Part 27

(3) _Wars with Rome._[4]--The first Punic War lasted twenty-seven years (268-241); it was fought by Carthage for the defence of her Sicilian possessions and her supremacy in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Romans, victorious at the naval battles of Mylae (Melazzo) and Ecnomus (260 and 256), sent M. Atilius Regulus with an army to Africa. But the Carthaginians, by the help of the Spartan Xanthippus, were successful, and Regulus was captured. The fighting was then transferred to Sicily, where Hasdrubal was defeated at Panormus (250); subsequently the Romans failed before Lilybaeum and were defeated at Drepanum, but their victory at the Aegates Islands ended the war (241). Carthage now desired to disband her forces, but the mercenaries claimed their arrears of pay, and on being refused revolted under Spendius and Matho, pillaged the suburbs of Carthage and laid siege to the city itself. Only the genius of Hamilcar Barca raised the siege; the mercenaries were caught in the defile of the Axe, where they were cut down without mercy. This war, which all but ruined Carthage, is known to the Roman historians as the _bellum inexpiabile._

This peril averted, Carthage undertook the conquest of Spain. It was the work of Hamilcar, and lasted nine years up to the day of Hamilcar's death, sword in hand, in 228. His son-in-law, Hasdrubal Pulcher, built Carthagena in 227 and concluded with Rome a treaty by which the Ebro was adopted as the boundary of the Carthaginian sphere. On his death the soldiers chose for themselves as leader Hannibal, son of Hamilcar. At this period Carthage, with a population of perhaps 1,000,000, was in the enjoyment of extraordinary prosperity alike in its internal industries and in its foreign trade. The manufacture of woven goods, especially, was a flourishing industry; the Greek writer Polemo records a special treaty dealing with Carthaginian fabrics which were a recognized luxury throughout the ancient world. In Sicily, Italy and Greece the Carthaginians sold especially black slaves, ivory, metals, precious stones and all the products of Central Africa, which came thence by caravan. In Spain they sought copper and silver, and it was by them that the modern mines of Huelva, as also those of Osca and Carthagena, were first exploited. The district round Carthage, with its amazing fertility, was the granary of the city, as it was later that of Rome. Mago had drawn up a treaty dealing with agriculture and' rural economy generally, which was subsequently brought to Rome and translated into Latin by Decimus Silanus by order of the senate (J.P. Mahaffy, "The Work of Mago," in _Hermathena_, xv. pp. 29-35).

In the midst of this prosperity the Second War with Rome broke out. At this time the genius of Carthage is incarnate in Hannibal; his campaigns in Spain, Italy and Africa have won the admiration of military experts of all periods. The war became inevitable in 210 when Hannibal captured Saguntum, which was in alliance with Rome. Passing through Spain and Gaul, Hannibal resolved to carry the war into the heart of Italy (218-217). The battles of the Ticinus, Trebia and Trasimene Lake are but stages in the wonderful progress which culminated in the battle of Cannae (August 2, 216). The road to Rome was now open to him, but he did not profit by his advantage, while the Carthaginian senate, to its shame, withheld all further support. His brother Hasdrubal with his relieving army was defeated at the Metaurus in 207; the Romans recovered their hold in Spain, and, seeing that Hannibal was unable to move in Italy, carried the war back to Africa. Hearing that Scipio had taken Utica (203) and defeated Hasdrubal and Syphax, king of Numidia, Hannibal returned from Italy, but with a hastily levied army was defeated at Zama (October 19, 202). The subsequent peace was disastrous to Carthage, which lost its fleet and all save its African possessions.

After the Second War Carthage soon revived. The population is said still to have numbered 700,000, and despite its humiliation, the city never ceased to inspire alarm at Rome. The Numidian prince Massinissa, rival of Syphax and a Roman protege, took advantage of a clause in the treaty of 202, which forbade Carthage to make war without the consent of the Roman senate, to extend his possessions at the expense of Carthage. In response to a protest from Carthage an embassy including M. Porcius Cato the Elder was sent to inquire into the matter, and Cato was so impressed with the city as a whole that on returning to Rome he never made a speech without concluding with the warning "Delenda est Carthago."

