Ancient Carthage

Carthage
𐤒𐤓𐤕𐤟𐤇𐤃𐤔𐤕
*Qart-ḥadašt*
Carthage 𐤒𐤓𐤕𐤟𐤇𐤃𐤔𐤕; Qart-ḥadašt
c. 814 BC – 146 BC
	Sign of Tanit
	Location of Carthage and Carthaginian sphere of influence prior to the First Punic War (264 BC), based on Putzger Atlas und Chronik zur Weltgeschichte
Capital	Carthage
Official languages	Punic
Religion	Punic religion
Demonym	Carthaginian
Government	Monarchy until mid-to-late 6th century BC, republic led by shophets thereafter.
Historical era	Classical antiquity
• Foundation	c. 814 BC
• Independence from Tyre	mid-6th century BC
• Conquest by the Roman Republic after the Third Punic War	146 BC
Population
• 222 BC	3,700,000–4,300,000
Currency	Carthaginian currency
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Phoenicia
Africa (Roman province)
Sicilia (Roman province)
Hispania
Mauretania

Ancient Carthage (/ˈkɑːrθɪdʒ/ KAR-thij; Punic: 𐤒𐤓𐤕𐤟𐤇𐤃𐤔𐤕, lit. 'New City') was an ancient civilization based in North Africa. It grew from a small settlement in present-day Tunisia into the Carthaginian Empire, a major power that dominated the western half of the Mediterranean Sea.

Carthage was settled around 814 BC by merchants from Tyre, a leading Phoenician city-state located in present-day Lebanon. In the 7th century BC, following Phoenicia's conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Carthage became independent of its eastern neighbors. Leveraging its naval power, Carthage then began to grow a vast patchwork of colonies, vassals, and satellite states until it was the economic and political hegemon of the western Mediterranean. By 300 BC, Carthage controlled the coast of northwestern Africa, southern and eastern Iberia, and the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, and the Balearic Islands. Tripoli remained de facto autonomous under the authority of local Libyco-Phoenicians, a mixed Nation of local Libyans (spicfically Macae Who built and ruled the old town of Leptis Magna From 1000 BC) and Phoenicians, who paid nominal tribute.

Among the ancient world's largest and richest cities, Carthage's strategic location provided access to abundant fertile land and major maritime trade routes that reached West Asia and Northern Europe. This commercial empire was secured by one of the largest and most powerful navies in classical antiquity, and an army composed heavily of foreign mercenaries and auxiliaries, which included Iberians, Balearics, Gauls, Britons, Sicilians, Italians, Greeks, Numidians, and Libyans. Carthage's unique system of government combined at different times elements of primitive democracy, oligarchy, and republicanism, including early examples of separation of powers.

As the dominant power in the western Mediterranean, Carthage inevitably came into conflict with many neighbours and rivals, from the Berbers of North Africa to the nascent Roman Republic. 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. Carthage narrowly avoided destruction after the Second Punic War, but was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC after the Third Punic War. The Romans later founded a new city in its place. All remnants of Carthaginian civilization came under Roman rule by the 1st century AD, and Rome subsequently became the dominant Mediterranean power, paving the way for the Roman Empire.

Despite having been one of the most influential civilizations of antiquity, Carthage is mostly remembered for its long and bitter conflict with Rome. Due to the destruction of virtually all Carthaginian texts after the Third Punic War, much of what is known about its civilization comes from Roman and Greek sources, many of which were written during or after the Punic Wars, and to varying degrees were influenced by the hostilities. Popular and scholarly attitudes towards Carthage historically reflected the prevailing Greco-Roman view, though archaeological research since the late 19th century has helped shed more light and nuance on Carthaginian civilization.