The Obituary
Founded by Phoenician colonists from Tyre, Carthage grew into the commercial and naval power of the western Mediterranean, with a trading empire stretching across North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, and Iberia. Three Punic Wars pitted it against Rome; Hannibal’s near-victory in the second was eventually reversed at Zama in 202 BCE. In the third war Rome besieged and stormed the city in 146 BCE, killing or enslaving the survivors and demolishing the site. The land became a Roman province, and the Carthaginian state was gone for good.
Worth remembering
- Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with war elephants to invade Italy in 218 BCE.
- It dominated western Mediterranean trade for centuries from its great double harbor.
Sources
- Carthage founded by Phoenician settlers c. 814 BCE Wikipedia
- Carthage destroyed by Rome in 146 BCE ending the Third Punic War Encyclopaedia Britannica
A graveyard tradition: leave a stone to show you came, and remembered.