At this time there were three political parties in Carthage: (1) that which upheld the Roman alliance, (2) hat which advocated the Numidian alliance, and (3) the popular party. These three were led respectively by Hanno, Hannibal Passer, Hasdrubal and Carthalo. The popular faction, which was turbulent and exasperated by the bad faith of the Romans, expelled the Numidian party and declared war in 149 on Massinissa, who was victorious at Oroscope. Rome then intervened, determined finally to destroy her now enfeebled rival. War was declared on the pretext that Carthage had engaged in war with Massinissa without the sanction of Rome. The third Punic War lasted three years, and after a heroic resistance the City fell in 146. The last champions of liberty entrenched themselves under Hasdrubal in the temple of Eshmun, the site of which is now occupied by the chapel of St Louis. The Roman troops were let loose to plunder and burn. The thick bed of cinders, blackened stones, broken glass, fragments of metal twisted by fire, half-calcined bones, which is found to-day at a depth of 13 to 16 ft. under the remains of Roman Carthage between Byrsa and the harbours, bears grim witness, in accord with the accounts of Polybius and Appian, to the terrible fate which overtook this part of the city. Before long a commission arrived from Rome to decide the fate of the province of Carthage. In the city itself, temples, houses and fortifications were levelled to the ground, the site was dedicated with solemn imprecations to the infernal gods, and all human habitation throughout the vast ruined area was expressly forbidden.

_Constitutional History._--The narrative must here be interrupted by an account of the political and religious development of Phoenician Carthage. Carthage was an aristocratic republic based on wealth rather than on birth. Indeed, the popular party, which included certain noble families such as the Barcidae, was always powerful, and thus government by demagogues was not infrequent. So Aristotle, writing about 330, emphasizes the importance of great wealth in Carthaginian politics. The government was in fact a plutocracy. The aristocratic party was represented by the two suffetes and the senate; the democratic by the popular assembly. The suffetes (_Sofetim_) presided in the senate and controlled the civil administration; the office was annual, but there was no limit to re-election. Hannibal was elected for twenty-two years. The senate, which, like that of Tyre, was composed of 300 members, exercised ultimate control over all public affairs, decided on peace and war, nominated the Commission of Ten, which was charged with aiding and controlling the suffetes. This commission was subsequently replaced, by a council of one hundred, called by the Greeks _gerousia_. This tribunal, which maintained law and order and called the generals to account, gradually became a tyrannical inquisition. Frequently it met at night in the Temple of Eshmun On Byrsa, in secret sessions described by Aristotle as [Greek: sussitia ton hetairion].

The popular assembly was composed, not of all the citizens, but of the _timuchi_ (Gr. [Greek: time, echein]), i.e. those who possessed a certain property-qualification. The election of the suffetes had to be ratified by this assembly. The two bodies were almost always in opposition, and this was one of the chief causes of the ruin of Carthage.

The army was recruited externally by senators who were sent to the great _emporia_ or trade-centres, even to the most remote, to contract with local princes for men and officers. The payments, agreed upon in this way, were frequently in arrears; hence the terrible revolts such as that of the "bellum inexpiabile." It was not till the 3rd century that Carthage, in imitation of the kings of Syria and Egypt, began to make use of elephants in war. The elephant used was the African type (_elephas capensis_), which was smaller than the Asiatic (_elephas indicus_), though with longer ears. In addition to the mercenaries, the army contained a legion composed of young men belonging to the best families in the state; this force was important as a nursery of officers.

_Religion_.--The religion of Carthage was that of the Phoenicians. Over an army of minor deities (_alonim_ and _baalim_) towered the trinity of great gods composed of Baal-Ammon or Moloch (identified by the Romans with Cronus or Saturn); Tanit, the virgin goddess of the heavens and the moon, the Phoenician Astarte, and known as Juno Caelestis in the Roman period; Eshmun, the protecting deity and protector of the acropolis, generally identified with Aesculapius. There were also special cults: of Iolaus or Tammuz-Adonis, whom the Romans identified to some extent with Mercury; of the god Patechus or Pygmaeus, a deformed and repulsive monster like the Egyptian Ptah, whose images were placed on the prows of ships to frighten the enemy; and lastly of the Tyrian Melkarth, whose functions were analogous to those of Hercules. The statue of this god was carried to Rome after the siege of 146 (Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxxvi. 12. 39). From inscriptions we know the names of other minor deities, which are perhaps only other names of the same gods, e.g. Rabbat Umma, "the great mother"; Baalat haedrat, "mistress of the sanctuary"; Ashtoreth (Astarte), Illat, Sakon, Tsaphon, Sid, Aris (? Ares).

