the ancient world that dominated the western Mediterranean.Ĭarthage was settled around 814 BC by colonists from Tyre, a leading Phoenician city-state located in present day Lebanon. In historiographical terms, ancient Carthage ( / ˈ k ɑːr θ ɪ dʒ/) was a Phoenician civilization during classical antiquity, beginning from the founding of Carthage in modern Tunisia in the ninth century BC, to its destruction in 146 BC.