17. Carthage - Empire of the Phoenicians

Aug 9, 2023

17. Carthage - Empire of the Phoenicians

Buried beneath the city streets of the Tunisian capital of Tunis, an ancient city lies forgotten…

In this episode, we look at one of the most dramatic stories to come down to us from the ancient world: the rise and fall of the empire of Carthage. Find out how this city rose out of the Phoenician states of the Eastern Mediterranean, and set out on voyages of discovery and settlement that put them at the centre of the ancient world. And hear how the city of Carthage was destroyed, and its memory nearly wiped from the earth.

SOURCES: https://www.patreon.com/posts/sources…

Credits:

Written and produced by Paul Cooper
Sound engineering by Alexey Sibikin

3D recreations of Carthage by Faber-Courtial
https://faber-courtial.de/

Original music by Pavlos Kapralos: / @pavloskapralos3969

Sass Hoory: percussion
Lelu Blesa: vocals
Anastasia Papadopoulou: vocals
June Filetti: oboe
Pavlos Kapralos: oud, vocals, flutes, instrument sampling and editing

Voice actors:

Michael Hajiantonis
Lachlan Lucas
Alexandra Boulton
Simon Jackson
Tom Marshall-Lee
Chris Harvey
Nick Denton
Paul Casselle

Join this channel:
/ @fallofcivilizations

Content

8.3 -> In the year 1858, the French novelist

12.3 -> Gustave Flaubert arrived in North Africa

15.859 -> hoping to find inspiration for his

18.66 -> latest book.

20.939 -> Flaubert was a seasoned traveler, and a

24.18 -> decade or so earlier had embarked on a

26.58 -> grand tour of Cairo, Constantinople,

29.279 -> Greece, and Italy.

31.98 -> But the writer, who now departed on this

34.5 -> new set of travels, was like a different

36.96 -> man.

38.1 -> Although only 37 years old, he was

41.1 -> plagued by sickness and prone to fits of

44.04 -> depression,

45.36 -> and the novel he had been working on for

47.46 -> the last year was threatening to drive

49.62 -> him mad.

51.78 -> The publication of his most famous work

53.879 -> two years before, the novel Madame Bovary,

56.94 -> had brought him fame and wealth. But now

60.059 -> he was attempting to write a piece of

61.8 -> fiction quite unlike anything he had

63.96 -> ever attempted.

65.339 -> It would be a story from classical

67.5 -> history that took place in an empire

70.02 -> that had once flourished in the north of

72.72 -> Africa, had become the most powerful

75 -> society in the ancient world, and then

77.7 -> had vanished in its entirety more than

81.119 -> 2,000 years ago, an empire that had been

84 -> largely forgotten beside the more

86.28 -> well-studied societies of Classical

88.619 -> Greece and Rome.

90.6 -> This was the empire of Carthage.

94.619 -> He had spent the last months locked up

96.659 -> in his study like a hermit, surrounded by

99.479 -> the work of ancient historians, trying to

102.18 -> bring the lost city of Carthage back to

104.579 -> life.

105.84 -> But the writing just wouldn't come, as he

108.84 -> wrote to his friend,

110.28 -> Ernest Feydeau.

112.259 -> I'm done for, my friend, done for!

116.159 -> The past month, I found it impossible to

119.1 -> write. I can't find a single word.

122.759 -> Just think of what I've let myself in

124.979 -> for, to resuscitate an entire

127.619 -> civilization with nothing whatsoever to

130.56 -> go on.

132.54 -> Flaubert made the decision that

134.28 -> something would have to change.

136.5 -> He wrote of his intentions to his friend,

138.78 -> Mademoiselle Leroyer de Chantepie.

142.56 -> I absolutely must take a trip to Africa;

145.739 -> so, toward the end of March, I'll return

148.68 -> to the land of dates.

150.42 -> Once again, Iíll live on horseback and sleep

153.78 -> under a tent.

155.16 -> I need only to go to El Kef and explore

158.76 -> the environs of Carthage in order to

161.459 -> acquaint myself thoroughly with the

163.379 -> landscapes I'll be describing.

167.099 -> When he arrived in the French colony of Tunisia,

170.28 -> Flaubert jotted down hurried impressions in his

172.62 -> notebooks as he explored the ruins of

175.14 -> the ancient cities of Utica and Carthage,

178.019 -> now all but buried beneath the modern

180.959 -> Tunisian capital of Tunis.

185.64 -> In the green wheat full of flowering

187.92 -> poppies, the road climbs a little, sloping

191.159 -> to the left, and arrives at a valley;

193.739 -> flat plains in the middle, at a league's

197.22 -> distance, ruins like palm trees, and here

200.76 -> and there, blocks of masonry. We are

204 -> walking on the remains of a Roman road.

207.84 -> As he walked among the ruined walls of

210.659 -> this ancient city, Flaubert felt himself

213.42 -> connected to the ancient people he had

216.12 -> been trying to write about,

217.98 -> and saw ways of life that must have

220.62 -> remained almost unchanged since the days

223.08 -> of Carthage.

225.18 -> In the South; the village of Sidi-bou-Said,

228.36 -> the sea behind like a great block of

231.659 -> indigo.

232.799 -> All Carthage now stretches out before me.

236.4 -> A camel on a terrace, turning a well;

239.819 -> flies are buzzing, weeds hang from the

243.239 -> halls like chandeliers.

245.459 -> A bird takes flight with the sound of a

247.86 -> wing; another sings; very fine dust,

251.12 -> silence, green marks on the walls, livid

255.54 -> and thick water in some basins.

260.459 -> By the time he had finished his

262.199 -> wanderings among the Carthaginian ruins

264.479 -> of Tunisia, Flaubert had decided to

267.36 -> completely rewrite the draft of his book,

269.46 -> as he writes to Mademoiselle de Chantepie.

273.96 -> Everything I had done on my novel has to

277.56 -> be done over. I was on the wrong track

280.259 -> entirely.

281.52 -> So, it turns out that a little over a

284.52 -> year since I first had the idea for the

286.62 -> book, and after working hard on it most

289.74 -> of that time, I am still only at the

292.68 -> beginning.

296.4 -> Armed with his Tunisian notebooks,

299.04 -> Flaubert finished his book four years later,

301.32 -> and it was published under the title of

304.56 -> Salammbo.

306.479 -> The book was an enormous success.

309.6 -> It inspired plays and later even silent

312.84 -> films, and it is credited with renewing

315.84 -> public interest in a city and a culture

318.66 -> that had once been considered a side

320.94 -> note of history.

323.4 -> As Flaubert walked those ruined walls

326.46 -> and sunken harbors, as he kicked his way

329.34 -> through the dust and scree of the

331.38 -> crumbling city ruins, he must have asked

334.139 -> himself again and again; what did it feel

337.259 -> like to walk the streets of that ancient

339.78 -> city? What was it like to see Carthage at

343.32 -> the height of its golden age,

345.539 -> and what would it have felt like to see

348.06 -> this entire city, its streets and houses,

351.02 -> its temples and theaters, its harbors and

355.08 -> its homes, utterly destroyed and buried

358.56 -> in dust and ash?

393.38 -> My name's Paul Cooper, and you're

396.06 -> listening to the Fall of Civilizations

397.86 -> Podcast.

399.539 -> Each episode, I look at a civilization of

402.24 -> the past that rose to glory and then

404.699 -> collapsed into the ashes of history.

407.4 -> I want to ask, what did they have in

409.56 -> common? What led to their fall, and what

412.319 -> did it feel like to be a person alive at

414.419 -> the time who witnessed the end of their

417.12 -> world?

418.62 -> In this episode, I want to tell one of

421.199 -> the most dramatic stories to come down

423.24 -> to us from the ancient world, the rise

425.819 -> and fall of the empire of Carthage.

429.419 -> I want to show how this city rose out of

432.3 -> the Phoenician states of the Eastern

434.16 -> Mediterranean, and set out on voyages of

436.919 -> discovery and settlement that put them

439.38 -> at the center of the ancient world.

442.08 -> I want to describe the unique culture

444.3 -> that flourished on the shores of North

446.46 -> Africa, and I want to tell the story of

449.52 -> how the city of Carthage was destroyed

451.68 -> and its memory nearly wiped from the

454.62 -> Earth.

469.639 -> The Mediterranean Sea is a vast body of

473.46 -> salt water that lies between the

475.919 -> continents of Europe and Africa.

479.039 -> It's by far the largest inland sea on

482.039 -> the planet, stretching around 4,000

484.8 -> kilometers from end to end, and in the

487.62 -> West, it's connected to the Atlantic

489.419 -> Ocean by a thin opening of the Straits

492.24 -> of Gibraltar. The coastline

496.199 -> of this sea is more than 46,000

499.919 -> kilometers long, or enough to wrap around

502.5 -> the entire circumference of the planet,

505.44 -> and this coastline has provided a home

508.02 -> to countless cultures and civilizations

510.539 -> over history.

512.82 -> One of these cultures emerged on the

515.219 -> easternmost corner of the Mediterranean

517.32 -> coast, on a stony stretch of shore in

520.62 -> what is today Lebanon, overlooked by

523.74 -> towering mountains covered in cedar

526.26 -> forest.

527.459 -> Here, a series of city-states rose up

530.279 -> more than 4,000 years ago that would

532.8 -> give rise to a culture that would one

534.959 -> day be called the Phoenicians.

538.44 -> The largest of these cities were named

541.08 -> Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos.

544.94 -> Pinched as they were between the waves

547.44 -> to the west and the forested mountains

549.72 -> to the east, the territories they ruled

552.18 -> over were never large, but this

554.94 -> relatively isolated geography also meant

557.7 -> that they were somewhat protected from

559.32 -> invaders.

562.74 -> The people we now think of as Phoenician

564.779 -> wouldn't have ever used that word.

567.18 -> Phoenician is a term invented later by

570.12 -> their great rivals, the Greeks, and it's

572.76 -> unclear if these cities ever thought of

574.92 -> themselves as a unified people.

577.86 -> They had a common Phoenician language

580.32 -> and were united by the worship of

582.839 -> certain gods, among them, Baal Hammon,

585.44 -> a heroic god named Melqart, and his wife

589.32 -> Astarte, but there's very little in the

592.2 -> historical record to suggest a common

594.72 -> identity, architecture, or literature.

598.2 -> Even the Greek word Phoenician has a

600.66 -> somewhat mysterious origin. In the

603.839 -> earliest texts such as Homer's Iliad and

607.019 -> Odyssey, the word Phoinike is used to

610.019 -> describe a particular color of purple or

612.779 -> crimson, and it is also used to describe

615.779 -> a date palm, possibly due to the reddish

618.54 -> color of its fruit when ripe.

621.24 -> So, it's possible that the word came

623.94 -> to be used as a result of one of the

626.519 -> Phoenicianís earliest and most successful

629.339 -> industries.

635.88 -> The Phoenicians of Tyre and other cities

638.64 -> were the first people to color their

641.1 -> clothes with a particular kind of dye

643.98 -> derived from the bodies of predatory sea

647.04 -> snails known as the Murex, or rock snail.

651.36 -> These snails produce their dye as a

654.3 -> defense mechanism against predators, and

657.06 -> depending on the species, can produce a

659.579 -> vivid red or purple color quite unlike

662.399 -> anything else available in the ancient

664.68 -> world.

666.06 -> From the moment these dyes were first

668.22 -> used by Phoenicians around the 16th

671.1 -> century BC, their colors became

673.68 -> immediately sought after.

675.899 -> But the process of producing these dyes

678.18 -> was difficult and costly.

680.94 -> It could take more than 50 kilograms of

683.519 -> these snails to make a single gram of

685.92 -> dye, and so, these fabrics were extremely

689.519 -> expensive.

690.839 -> The color purple would soon become

693.36 -> associated with enormous wealth, and as a

696.42 -> consequence, with royalty.

699.12 -> This color would be known as Tyrian

701.339 -> Purple, after the Phoenician city of Tyre,

704.279 -> and later, Imperial Purple. It would dye

708 -> the robes of the emperors of Assyria,

710.459 -> Rome, and later, Byzantium.

714.36 -> The first-century Roman writer, Pliny the

717.36 -> Elder, writes about the effect this color

719.88 -> had on anyone who saw it.

723.3 -> For purple, the rods and axes of Rome

726.54 -> clear a path, and it likewise marks the

729.48 -> dignity of boyhood. It distinguishes

731.88 -> senator from noble, and it is summoned to

734.76 -> secure the favor of the gods. It

737.459 -> illuminates every garment, and on the

739.74 -> triumphal robe, it is blended with gold.

743.04 -> But why the price?

745.64 -> It's possible then that the term

748.32 -> Phoinike came to be used by the Greeks

751.2 -> to describe these traders from the rocky

753.959 -> coast of Lebanon as the makers of purple,

756.839 -> or the purple people.

759.3 -> The name of the mythical creature, the

761.7 -> phoenix, an immortal bird with red

763.98 -> feathers, also seems to derive from the

766.98 -> same word.

769.56 -> With their dye industry booming, the

772.32 -> Phoenicians began to set out on ever

774.48 -> longer voyages out into the

776.519 -> Mediterranean Sea, all in search of

779.339 -> ever more of these priceless snails, and

782.639 -> these longer voyages would require new

785.1 -> developments in shipbuilding.

788.94 -> Since as early as the third millennium

791.279 -> BC, Phoenician sailors from the city of

793.98 -> Byblos had developed ships with curved

796.86 -> hulls perfectly suited for traveling on

799.68 -> the waves, and they had developed

801.779 -> techniques for waterproofing the hulls

804.48 -> of their ships using bitumen or pitch.

808.2 -> In the Hebrew Bible, the 6th century BC

811.68 -> Book of Ezekiel contains one poetic

814.98 -> description of a Phoenician ship.

818.94 -> They made all your timbers of juniper

821.519 -> from Senir. They took a cedar from

823.98 -> Lebanon to make a mast for you.

826.92 -> Of oaks from Bashan they made your oars;

830.399 -> of cypress wood from the coasts of Cyprus

833.04 -> they made your deck, adorned with ivory.

837.06 -> Fine embroidered linen from Egypt was

839.7 -> your sail and served as your banner;

842.7 -> your awnings were of blue and purple

845.339 -> from the coasts of Elishah.

849.839 -> The Phoenicians were also some of the

852.12 -> earliest people to notice the pole star,

854.76 -> or Polaris, a star that happens to align

858.66 -> more or less perfectly with the

860.579 -> rotational axis of the Earth.

862.92 -> This means that while all other stars

865.38 -> appear to rotate in the sky throughout

868.019 -> the night as the Earth turns, the pole

870.899 -> star remains more or less fixed in place.

874.5 -> This made it exceptionally useful as a

877.5 -> navigation tool, a fixed reference point

880.199 -> in the sky.

881.94 -> In Greek, this star would even come to be

884.639 -> known as Phoinike, or the Phoenician Star.

891.12 -> The Phoenicianís early voyages around the

893.399 -> Mediterranean led to them encountering

895.74 -> many other peoples, and among these, they

898.62 -> began to cultivate a reputation as

901.32 -> uncompromising traders and shrewd

904.26 -> businessmen, something that seems to have

906.54 -> gained them some degree of unpopularity.

910.699 -> Homer's Odyssey, probably written down in

913.98 -> the 7th or 8th Century BC from even more

917.16 -> ancient oral traditions, describes the

919.8 -> Phoenicians as cunning and untrustworthy

922.86 -> in contrast to the supposedly noble

925.8 -> Greeks.

928.32 -> Thither came Phoenicians, men famed for

931.56 -> their ships, greedy knaves, bringing

934.019 -> countless trinkets in their black ship.

937.56 -> It seems the Phoenicians had become

940.079 -> adept at metalworking, too. The following

943.38 -> passage in Homer's Odyssey describes an

946.5 -> ornate bowl brought by traders from the

949.56 -> Phoenician city of Sidon.

952.62 -> Then the son of Peleus set forth other

955.68 -> prizes; a mixing bowl of silver, richly

959.16 -> wrought; in beauty, far the goodliest in

962.339 -> all the Earth, Sidonians, well skilled in

965.339 -> deft handiwork, had watered cunningly, and

968.519 -> men of the Phoenicians brought it over

970.8 -> the murky deep, and landed it in harbor.

978.3 -> As a seafaring people, the Phoenicians

981.18 -> had a clear preference for building

982.86 -> their cities on narrow, easily-defended

985.44 -> peninsulas, and where possible, on islands

988.5 -> set just offshore.

990.72 -> Their most influential city of Tyre was

993.54 -> a perfect example, located on a small

996.12 -> island just off the rocky coast.

999.42 -> In the Hebrew Bible, the prophet Ezekiel

1002.42 -> gives us a sense of the trade that the

1005.36 -> people of Tyre drove with their

1007.579 -> surrounding neighbors.

1010.279 -> Tarshish did business with you because

1012.32 -> of your great wealth of goods. They

1014.839 -> exchanged silver, iron, tin, and lead for

1018.019 -> your merchandise.

1019.579 -> Greece, Tubal, and Meshek did business

1021.92 -> with you. They traded human beings and

1024.559 -> articles of bronze for your wares. Men of

1027.679 -> Beth Togarmah exchanged chariot horses,

1030.14 -> cavalry horses, and mules. Aram exchanged

1033.679 -> turquoise, purple fabric, embroidered work,

1036.5 -> fine linen, coral, and rubies. Judah and

1040.4 -> Israel traded with you; they exchanged

1042.919 -> wheat from Minnith, honey, olive oil, and

1045.74 -> balm.

1049.22 -> While the natural defenses of their

1051.919 -> geography had kept cities like Tyre

1054.2 -> independent for much of their history,

1056.24 -> this wasn't to last forever.

1062.24 -> The first millennium BC was an age of

1065.419 -> iron and an age of empires, and soon the

1069.08 -> Phoenicians found themselves in a world

1071.48 -> of increasingly violent and aggressive

1074.059 -> neighbors.

1075.62 -> Perhaps the most terrifying of these was

1078.32 -> the power of the Assyrian Empire.