From the close of the 4th century B.C. the intimate relations between the Carthaginians and the Sicilian Greeks began to introduce Hellenic elements into this religion. In the forum of Carthage was a temple to Apollo containing a colossal statue, which was transported to Rome. The Carthaginians once at least sent offerings to Delphi, and Tanit approximated to some extent to Demeter; hence on the coins we find the head of Tanit or the Punic Astarte crowned with ears of corn, in imitation of the coins of the Greek Sicilian colonies. The symbol of Tanit is the crescent moon; in her temple at Carthage was preserved a famous veil or _peplus_ which was venerated as the city's palladium. On the innumerable votive stelae which have been unearthed, we find invocations to Tanit and Baal-Ammon, as two associate deities ([Greek: theoi paredroi]). The usual formula in these inscriptions is, "To the great lady Tanit, the manifestation [reflex, face] of Baal (_Tanti-Pene-Baal_) and to our lord Baal-Ammon, the vow of Bomilcar, son of Mago, son of Bomilcar, because they have heard his prayer" (_Corp. inscr. semit._ vol. i. pp. 276 f.; Audollent, _Carth. Rom._ p. 369).

Baal-Ammon or Moloch, the great god of all Libya, is represented as an old man with ram's horns on his forehead; the ram is frequently found with his statues. He appears also with a scythe in his hand ("_falcem ferens senex pingitur_." St Cyprian, _De idol. vanit._ 11). At Carthage children were sacrificed to him, and in his temple there was a colossal bronze statue in the arms of which were placed the children who were to be sacrificed (Diod. Sic. xx. 14; Justin xviii. 6, xix. 1; Plut. _De superstit._ 13, _De sera num. vindic._ 6.). The children slipped one by one from the arms into a furnace amid the plaudits of fanatical worshippers. These sacrifices persisted even under Roman rule; Tertullian states that even in his time they took place in secret (_Apolog._ cix.; cf. Delattre, "Inscript. de Carth.," in _Bulletin epigraphique_, iv. p. 317; Audollent, op. cit. p. 398).

(4) _Roman Period._--In 122 B.C., twenty-four years after the destruction of the city by Scipio Aemilianus, the Roman senate, on the proposal of Rubrius, decided to plant a Latin colony on the site. C. Gracchus and Fulvius Flaccus were entrusted with the foundation of the new city, which was christened _Colonia Junonia_, and placed under the protection of Juno Caelestis, the new name for the Punic Tanit. But its prosperity was obstructed both by unpropitious omens and by the very recollection of the ancient feud, and fifty years later Marius, proscribed by Sulla, found the ruins practically deserted. In the neighbourhood were the scattered remnants of the old Punic population, who, according to Athenaeus (_Deipnosoph._ v. 50), had actually had the assurance to send ambassadors to Mithradates the Great assuring him of their support against Rome. Ultimately M. Minucius Rufus passed a law abrogating that of 122 and suppressing the _Colonia Junonia_.

Julius Caesar, pursuing the lost supporters of Pompey, encamped on the ruins of the city, and there, according to tradition, had a dream which induced him to re-establish the abandoned colony. Returning to Rome, he despatched thither the poor citizens who were demanding land from him. Later on Augustus sent new colonists, and, henceforward, the machinery of administration was regularly centred there (Appian viii. 136; Dio Cass. lxxx. 1; Audollent, op. cit. p. 46). The proconsuls of the African province had hitherto lived at Utica; in 14-13 B.C. C. Sentius Saturninus transferred his headquarters to Carthage, which was henceforth known as _Colonia Julia Carthago_. Several inscriptions use this name, as also the bronze coins which bear the heads of Augustus and Tiberius, and were struck at first in the name of the _suffetes_, afterwards in that of _duumviri_.

Pomponius Mela and Strabo already describe Carthage as among the greatest and most wealthy cities of the empire. Herodian puts it second to Rome, and such is the force of tradition that the Roman citizens resident in Carthage boasted of its Punic past, and loved to recall its glory. Virgil in the _Aeneid_ celebrated the misfortunes of Dido, whom the colonists ultimately identified with Tanit-Astarte; a public Dido-cult grew up, and the citizens even pretended to have discovered the very house from which she had watched the departure of Aeneas. The religious character of these legends, coupled with the city's resumption of its old role as mistress of Africa, and its independent spirit, reawakened the old distrust, and even up to the invasions of the Vandals the jealous rivalry of Rome forbade the reconstruction of the city walls.

