Carthage (
Arabic ??????,
Ancient Greek ?a???d?? Karkhedon,
Berber Kartajen,
Latin Carthago or
Karthago, from the
Phoenician ???????? ??????
Qart-?adašt meaning
new town) refers both to an ancient city in present-day
Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of
Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian. The city of Carthage is located on the eastern side of
Lake Tunis across from the center of Tunis. According to Roman legend it was founded in 814 BC by
Phoenician colonists under the leadership of Elissa (
Queen Dido). It became a large and rich city and thus a major power in the Mediterranean. The resulting rivalry with
Syracuse and
Rome was accompanied by several wars with respective invasions of each other's homeland.
Hannibal's invasion of Italy in the
Second Punic War culminated in the Carthaginian
victory at Cannae and led to a serious threat to the continuation of Roman rule over Italy; however, Carthage emerged from the conflict at its historical weakest. After the
Third Punic War, the city was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC. However, the Romans refounded Carthage, which became one of the three most important cities of the Empire and the capital of the short-lived
Vandal kingdom. It remained one of the most important Roman cities until the Muslim conquest when it was destroyed a second time in AD 698.
Carthage was built on a promontory with inlets to the sea to the north and south. The city's location made it master of the Mediterranean's maritime trade. All ships crossing the sea had to pass between Sicily and the coast of Tunisia, where Carthage was built, affording it great power and influence.
Two large, artificial harbors were built within the city, one for harboring the city's massive navy of 220 warships and the other for mercantile trade. A walled tower overlooked both harbors.
The city had massive walls, 23 miles (37 kilometers) in length, longer than the walls of comparable cities. Most of the walls were located on the shore and thus could be less impressive, as Carthaginian control of the sea made attack from that direction difficult. The 2.5 to 3 miles (4 to 4.8 kilometers) of wall on the isthmus to the west were truly large and, in fact, were never penetrated.