1084.14 -> From its heartlands in what is today

1086.539 -> Iraq, the Assyrian war machine would

1089.84 -> periodically stretch its power right to

1092.48 -> the coast of the Mediterranean, and

1094.52 -> threatened to engulf the Phoenicians.

1097.28 -> One inscription from the palace of an

1100.039 -> Assyrian king gives just one example of

1102.86 -> the typical fate of a city conquered by

1105.44 -> the Assyrians.

1107.66 -> That city I destroyed -- I flung my

1111.5 -> soldiers like lightning upon them.

1114.62 -> I piled up heaps of heads in front of

1117.38 -> his great gate. Bands of captive soldiers

1121.039 -> I impaled on stakes on every side of his

1125.36 -> city.

1126.44 -> His palm trees I cut down, and from the

1130.34 -> city of Amidi, I departed.

1135.08 -> The Phoenicians had every reason to be

1137.84 -> nervous.

1138.98 -> At the start of the 8th century BC, the

1142.28 -> Assyrian king Adad-Nirari III conquered

1145.64 -> the territory of Northern Syria, as he

1148.34 -> boasts in his royal palace inscriptions.

1152.12 -> Conquering from the Siluna mountain of

1154.4 -> the Rising Sun and from the banks of the

1157.1 -> Euphrates, the country of Hatti, Amurra in

1160.82 -> its full extent, the land of Tyre, the

1163.94 -> land of Sidon, the land of Israel, the

1167.179 -> land of Edom, the land of Philistia; I

1170.84 -> made them submit to my feet, imposing

1173.48 -> upon them tribute.

1175.88 -> The Assyrians were now breathing

1178.039 -> directly down the necks of the

1179.96 -> Phoenician cities of the coast, but as

1182.6 -> time went on, the Phoenicians were able

1184.88 -> to carve out a niche for themselves that

1187.28 -> ensured they were quite simply too

1189.679 -> useful for the Assyrians to destroy.

1198.74 -> The Mediterranean Sea had long been an

1201.2 -> insurmountable challenge to many of the

1203.539 -> region's great powers.

1205.7 -> The Assyrians referred to it as Id-marrati,

1209 -> or the Bitter River, which they believed

1211.64 -> to flow around the whole Earth,

1214.1 -> while the Egyptians referred to it as

1216.679 -> Wadj-Wer, or the Great Green.

1220.76 -> These Empires were freshwater river

1223.94 -> cultures and navigated the waters of

1226.46 -> their rivers in flat-bottomed barges.

1229.4 -> For this reason, they had always remained

1231.62 -> wary of the rougher waters of the sea.

1235.82 -> Assyria relied heavily on many of the

1238.4 -> commodities brought into the region by

1240.679 -> Phoenician traders; incense, silver, and

1244.1 -> purple dye for their palaces, bronze and

1247.34 -> iron for their armies.

1249.74 -> So, Assyria offered the cities of

1252.26 -> Tyre and Sidon something of a deal.

1255.799 -> They would be allowed a degree of

1257.9 -> independence so long as they ensured a

1260.84 -> constant flow of metals and other

1263 -> resources into Assyria, and so long as

1266 -> they acted as a kind of navy for hire,

1268.64 -> providing their ships and sailors to

1271.22 -> Assyria in times of war.

1274.039 -> The Phoenicians had little choice but to

1277.039 -> accept,

1279.26 -> but there was one problem; the Assyrian

1282.62 -> demands for metal were truly staggering,

1285.5 -> and if they were going to be met, it

1287.9 -> would require a drastic expansion of the

1290.6 -> Phoenician trade network.

1296.48 -> At first, the Phoenicians set up simple

1299.12 -> trading posts anywhere they could find

1301.76 -> good supplies of metal.

1304.159 -> Archeology shows they set up trading

1306.86 -> communities in Cyprus to take advantage

1309.5 -> of its rich stores of copper, and in

1312.26 -> Sardinia, the Mediterranean's second-

1314.299 -> -largest island, rich in copper, iron,

1317.179 -> silver, and lead.

1319.22 -> At these sites, local people usually did

1322.28 -> all the actual mining, while the

1324.26 -> Phoenicians simply turned up to buy the

1326.72 -> goods and take them away by ship. From

1329.96 -> Cyprus and Sardinia, Phoenician sailors

1332.659 -> pushed on into the west of the

1334.52 -> Mediterranean

1335.659 -> and set up a small colony of Utica in

1338.78 -> North Africa, and even reached southern

1341.36 -> Spain, where they found that the mines

1343.88 -> practically overflowed with silver, iron,

1346.76 -> and other metals.

1348.82 -> Archaeologists have found huge

1350.9 -> Phoenician furnaces in this region,

1353 -> designed for smelting metal ingots for

1355.82 -> transportation on an industrial scale,

1358.52 -> all to satisfy the demands of the

1361.52 -> fearsome Assyrian kings.

1364.34 -> Before long, the Phoenicians were sailing

1366.919 -> out through the Straits of Gibraltar,

1368.72 -> then known as the Pillars of Hercules,

1371.299 -> and out into the Atlantic Ocean.

1374.12 -> They set up a colony at Lixus, on the

1376.82 -> western coast of Morocco, and pushed

1379.039 -> further down the coast to settle what is

1381.44 -> now the Moroccan port town of

1383.419 -> Essaouira, more than 4,000 kilometers from

1387.14 -> their homeland.

1392.059 -> To finance these expeditions, the

1394.52 -> Phoenicians developed innovative

1396.02 -> monetary systems that in some ways

1398.539 -> represented a form of ancient capitalism.

1401.32 -> Phoenician society was dominated by

1404.299 -> powerful trading firms usually run by a

1407.179 -> certain family, and they pioneered the

1409.4 -> use of interest-bearing loans for

1411.799 -> voyages, even developing Maritime

1414.44 -> insurance policies, which paid out if

1417.38 -> your ships were destroyed in a storm or

1420.14 -> plundered by pirates.

1423.02 -> But perhaps the greatest of their

1425 -> innovations was something that we use

1427.1 -> every day,

1428.48 -> and that is the alphabet.

1433.58 -> Up until that point, writing had been a

1436.76 -> cumbersome and difficult task.

1439.82 -> The cuneiform writing systems that had

1442.58 -> been developed by the Sumerians

1444.38 -> thousands of years before, and the

1446.72 -> Hieroglyphics of the Egyptians, were both

1449.12 -> difficult to learn and relied on the

1451.28 -> services of a learned class of scribes

1453.799 -> who spent years of their lives learning

1456.2 -> them. But the Phoenician alphabet was a

1459.2 -> master class in simplicity. It had only

1462.2 -> 22 letters, and could be used to spell

1465.2 -> out words phonetically, leaving out any

1467.72 -> vowels. Quite ingeniously, the shapes

1471.44 -> of the letters also gave a clue as to

1473.96 -> how they were pronounced.

1475.7 -> Their letter B, for instance, was named Bet,

1479.179 -> which was the Phoenician word for house,

1481.72 -> and its symbol was drawn with a pointed

1485.12 -> roof. This simplicity drastically reduced

1489.02 -> the amount of time it took to learn, and

1491.179 -> meant that common traders and merchants

1493.52 -> may have had some ability to read and

1496.1 -> write, and to keep records essential for

1499.4 -> the complex business of buying and

1501.62 -> selling across the sea.

1504.2 -> The Phoenician alphabet was such a good

1506.659 -> idea that it was adopted almost

1508.52 -> wholesale by the Greeks, as the Greek

1511.1 -> historian Herodotus recounts.

1514.58 -> These Phoenicians who came with Cadmus

1517.46 -> brought with them to Greece, among many

1520.34 -> other kinds of learning, the alphabet.

1524 -> As time went on, the sound and form of

1527.779 -> the letters were changed, and after being

1530.299 -> taught the letters by the Phoenicians,

1532.4 -> the Greeks, who were settled around them,

1534.559 -> used them with a few changes of form.

1540.08 -> With the addition of some letters for vowels,

1542.179 -> what resulted was the Greek

1544.58 -> alphabet, which means that the Phoenician

1546.799 -> writing system is the foundation of all

1549.44 -> Western alphabets used today.

1554 -> The earliest piece of Phoenician writing

1556.82 -> was found on an inscribed tablet known

1559.82 -> as the Nora Stone, unearthed in Sardinia,

1562.72 -> apparently commemorating a Phoenician

1565.34 -> captain who may have died in conflict

1567.74 -> with the local people.

1570.86 -> He fought with the Sardinians at

1572.779 -> Tarshish, and he drove them out.

1575.419 -> Among the Sardinians, he is now at peace,

1578.48 -> and his army is at peace; Milkaton,

1582.2 -> son of Shubna, general of King Pummay.

1587.84 -> But for the most part, the Phoenicians

1590.419 -> seemed to have interacted with the

1591.86 -> people they met relatively peacefully,

1593.779 -> and most of all, profitably.

1600.559 -> Before long, the cities of Tyre, Sidon, and

1603.74 -> Byblos found themselves at the far east

1606.679 -> of a sprawling trade network.

1609.5 -> Keeping such a loose and disparate

1611.9 -> collection of colonies together was no

1614.299 -> easy task, but it seems that here, the

1617.059 -> Phoenician religion played a key role.

1622.22 -> The people of Tyre worshiped a heroic

1625.34 -> god known as Melqart, a warrior hero who

1629.36 -> the Greeks would later associate with

1631.279 -> Hercules.

1632.44 -> Temples to Melqart were set up at

1635.419 -> multiple Phoenician trading posts, and

1638.179 -> most had an olive tree, a symbol of the

1640.7 -> city of Tyre, growing in their central

1642.98 -> courtyard.

1645.02 -> The grandest of these temples was built

1647.6 -> at the furthest Phoenician colony from

1649.82 -> Tyre, then known as Gades, what is

1652.82 -> narrow the Spanish city of Cadiz.

1655.82 -> This colony sat on the Atlantic coast

1658.4 -> just outside the Straits of Gibraltar,

1661.159 -> but it made up for its extreme distance

1663.5 -> from Tyre with its immense opulence.

1667.94 -> At the center of the temple stood an

1670.039 -> olive tree, with its branches and leaves

1672.679 -> wrought out of solid gold, holding

1675.32 -> emerald fruits in its branches.

1678.02 -> Women were forbidden entry to the temple,

1680.84 -> as were pigs, and the priests of Melqart

1683.779 -> went barefoot, wearing a band of Egyptian

1686.96 -> flax over their bare heads.

1689.6 -> The Greek geographer Strabo recounts the

1692.48 -> following description of the settlement

1694.4 -> of Gades.

1696.919 -> Now, these islands are this side of what

1699.799 -> are called the Pillars of Heracles. Gades,

1702.98 -> however, is outside the pillars. Here live

1706.159 -> the men who fit out the most and largest

1708.2 -> merchant vessels, both for our sea and

1710.96 -> the outer sea. They say the Tyrians

1713.84 -> believe that the two capes which form

1716.12 -> the strait were the ends of the

1718.34 -> inhabited world.

1721.039 -> A great ceremony, known as the Egersis

1724.22 -> or Awakening, was conducted each year in

1727.52 -> the temple of Gades.

1729.5 -> During this time, all foreigners were

1732.5 -> asked to leave the city, and a great

1734.84 -> effigy of the god Melqart was set afloat

1737.779 -> on the sea and burned.

1740.419 -> Even this temple was a crucial part

1743.059 -> of the Phoenician trading system.

1745.7 -> The institution worked to guarantee the

1748.76 -> quality of metal ingots produced in

1751.159 -> Gades by giving them a special stamp,

1754.46 -> and acted as a guarantor between

1756.679 -> merchants entering into contracts, with

1759.86 -> punishments promised from Melqart

1761.779 -> himself if any dared to go back on their

1764.72 -> word.

1768.88 -> With Phoenician trade increasingly

1771.86 -> drifting westward, the center of their

1774.559 -> power would soon also shift in that

1777.08 -> direction to a place where they would

1779.419 -> finally be free of the overbearing

1781.52 -> empires constantly breathing down their

1784.22 -> necks.

1785.36 -> They would soon found a city on the

1788 -> shore of North Africa, right at the

1790.22 -> center of the Mediterranean world,

1792.559 -> a city that would become one of the

1794.96 -> largest and wealthiest on Earth.

1797.779 -> That city would one day be known as

1800.72 -> Carthage.

1812.98 -> Like so many aspects of our modern

1815.779 -> understanding of the Phoenicians, the

1818 -> name Carthage is itself a distortion,

1820.52 -> filtered through the accounts of others.

1823.64 -> In Latin, the city was known as Carthago,

1827 -> while the Greeks called it Karkedon. But

1830.179 -> to its inhabitants, it was known as

1832.88 -> Qart-Hadasht, or in Phoenician, the New City.

1837.919 -> Like many great cities of its time,

1839.96 -> Carthage soon developed its own founding

1842.779 -> myth.

1843.86 -> It begins with a princess of Tyre named

1846.44 -> Elissa or Elishaya. In the legend, the

1850.88 -> king of Tyre promises that upon his

1853.159 -> death, his kingdom would be split between

1855.32 -> his two children, his daughter Elishaya,

1857.84 -> and his son Pygmalion.

1860.179 -> But when the old king dies, the

1862.52 -> treacherous brother Pygmalion refuses to

1865.22 -> accept the splitting of the kingdom and

1867.26 -> moves to seize everything for himself,

1870.02 -> even killing Elishaya's husband to

1872.779 -> remove any potential rivals.

1875.48 -> Stricken with grief, Elishaya flees down

1878.539 -> to the docks, along with a ragtag band of

1881.6 -> her royal guards and temple women, and

1884.36 -> there they set sail westwards and make

1886.7 -> for Africa.

1888.38 -> The Roman writer Justinus, drawing on an

1891.559 -> earlier Greek text, writes his rendition

1894.02 -> of this story,

1895.46 -> along with a cunning deception to slow

1897.799 -> down any greedy pursuers.

1901.58 -> Elissa put the attendants, who was sent

1904.399 -> by the king to assist in her removal, on

1907.279 -> board some vessels in the early part of

1909.679 -> the evening, and sailing out into the

1911.96 -> deep, made them throw some loads of sand

1914.72 -> put up in sacks, as if it was money, into

1918.08 -> the sea.

1919.58 -> This group of refugees sail along the

1922.94 -> coast of North Africa until eventually

1925.46 -> they set ashore near the Phoenician

1927.919 -> colony of Utica. They camp on a nearby

1930.86 -> hill known as Byrsa, and the king who

1933.919 -> rules there, a man named Iarbus, takes

1936.919 -> pity on them, but not too much pity.

1940.399 -> He offers to sell them a plot of land on

1943.1 -> the hill no bigger than an ox hide.

1946.34 -> But Elishaya is cunning; she cuts the

1949.88 -> ox hide into thin strips, lining them up to

1952.82 -> enclose the entire hill, a much larger

1955.52 -> area of land than the miserly king had

1958.22 -> intended.

1959.539 -> Bound by his word, Iarbus has no choice

1962.48 -> but to give them the land he promised,

1964.46 -> and so, the city of Carthage is born.

1967.96 -> Justinus recounts the city's early

1970.46 -> flourishing.

1972.44 -> Carthage was founded, an annual tribute

1975.5 -> being fixed for the ground which it was

1977.48 -> to occupy. At the commencement of digging

1980.179 -> the foundations, an ox's head was found,

1982.64 -> which was an omen that the city would be

1985.22 -> wealthy, indeed, but laborious and always

1988.6 -> enslaved. It was therefore removed to

1991.88 -> another place, where the head of a horse

1993.98 -> was found, which, indicating that the

1996.799 -> people would be warlike and powerful,

1998.799 -> portended an auspicious sight.

2001.419 -> In a short time, as the surrounding

2004.059 -> people came together at the report, the

2006.399 -> inhabitants became numerous, and the city

2008.919 -> itself extensive. From the hilltop of Byrsa,

2016.559 -> the city grows and grows, soon eclipsing

2020.44 -> King Iarbus' town of Utica, which makes

2023.559 -> him understandably jealous. He demands

2026.44 -> that Elishaya marry him so that he can

2029.08 -> absorb her flourishing town and

2031.299 -> everything she owns into his kingdom.

2034.299 -> If she refuses, he will burn Carthage to

2037.179 -> the ground.

2038.919 -> Faced with the choice of this

2040.539 -> capitulation or the destruction of her

2042.94 -> new city, Elishaya builds a great pyre

2046.059 -> and climbs onto it, saying that she must

2048.46 -> indeed go to her husband, meaning not

2051.52 -> Iarbus, but the man her brother had killed

2053.98 -> on the other side of the sea, waiting for

2056.56 -> her in the afterlife.

2059.32 -> This tragic but noble self-sacrifice has

2063.099 -> proven irresistible to generations of

2065.679 -> poets, and the Roman poet Virgil gives

2068.859 -> one rendition of this scene.

2072.22 -> When the pyre of cut pine and oak was

2074.8 -> raised high

2076 -> in an innermost court open to the sky,

2079.02 -> the queen hung the place with garlands,

2081.879 -> and wreathed it with funeral foliage.

2085.599 -> She laid his sword and clothes and

2088.72 -> picture on the bed. She lingered a while,

2092.56 -> in tears and thought,

2095.02 -> then

2096.22 -> cast herself on the bed and spoke her

2099.58 -> last words; ìAccept

2102.16 -> this soul,

2103.599 -> and loose me from my sorrows.î

2109.48 -> In honor of Elishaya's sacrifice, her

2112.78 -> people gave her the title of Dido,

2114.94 -> meaning female warrior or heroine, and

2118.3 -> this is the name by which she would be

2119.92 -> known to later Roman writers.

2123.7 -> This Baroque tale of love and tragedy

2126.76 -> has all the hallmarks of ancient

2128.98 -> literature, and we can't assume that it

2131.2 -> bears any relationship to what actually

2133.24 -> happened.

2134.38 -> Some details of the tale do accord with

2136.96 -> what archeology tells us, that the

2139.359 -> Carthaginian Phoenicians drew their

2141.82 -> origins back to the city of Tyre, and

2144.339 -> that the city was founded close to the

2146.32 -> older settlement of Utica, which it soon

2148.599 -> eclipsed in size.