The revolt of L. Clodius Macer, legate of Numidia, in A.D. 68 was warmly supported by Carthage, and one of the coins of this short-lived power bears the symbol of Carthage personified. At the moment of the accession of Vitellius, Piso, governor of the province of Africa, was in his turn proclaimed emperor at Carthage. A little later, under Antoninus Pius, we read of a fire which devastated the quarter of the forum; about the same time, i.e. under Hadrian and Antoninus, there was built the famous Zaghwan aqueduct, which poured more than seven million gallons of water a day into the reservoirs of the Mapalia (La Malga); the cost of this gigantic work was defrayed by a special tax which pressed heavily on the inhabitants as late as the reign of Septimius Severus; allusions to it are made on the coin-types of this emperor (E. Babelon, _Revista italiana di numismatica_, 1903, p. 157).

In the early history of Christianity Carthage played an auspicious part, in virtue of the number of its disciples, the energy and learning of their leaders, the courage and eloquence of its teachers, the persecutions of which it was the scene, the number of its councils and the heresies of which it witnessed the birth, propagation or extinction (see CARTHAGE, SYNODS OF). The labours of Delattre have filled the St Louis museum at Carthage with memorials of the early Church. From the end of the 2nd century there was a bishop of Carthage; the first was Agrippinus, the second Optatus. At the head of the apologists, whom the persecutions inspired, stands Tertullian. In 202 or 203, in the amphitheatre, where Cardinal Lavigerie erected a cross in commemoration, occurred the martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas. Tertullian was succeeded (248) by a no less famous bishop Cyprian. About this time the proconsul Gordian had himself proclaimed (239) emperor at Thysdrus (El Jem). Shortly afterwards Sabinianus, aspiring to the same dignity, was besieged by the procurator of Mauretania; the inhabitants gave him up and thus obtained a disgraceful pardon (R. Cagnat, _L'armee romaine d'Afrique_ p. 52; Audollent, op. cit. p. 73). Peace being restored, the persecution of the Christians was renewed by an edict of the emperor Decius (250). Cyprian escaped by hiding, and subsequently caused the heresy of Novatian to be condemned in the council of 251. In 257, in a new persecution under Valerian, Cyprian was beheaded by the proconsul Galerius Maximus.

About 264 or 265 a certain Celsus proclaimed himself emperor at Carthage, but was quickly slain. Probus, like Hadrian and Severus, visited the city, and Maximian had new baths constructed. Under Constantius Chlorus, Maxentius proclaimed himself emperor in Africa; this caused great excitement in Carthage, and the garrison, which was hostile to the pretender, compelled L. Domitius Alexander to assume the purple. Domitius was, however, captured by Maxentius and strangled at Carthage. About 311 there arose the famous Donatist heresy, supported by 270 African bishops (see DONATISTS and CONSTANTINE I.). At the synod of Carthage in 411 this heresy was condemned owing to the eloquence of Augustine. Two years later the Carthaginian sectaries even ventured upon a political rebellion under the leadership of Heraclianus, who proclaimed himself emperor and actually dared to make a descent on Italy itself, leaving his son-in-law Sabinus in command at Carthage. Being defeated he fled precipitately to Carthage, where he was put to death (413). Donatism was followed by Pelagianism (see PELAGIUS), also of Carthaginian origin, and these religious troubles were not settled when in May 429 the Vandals, on the appeal of Count Boniface, governor of Africa, crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and invaded Mauretania. Genseric, who was hailed with one accord by all the different sectaries as the champion of their several views, appeared in 439 before the walls of Carthage, which had been hastily rebuilt after five hundred years by the order of Theodosius II. The priest Salvianus has left a splendid picture of Carthage at this moment (_de Gubern._ vii. 16). It had 500,000 inhabitants, and 22 basilicas (several of which have been discovered by Delattre). Genseric entered almost without a blow (October 19, 439), and gave over the city to plunder before departing for his attack on Italy. From this time Carthage became, in the hands of the Vandals, a mere pirate stronghold, such as Tunis and Algiers were subsequently to become. Once, in 470, the fleet of the Eastern empire under the orders of Basiliscus appeared in the Bay of Carthage, but Genseric succeeded in setting fire to the attacking ships and from Byrsa watched their entire annihilation.

