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Carthage: A Lost Empire

What remains?

Carthage
Elsewhere in Tunisia
Sicily
Sardinia
Spain

The thoroughness of Rome’s destruction of Carthage means that remarkably little remains of this once great civilisation. But archaeology has begun to throw up tantalising glimpses of Punic culture.

Carthage
Even the city of Carthage itself – located some 15 kilometres north of Tunis, capital of modern-day Tunisia – has revealed something of its past. The Punic ports have been extensively excavated, and you can make out the rectangular and circular harbours. There are also visible remains of the great sea wall of Punic Carthage. Nearby is the tophet, the child burial ground. Early antiquarians left little of the site intact, but it retains its chilling atmosphere.

Carthage was centred around Byrsa Hill, later levelled by the Romans. Excavations have revealed the foundations of incredible Punic buildings and houses that once rose six-storeys high along narrow streets. Each house had its own cistern along with a rudimentary drainage system. Across Byrsa is the trace of scorched earth, a compelling reminder of the fire that finally destroyed the city.

The Musée National contains important artefacts from the early city. A recurring theme is the cross-over between different cultures, demonstrating the importance of trade and the fluidity of influences. The most important piece of sculpture is the life-sized effigies of a man and a woman, each lying on top of a stone sarcophagus, dating from the 4th century BC, which reveals Etruscan and Egyptian, as well as Punic, influences. Mosaics demonstrate the transition from Punic to Roman Carthage.

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Elsewhere in Tunisia
The key collection of Punic artefacts is in the Bardo in Tunis. It has artefacts including sarcophagi, stelae, Carthaginian jewellery and statues, including one of the Carthaginian god Baal Hammon dating from the 1st century AD, illustrating Rome’s assimilation of Punic culture.

Most Carthaginian towns were taken over by the Romans, but the continuity of Punic culture is apparent. In Utica (near Carthage on the Majardah river), the funerary architecture and absence of a tophet (a place where the remains of the dead are deposited) means that this town must have been closer culturally to the Phoenician colonies in Spain than to Carthage. Its museum has a Roman lamp dating from the mid-4th century AD featuring the triangular symbol of the goddess Tanit.

Dougga (110 km south-west of Tunis) may look Roman, but the conquerors' temple of Saturn was built over the Punic temple of Baal and follows a typically north African plan, while the temple of Caelestis was dedicated to the Roman version of Tanit. At Thuburbo Majus (about 50km south of Tunis), the sanctuary of Baal was erected in 2nd century AD.

The Punic town of Kerkouane – on the Cap Bon peninsula north-east of Tunis – is exceptionally well-preserved as it was abandoned in the 2nd century BC and never occupied by the Romans. Excavations have revealed a clear town plan and the foundations of houses, many with central courtyards and private bathrooms. Kerkouane’s main industry was the manufacture of a purple dye made from decomposed shellfish, and there are still basins in the town coloured red by the dye. In fact, most of the town’s 2,500 people appear to have been involved in making ‘Tyrian purple’. The process was extremely complex, and it took more than 10,000 shellfish to turn a single toga purple, so purple became the colour of the elite.

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Sicily
The island of Motya – about 2km offshore from Marsala in western Sicily – has the remains of a Phoenician city destroyed in 397 BC. Its economy was based on trade and the production of ceramics. Key sites include the House of the Mosaics and remains of the town walls. Also impressive is the Kothon, an artificial boat dock built within the walls. The museum has a number of Phoenician/Punic objects including a life-size marble statue of a young man wearing a tunic. Dating from the 5th century BC, it is an example of the encounter of Greek and Phoenician/Punic civilisations.

Modern Marsala was once Lilybaeum. In the Museo Archeologico are the remains of the Punic warship excavated there by the British archaeologist Honor Frost in the 1970s. It is the most significant Punic shipwreck found to date, notable for its rare examples of Punic script, demonstrating how the Carthaginians built their ships according to a standard pattern (which made it easy for the Romans to copy them).

At Himera – on the north coast, 38 kilometres east of Palermo – you can see the remains of the Tempio della Vittoria, the massive temple erected by the Greeks to commemorate the defeat of the Carthaginians in 480 BC (the Carthaginians returned in 409 and destroyed the Greeks and Himera).

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Sardinia
Apart from its ports, which were located on Phoenician and Punic trading routes, Sardinia’s appeal was its mineral wealth. At Buggerru on the south-west coast, the ore was transferred directly from the cliff-top mines to the ships below. Nearby, the port of Sulcis (today’s San Antioco) was an important base for shipping lead and zinc overseas. There is a Punic acropolis and necropolis, as well as a tophet dedicated to Tanit, the walls of which are surrounded by funerary urns. Many stelae have also been found, but placed separately from the urns.

Excavations at Tharos have revealed Punic houses arranged on a grid of streets, a Punic tophet and the former Carthaginian acropolis. At Monte Sirai, the Carthaginians took over the Phoenician fortress, making it their principal military base. Situated on a hill 200 metres high, it dominates the local landscape. The foundations of three streets of terraced houses have been excavated, along with tombs from a substantial necropolis marked with the triangular symbol of Tanit. The fortress, which once sheltered 6,000 soldiers, wasn’t reoccupied by the Romans, but they did take over the Tempio di Antas, originally a Punic sacred site, incorporating the Carthaginian building.

At Nora, archaeologists have uncovered Punic houses, a forum and a Phoenician sanctuary, along with the foundations of Carthaginian warehouses and the ruins of a temple dedicated to Tanit. The Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Cagliari has the island’s most important Phoenician and Carthaginian finds including jewellery and coins, busts and statues of gods, along with funerary items from Nora, Tharos and Sulcis.

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Spain
Despite its importance in Carthaginian history, Spain has little archaeology to offer. There are artefacts in museums across southern Spain, but few significant collections. Gades is now the modern port of Cadiz, its oldest finds dating from the 8th century BC. Excavation work has been carried out on the Temple of Melqart on the island of Santi Petri, but little remains. Finds from the temple are kept in the Museo de Bellas Artes y Arqueologico in Cadiz, which has other Phoenician and Punic artefacts. The mines at Rio Tinto provide impressive testimony to the importance of mining.

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Chronology

Carthage life

Why Carthage failed

Remembering Carthage

What remains?

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