2150.82 -> But perhaps more important than any of

2152.92 -> this is the sense that this founding

2154.96 -> myth might give us of the way the

2156.94 -> Carthaginians thought of themselves and

2159.22 -> their city's place in the world, as a

2161.92 -> city of survivors who had found refuge

2164.8 -> here on the North African coast, a city

2167.619 -> of sailors and adventurers.

2170.02 -> They were resourceful and drove a hard

2172.72 -> bargain. They were clever, fond of

2175.18 -> outwitting their enemies, always finding

2177.76 -> a way to make a little go a long way,

2181.06 -> and also, perhaps that they would die

2183.88 -> before they gave up their freedom.

2190.839 -> Regardless of the truth of its origins,

2193.119 -> it's clear from archeology that after

2195.7 -> its founding in the 8th century BC, the

2198.52 -> new colony of Carthage did grow

2200.8 -> exceptionally quickly.

2203.2 -> In many ways, it was the perfect

2205.359 -> Phoenician settlement.

2207.579 -> Carthage was built in a small bay that

2210.339 -> itself belonged to a vast natural harbor,

2213.04 -> known today as the Bay of Tunis.

2216.4 -> The city sat on top of a series of sheer

2219.46 -> red cliffs that looked down over the

2221.98 -> glittering blue waters of the

2223.599 -> Mediterranean in the north, and it was

2225.94 -> also easily defended on its landward

2228.16 -> side, where a range of rocky hills and a

2231.46 -> number of lakes and saltwater lagoons

2233.74 -> break the land into a series of narrow

2236.5 -> approaches, protecting the city from any

2239.14 -> would-be attackers.

2241.599 -> The Roman writer Appian writes one

2244.359 -> description of the city's location.

2247.66 -> The city lay in a recess of a great gulf,

2250.42 -> and was in the form of a peninsula. It

2253.3 -> was separated from the mainland by an

2255.16 -> isthmus about five kilometers in width.

2258.16 -> From this isthmus, a narrow and longish

2260.74 -> tongue of land, about a kilometer wide,

2263.38 -> extended towards the west between a lake

2266.44 -> and the sea.

2268.599 -> Near to the site of Carthage flows a

2271.599 -> river known today as the Mejerda, which

2274.359 -> originates in the high Atlas Mountains

2276.64 -> of North Africa. This river flows for 460

2280.42 -> kilometers to the sea and brings crucial

2282.94 -> fresh water into the bay, turning the

2285.46 -> otherwise arid landscape green, and

2288.16 -> providing water for drinking and

2290.2 -> for irrigation.

2292.18 -> As a result, the land here was abundant

2295 -> with wheat, grapes, olives, and dates.

2299.74 -> In the distance over the bay to the

2301.839 -> south rises the blue outline of the

2304.48 -> mountain Djebel Ressas, literally the

2307.3 -> Mountain of Lead, a rugged outcrop of

2310.18 -> Jurassic limestone climbing nearly 800

2313 -> meters above the plain.

2314.92 -> The hot desert winds, known as the

2317.5 -> Sirocco, would blow in from the Sahara

2319.72 -> during the summer season, rattling the

2322.359 -> shutters on the windows and the leaves

2324.339 -> of the date palms, and at the end of

2326.68 -> summer, thunderstorms would roll in from

2329.619 -> the sea.

2335.74 -> As well as its ideal geography, the

2338.2 -> city's location in the Mediterranean

2339.94 -> world was also perfect.

2344.5 -> Carthage sat at a crucial halfway point

2347.02 -> between the city of Tyre and the wealthy

2349.54 -> mines of Spain, but it was also only

2352.24 -> about 200 kilometers by boat from the

2355.119 -> island of Sicily and about 300

2357.52 -> kilometers from Sardinia, two crucial

2360.46 -> sites of Phoenician industry that were

2362.98 -> only growing in importance.

2365.32 -> Pottery found in even the earliest

2367.48 -> layers of Carthage shows a huge range of

2370.78 -> styles coming from Greece, Italy, Spain,

2374.2 -> and all the Phoenician colonies.

2377.02 -> The Phoenician world was now a web, with

2379.96 -> Carthage sitting right at its center.

2384.7 -> The city in these early days must have

2387.579 -> been a humble sight.

2389.68 -> Archeology paints a picture of a simple

2392.38 -> collection of mud brick buildings lining

2394.78 -> the seashore, but within a century, this

2397.599 -> had exploded.

2399.28 -> One graveyard soon had to be moved in

2402.46 -> order to make space for a quarter filled

2404.68 -> with metal-working workshops, and the

2407.02 -> settlers built a wall about three meters

2409.24 -> in height to protect their burgeoning

2411.579 -> town.

2412.599 -> Soon, more monumental buildings would

2415.96 -> be constructed. The Roman poet Virgil

2418.839 -> imagines the activity that must have

2421.48 -> accompanied the growth of this town, from

2423.94 -> tiny settlement to booming city.

2427.599 -> Aeneas found where lately huts had been,

2430.5 -> marvelous buildings, gateways, cobbled

2433.599 -> ways, and din of wagons. There, the Tyrians

2437.2 -> were hard at work, laying courses for

2440.02 -> walls, rolling up stones to build the

2442.3 -> citadel, while others picked out building

2444.76 -> sites and plowed a boundary furrow. Laws

2448.66 -> were being enacted, magistrates and a

2451.18 -> sacred senate chosen. Here, men were

2453.82 -> dredging harbors. There, they laid the

2456.4 -> deep foundations of a theater and

2458.68 -> quarried massive pillars.

2461.98 -> Other than what we can glean from

2464.26 -> archeology, we know very little about the

2466.78 -> early history of Carthage apart from a

2469.78 -> few short inscriptions. No Carthaginian

2472.9 -> texts have survived into the modern day,

2475.48 -> and so, in terms of written history, we

2478.3 -> have virtually complete silence from

2480.04 -> that part of the Mediterranean for the

2482.14 -> first 200 years or so of its existence,

2485.2 -> and beyond that, we have to rely on the

2487.839 -> writings of others.

2491.2 -> From the work of Greek writers, we

2493.54 -> learned that Carthage was a republic.

2496.359 -> It was ruled under a kind of oligarchic

2498.88 -> system, governed by a council of its

2501.64 -> wealthiest citizens.

2504.04 -> The Greek philosopher Aristotle, writing

2506.619 -> in the 4th century, spoke approvingly of

2509.68 -> the Carthaginian system of government

2511.54 -> and compares it to that of the Greek

2513.94 -> city-state of Sparta.

2518.02 -> Carthage also appears to have a good

2520.3 -> constitution, with many outstanding

2522.579 -> features as compared with those of other

2524.56 -> nations, but most nearly resembling the

2527.2 -> Spartan at some points. Many regulations

2529.78 -> at Carthage are good, and a proof of a

2532.24 -> well-regulated constitution is that the

2534.46 -> populace willingly remain faithful to

2536.68 -> the constitutional system, and that

2538.48 -> neither civil strife has arisen in any

2540.82 -> degree worth mentioning, nor yet a tyrant.

2546.16 -> But Aristotle also warns that the

2549.4 -> Carthaginian system put too much

2551.2 -> emphasis on the wealth of its rulers

2553.42 -> rather than their competence, and

2555.64 -> expresses concerns that this could lead

2557.92 -> to corruption.

2560.2 -> They think that the rulers should be

2562.54 -> chosen not only for their merit but also

2565.24 -> for their wealth, as it is not possible

2567.88 -> for a poor man to govern well or to have

2570.52 -> leisure for his duties. It is a bad thing

2573.82 -> that the greatest officers of state, the

2576.76 -> kingship, and the general ship should be

2579.4 -> for sale, for this law makes wealth more

2582.4 -> honored than worth and renders the whole

2584.5 -> state avaricious, and it is probable that

2587.619 -> those who purchase their office will

2589.599 -> learn by degrees to make a profit out of

2592.18 -> it.

2593.74 -> The highest echelons of Carthaginian

2596.079 -> society were divided between the civil

2598.48 -> leaders, the shofetim, or judges, and

2601.48 -> the rabbim, or generals, who took care of

2604.599 -> military matters.

2606.24 -> These highest positions, senators and the

2609.46 -> heads of committees, drew no salary for

2612.099 -> their work, and so, they could

2613.66 -> realistically only be held by those who

2616.3 -> could support themselves on private

2618.22 -> incomes, usually successful merchants or

2621.22 -> wealthy landowners, but there was a

2624.04 -> certain fairness to this.

2625.66 -> There seems to have been no barrier

2627.88 -> other than wealth, and people from common

2630.46 -> backgrounds who became wealthy could

2632.8 -> quickly rise to the highest parts of

2635.079 -> government.

2636.359 -> Certain powerful families were

2639.28 -> constantly vying for the most powerful

2641.2 -> positions, but there was no hereditary

2643.66 -> royalty in Carthage.

2646.119 -> It's possible that the myth of Elishaya

2648.94 -> or Dido may have played a role in

2651.339 -> maintaining this situation.

2653.8 -> Since according to the legend, the city

2655.96 -> was founded by a woman who had no

2658 -> children, no one could ever claim to be

2660.7 -> her true descendants or have any kind of

2663.94 -> ancestral right to rule.

2667.48 -> Instead, the city was governed by a

2670.359 -> number of different semi-democratic

2672.4 -> bodies made up of wealthy citizens.

2675.76 -> One of these was called the Tribunal of

2678.52 -> the 104, and another, the Council of

2681.52 -> Elders, a kind of senate.

2684.04 -> The highest executive position was held

2686.8 -> by two elected officers who ruled

2689.44 -> simultaneously and who were elected each

2692.26 -> year.

2693.28 -> The arrangement was complex and likely

2696.099 -> prone to corruption, but for the most

2698.619 -> part, it seems to have worked.

2706.42 -> While Carthage flourished, the Phoenician

2709.24 -> cities that had given birth to it began

2711.579 -> to flounder.

2713.44 -> Tyre and Sidon were still under the boot

2716.5 -> of Assyria, and around 670 BC, the

2720.64 -> Assyrian king Esarhaddon began to place

2723.46 -> harsh restrictions on who they could

2725.619 -> trade with.

2727.48 -> When Assyria went to war with Egypt,

2730.38 -> Esarhaddon forced the Phoenicians of Tyre

2733.119 -> to place a trade embargo on the pharaohs.

2737.2 -> Without access to their once most

2739.24 -> lucrative market, these cities went into

2742.24 -> decline.

2744.64 -> Soon, the king of Tyre was not even

2746.98 -> allowed to open messages without an

2749.44 -> Assyrian official present, as the

2751.599 -> following surviving fragment of one

2753.76 -> treaty shows.

2755.92 -> Nor must you open a letter which I send

2759.339 -> you without the presence of the royal

2761.079 -> deputy.

2762.339 -> If the royal deputy is absent, wait for

2765.099 -> him and then open it. If a ship of the

2767.92 -> people of Tyre is shipwrecked off the

2770.02 -> coast of the land of the Philistines or

2772.42 -> anywhere on the borders of a Syrian

2774.28 -> territory, everything that is on the ship

2776.98 -> belongs to Esarhaddon, king of Assyria.

2782.56 -> As a result of the decline of cities

2785.2 -> like Tyre and Sidon, it's likely that

2788.2 -> large numbers of Phoenicians would have

2790.599 -> fled to what was now the undisputed

2793.06 -> capital of the Phoenician world, the

2795.819 -> booming port town of Carthage.

2799 -> They brought with them their language,

2800.8 -> their knowledge, their gods, and their

2804.4 -> gold.

2806.74 -> By the 6th century BC, Carthage was one

2810.16 -> of the largest and wealthiest cities in

2812.38 -> the Mediterranean,

2813.64 -> and its sailors, the finest in the world,

2816.339 -> would soon embark on voyages of

2818.68 -> exploration that would not be matched

2821.02 -> for another 2,000 years.

2828.04 -> By this time, the Phoenicians had already

2830.859 -> sailed right to the end of their world,

2833.14 -> through the Pillars of Hercules, and out

2835.96 -> into the Atlantic Ocean.

2838.42 -> But their exploration didn't stop there.

2841.56 -> In fact, if ancient sources are to be

2844.359 -> believed, they may have been the first

2846.4 -> navigators to successfully sail around

2849.16 -> the entire coast of Africa.

2852.16 -> Herodotus recounts one expedition that

2855.339 -> supposedly took place around 600 BC,

2858.119 -> sponsored by a pharaoh of Egypt named

2861.04 -> Nechos, although he is frustratingly vague

2864.04 -> and short on detail.

2866.26 -> The expedition apparently set sail from

2869.02 -> Egypt's Red Sea coast, voyaged around the

2872.2 -> Horn of Africa and the South African

2874.599 -> Cape, before sailing north through the

2877 -> Gulf of Guinea and back into the

2878.98 -> Mediterranean through the Pillars of

2880.96 -> Hercules.

2883.24 -> Nechos of Egypt sent Phoenicians and

2885.819 -> ships, instructing them to sail on their

2888.579 -> return voyage past the Pillars of

2890.8 -> Heracles until they came into the

2893.26 -> northern sea, and so, to Egypt.

2896.38 -> So, the Phoenicians set out from the Red

2899.02 -> Sea and sailed to the southern sea.

2901.96 -> Whenever autumn came, they would put in

2904.78 -> and plant the land in whatever part of

2907 -> Libya they had reached, and there await

2910.3 -> the harvest.

2911.74 -> Then, having gathered the crop, they

2914.2 -> sailed on, so that after two years had

2917.079 -> passed, it was in the third that they

2919.48 -> rounded the Pillars of Heracles and came

2921.94 -> to Egypt.

2923.28 -> There they said what some may believe,

2926.56 -> though I do not,

2928.48 -> that in sailing around Libya, they had

2931.72 -> the sun on their right hand.

2936.66 -> Interestingly, it is this detail that

2939.52 -> Herodotus personally finds unbelievable

2941.68 -> that has caused modern scholars to take

2944.079 -> the claim more seriously.

2946.06 -> The change in the position of the sun

2947.8 -> relative to the ship suggests that the

2950.14 -> voyage did indeed cross the Tropic of

2952.42 -> Cancer, and perhaps even the equator,

2954.599 -> causing the summer sun to appear in the

2957.579 -> north.

2958.24 -> Modern estimates consider a journey time

2960.64 -> of three years to be a reasonable

2962.74 -> duration for a circumnavigation of

2965.2 -> Africa that would have been about

2967.54 -> 20,000 kilometers long, or half the way

2970.119 -> around the world.

2971.56 -> If this story is true, then it means the

2974.2 -> Phoenicians may have rounded the Cape of

2976.48 -> Africa more than 2,000 years before the

2979.78 -> Portuguese explorer, Bortolemeu Dias,

2982.54 -> would do the same thing in 1488, opening

2986.02 -> up the passage to India and the age of

2988.72 -> European colonialism.

2996.64 -> More solidly attested voyages of

2999.4 -> Phoenician discovery would see an

3001.5 -> explorer named Hanno the Navigator sail

3004.14 -> out into the Atlantic Ocean through the

3006.119 -> Pillars of Hercules, and sail perhaps as

3008.76 -> far south as Cameroon or Gabon in West

3012.06 -> Africa.

3013.319 -> His voyage is recounted in a Greek

3015.42 -> translation entitled The Periplus, or

3018.599 -> Travel Account of Hanno, supposedly an

3021.359 -> accurate copy of an inscription that

3023.76 -> actually hung in the temple of Baal Hammon

3026.4 -> in Carthage.

3028.319 -> It was decreed by the Carthaginians that

3031.26 -> Hanno should undertake a voyage beyond

3033.24 -> the Pillars of Hercules and found

3035.099 -> Phoenician cities.

3037.14 -> He sailed accordingly, with 60 ships or

3039.96 -> 50 oars each, and the body of men and

3042.359 -> women to the number of 30,000, and

3044.88 -> provisions and other necessaries.

3048.119 -> Preceding a day's sail, we came to the

3050.52 -> extremity of the lake that was overhung

3052.98 -> by large mountains, inhabited by savage

3056.46 -> men clothed in the skins of wild beasts,

3059.4 -> who drove us away by throwing stones, and

3062.52 -> hindered us from landing.

3064.92 -> Sailing thence, we came to another river

3067.619 -> that was large and broad, and full of

3070.619 -> crocodiles and hippopotamuses.

3073.619 -> Hanno writes down vivid descriptions of

3077.04 -> seeing active volcanoes spewing lava

3079.92 -> into the ocean, possibly the active

3081.96 -> volcano Mount Cameroon.

3085.44 -> Then quickly sailing forth, we passed

3088.38 -> by a burning country full of fragrance,

3090.78 -> from which great torrents of fire flowed

3093.72 -> down to the sea, and we sailed along with

3096.9 -> all speed, being stricken by fear.

3100.74 -> After a journey of four days, we saw the

3103.859 -> land at night covered with flames, and in

3106.68 -> the midst there was one lofty fire

3108.54 -> greater than the rest, which seemed to

3111.359 -> touch the stars.

3114.839 -> Hanno even seems to have been the first

3117.059 -> to write down an encounter with what may

3119.819 -> have been Earth's largest living

3121.68 -> primates, with unfortunate results.

3125.94 -> We arrived at a bay called the Southern

3127.98 -> Horn, at the bottom of which lay an

3130.319 -> island full of savage people, the greater

3133.079 -> part of whom were women whose bodies

3135.48 -> were hairy, and whom our interpreters

3137.7 -> called Gorillae.

3140.22 -> Though we pursued the men, we could not

3142.5 -> seize any of them; but all fled from us,

3145.579 -> escaping over the precipices and

3148.319 -> defending themselves with stones.

3151.2 -> Three women were, however, taken, but they

3154.38 -> attacked their conductors with their

3155.94 -> teeth and hands, and could not be

3157.859 -> prevailed upon to accompany us.

3160.079 -> Having killed them, we flayed them, and

3163.02 -> brought their skins with us to Carthage.

3165.48 -> We did not sail farther on, our

3168 -> provisions failing us.