_Byzantine Rule_.--Under Genseric's successors (see VANDALS), Carthage was still the scene of many displays of savage brutality, though Thrasamund built new baths and a basilica. Ultimately Gelimer, the last Vandal king, was defeated at Ad Decimum by the Byzantine army under Belisarius, who entered Carthage unopposed (September 14, 533). The restored city now received the name of Colonia Justiniana Carthago; Belisarius rebuilt the walls and entrusted the government to Solomon. New basilicas and other monuments were erected, and Byzantine Carthage recovered for a century the prosperity of the Roman city.

At length the Arabs, having conquered Cyrenaica and Tripolitana (647), and founded Kairawan (670), arrived before Carthage. In 697 Hasan ibn en-Noman, the Gassanid governor of Egypt, captured the city almost without resistance. But the garrison left by the Arabs was quite unable to defend itself against the patrician Joannes, who retook the city and hastily put it in a state of defence. Hasan returned furious with anger, defeated the Byzantines again, and decreed the entire destruction of the city. His orders were fulfilled; and in 698 Carthage finally disappears from history. Once again only does the name appear in the middle ages, when the French king, Louis IX., at the head of the eighth crusade, disembarked there on the 17th of July 1270. He died, however, of the plague on the 25th of August without having recovered northern Africa for civilization.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--I. _Ancient_.--(a) Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, Livy, Appian, Justin, Strabo; (b) for the Christian period, Tertullian, Cyprian, Augustine; (c) for the Byzantine and Vandal, Procopius and Victor de Vita. All the references to the topography of Roman and Byzantine Carthage are collected in Audollent, _Carthage romaine_ (1901), pp. 775-825, which also contains a full list of modern works (pp. 13-32. and p. 835).

II. _Modern_.--The most important are: Falbe, _Recherches sur l'emplacement de Carthage_ (Paris, 1833); Dureau de la Malle, _Topographie de Carthage_ (Paris, 1835); Nathan Davis, _Carthage and her Remains_ (London, 1861); Beule, _Fouilles a Carthage_ (Paris, 1861); Victor Guerin, _Voyage archeologique dans la regence de Tunis_ (Paris, 1862); E. de Sainte Marie, _Mission a Carthage_ (Paris, 1884); C. Tissot, _Geographie comparee de la province romaine d'Afrique_ (Paris, 1884-1888, 2 vols.); E. Babelon, _Carthage_ (Paris, 1896); Otto Meltzer, _Geschichte der Karthager_ (Berlin, 1879-1896, 2 vols.); Paul Monceaux, _Les Africains, etude sur la litterature latine de l'Afrique; Les Paiens_ (Paris, 1898); _Histoire litteraire de l'Afrique chretienne_ (Paris, 1901-1909, 3 vols.); Pallu de Lessert, _Vicaires et comtes d'Afrique_ (Paris, 1892); _Fastes des provinces africaines sous la domination romaine_ (Paris, 1896-1901, 2 vols.); R. Cagnat, _L'Armee romaine d'Afrique_ (Paris, 1892); C. Diehl, _L'Afrique byzantine, histoire de la domination byzantine en Afrique_ (Paris, 1896); Aug. Audollent, _Carthage romaine_ (Paris, 1901); A.J. Church and A. Gilman, _Carthage_ in "Story of the Nations" series (1886). For the numerous publications of Pere Delattre scattered in various periodicals see _Etude sur les diverses publications du R.P. Delattre_, by Marquis d'Anselme de Puisaye (Paris, 1895); Miss Mabel Moore's _Carthage of the Phoenicians_ (London, 1905) contains a useful summary of Delattre's excavations. See further for the discussion of

## particular points: "Chronique archeologique africaine," published by

Steph. Gsell, in the _Revue africaine_ of Algiers, 1893, and following years; and in the _Melanges d'archeologie et d'histoire de l'Ecole francaise de Rome_, vol. xv. (1895 and following years); Dr Carton, "Chronique archeologique nord-africaine," in the _Revue tunisienne_. (E. B.*)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The whole question of these harbours has been fully discussed by Cecil Torr, Otto Meltzer, R. Ohler, S. Gsell, M. de Roquefeuil; see Aug. Audollent, _Carthage romaine_, pp. 198 seq.; _Revue archeol._ 3rd series, xxiv.; _Jahrbuch f. class. Philologie_, vols. cxlvii., cxlix.; also _Classical Review_, vols. v., vii., viii.

[2] i.e. "of the Poeni (Phoenicians)."

[3] The identification of this Hanno with the son of Hamilcar is conjectural; see HANNO.

[4] For the military side of these wars see PUNIC WARS; HANNIBAL; HASDRUBAL.