3170.7 -> These hairy creatures may have been

3173.28 -> chimpanzees, monkeys, or what we today

3176.46 -> would call gorillas, all of which can be

3179.339 -> encountered in the region of Cameroon.

3182.579 -> On Hanno's return, the hairy skins he

3185.7 -> brought home were kept in the temple to

3188.099 -> the god Tanit in Carthage, and according

3190.74 -> to Pliny the Elder, would remain in the

3192.96 -> city for as long as it existed.

3196.14 -> In the 19th century, when the American

3198.78 -> physician and missionary Thomas Staughton

3201.359 -> Savage and the naturalist Jeffries Wyman

3204 -> wrote the first scientific description

3206.04 -> of a gorilla, they gave them the name

3208.579 -> Troglodytes gorilla after the

3210.9 -> mysterious description in Hanno's writing,

3213.42 -> and the name has stuck ever since.

3220.44 -> Another explorer named Himilco sailed

3223.98 -> out into the Atlantic and went in the

3226.14 -> opposite direction, sailing north up the

3228.72 -> coast of Spain and France, and even on to

3231.359 -> the British Isles.

3232.98 -> Here, he saw Celtic tribespeople sailing

3236.339 -> in coracles made of deerskin, a sight he

3239.64 -> found remarkable.

3241.68 -> They cleave the tempestuous sea and the

3245.04 -> current of the ocean abounding in

3247.14 -> monsters, with woven boats. Indeed, these

3250.559 -> people do not know how to fashion keels

3253.44 -> with pine and maple, but in a miraculous

3256.92 -> thing, they always fit out vessels from

3259.38 -> hides stretched together, and often

3262.38 -> travel through the immense sea in a

3264.599 -> skin.

3266.28 -> Himilco also brought back stories of the

3269.52 -> vast expanse of the Atlantic to the West,

3271.88 -> a frightening sight to the sailors brought

3275.16 -> up in the enclosed inland sea of the

3277.92 -> Mediterranean.

3279.599 -> Beyond, towards the area to the West,

3282.599 -> there is a sea without end.

3285.96 -> The ocean lies open across a wide area,

3289.2 -> and the sea stretches out.

3292.74 -> No man has entered upon these seas,

3295.619 -> because the sea lacks winds that would

3298.44 -> drive the ships along, and no breeze from

3301.44 -> the sky favors a ship.

3304.68 -> It also seems that he may have seen

3306.78 -> whales swimming out there in the ocean,

3308.88 -> which were then nearly four times more

3311.64 -> numerous than they are today.

3315.48 -> Here and there, sea monsters swim amid

3319.619 -> the slow ships sluggishly crawling along.

3323.359 -> Himilco reported that he had once seen

3326.22 -> these creatures in the ocean and proved

3328.8 -> their existence. These we have related to

3331.92 -> you, revealed a long time ago deep in the

3335.52 -> annals of the Carthaginians.

3341.7 -> In 2019, a team of twenty modern sailors

3345.599 -> successfully piloted a replica of a

3348.48 -> single-mastered Carthaginian merchant

3350.579 -> vessel across the Atlantic Ocean,

3352.76 -> departing from the site of Carthage and

3355.68 -> landing in the Caribbean five months

3357.96 -> later, demonstrating that Phoenician

3360.599 -> ships had the ability to reach the

3362.52 -> Americas 2,000 years before

3364.559 -> Columbus.

3370.44 -> As the city of Carthage grew, its

3373.14 -> population boomed.

3375.24 -> While some ancient writers record it as

3378.359 -> having a population of more than 700,000

3381.18 -> people, this is thought to be unlikely.

3383.46 -> But estimates based on the size of the

3385.74 -> city and the size of civilian armies

3388.44 -> drawn up in times of crisis have

3390.78 -> suggested that the population may have

3392.4 -> reached 400,000.

3394.98 -> By the year 400 BC, the city walls had

3398.4 -> been rebuilt to now stand a towering 15

3401.4 -> meters high, with a triple line of

3404.22 -> ditches and defenses on the landward

3406.68 -> side. The hill of Byrsa, where legend has

3410.4 -> it that Elishaya played her trick with

3412.68 -> the ox hide, was now itself ringed with

3415.2 -> an inner defensive wall and loomed over

3418.02 -> the rest of the city as a fortified

3420.359 -> citadel.

3421.8 -> The Roman writer Appian writes the

3424.38 -> following description of the city.

3427.319 -> On the seaside, the city was protected by

3429.66 -> a single wall. Toward

3430.859 -> the south and the mainland, where the

3433.319 -> citadel of Byrsa stood on the isthmus,

3435.3 -> there was a triple wall. The height of

3438.119 -> each wall was 15 meter without counting

3440.819 -> parapets and towers,

3442.5 -> which was separated from each other by a

3445.2 -> space of 60 meters.

3447.72 -> One of the most remarkable features of

3450.059 -> ancient Carthage was the innovative

3452.22 -> design of its harbor, known as the cothon.

3458.119 -> Likely built sometime in the third or

3461.22 -> second century BC, this comprised a large,

3464.64 -> rectangular commercial harbor for

3466.98 -> civilian ships that led into a unique,

3469.859 -> circular docking bay for the military

3472.02 -> ships of Carthage's war fleet.

3474.839 -> The harbor was so large that today the

3477.72 -> shape of its outline can still be seen

3480 -> in the coast of the city of Tunis.

3483.059 -> Appian describes the unique design of

3486.059 -> this harbor.

3487.619 -> The harbors have communication with each

3489.48 -> other and a common entrance from the sea

3491.76 -> 20 meters wide, which could be closed

3494.16 -> with iron chains.

3495.9 -> The first port was for merchant vessels,

3498.059 -> and here were collected all kinds of

3500.16 -> shipsí tackle.

3501.78 -> Within the second port was an island

3503.7 -> which, together with the port itself, was

3505.98 -> enclosed by high embankments. These

3508.74 -> embankments were full of shipyards, which

3510.9 -> had capacity for 220 vessels.

3514.02 -> Above, there were magazines for their

3516.119 -> tackle and furniture.

3517.92 -> Two ionic columns stood in front of each

3520.68 -> dock.

3521.64 -> On the island was built the admiral's

3523.559 -> house, from which the trumpeter gave

3525.42 -> signals, the herald delivered orders, and

3528.359 -> the admiral himself overlooked

3530.22 -> everything.

3534.18 -> At this time, Carthage had the largest

3536.819 -> and most powerful fleet in the

3538.68 -> Mediterranean, and the military port was

3541.38 -> built to conceal the ships docked within

3543.78 -> and ensure that no spies could glean any

3546.839 -> of their secrets or keep tabs on their

3549.9 -> movements.

3551.28 -> The island lay near the entrance to the

3553.319 -> harbor and rose to a considerable height

3555.48 -> so that the admiral could observe what

3557.7 -> was going on at sea while those who were

3560.04 -> approaching by water could not get any

3562.319 -> clear view of what took place within.

3565.079 -> Not even the incoming merchants could

3567.24 -> see the docks, for a double wall enclosed

3569.7 -> them, and there were gates by which

3572.22 -> merchant ships could pass from the first

3574.2 -> port of the city without traversing the

3576.42 -> dockyards. Such was the appearance of

3578.88 -> Carthage at the time.

3595.26 -> Between the harbor and the citadel of

3597.66 -> Byrsa on the hill stood the Agora, the

3601.26 -> large open marketplace of the city, where

3604.2 -> all manner of goods and foods could be

3606.48 -> bought.

3607.5 -> Archaeological studies of plant matter

3609.66 -> found in Carthage show that the ancient

3612.38 -> Carthaginians enjoyed a varied diet.

3615.54 -> Walking through the markets of the city,

3617.4 -> you would be able to buy wheat, barley, and

3620.22 -> other grains, numerous vegetables like

3622.859 -> artichokes and cabbages, pulses and

3625.44 -> lentils, and fruits including

3627.24 -> pomegranates, grapes, figs, olives, peaches,

3631.38 -> plums, and melons, as well as nuts like

3634.079 -> pistachios and almonds.

3636.599 -> Olives were pressed into oil, and its

3639.54 -> people ate fish like grey mullet, sea

3642.359 -> perch, eels, and dolphins, as well as the

3645.42 -> meat of sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, and

3649.2 -> occasionally even dogs.

3651.48 -> The Carthaginians, like most people in

3653.7 -> the ancient world, were obsessed with a

3655.74 -> pungent salty source known as garum,

3658.38 -> which was brewed from the fermenting of

3660.9 -> fish entrails, and which was probably

3663.359 -> similar to the fish sauce used today in

3666.42 -> East Asian cuisine.

3669.359 -> In the wreck of one Carthaginian ship

3672.24 -> found off the coast of Sicily in Masala,

3675.38 -> archaeologists have also uncovered the

3677.52 -> remains of cannabis stalks which may

3680.099 -> have been chewed by the ship's rowers,

3681.96 -> and could also have been enjoyed on land,

3684.9 -> either chewed or brewed into a tea.

3688.68 -> Wine was particularly beloved, too, and

3691.799 -> especially a particular kind of sweet

3693.839 -> dessert wine made from sun-dried grapes.

3697.74 -> One agricultural handbook, written by a

3700.98 -> Carthaginian named Mago, has survived

3703.559 -> in fragments of Greek and Latin

3705.839 -> translation, and it describes the process

3708.059 -> of making this wine.

3710.54 -> Pick some well-ripened, early grapes.

3713.839 -> Discard any that are mildewed or damaged.

3716.88 -> Lay down reeds and spread the grapes out

3720.18 -> in the sun on top. Cover them at night so

3723.24 -> that the dew will not moisten them.

3725.339 -> When they are dried, pick the grapes off

3728.16 -> stems and put them in a jar or pitcher.

3730.559 -> Add some un-fermented wine, the best you

3733.799 -> have, until the grapes are just covered.

3736.98 -> After six days, when the grapes have

3739.02 -> absorbed it all and are swollen, put them

3741.48 -> in a basket, put them through the press,

3743.579 -> and collect the resulting liquid. Bottle

3746.7 -> the liquid in stopper jars, and after 20

3749.7 -> or 30 days, when the fermentation is over,

3752.16 -> coat the lids with plaster and cover

3754.859 -> them with leather.

3757.92 -> As a typical Phoenician city, Carthage

3760.92 -> initially had a small footprint in North

3763.319 -> Africa and in its early days, it was

3765.96 -> reliant on its overseas territories in

3768.72 -> Sardinia and Sicily for more than half

3771.059 -> of its food, brought across the sea on

3773.7 -> grain ships.

3775.44 -> But in the 6th century, it began to

3777.78 -> expand its territory around the city.

3780.72 -> The Carthaginians either expelled local

3783.42 -> people or came to agreements with them,

3785.94 -> and built a network of towns and forts to

3788.64 -> the south, east, and west, and began to

3791.64 -> farm the land themselves.

3795 -> A later writer, Diodorus of Sicily, would

3798.24 -> pan the following description of the

3800.46 -> abundant hinterland that would soon

3802.44 -> stretch beyond the city.

3806.099 -> All the lands were set with gardens and

3809.339 -> orchards, watered by numerous springs and

3812.16 -> canals.

3813.359 -> There were well-constructed country

3815.04 -> houses built with lime along the route,

3817.579 -> announcing widespread wealth.

3820.44 -> The land was cultivated with vines, olive

3823.38 -> trees, and a whole host of fruit trees. On

3827.28 -> both sides, there were herds of oxen and

3829.559 -> sheep grazing on the plain, and near the

3832.2 -> main pastures and the marshes, there were

3834.599 -> studs of horses.

3836.64 -> In its outposts in Sardinia, Spain, and

3839.819 -> Sicily, Carthage began a similar process,

3842.599 -> turning what had once been small trading

3845.52 -> posts into more solid and fortified

3847.98 -> territories with their own agricultural

3850.74 -> land.

3852.54 -> Soon, the city of Carthage would be more

3855.18 -> or less self-sufficient, as the Roman

3857.64 -> writer Appian describes.

3861 -> Gradually acquiring strength, they

3863.52 -> mastered Africa and the greater part of

3865.619 -> the Mediterranean,

3867.18 -> carried war into Sicily and Sardinia and

3870.18 -> the other islands of that scene, and also

3872.579 -> into Spain. They sent out numerous

3875.099 -> colonies.

3876.299 -> They became a match for the Greeks in

3878.339 -> power and next to the Persians in wealth.

3883.5 -> The typical Carthaginian house was built

3886.319 -> around a central courtyard, and the

3888.359 -> wealthier dwellings had an upstairs and

3890.76 -> a terrace.

3892.02 -> Finer houses had cupboards and shelves

3894.72 -> built into the walls, and often a clay

3897.359 -> bread oven.

3898.92 -> We can imagine the smells of this baking

3901.619 -> bread wafting through the city streets,

3904.02 -> along with the pungent aromas from the

3906.48 -> tanneries and wineries, the smells of

3909 -> animals and incense, cooked fish, and

3911.94 -> salty garum sauce.

3914.94 -> Wealthy houses also contained elaborate

3918.18 -> bathrooms with separate changing

3920.22 -> facilities, and baths plastered with

3922.859 -> water-resistant stucco. Before bathing,

3925.859 -> oil would be applied to the body, and a

3928.92 -> bronze tool known as a strigil was used

3931.799 -> to scrape dirt from the skin.

3934.5 -> While in Greek houses these bathrooms

3937.079 -> were usually built off the kitchen, the

3939.18 -> Carthaginians built their bathrooms next

3941.339 -> to the entrance to the house, suggesting

3943.799 -> that there was some sort of ritual

3945.599 -> purpose to the bathing,

3947.46 -> separating the dusty, unclean world of

3950.28 -> outside from the clean inner space of

3952.92 -> the home.

3957.78 -> A variety of animals would have been

3960.119 -> visible on the crowded city streets.

3962.88 -> These would have included beasts of

3964.92 -> burden like donkeys, oxen, and horses, stray

3968.4 -> dogs and cats, and noisy caravans of camels

3971.339 -> coming in from the desert.

3973.319 -> But they also seem to have drawn animals

3975.66 -> as curiosities from all parts of Africa.

3980.04 -> A species of huge lion known as the

3983.22 -> Barbary lion could be found all across

3985.74 -> this region and would later be captured

3988.079 -> for spectacles, including in the Roman

3990.839 -> arenas,

3992.039 -> and a species of monkey known as the

3995.039 -> Barbary macaque is also native to this

3997.68 -> area.

3999.059 -> Diodorus of Sicily records one account of

4002 -> Carthaginians keeping these monkeys as

4004.64 -> apparently much-beloved pets.

4008.72 -> In these cities, many of the customs were

4011.359 -> very different from those current among

4013.4 -> us.

4014.18 -> For the apes lived in the same houses as

4016.7 -> the men, being regarded among them as

4019.16 -> gods, just as the dogs are among the

4021.859 -> Egyptians, and from the provisions laid

4024.26 -> up in the storerooms, the beasts took

4026.9 -> their food without hindrance whenever

4028.579 -> they wished.

4029.78 -> For any who killed this animal, as if he

4032.48 -> had committed the greatest sacrilege,

4034.579 -> death was established as the penalty.

4039.14 -> Around this time, monkeys began appearing

4042.02 -> as a motif in the art of regions of

4045.14 -> Italy, Sardinia, and elsewhere, suggesting

4048.2 -> that the Carthaginians were even

4049.819 -> exporting this animal to other regions.

4053.359 -> Some Barbary macaques were mummified in

4056.72 -> Egyptian tombs alongside pharaohs, and

4059.78 -> the skull of a Barbary macaque dated to

4062.539 -> around this time has even been unearthed

4064.94 -> as far away as Northern Ireland.

4068.48 -> Of course, in vast stables to the

4071.539 -> south of the city, were kept the animals

4073.88 -> that in most people's minds are most

4076.16 -> inseparably associated with the city of

4079.16 -> Carthage;

4080.359 -> that is the elephant.

4087.5 -> The North African elephant is an extinct

4090.38 -> subspecies of the African elephant that

4093.14 -> lived north of the Sahara Desert.

4096.02 -> Carthaginian paintings on walls, coins,

4098.719 -> and mosaics show that these elephants

4101 -> had the swooping backs and large ears

4103.64 -> typical of the African elephant that

4106.16 -> roams the Savannah,

4107.779 -> but it was considerably smaller and was

4110.96 -> likely similar in size to another

4113.179 -> surviving subspecies, the African forest

4116.299 -> elephant.

4117.56 -> These reach a shoulder height of about

4119.779 -> two and a half meters, only a little

4121.94 -> taller than the largest Shire horses, but

4124.94 -> of course, their thick and heavy frames

4127.279 -> mean they weigh more than 15 times the

4130.58 -> average horse.

4132.38 -> For this reason, these elephants were

4134.66 -> used by the Carthaginians as fearsome

4137.299 -> weapons of war.

4140.719 -> Some historians have speculated that

4143.239 -> Carthage may also have imported some

4146.54 -> much larger Indian elephants, which were

4149.42 -> at that time being used by the Seleucid

4152 -> dynasty in Syria.

4153.92 -> One elephant that was the pride of the

4156.319 -> later Carthaginian army was known by the

4159.14 -> name Surus, which some have translated to

4162.02 -> mean the Syrian.

4164.06 -> If true, this Syrian elephant would have

4167.359 -> towered as much as a meter over the

4169.64 -> smaller Carthaginian elephants, and would

4172.1 -> have been a truly terrifying sight on

4174.739 -> the battlefield.

4176.779 -> In India and Southeast Asia, it has

4179.48 -> always been common to use elephants as

4181.64 -> work animals to transport heavy loads

4184.279 -> for construction, but it's not clear

4186.319 -> whether the Carthaginians used their

4188.299 -> elephants in this manner or whether

4190.339 -> these precious animals were only

4192.62 -> reserved for their power and prestige, to

4195.739 -> be used as living tanks on the

4197.84 -> battlefield, as the writer Pliny the

4200.239 -> Elder prescribes.

4203.12 -> Elephants, when tamed, are employed in war

4206.239 -> and carry into the ranks of the enemy

4208.46 -> towers filled with armed men,

4210.8 -> and on them, in a very great measure,

4213.679 -> depends the ultimate result of the

4215.96 -> battles that are fought in the East.

4218.06 -> They tread underfoot whole companies and

4221.36 -> crush the men in their armor.

4224.96 -> But I think it's not hard to imagine

4226.699 -> that as in India, elephants may also have

4230.54 -> been used ceremonially in festivals and

4233.6 -> parades to carry kings and generals, a

4236.96 -> living embodiment of the might of this

4239.96 -> new empire.

4249.08 -> While Carthage didn't hesitate to go to

4252.14 -> war to defend its interests and protect

4255.02 -> its trade, it was not at heart a warrior

4258.32 -> culture, and it never suffered a conflict

4260.54 -> to continue any longer than it

4262.64 -> absolutely had to.

4264.38 -> The Carthaginians often relied on

4266.659 -> diplomatic solutions and agreements to

4269.659 -> avoid fighting with their various

4271.34 -> neighbors in the Mediterranean.

4274.159 -> One such agreement was settled in the

4276.86 -> year 509 BC with a minor city-state in

4280.94 -> central Italy, in the region of Latium,

4283.52 -> whose people spoke a small Italic

4286.159 -> dialect called Latin.

4288.86 -> This city's people had just that year

4291.56 -> thrown off the rule of their Etruscan

4294.199 -> king and abolished kingship in the city

4296.9 -> for good. In place of a king, they had

4300.02 -> brought in the rule of a pair of elected

4302.54 -> consuls drawn from the aristocracy, a

4305.78 -> system strikingly similar to and perhaps

4308.719 -> even inspired by the Carthaginians.

4311.78 -> This city's name was Rome.

4316.4 -> The Romans at that time were among

4318.8 -> several powers in central Italy facing

4321.98 -> rivals in the Etruscans to the north, and

4325.1 -> powerful tribal confederacies like the

4327.38 -> Samnites all fighting for dominance

4330.02 -> in the plains of central Italy.

4333.44 -> The Carthaginians seem to have taken

4335.719 -> note of this regional development and

4338.3 -> proceeded to sign a treaty with this new

4340.88 -> Roman republic,

4342.38 -> the contents of which the Greek

4344.54 -> historian Polybius records.

4348.86 -> There shall be friendship between the Romans

4351.14 -> and their allies, and the Carthaginians and their

4354.62 -> allies, on these conditions;

4357.44 -> neither the Romans nor their allies are

4359.96 -> to sail beyond the fair peninsula unless

4362.96 -> driven by stress of weather or the fear

4365.48 -> of enemies. If any one of them be driven

4368.36 -> ashore, he shall not buy or take anything

4370.82 -> for himself, save what is needed for the

4373.52 -> repair of his ship and the service of

4376.1 -> the gods, and he shall depart within five

4379.219 -> days. Carthage shall build no fort in

4382.52 -> Latium, and if they enter the district in

4385.1 -> arms, they shall not stay a night therein.

4391.52 -> The theme of this treaty was simple; you

4394.46 -> leave us alone and we will leave you

4397.04 -> alone.

4398.06 -> While Rome was at this point very

4400.46 -> much on the Carthaginian's radar, it

4403.159 -> seems that they considered this Italian

4405.08 -> city republic to be little cause of

4408.32 -> concern.

4417.44 -> Around the year 410 BC, Carthage began

4421.28 -> minting its own silver coins, and each

4423.86 -> coin would be stamped with the symbol of

4426.26 -> a palm tree in Greek, known as Phoenike,

4429.14 -> now becoming a symbol of Phoenician

4431.96 -> identity.

4433.4 -> Carthage was now presenting itself as

4436.159 -> the new champion of the Phoenician

4438.199 -> people, the capital of the Phoenician

4440.84 -> world.

4442.1 -> It was now beginning to look a lot Like

4444.62 -> an empire, and like all empires, it soon

4447.98 -> found an increasing need to defend and

4450.86 -> expand its territory.

4453.86 -> It's often said that Carthage relied on

4456.26 -> mercenaries to fight its wars, but this

4458.84 -> is something of an oversimplification.

4460.64 -> While these kinds of armies-for-hire did

4463.94 -> make up one part of their forces, in fact,

4466.52 -> there were all kinds of reasons that

4468.199 -> people came to fight for the empire of

4470.54 -> Carthage.

4471.56 -> Many of their soldiers were sent to

4473.719 -> fight for them as part of treaties, just

4475.94 -> as the Phoenicians had once promised to

4478.159 -> send their ships to fight for Assyria.

4480.62 -> As Carthage expanded to conquer new

4483.26 -> peoples all along the North African

4485.42 -> coast and across the Mediterranean,

4487.52 -> ever more power and variety was added to

4490.94 -> its forces.

4492.5 -> When war came, each ally and province

4495.739 -> would send fighters of a particular kind

4498.219 -> based on what they specialized in.

4501.86 -> The North African power of Numidia to

4504.679 -> the west of Carthage sent powerful and

4507.199 -> experienced cavalry and javelin-throwers,

4509.96 -> while colonies in the island of Majorca

4513.02 -> would send slingers, and peasant spearmen

4515.96 -> with large, round shields were

4518.179 -> conscripted from the fields of Libya in

4520.58 -> the East.

4522.02 -> Celts from Spain made up some part of

4525.02 -> their forces, and sometimes even Greeks

4527.6 -> and Italians ended up fighting in these

4530.239 -> armies.

4531.26 -> There was only one group of people who

4533.9 -> hardly ever fought for Carthage, and that

4536.96 -> was the citizens of Carthage themselves.

4542.42 -> The Carthaginian system relied largely

4545.12 -> on making life as comfortable as

4547.28 -> possible for the people of the capital.

4550.219 -> Few Carthaginian politicians ever risked

4553.52 -> the unpopular move of conscripting its

4556.34 -> citizens into the army, and so, they

4558.679 -> amassed their forces out of units

4561.02 -> brought from all the four corners of the

4563.239 -> empire. Each army of Carthage was its own

4566.9 -> unique patchwork and would have spoken

4569.179 -> dozens of different languages, as the

4571.64 -> Greek historian Polybius writes.

4575 -> It was therefore impossible to assemble

4577.34 -> them and address them as a body or to do

4579.5 -> so by any other means, for how could any

4582.199 -> general be expected to know all their

4584.06 -> languages? And again to address them

4587.179 -> through several interpreters, repeating

4589.4 -> the same thing four or five times, was, if

4592.219 -> anything, more impractical.

4596.239 -> It was a system that had many weaknesses,

4598.94 -> but it allowed the empire to raise

4600.86 -> large armies at short notice, and it

4603.739 -> meant that since they could never be

4605.12 -> accused of sending good Carthaginian men

4607.58 -> to die, the politicians of the city were

4610.88 -> largely insulated from the consequences

4613.34 -> of going to war.

4616.159 -> But soon these armies would find

4618.44 -> themselves embroiled in a bitter

4620.54 -> struggle that would test this system to

4622.94 -> its breaking point and threaten to bring

4625.4 -> the whole empire to the brink of

4627.56 -> destruction.

4628.94 -> These wars would erupt over what would

4631.58 -> soon become the most fought-over piece

4633.739 -> of land in the Mediterranean;

4636.199 -> that is the island of Sicily.

4648.739 -> Sicily is the largest island in the

4651.62 -> Mediterranean Sea.

4653.9 -> It sits off the southern end of Italy,

4656.719 -> separated by the narrow waters of the

4659.36 -> Straits of Messina, only three kilometers

4662.3 -> wide at its narrowest point.

4665.36 -> Sicily's most prominent landmark is the

4668.42 -> volcano Mount Etna, towering

4671.3 -> 3,000 meters over its eastern coast,

4674.12 -> and due to the islandís particularly

4676.52 -> violent geology, this is one of the most

4679.34 -> active volcanoes in the world.

4684.56 -> Although we think of it today as part of

4686.719 -> Europe, Sicily is actually on the

4688.76 -> northern edge of the African continental

4691.159 -> plate, right at the impact point where

4694.219 -> the European plate is grinding it

4696.44 -> downwards into the Earth's mantle.

4699.38 -> The collision of these titanic forces

4702.14 -> means that Mount Etna erupts an average

4704.719 -> 200 times every year.

4709.28 -> The volcanic ash spewed by this volcano

4712.4 -> gives the soil of Sicily an incredible

4715.219 -> fertility, meaning that its farmlands

4717.98 -> have always been rich.

4720.44 -> At first, Carthage enjoyed an unrivaled

4723.86 -> position on the island, trading with the

4726.38 -> Sicilian locals in the west just a short

4728.96 -> hop away from their capital in Africa,

4732.02 -> but soon they would come into conflict

4734.239 -> with another group of people that for

4736.699 -> much of this history would be their

4738.679 -> greatest rivals on the sea and the land,

4741.679 -> a people who were at the same time also

4745.1 -> busy establishing colonies across the

4747.44 -> Mediterranean.

4749.179 -> These were the Greeks.

4756.26 -> The Greeks, like the Phoenicians, were

4759.199 -> expert sailors and had built a number of

4761.96 -> thriving colonies in southern Italy, in

4764.84 -> what is now Turkey and in the Black Sea.

4767.9 -> Beginning in the 8th century BC,

4770.36 -> Greek explorers and traders began

4773.06 -> expanding their interests onto the

4775.28 -> island of Sicily.

4777.56 -> Like the Phoenicians, the Greeks at this

4780.08 -> time weren't a unified people.

4782.48 -> They spoke four different dialects of

4784.88 -> Greek and countless sub-dialects, and

4787.64 -> came from dozens of independent

4789.56 -> city-states and island kingdoms that

4792.08 -> often fought with each other more

4794 -> bitterly than with any foreigners.

4796.46 -> But despite these internal divisions, the

4799.219 -> Greeks would expand across the southern

4800.96 -> portion of Italy and Sicily, and joined

4803.96 -> up this series of colonies into an area

4806.54 -> that they would call Megale Hellas, or

4810.199 -> Greater Greece.

4814.159 -> Wherever they went, Greek settlers were

4816.92 -> in part inspired by the myth of their

4819.8 -> hero Heracles, who the Romans would call

4822.8 -> Hercules.

4824.48 -> He was a half-divine warrior who

4827.36 -> traveled the length and breadth of

4829.04 -> Europe, performing his famous twelve

4831.739 -> labors, and meanwhile performing great

4834.32 -> deeds wherever he passed through.

4836.659 -> Wherever a new Greek colony sprung

4839.659 -> up around the Mediterranean, a new

4841.82 -> installment of the Hercules myth would

4844.1 -> quickly be added, to show that this had

4847.1 -> also been one of his stops. In some

4849.98 -> places, he was celebrated for slaying

4851.96 -> giants and mythical beasts, while in

4854.6 -> others his feats were more mundane.

4857.54 -> In the Greek colonies of southern Italy,

4859.88 -> he was remembered for banishing a plague

4862.219 -> of flies that was harming the livestock.

4865.159 -> In Crete, he had rid the island of wild

4867.739 -> beasts, and in Sicily, he had caught an

4870.92 -> errant bull and bested the king in a

4873.8 -> wrestling match.

4875.3 -> In Spain, Diodorus of Sicily recounts that

4878.48 -> depending on who you asked, Hercules was

4881.48 -> credited with either creating the

4883.219 -> Straits of Gibraltar by tearing the land

4885.44 -> apart or with narrowing it to keep out

4888.62 -> sea monsters.

4890.9 -> Whereas before that time a great space

4892.94 -> had stood between Africa and Europe, he

4895.64 -> now narrowed the passage, in order that

4897.8 -> by making it shallow and narrow he might

4900.38 -> prevent the great sea monsters from

4902.12 -> passing out of the ocean and into the

4903.92 -> inner sea.

4905.42 -> Some authorities, however, say just the

4908.179 -> opposite, namely that the two continents

4910.82 -> were originally joined and that he cut a

4913.219 -> passage between them, that the ocean was

4915.5 -> mingled with the sea.

4917.3 -> On this question, however, it would be

4919.82 -> possible for every man to think as he

4922.46 -> may please.

4925.699 -> In one of the most dramatic episodes of

4928.1 -> these tales, during his tenth labor,

4930.44 -> Hercules is tasked with stealing the red

4933.44 -> cattle of the ogre Geryon, who lived in

4936.56 -> Erythia in southern Spain, close to the

4939.5 -> Phoenician colony of Gades.

4941.9 -> Since Geryon lived so far in the west, it

4944.84 -> was said, the hides of his cattle had

4947.12 -> been stained red by their close

4949.04 -> proximity to the setting sun.

4952.28 -> After killing Geryon, Hercules takes his

4955.34 -> cattle and herds them all the way back

4957.86 -> home to Greece in a meandering route

4959.96 -> that took him from Spain, through

4962.239 -> southern France, and over the soaring

4964.64 -> snowy mountains of the Alps, and on into

4967.699 -> Italy, as Diodorus recounts.

4971.84 -> Hercules then made his way to Italy, and

4975.32 -> as he traversed the mountain pass

4977.12 -> through the Alps, he made a highway out

4979.82 -> of the route, which was rough and almost

4981.86 -> impassible. The barbarians who had

4985.04 -> inhabited this mountain region had been

4987.38 -> accustomed to butcher and to plunder

4989.6 -> such armies as pass through when they

4992.06 -> came to the difficult portions of the

4993.8 -> way, but he subdued them all.

4999.32 -> The story of Hercules bringing these

5001.9 -> cattle from Spain over these mountains

5004.3 -> was the dramatic pinnacle of a series of

5007.12 -> myths that would become known as the

5009.46 -> Heraclean way.

5011.32 -> It was a series of stories that would be

5013.78 -> told to countless generations of Greek

5016.06 -> settlers and then to the children of the

5018.699 -> Romans who followed them. As the

5021.34 -> Phoenician hero god Melqart became

5024.1 -> increasingly associated with Hercules in

5026.679 -> later years, these stories would also be

5029.26 -> told to the children of Carthage.

5032.56 -> With stories of this wandering hero on

5034.96 -> their lips, the Greek settlements in

5037.06 -> eastern Sicily grew.

5039.76 -> For several centuries, they maintained an

5042.4 -> uneasy peace with the Carthaginian

5044.38 -> colonies in the west of the island,

5047.14 -> but as both powers began to require

5049.36 -> greater amounts of land, they would soon

5052.239 -> find themselves on a collision course.

5056.02 -> The exact dating and details of these

5058.84 -> wars is still fiercely contested, but

5062.199 -> it's clear that by the late 5th century

5064.179 -> BC, Sicily had erupted in warfare between

5067.96 -> Carthage and the Greeks.

5070.6 -> Soon, it would resemble a piece of meat

5073.179 -> being torn apart by two hungry dogs.

5078.1 -> The economy of the island suffered.

5080.4 -> Warlords established themselves as the

5083.26 -> tyrant rulers of its cities, and banditry

5086.44 -> and lawlessness spread.

5090.04 -> For much of these centuries of fighting,

5092.14 -> the Carthaginians were happy to let the

5094.6 -> wars with the Greeks simmer on.

5097.6 -> The citizens of its capital never went

5100.36 -> to war, and so long as the peace and

5102.88 -> comfort of their city was never

5104.62 -> disturbed, it must have felt to them that

5107.44 -> these wars were a very long way from

5110.14 -> home.

5112.179 -> But the final episode of these conflicts,

5114.699 -> known as the Seventh Sicilian War, would

5118.06 -> puncture this sense of invulnerability.

5122.92 -> That's because Carthage would find

5124.84 -> itself in a life or death struggle with

5127.6 -> a man who would bring the war home to

5129.699 -> their shores in dramatic fashion. He was

5133.06 -> a king of Syracuse, a Greek city-state on

5136.6 -> the southeastern coast of Sicily, and his

5139.239 -> name was Agathocles.

5162.719 -> Agathocles began life as a commoner

5165.699 -> in the Sicilian colonies, the son of a

5168.52 -> potter in the port city of Syracuse.

5172 -> At first he learned his father's trade,

5174.219 -> but soon entered the army and rose

5176.56 -> through its ranks until he was able to

5179.199 -> enact a military coup and seize the

5182.02 -> throne of the city, in the year 317 BC.

5186.639 -> Agathocles had a high opinion of

5189.04 -> himself, and as the tyrant of Syracuse, he

5192.52 -> minted silver coins that portrayed

5194.8 -> himself as the heir to Alexander the

5197.26 -> Great, the greatest of all the Greeks,

5200.44 -> and like Alexander, Agathocles had

5203.86 -> dreams of conquest. He soon set about

5207.219 -> subjugating cities all around him, as the

5210.58 -> historian Diodorus of Sicily recalls.

5214.62 -> Agathocles began unhampered to

5217.36 -> subject the cities and strongholds to

5219.34 -> himself.

5220.179 -> Mastering many of them quickly, he made

5222.34 -> his power secure.

5223.9 -> In fact, he built up for himself a host

5226.239 -> of allies, ample revenues, and a

5228.82 -> considerable army.

5230.56 -> He had picked a mercenary force

5232.36 -> comprising 10,000 foot soldiers and

5235.48 -> 3,500 horse.

5237.219 -> Moreover, he prepared a store of weapons

5240.28 -> and of missiles of all kinds, since he

5242.98 -> knew that the Carthaginians would

5244.6 -> shortly wage war against him.

5248.739 -> As predicted, it wasn't long before the

5251.679 -> Carthaginians began to see Agathocles as

5254.8 -> a serious threat.

5256.78 -> Carthage amassed a huge army in its

5259.78 -> usual way, gathering mercenaries and

5262.54 -> levees from all of its territories and

5265.12 -> allies; slingers, spearmen, cavalry,

5268.36 -> elephants, likely speaking a dozen

5270.94 -> different languages, and sailed all of

5273.46 -> them to Sicily.

5275.08 -> On the way, many of their ships were

5277.42 -> wrecked in a storm, but the force that

5279.699 -> arrived was still easily enough to

5281.92 -> overpower the tyrant Agathocles, as

5284.8 -> Diodorus recounts.

5287.38 -> As Agathocles saw the forces of

5289.6 -> the Carthaginians were superior to his

5291.639 -> own, he surmised that not a few of the

5294.04 -> strongholds could go over to the

5295.42 -> Phoenicians, and also those of the cities

5297.82 -> that were offended with him. After a

5300.46 -> stinging defeat on the Himera River in

5303.1 -> central Sicily, Agathocles retreated east

5305.92 -> to his port capital of Syracuse, where

5309.04 -> the Carthaginians surrounded the city

5311.38 -> and laid siege.

5314.199 -> For Agathocles, it looked like all hope

5317.02 -> was lost,

5318.4 -> but it's here in this desperate moment

5321.159 -> that he decided on a truly daring course

5324.1 -> of action.

5325.78 -> He hatched a plan to break free of the

5328.659 -> siege by ship, set sail for Africa, and

5332.02 -> make a desperate strike at the heart of

5334.659 -> his enemy, the city of Carthage itself.

5338.56 -> When he saw that all his allies had

5340.6 -> changed sides and that barbarians were

5343 -> masters of almost all Sicily except

5345.52 -> Syracuse and were far superior in both

5348.52 -> land and sea forces, he carried out an

5351.219 -> undertaking that was unexpected and most

5353.8 -> reckless.

5355.12 -> He determined to leave an adequate

5357.04 -> garrison for the city, to select those of

5359.62 -> the soldiers who were fit, and with these

5361.9 -> to cross over into Libya, for he hoped

5365.02 -> that if he did this, those in Carthage

5367.78 -> who had been living luxuriously in long-

5370.179 -> -continued peace and were therefore

5373.54 -> without experience in the dangers of

5375.4 -> battle, would easily be defeated.

5379.54 -> When the Carthaginians saw the Greek

5381.699 -> fleet leaving Syracuse, they believed

5384.52 -> Agathocles to be fleeing, and they pursued

5386.92 -> him.

5388 -> They chased the Greeks, harrying them

5390.52 -> across the sea for hundreds of

5392.26 -> kilometers, pelting them with arrows and

5394.84 -> slingstones.

5396.639 -> But luck was on the side of the Greeks,

5399.04 -> and Agathocles and his soldiers were

5401.98 -> able to land on the beaches of Africa.

5406.719 -> Agathocles must have feared that his

5409.12 -> soldiers would lose courage and attempt

5411.159 -> to flee, and so, he ordered their ships to

5414.04 -> be burned in an offering to the gods, as

5417.219 -> Diodorus recounts.

5420.04 -> Standing by the stern, he bade the others

5422.26 -> also to follow his example.

5424.36 -> Then, as all the captains threw in the

5426.58 -> fire and the flames quickly blazed high,

5428.62 -> the trumpeter sounded the signal for

5430.84 -> battle and the army raised the war cry,

5433.06 -> while altogether prayed for a safe

5435.28 -> return home.

5436.54 -> This Agathocles did, for it was clear

5439.6 -> that if the retreat to the ships was cut

5441.699 -> off, in victory alone would they have

5443.8 -> hope for safety. Nevertheless, when all

5447.159 -> the ships were aflame and the fire was

5449.02 -> spreading widely, terror laid hold upon

5452.08 -> the Sicilians as they considered the

5454.6 -> vastness of the sea that separated them

5456.52 -> from home.

5458.02 -> From the city walls of Carthage, the

5460.719 -> fires of the burning ships would have

5462.699 -> been visible on the horizon, and now fear

5465.76 -> was beginning to spread among its

5467.86 -> citizens.

5469.48 -> For them, war was something that happened

5472 -> in other places.

5474.219 -> The city had never been significantly

5476.44 -> threatened before, and there were

5478.54 -> virtually no forces there to defend it.

5482.02 -> Panic and great confusion seized upon the

5484.54 -> city.

5485.32 -> The crowds rushed to the marketplace, and

5487.719 -> the Council of Elders consulted what

5489.58 -> should be done.

5490.719 -> In fact, there was no army at hand that

5493.719 -> could take the field against the enemy.

5496 -> The mass of the citizens, who had no

5498.159 -> experience in warfare, were already in

5500.56 -> despair, and the enemy was thought to be

5502.84 -> near the walls.

5505.06 -> For the first time, the citizens of

5507.639 -> Carthage would actually have to fight.

5511 -> They were conscripted en masse, given long

5514.36 -> spears and shields, perhaps given some

5517.179 -> rudimentary training, and along with the

5520.179 -> small complement of city guards, marched

5522.76 -> out to meet the Greeks in battle.

5525.6 -> The Carthaginians hoped to make up for

5528.76 -> the poor quality of their citizen troops

5531.04 -> with sheer numbers, and, vastly

5534.34 -> outnumbering Agathocles, they were

5536.56 -> confident of victory, but that was not to

5539.56 -> be the case.

5541.36 -> When they met, the experienced and now

5544.42 -> desperate Greeks smashed the citizen

5547.06 -> soldiers of Carthage, ran them off the

5549.58 -> battlefield, and flooded into their camp.

5551.94 -> Here, Diodorus writes that they made a

5555.46 -> telling discovery.

5558.699 -> In the camp of the Carthaginians were

5560.86 -> found, along with other goods, many wagons

5563.679 -> in which were being transported more

5566.08 -> than 20,000 pairs of manacles. For the

5569.62 -> Carthaginians, having expected to master

5571.9 -> the Greeks easily, had passed the word

5574.48 -> along among themselves to take alive as

5576.88 -> many as possible, and, after shackling,

5579.82 -> to throw them into slave pens.

5582.52 -> With this army defeated, the city of

5585.1 -> Carthage was now completely surrounded

5587.26 -> by hostile forces, and Diodorus can't

5590.5 -> help but comment on the ridiculous

5592.6 -> nature of the situation.

5595.659 -> In Sicily, the Carthaginians, who had

5598.239 -> defeated Agathocles in a great battle,

5600.1 -> were besieging Syracuse, but in Libya,

5603.28 -> Agathocles had brought the

5605.38 -> Carthaginians under siege.

5609.9 -> It's here that the Carthaginians, in

5612.88 -> their desperation, seem to have turned to

5615.699 -> an ancient ritual that forms one of the

5618.46 -> darkest and most controversial aspects

5620.98 -> of their history;

5622.42 -> that is, the rite of child sacrifice.

5633.58 -> Human sacrifice was, at certain times, a

5637.36 -> feature of various societies in the

5639.639 -> ancient world. Rituals of this kind have

5642.76 -> been attested in several indigenous

5645.28 -> American societies and in the early

5647.8 -> histories of Israel and Judah, as well as

5650.8 -> the cities of Phoenicia, like Tyre and

5653.86 -> Sidon.

5655.36 -> The Book of Kings records one king of

5658.42 -> the Levantine kingdom of Moab

5660.6 -> sacrificing his firstborn child when a

5663.76 -> war isn't going his way.

5665.98 -> In Ireland, Britain, and Northern Germany,

5668.86 -> during the Iron Age, sacrificial victims

5672.1 -> were ritually strangled and cast into

5674.86 -> bogs, where the acidic waters mummified

5678.04 -> them in a state of perfect preservation.

5682.48 -> This idea of a deadly exchange with the

5685.719 -> gods seems to be one that recurs in

5688.42 -> human psychology, and has independently

5690.88 -> arisen in multiple cultures. The idea

5693.82 -> that if we want to ask the gods for a

5695.86 -> great favor, we have to give them

5697.78 -> something truly precious in exchange, and

5701.56 -> what could be more precious than a human

5703.84 -> life?

5705.46 -> With the writing down of the Hebrew

5707.44 -> Bible and the law codes of Moses, this

5711.04 -> practice was condemned and outlawed in

5713.92 -> much of the Levant, and from then on,

5716.32 -> animals were sacrificed in the place of

5718.9 -> human victims.

5720.52 -> In Tyre and other Phoenician cities, the

5723.46 -> practice also seems to have died out in

5725.62 -> the first millennium,

5727.06 -> but there is one place it seems to have

5729.34 -> continued well into the second century

5731.92 -> BC, and that is Carthage.

5736.78 -> These were violent times, when human life

5740.199 -> was cheap, but even so, these rituals were

5743.739 -> mentioned with some revulsion by several

5746.139 -> ancient writers, among them the Greek

5748.78 -> philosopher Plato.

5751.3 -> With us, for instance, human sacrifice is

5754.84 -> not legal but unholy, whereas the

5758.679 -> Carthaginians perform it as a thing they

5761.44 -> account holy and legal, and that too when

5765.159 -> some of them even sacrifice their own

5767.679 -> sons.

5769.48 -> At first, these rituals seem to have been

5772.42 -> an authentic sacrifice, giving up the

5775.179 -> life of one of your own children in the

5777.34 -> hope of receiving favor from the gods,

5780.28 -> but before long, wealthy Carthaginians

5783.34 -> found a way around this.

5785.5 -> In fact, they seem to have developed a

5787.9 -> macabre industry, a trade in other

5790.48 -> people's children for sacrifice.

5793.54 -> The writer Plutarch describes this

5796.12 -> system and gives a sense for the

5798.219 -> atmosphere of these grisly rituals.

5802.179 -> Those who had no children would buy

5804.04 -> little ones from poor people, and

5805.9 -> cut their throats as if they were so

5808.6 -> many lambs or young birds.

5811 -> Meanwhile, the mother stood by without a

5814.12 -> tear or moan,

5815.679 -> but should she utter a single moan or

5818.139 -> let fall a single tear, she had to

5820.42 -> forfeit the money,

5821.86 -> and her child was sacrificed

5823.6 -> nevertheless.

5824.92 -> The whole area before the statue was

5827.62 -> filled with a loud noise of flutes and

5830.139 -> drums so that the cries of wailing

5832.6 -> should not reach the ears of the people.

5837.699 -> For a long time, it was assumed that

5840.219 -> these stories were exaggerations, pieces

5842.8 -> of Greek propaganda designed to demonize

5845.679 -> their enemies in Carthage, but more

5848.32 -> modern archaeological discoveries have

5850.9 -> more or less confirmed that child

5852.76 -> sacrifice did take place at least at

5855.58 -> some times, and at least by some people

5857.56 -> in the city.

5858.94 -> Large collections of buried urns

5861.159 -> containing the cremated remains of

5862.96 -> children have been found in large temple

5865.78 -> sites known as tophets. Some of these

5869.199 -> temples are exceedingly large, with

5871.9 -> collections of cremation urns exceeding

5874.96 -> 2,000 in number.

5877.12 -> Archeology has uncovered masks and

5880.42 -> symbols at these sites, incense burners,

5883.36 -> and other paraphernalia of ritual,

5886.02 -> suggesting that the ceremonies were

5888.58 -> highly structured.

5892.9 -> It is worth being cautious with these

5895.06 -> findings.

5896.26 -> At most of the sites, analysis has shown

5898.84 -> that the vast majority of these

5900.639 -> children's remains are of stillborn

5902.98 -> babies or babies that had died of

5905.5 -> natural causes.

5907.179 -> At a time when child mortality has been

5909.82 -> estimated at around 30 to 40 percent, the

5912.88 -> Carthaginians may have considered the

5915.04 -> tragedy of infant death to be a kind of

5917.38 -> sacred sign,

5918.94 -> a human life being taken back by the

5921.52 -> gods, and the bodies of these children

5923.8 -> were burned in the tophets as a result.

5927.34 -> The relative lack of children's remains

5929.56 -> in the regular graveyards of the city

5931.659 -> seem to show that these tophets were at

5934.9 -> least in part cremation sites for the

5937.42 -> remains of children who had died of

5939.1 -> other causes,

5940.42 -> but analysis of the ages of other

5943.3 -> remains at other times don't seem to fit

5946.239 -> with patterns of child mortality.

5949.06 -> However the ritual had begun, at least in

5952.239 -> the later years of the city, it had

5954.1 -> evolved into something much darker and

5956.56 -> crueler.

5957.88 -> The inscriptions at these later sites of

5960.28 -> sacrifice left over the cremation urns

5963.04 -> don't seem to leave much room for

5965.199 -> interpretation, as this typical example

5968.02 -> shows.

5970.239 -> To Lady Tinnit, face of Baal and Lord Baal

5974.08 -> Hammon; the thing that Arish, son of

5977.32 -> Bodashtart, son of Baalshillem, maker of

5980.199 -> strigils, vowed, because the Lord heard

5983.8 -> his voice.

5986.26 -> There are countless of these

5987.94 -> inscriptions, and they all follow this

5990.34 -> pattern. The child was not offered up

5993.04 -> front, but was promised in advance if the

5996.219 -> gods came through on their request. The

5999.34 -> Greek historian Cleitarchus seems to

6001.62 -> confirm this order of events.

6004.56 -> The Phoenicians, and above all, the

6006.6 -> Carthaginians, whenever they were eager

6008.639 -> for a great thing to succeed, made a vow

6011.4 -> by one of their children.

6013.5 -> If they would receive the desired things,

6015.9 -> they would sacrifice to the gods.

6018.659 -> A bronze Kronos, having been erected by

6021.42 -> them, stretched out upward hands over a

6024.239 -> bronze oven to burn the child. The flame

6027.239 -> of the burning child reached its body

6029.159 -> until, the limbs having shriveled up and

6032.28 -> smiling mouth appeared to be almost

6033.9 -> laughing,

6035.04 -> it would slip into the oven.

6038.52 -> We can't imagine the kinds of things

6040.86 -> people might have asked for in exchange

6043.26 -> for these sacrifices.

6045.48 -> Perhaps in some instances, we can imagine

6047.88 -> the ritual was performed out of

6049.679 -> desperation, an extreme measure.

6052.86 -> Other times, perhaps the wishes were

6055.199 -> trivial; good weather on a journey, maybe,

6057.719 -> good fortune and wealth in the year to

6060.48 -> come, or the downfall of a business rival.

6064.56 -> Whatever their wish was, it seems that if

6067.08 -> it went on to come true, the child's fate

6069.78 -> would be sealed.

6072.12 -> With only fragmentary secondhand

6074.159 -> accounts and the little that can be

6076.26 -> gleaned from archaeological sites, we're

6078.719 -> left guessing about the questions that

6080.46 -> desperately need answers; how widespread

6083.639 -> this practice was in society, why and

6086.76 -> when people engaged in it, and how the

6089.94 -> majority of Carthaginian citizens felt

6092.639 -> about it.

6100.08 -> With the army of Agathocles drawing near

6103.08 -> and the last citizen defenders defeated

6105.96 -> in the field, the Carthaginians began to

6109.08 -> believe that their gods must be angry

6111.3 -> with them, and at least some people in

6114 -> the city believed that it was this

6115.8 -> practice of sacrificing the children of

6118.619 -> the poor instead of their own that was

6120.78 -> to blame, as Diodorus of Sicily recounts.

6125.82 -> They also alleged that Kronos had turned

6128.639 -> against them, as in former times they had

6131.28 -> been accustomed to sacrifice to this god

6133.38 -> the noblest of their sons, but more

6136.139 -> recently, secretly buying and nurturing

6139.02 -> children, they had sent these to the

6141.06 -> sacrifice. When they had given thought to

6143.88 -> these things and saw their enemy encamped

6146.34 -> before their walls, they were filled with

6148.679 -> superstitious dread, for they believed

6151.139 -> that they had neglected the honors of

6152.82 -> the gods that had been established by

6154.619 -> their fathers. In their zeal to make

6157.38 -> amends for their omission, they selected

6159.96 -> 200 of the noblest children and

6162.719 -> sacrificed them publicly, and others who

6165.3 -> were under suspicion sacrificed

6166.98 -> themselves voluntarily, in number not

6169.679 -> less than 300.

6171.78 -> In this time of peril, the citizens of

6174.719 -> Carthage reverted to a kind of suicidal

6177.54 -> religious fundamentalism, but this would

6180.36 -> not be the end of the city.

6182.58 -> Agathocles rampaged around the

6185.1 -> countryside of Carthage for years,

6187.38 -> but the city's formidable triple wall

6189.84 -> defenses would keep him at bay, and soon

6192.96 -> the Greek king ran out of steam.

6196.08 -> In his absence, some of his Sicilian

6198.6 -> vassals were taking the opportunity to

6201 -> declare independence.

6202.86 -> He hurried back home, leaving his

6205.139 -> inexperienced son in charge of his army,

6207.78 -> who was easily outmaneuvered by

6210.3 -> Carthaginian generals.

6212.46 -> By the time Agathocles returned to

6214.98 -> Africa, he saw that the situation had

6217.739 -> become untenable, and he fled back home

6220.619 -> to Sicily.

6223.26 -> But his achievements had been

6225.179 -> significant; he had left a lasting

6227.76 -> impression on the people of Carthage,

6229.94 -> laid waste to their countryside,

6232.28 -> terrified them so deeply that they had

6235.08 -> slaughtered their own children, and

6237.119 -> likely left them on the brink of

6239.159 -> bankruptcy.

6241.199 -> A peace treaty in 307 BC essentially

6245.1 -> returned the situation to exactly how it

6247.8 -> had been before the war started.

6251.1 -> The example of Agathocles, of a daring

6254.159 -> strike at the heart of your enemy right

6256.56 -> at the moment they least expect it, was

6259.02 -> an example that later Carthaginian

6261.06 -> generals would remember and learn from.

6264.3 -> But it was also an episode that

6266.639 -> other powers in the region paid

6268.619 -> particular attention to.

6271.38 -> Carthage had once been considered the

6273.9 -> region's major power, but a small Greek

6276.78 -> army had come within a hair's breadth of

6279.36 -> bringing it to its knees.

6281.94 -> The historian Plutarch puts it bluntly in

6285.48 -> the mouth of one of his characters.

6288.84 -> For who could keep his hands off Libya

6291.3 -> or Carthage, when that city got within

6294.239 -> his reach, a city which Agathocles,

6296.82 -> slipping stealthily out of Syracuse and

6299.639 -> crossing the sea with only a few ships,

6301.76 -> narrowly missed taking?

6305.82 -> The first who would seek to take

6307.8 -> advantage of this perceived weakness was

6310.8 -> a Greek king named Pyrrhus.

6318.3 -> Pyrrhus was the king of the Greek kingdom

6321.42 -> of Epiros, around what is today Southern

6324.3 -> Albania.

6325.8 -> His name meant fiery or red-haired,

6329.159 -> coming from the same root as the English

6331.44 -> word pyre,

6333.119 -> and Plutarch recalls that he seems to

6336.06 -> have suffered from some kind of

6337.98 -> developmental disorder that fused

6340.5 -> together the teeth of his upper jaw,

6342.96 -> giving him an unsettling look.

6346.08 -> In the aspect of his countenance, Pyrrhus

6349.199 -> had more of the terror than of the

6351.239 -> majesty of kingly power.

6353.1 -> He had not many teeth, but his upper jaw

6355.86 -> was one continuous bone on which the

6358.739 -> usual intervals between the teeth were

6360.78 -> indicated by slight depressions.

6364.44 -> But just like Agathocles, Pyrrhus had an

6367.32 -> immensely high opinion of himself and

6369.96 -> fancied himself as the inheritor of the

6372.659 -> legacy of Alexander.

6375.179 -> In his later life, he styled himself as a

6378.48 -> hero of the Hellenic world, the defender

6381.3 -> of everything Greek, and right at that

6384.06 -> moment, the Greeks who needed the most

6386.219 -> defending were the beleaguered colonies

6388.8 -> in southern Italy, the region known as

6391.739 -> Megale Hellas or Greater Greece.

6398.1 -> These city-states were suddenly being

6400.98 -> menaced by a powerful new force in the

6404.1 -> region, a people from the river plains of

6407.34 -> central Italy that the Greeks considered

6409.98 -> to be barbarians, and that had recently

6413.159 -> emerged as something of a regional

6415.739 -> superpower.

6416.94 -> This was the once small and

6419.58 -> insignificant city-state republic of

6422.639 -> Rome.

6427.56 -> Throughout the 4th century BC, this

6430.56 -> bizarre republic had begun expanding

6433.26 -> into the hinterlands of its region of

6435.6 -> Latium, and brought a number of other

6437.82 -> cities under its control.

6440.52 -> From there, they had managed to upset the

6442.98 -> power balance of central Italy, and

6445.38 -> toppled a number of well-established

6447.659 -> rivals, absorbing all of Latium and the

6451.02 -> region of Campania.

6453.239 -> Wherever they went, the Romans took a

6456.3 -> remarkably clever and pragmatic approach

6458.699 -> to absorbing other peoples into their

6461.219 -> society.

6462.78 -> While empires like Carthage kept full

6465.96 -> citizenship only for the people living

6468.36 -> in their home city, Rome was far more

6471.239 -> generous with citizenship.

6473.4 -> Unlike the armies of Carthage, Rome's

6476.219 -> legions were made up of citizen soldiers,

6478.679 -> and with every free man now a citizen,

6481.92 -> they were able to draw on vast reserves

6484.5 -> of manpower.

6487.44 -> As Rome grew in size and influence,

6489.98 -> Carthage took notice.

6492.42 -> About 160 years after the first treaty

6495.96 -> they had signed, they penned a new

6498.119 -> expanded agreement with Rome.

6501 -> This new treaty added the condition that

6503.94 -> Rome would not try to found any cities

6506.159 -> in Carthaginian territory, suggesting

6509.1 -> that Roman expansion had become at least

6512.04 -> a small concern for the region's major

6514.86 -> power.

6516.179 -> But for the most part, relations between

6518.88 -> Rome and Carthage were friendly, if

6521.52 -> suspicious.

6522.96 -> Carthage welcomed the rise of Rome as a

6526.26 -> potential ally against their mutual

6528.119 -> enemies, the Greeks, and one district of

6531.42 -> the city of Rome was known as the Vicus

6534.36 -> Africus, or African quarter, suggesting

6537.719 -> that a population of Carthaginian

6539.76 -> merchants already lived and traded in

6542.219 -> the city.

6543.6 -> It seems Carthage viewed Rome not as an

6546.78 -> unwelcome rival, but as a new potential

6549.719 -> source of customers.

6552.54 -> But for the Greek colonies of southern

6554.52 -> Italy, Rome was a voracious new predator.

6565.199 -> As Roman power expanded, the Greeks found

6568.56 -> themselves surrounded, and many of them

6571.199 -> began sending out letters of distress to

6574.199 -> the fiery Greek king Pyrrhus.

6578.04 -> One of these colonies was the city of

6580.619 -> Tarentum, as Plutarch recalls.

6584.46 -> The Romans were at war with the people

6586.08 -> of Tarentum, who, being able neither to

6588.719 -> carry on the war nor put an end to it,

6591.119 -> wish to make Pyrrhus their leader and

6593.699 -> summon him to the war, believing him to

6596.46 -> be a most formidable general.

6600.9 -> Pyrrhus couldn't resist this opportunity

6603.42 -> to position himself as the valiant

6606.179 -> defender of Greek civilization against

6608.94 -> these Latin barbarians.

6611.46 -> He gathered an armada and a large army

6614.58 -> complete with 20 war elephants, and in

6617.46 -> the year 280 BC, he sailed to southern

6620.58 -> Italy in full force.

6623.699 -> Himself a sophisticated Greek, Pyrrhus

6626.699 -> expected to meet an unruly barbarian

6629.52 -> horde on the battlefield, but Roman

6632.46 -> troops were by now toughened from their

6634.92 -> long wars of expansion in Italy, and they

6638.219 -> were already exhibiting the kind of

6640.08 -> organization that would one day make

6642.42 -> them famous.

6644.4 -> When he learned that the Romans were

6646.139 -> near and lay encamped on the further

6647.88 -> side of the river Siris, he rode up to

6650.159 -> the river to get a view of them; and when

6652.619 -> he observed their discipline, the

6654.54 -> appointment of their watches, their order,

6656.76 -> and the general arrangement of their

6659.04 -> camp, he was amazed, and said to the

6661.92 -> friend that was nearest him,

6663.48 -> ëThe discipline of these barbarians is

6665.76 -> not barbarous.í

6668.88 -> But these early Roman legions were still

6671.82 -> no match for Greek phalanxes, and the

6674.82 -> site of Pyrrhus' elephants terrified

6677.219 -> the Roman horses.

6680.58 -> Pyrrhus defeated the Romans in two battles,

6683.52 -> at Heraclea and at Ausculum, in the year

6686.88 -> 279 BC, and he believed that Rome must

6690.84 -> soon concede the war and agree to the

6693.78 -> terms of his demands.

6696.42 -> But slightly to the bemusement of Pyrrhus,

6699.06 -> Rome simply refused to admit defeat.

6703.199 -> This refusal to ever sue for peace would

6706.8 -> become something of a Roman hallmark.

6710.28 -> Some have argued that Rome's very nature

6712.8 -> as a citizen democracy actually

6714.96 -> contributed to their immense doggedness

6717.6 -> in warfare.

6719.52 -> Their leaders were politicians and

6721.92 -> existed in a state of constant

6723.78 -> competition with each other for the

6725.699 -> support of the voting public.

6728.159 -> Any politician who signed a damaging

6730.679 -> peace treaty could be eviscerated in the

6733.44 -> senate as a coward, a fool, or even a

6736.44 -> traitor. This meant that Roman senators

6739.26 -> would often overwhelmingly vote to

6741.9 -> continue a war rather than admit defeat.

6745.32 -> This will to continue, along with their

6748.08 -> large reserves of citizen manpower, meant

6751.139 -> that Rome could often absorb terrific

6753.06 -> defeats, losing whole armies, and simply

6756.36 -> keep going.

6757.92 -> This often had the effect of simply

6760.139 -> grinding down their enemiesí will to

6762.9 -> fight.

6764.639 -> According to Plutarch, who was fond of

6767.4 -> inventing dialogue for his historical

6769.56 -> characters, Pyrrhus made the following quip

6772.44 -> after his third victory with Rome.

6776.58 -> We are told that Pyrrhus said to one who

6779.76 -> was congratulating him on his victory, ëIf

6782.82 -> we are victorious in one more battle

6784.8 -> with the Romans, we shall be utterly

6787.08 -> ruined!í For he had lost great part of the

6790.08 -> forces with which he came, and all his

6792.96 -> friends and generals except a few;

6795.719 -> he had no others who we could summon

6798.6 -> from home, and he saw that his allies in

6801.659 -> Italy were becoming indifferent, while

6804.36 -> the army of the Romans, as if from a

6807.06 -> fountain gushing forth indoors, was

6809.76 -> easily and speedily filled up again.

6813.86 -> After this series of Pyrrhic victories,

6817.08 -> Pyrrhus soon realized the conquest of

6819.78 -> Italy would elude him. He came within

6822.78 -> miles of Rome, but the tall Servian walls

6826.08 -> of the city meant that his beleaguered

6828.239 -> force had no hope of capturing it.

6831.6 -> Still, he couldn't bear the thought of

6834.3 -> returning home empty-handed.

6838.56 -> Pyrrhus decided that he would head to

6840.6 -> Sicily and see if he could have any more

6843.3 -> success helping the Greek colonies there

6846.06 -> fight against the Carthaginians.

6848.88 -> He arrived in the Greek town of Syracuse

6851.46 -> to a hero's welcome. Every Greek colony

6855.119 -> on the island sent troops to fill his

6858.119 -> army, and Pyrrhus would find the

6860.34 -> Carthaginian forces on Sicily to be a

6863.1 -> much softer target than the legions of

6865.56 -> Rome.

6866.46 -> The Carthaginian response to Pyrrhus

6868.92 -> couldn't have been more different to the

6871.139 -> Romans.

6872.28 -> With little desire to be dragged back

6874.5 -> into another war in Sicily, they offered

6877.32 -> to pay him off generously to leave them

6879.48 -> alone, but Pyrrhus refused, as Plutarch

6883.619 -> describes.

6885.42 -> When the Carthaginians were inclined to

6888.179 -> come to terms and were willing to pay

6890.82 -> him money and send him ships, he replied

6893.639 -> to them -- his heart being set on greater

6896.28 -> things -- that there could be no settlement

6898.5 -> or friendship between himself and them

6901.56 -> unless they abandoned all Sicily.

6905.88 -> But Sicily, too, eventually defeated him.

6909.96 -> After years of war, his men were tired.

6913.02 -> The Carthaginians and Romans were now

6915.78 -> working together,

6917.219 -> so he faced the powerful armies of Rome

6919.739 -> on land and the vast navy of Carthage by

6922.8 -> sea.

6924.3 -> After finally meeting with defeat in

6926.699 -> southern Italy, he cut his losses and

6929.639 -> sailed for home with little to show for

6932.1 -> his years of war.

6934.619 -> As he sailed away, Plutarch imagines

6937.199 -> Pyrrhus reflecting on the situation he has

6940.56 -> left behind.

6942.6 -> He could not master Sicily, which was

6945.78 -> like a storm-tossed ship, but desired to

6949.199 -> leave her, and it is said that at the

6952.26 -> time of his departure, Pyrrhus looked back

6955.38 -> at the island and said to those about

6957.179 -> him, ëMy friend, what a wrestling ground

6960.42 -> for Carthaginians and Romans we are

6962.94 -> leaving behind us.í

6967.58 -> Pyrrhus' campaign had ended in failure.

6971.76 -> With him gone, Rome quickly swept over

6975.06 -> the remaining Greek city-states of Italy,

6977.4 -> and solidified its hold on the south of

6980.219 -> their peninsula.

6981.84 -> The Romans built roads connecting these

6984.84 -> wealthy Greek cities to the Roman

6986.88 -> network, and used the treasure they

6989.34 -> seized to build a grand series of new

6991.86 -> temples in the capital, as well as an

6994.619 -> enormous second aqueduct for Rome, the

6997.5 -> Aqua Anio Vetus.

7000.139 -> Meanwhile, Carthage reclaimed many of the

7003.199 -> cities that Pyrrhus had taken in Sicily,

7006.44 -> but without a common enemy, the twin

7009.02 -> powers of Carthage and Rome were now

7011.42 -> butting up against each other.

7013.82 -> By the year 270 BC, Rome had captured the

7017.6 -> city of Rhegium, right across the Straits

7020.48 -> of Messina.

7022.219 -> They could now look over the water and

7024.679 -> gazed directly at the coast of Sicily.

7028.4 -> The wrestling ground that Pyrrhus had left

7030.739 -> behind in Sicily would set the stage for

7033.679 -> the next dramatic period of

7035.599 -> Mediterranean history.

7037.28 -> It was a stage that would see a conflict

7039.98 -> unfold that would dwarf the Sicilian

7042.679 -> wars for intensity and scale, that would

7045.8 -> last for a hundred years, that would

7047.9 -> bring both powers to the brink of

7049.88 -> bankruptcy, and cost more than a million

7053.06 -> lives.

7054.679 -> This was the beginning of the Punic Wars.

7077.119 -> The word Punic comes from Latin and is a

7081.08 -> mutation of the Greek word Phoenike or

7083.659 -> Phoenician, and at this time, the Romans

7086.48 -> had come to use it to describe the

7089.119 -> Phoenician superpower of Carthage that

7091.699 -> sat facing them only three daysí voyage

7094.46 -> away on the other side of the sea.

7098.54 -> The historian Cassius Dio summarizes the

7101.9 -> situation, as both the powers of Rome and

7104.78 -> Carthage slid towards war.

7108.26 -> The Carthaginians, who had long been

7110.36 -> powerful, and the Romans, who are now

7112.52 -> growing more rapidly stronger, kept

7114.98 -> viewing each other with jealousy.

7117.26 -> They were led into war partly by the

7119.599 -> desire of continually acquiring more, and

7122.719 -> partly also by fear.

7126.02 -> It was a chance incident that broke

7128.719 -> their truce and plunged them into war.

7133.46 -> The main source for almost every aspect

7135.98 -> of the First Punic War is the historian

7138.86 -> Polybius, a Greek who was sent to Rome in

7142.28 -> 167 BC as a hostage.

7145.88 -> Polybius was writing about the events of

7148.52 -> the First Punic War a century after they

7151.34 -> took place, but he was meticulous in his

7154.04 -> research and traveled widely, gathering

7156.92 -> as much first-hand knowledge and

7159.02 -> archival material as he could, and as a

7162.26 -> Greek, he was something of an outsider in

7164.719 -> Rome, meaning that his portrayal of the

7167.239 -> war is considered to be relatively

7169.34 -> even-handed.

7171.32 -> The story that Polybius tells begins in

7174.56 -> the volcanic island of Sicily, where,

7177.44 -> around the beginning of the 3rd century

7179.599 -> BC, trouble was once again threatening to

7183.679 -> erupt.

7188.86 -> At this time, Sicily had something of the

7192.619 -> Wild West about it.

7194.36 -> Large parts of it were lawless and fell

7197.599 -> between the influences of Carthage and

7200 -> the Greeks.

7201.44 -> Both sides often used mercenaries to

7203.96 -> fight for them,

7205.099 -> but when a particular war was finished,

7207.32 -> it wasn't always so easy to get rid of

7210.08 -> these bands of rough and violent men.

7213.5 -> One such band were a group of mostly

7216.26 -> southern Italians who called themselves

7218.42 -> the Mamertines, or the Sons of Mars, the

7221.96 -> Roman god of war.

7224 -> In the past, they had been hired by

7226.4 -> Agathocles to fight Carthage in

7228.92 -> Sicily, but when the tyrant of Syracuse

7231.98 -> had died, they found themselves out of

7234.8 -> work.

7236.179 -> The Mamertines wandered the island for

7238.639 -> some time, likely engaging in theft and

7241.699 -> petty banditry to survive, until they

7244.34 -> reached the walled Greek town of Messina.

7247.639 -> Messina was a small settlement on the

7250.46 -> northeastern tip of Sicily, with the

7252.8 -> shadow of Mount Etna looming over the

7255.199 -> horizon, and its location was of great

7258.56 -> strategic importance. That's because

7261.56 -> Messina was one side of the narrowest

7264.32 -> crossing point between Sicily and Italy.

7267.98 -> Standing on the shore there, you can see

7270.199 -> the Italian mainland just over the water,

7273.32 -> and a ship could make the crossing in

7275.599 -> under thirty minutes.

7277.099 -> Anyone who controlled Messina would also

7280.099 -> control this crossing, and this meant

7282.739 -> that both Carthage and Rome were anxious

7285.739 -> about the city's future.

7290.239 -> When the band of Mamertines arrived in

7293 -> Messina, they must have made quite a

7295.52 -> sorry sight, and the people of the city

7297.679 -> originally took pity on them. They took

7300.44 -> them in and even gave them shelter in

7302.78 -> their own homes,

7304.04 -> but soon these hired swords became

7307.04 -> restless and jealous of the people's

7309.86 -> comfortable lives.

7311.54 -> In fact, they began to plot to seize the

7314.659 -> city for themselves.

7316.82 -> Polybius recounts what happened next.

7321.26 -> Certain Campanians serving under

7324.139 -> Agathocles had long cast covetous eyes

7327.56 -> on the beauty and prosperity of Messina,

7330.679 -> and they availed themselves of the first

7332.96 -> opportunity to capture it by treachery.

7336.199 -> After being admitted as friends and

7338.659 -> occupying the city, they first expelled

7341.42 -> or massacred the citizens, and then took

7344.06 -> possession of the wives and families of

7346.58 -> the dispossessed victims.

7348.56 -> They next divided among themselves the

7351.619 -> land and all other property.

7354.92 -> For the next twenty years or so, the

7357.199 -> Mamertines would run Messina as a kind of

7359.719 -> pirate fortress.

7361.34 -> They would use it as a base to conduct

7363.32 -> raids on nearby towns and villages, and

7366.619 -> to rob ships that sailed through the

7368.96 -> narrow straits.

7370.82 -> But soon, the last remaining Greek king

7373.58 -> in Sicily, a king of Syracuse named Hiero,

7377.54 -> had had enough.

7379.34 -> In the year 265 BC, he moved to attack

7382.88 -> the city of Messina to stamp out these

7385.94 -> troublesome pirates.

7391.599 -> Fearing execution for their crimes, the

7394.94 -> Mamertines played the only card left to

7397.52 -> them; trading on the strategic importance

7400.4 -> of the city. They sent out requests for

7403.82 -> help to both of the big players in the

7406.52 -> region, to Rome and to Carthage.

7409.699 -> The Carthaginians, being closer, came to

7412.88 -> their help first, delighted as always to

7415.88 -> kick sand in the face of the Greeks.

7419 -> They moved a small army into Messina and

7421.94 -> helped the Mamertines to defend it.

7424.94 -> This was just the latest move in the

7427.699 -> nearly two-century chess game between

7430.04 -> Carthage and the Greeks of Sicily, but to

7433.159 -> the Romans, it was a worrying move.

7436.34 -> With control of the crossing over to

7438.619 -> Italy, the Romans began to fear that

7440.9 -> Carthage was plotting an invasion of the

7443.54 -> mainland, as Polybius recalls.

7447.159 -> The Romans saw all this and felt that it

7451.159 -> was absolutely necessary not to let

7453.92 -> Messina slip or allow the Carthaginians

7457.159 -> to secure what would be like a bridge to

7460.159 -> enable them to cross into Italy.

7463.099 -> The Roman senate was bitterly divided on

7466.34 -> what to do, with many expressing disgust

7469.46 -> at coming to the aid of what amounted to

7472.219 -> a band of pirates,

7474.02 -> but eventually their fears won out.

7477.26 -> They voted to send a force to Messina to

7480.139 -> secure the crossing led by a consul

7482.9 -> named Appius Claudius.

7488.54 -> Rome was an inland city situated on the

7492.02 -> river Tiber, and so, the Romans were not a

7494.54 -> naturally seagoing people.

7496.94 -> With few ships of their own, they

7499.34 -> borrowed as many as they could from the

7501.26 -> coastal cities of southern Italy.

7504.26 -> When they first took in hand to send

7506.719 -> troops across to Messina, they not only

7509.42 -> had no decked vessels, but no warships at

7512.719 -> all, not so much as a single galley, but

7515.78 -> they borrowed quinqueremes and triremes

7518.239 -> from Tarentum and Locri, and even from

7521.239 -> Elea and Neapolis.

7523.88 -> The Romans, under the command of Appius,

7526.239 -> successfully made the short crossing in

7528.98 -> 264 BC, catching the powerful

7531.98 -> Carthaginian navy off guard.

7534.5 -> When they arrived in Messina, the Italian

7536.84 -> Mamertines ousted the Carthaginians who

7539.84 -> had come to their aid, and welcomed the

7542.06 -> Roman army into the town in their place.

7546.679 -> The Roman capture of Messina immediately

7549.679 -> shifted the balance of power in Sicily.

7552.98 -> The Greeks of Syracuse formed a hasty

7555.8 -> alliance with their ancient enemies in

7557.84 -> Carthage, overturning two centuries of

7560.54 -> war to repel this new invader, but it was

7564.32 -> no good.

7565.94 -> The Roman commander Appius descended on

7568.82 -> Syracuse with lightning speed, as

7572.3 -> Polybius writes.

7574.76 -> Having succeeded in engaging the enemy,

7577.599 -> thenceforth he scoured the territory of

7580.4 -> Syracuse and her allies with impunity,

7583.119 -> and laid it waste without finding anyone

7586.34 -> to dispute the possession of the open

7588.08 -> country with him, and finally he sat down

7590.96 -> before Syracuse itself and laid siege to

7594.5 -> it.

7596.179 -> King Hiero saw no other way out.

7599.84 -> He surrendered,

7601.34 -> switched sides, and swore allegiance to

7604.34 -> the Romans.

7606.26 -> This was the end of the last independent

7609.08 -> Greek states in Italy and Sicily, and the

7612.679 -> future of the Mediterranean would now be

7615.08 -> decided by either Carthage or Rome.

7619.159 -> Both sides now marched to war.

7630.8 -> In this First Punic War, the

7633.56 -> Carthaginians were clearly concerned.

7636.199 -> They drew up a large army of Celts,

7638.9 -> Iberians, and other peoples, and

7641.54 -> dispatched it to Sicily, but they were

7644.48 -> also confident in their overall strategy,

7647.06 -> which had served them well in previous

7649.46 -> Sicilian wars.

7651.8 -> While the warships of Carthage commanded

7654.619 -> the waves, their trading empire would

7657.44 -> continue to fill their treasury with

7659.36 -> gold, and that meant there would always

7661.58 -> be soldiers ready to fight for them.

7665 -> At first, it seemed the Romans had no

7667.46 -> hope of changing this situation; they had

7670.52 -> virtually no navy, and their own

7672.92 -> shipbuilding technology lagged behind,

7675.38 -> perhaps by centuries,

7677.9 -> as the historian Polybius writes.

7681.8 -> Yet, so long as the Carthaginians were an

7684.98 -> undisturbed command of the sea, the

7687.199 -> balance of success could not incline

7689.36 -> decisively in their favor, so they took

7692.42 -> upon themselves there and then to meet

7694.94 -> the Carthaginians at sea, on which they

7697.639 -> had for generations held undisputed

7700.639 -> supremacy.

7703.099 -> The Carthaginian navy benefited from a

7706.219 -> thousand years of Phoenician

7708.02 -> shipbuilding and sailing tradition, but

7710.659 -> their centuries of relatively

7712.4 -> unchallenged dominance of the sea had

7715.28 -> also made them somewhat complacent.

7718.34 -> Their method of fighting on the water

7720.26 -> was based mostly on the use of heavy

7723.08 -> bronze rams fixed to the front of their

7725.96 -> ships.

7727.099 -> The Phoenician sailors relied on

7729.5 -> outmaneuvering their enemies on the

7731.3 -> waves with their superior sailing,

7733.52 -> drawing close with their oars, and

7736.28 -> crashing into the sides of enemy ships

7738.5 -> with these rams, striking them in the

7740.96 -> hulls below the water line.

7743.179 -> It was a method of warfare that had

7745.58 -> remained unchanged for the last 500

7747.92 -> years, and the Carthaginians were among

7750.739 -> the best in the world at this tricky way

7753.56 -> of fighting.

7755.06 -> But soon, the Romans would come across a

7757.699 -> stroke of good luck.

7760.04 -> After one skirmish on the sea, a

7762.92 -> Carthaginian galley had run aground on

7765.38 -> the shores of Italy.

7767.06 -> It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

7769.58 -> to learn what made the Carthaginian navy

7772.46 -> so effective.

7774.8 -> The Romans rushed to secure the vessel,

7777.26 -> to haul it away and study its secrets, as

7781.159 -> Polybius records.

7785.179 -> The Carthaginians, having put to sea in

7787.88 -> the strait to attack, a decked vessel of

7790.639 -> theirs charged so furiously that it ran

7793.58 -> aground, and, falling into the hands of

7796.099 -> the Romans, served them as a model on

7798.86 -> which they constructed their whole fleet.

7801.199 -> If this had not happened, it is clear

7804.32 -> that they would have been completely

7805.88 -> hindered from carrying out their design.

7811.099 -> What the Romans found on this vessel

7813.26 -> would have intrigued and excited them.

7816.8 -> At that time, the Carthaginians were

7819.26 -> legendary not just for their sailing and

7821.42 -> the size of their fleet, but also how

7824 -> quickly they could build ships.

7827 -> The writer Pliny the Elder recounts what

7829.76 -> was possible in those days.

7833.3 -> Piso relates that 220 ships were wholly

7837.5 -> constructed in 45 days;

7840.56 -> in the Second Punic War, too, the fleet was

7843.86 -> at sea the fortieth day after the axe had

7846.619 -> been put to the tree.

7850.28 -> This was long considered to be an

7852.619 -> exaggeration by ancient writers, but the

7855.38 -> discovery of the Phoenician shipwreck,

7857.48 -> known as the Marsala ship, has thrown

7860.36 -> light on how this kind of mass-

7862.099 -> -manufacture could actually have been

7864.199 -> possible.

7865.34 -> When the wreck was discovered,

7866.86 -> archaeologists found that the ship had

7869.3 -> each section of its hull marked with

7871.639 -> certain Phoenician letters.

7873.92 -> It's thought that these sections would

7875.719 -> have been built separately, mass-produced

7878.06 -> in separate factories, and then brought

7880.34 -> together in their final location, with a

7883.04 -> level of coordination that would not be

7884.96 -> seen again before the Industrial

7886.639 -> Revolution.

7888.26 -> These ships were a kind of ancient

7891.139 -> flatpack furniture.

7893 -> Armed with this new knowledge, the Romans

7895.639 -> began the process of copying the

7897.44 -> Carthaginian ship exactly, but they

7900.5 -> didn't do very well.

7903.5 -> In their first engagement with Carthage,

7905.54 -> the inferior mobility of these Roman

7908.119 -> ships and the inexperience of their

7910.159 -> sailors meant that a squadron of 17

7912.26 -> Roman vessels was destroyed, easily

7915.08 -> outmaneuvered by the Phoenicians, and

7917.54 -> dealt death blows by their rams.

7921.739 -> Following this, the Romans began to

7923.9 -> change their tactics.

7925.94 -> Getting the hang of the complicated

7927.679 -> business of outmaneuvering and ramming

7930.26 -> enemy ships would take too long, and so,

7933.32 -> they tried to bring the battles at sea

7935.3 -> into more familiar territory.

7938 -> To do this, they developed an ingenious

7940.159 -> new technology.

7943.219 -> It was a kind of boarding bridge that

7945.8 -> they called a corvus, the Latin word for

7948.98 -> crow.

7951.38 -> These were raised like a drawbridge at

7954.5 -> the front of the ship, and when they drew

7956.42 -> near to an enemy vessel, these gangplanks

7959.06 -> would have dropped down onto the enemy

7960.86 -> deck, where a metal spike on the

7962.9 -> underside would drive its way into the

7966.02 -> wood.

7966.98 -> These bridges would now hold the two

7969.38 -> ships together, neutralizing the speed

7971.9 -> and agility of the Carthaginian vessels,

7974.5 -> preventing them from ramming, and

7976.88 -> allowing the Roman legionaries to flood

7979.099 -> on board.

7980.599 -> It was a crude but surprisingly

7983.119 -> effective tactic.

7985.76 -> The Romans kept their new inventions

7987.739 -> hidden, and now with a secret naval

7990.079 -> weapon of their own, they risked a

7992.179 -> large-scale confrontation on the sea.

7999.92 -> The Carthaginian fleet was busy

8002.199 -> plundering at a place called Mylae, on

8004.9 -> the coast of northern Sicily, when they

8006.88 -> saw the Roman sails on the horizon.

8010.3 -> They were delighted that their enemies

8012.099 -> had finally risked a battle, and were

8014.619 -> supremely confident of sending the whole

8016.84 -> fleet of this troublesome Italian power

8019.239 -> straight to the bottom of the ocean.

8022.599 -> Polybius recounts what happened next.

8026.44 -> No sooner did the Carthaginians sight him

8029.32 -> than with joy they put to sea with 130

8033.219 -> sail, feeling supreme contempt for the

8036.4 -> Roman ignorance of seamanship.

8038.639 -> Accordingly, they all sailed with their

8041.32 -> prows directed straight at their enemy;

8043.78 -> they did not think the engagement worth

8046.659 -> even the trouble of ranging their ships

8049.179 -> in any order. When they neared the enemy,

8052.54 -> they saw the crows raised aloft on the

8055.84 -> prows of several ships. The

8057.94 -> Carthaginians were, for a time, in a state

8060.579 -> of perplexity, for they were quite

8062.739 -> strangers to such contrivances as these

8065.8 -> engines. Feeling, however, a complete

8068.56 -> contempt for their opponent, they charged

8070.96 -> without flinching, but as soon as they

8073.06 -> came to close quarters, their ships were

8075.76 -> invariably tightly grappled by these

8078.219 -> machines. The enemy boarded by means of

8081.04 -> the crows and engaged them on their

8083.199 -> decks, and in the end, some of the

8085.599 -> Carthaginians were cut down, while others

8088.42 -> surrendered in bewildered terror at the

8091.239 -> battle in which they found themselves

8092.98 -> engaged, which eventually became exactly

8096.099 -> like a land fight. Eventually, the

8098.679 -> Carthaginians turned and fled, bewildered at

8101.5 -> the novelty of the occurrence, and with a

8104.44 -> loss of fifty ships.

8107.679 -> For Carthage, this was an utter disaster.

8111.579 -> Flying high from their successes, the

8114.099 -> Romans soon organized invasions of the

8116.44 -> islands of Sardinia and Corsica,

8118.5 -> Carthaginian possessions for centuries

8121 -> that had never been seriously threatened.

8124.3 -> They even organized an invasion of North

8126.46 -> Africa itself, hoping to follow in the

8129.04 -> footsteps of Agathocles and march on

8131.86 -> the capital of Carthage.

8134.5 -> For the Carthaginians, things were

8136.659 -> starting to get out of hand.

8139.599 -> As the Roman invasion force descended

8142.119 -> upon the coast, Carthage sent out the

8144.639 -> entirety of its fleet to meet them on

8146.8 -> the open sea.

8148.54 -> Polybius recounts that as they sighted the

8151.36 -> Roman sails on the horizon, the

8153.699 -> commanders of Carthage spoke to their

8155.739 -> sailors and soldiers, and vocalized a

8158.56 -> fear that must have been on the lips of

8160.659 -> every man and woman in the Phoenician

8162.94 -> territories, that this war was now in

8166 -> danger of coming home.

8169.06 -> Meanwhile, the Carthaginian commanders

8171.699 -> had briefly addressed their men.

8174.46 -> They pointed out to them that victory in

8176.98 -> this battle would ensure that the war in

8178.78 -> the future was confined to the question

8180.52 -> of the possession of Sicily, while if

8183.579 -> they were beaten, they would have

8184.9 -> hereafter to fight for their native land

8187.719 -> and for all that they held dear.

8192.28 -> Polybius records that more than 600

8195.16 -> ships came together in the battle that

8197.5 -> ensued. By the time he was writing his

8200.26 -> history of the Punic Wars more than a

8202.54 -> hundred years later, the size of warships

8205.059 -> had dramatically increased, and so, he

8207.58 -> likely wildly overestimates the number

8209.74 -> of men involved, putting it at well over

8212.38 -> 300,000. Nevertheless, the

8215.38 -> battle was enormous and probably

8217.479 -> involved at least 120,000 sailors,

8221.2 -> soldiers, rowers, and marines.

8224.38 -> The vast battlefield would have devolved

8226.899 -> into a chaos of clashing oars and rams,

8229.78 -> shouting men, and the thud of the corvus

8232.54 -> bridges crushing down onto the decks, the

8235.719 -> clashing of shields and swords, the

8238.12 -> crashing of waves, and the shrieking of

8240.639 -> gulls overhead.

8242.679 -> By the end of the day, the result of the

8245.2 -> battle was a decisive defeat for the

8247.78 -> Carthaginians.

8251.74 -> With the fleet of Carthage scattered, the

8254.38 -> Romans successfully made the crossing

8256.42 -> into Africa and landed on the peninsula

8259.179 -> of Cape Bon, on the other side of the

8261.639 -> bay from the city.

8263.92 -> The citizens of Carthage would now have

8266.62 -> been able to see the campfires of the

8268.719 -> Roman army in the distance at night.

8271.84 -> Some of the city's oldest residents

8273.88 -> would still have remembered when the

8275.74 -> army of Agathocles had menaced the city

8278.2 -> only half a century before, when they had

8280.899 -> watched those ships burning on the

8283.3 -> shoreline.

8285.16 -> The Carthaginians had had enough.

8288.219 -> They asked the Romans for a peace treaty

8290.5 -> to sign, but the Roman demands were so

8293.08 -> punishing that the Carthaginians, even in

8295.66 -> their desperate state, could not accept

8297.639 -> it, and so, the war dragged on.

8302.139 -> But the Romans, like Agathocles, found

8305.2 -> themselves unable to take the city of

8307.54 -> Carthage.

8308.74 -> The Roman expeditionary force sent to

8311.2 -> capture the city was beaten disastrously

8314.019 -> by a smaller Carthaginian army at the

8316.66 -> battle of Tunis, and the Roman consul

8319.42 -> leading it was captured and killed.

8322.599 -> In this way, the fortunes of each side

8325.179 -> ticked back and forth like a pendulum.

8330.46 -> Another naval battle at Cape Hermaeum saw

8333.88 -> another Roman victory and another

8336.099 -> hundred Carthaginian ships sunk, but the

8339.16 -> Romans had no time to celebrate.

8341.679 -> On its return voyage home, the victorious

8344.439 -> Roman fleet was hit by a devastating

8346.84 -> storm, as Polybius records.

8350.979 -> The disaster was indeed extreme, for out

8354.099 -> of their 364 vessels, 80 only remained.

8358.78 -> The rest were either swamped or driven

8361.24 -> by the surf upon the rocks and headlands,

8364 -> where they went to pieces and filled all

8367.059 -> the seaboard with corpses and wreckage.

8369.34 -> No greater catastrophe is to be found in

8372.939 -> all history as befalling a fleet at one

8375.939 -> time.

8378.3 -> 284 ships were lost, with an estimated

8382.78 -> 60,000 sailors sinking to the bottom of the

8385.24 -> sea.

8386.62 -> It was among the worst naval disasters

8389.26 -> in history.

8392.92 -> Some historians have speculated that the

8395.56 -> Romansí secret weapon, the corvus boarding

8398.56 -> bridges, may have actually made their

8400.78 -> ships top-heavy and prone to capsizing

8403.6 -> in stormy conditions.

8405.82 -> After this disaster, there are no

8408.04 -> mentions of the corvus ever being used

8410.62 -> again on Roman ships.

8414.58 -> The war would drag on for another 14

8417.7 -> years, with most of the fighting taking

8420.34 -> place in Sicily and the surrounding seas,

8423.939 -> but by the year 241 BC, Carthage was

8427.72 -> spent.

8429.28 -> The Carthaginian senate ordered their

8431.56 -> general in Sicily to sign whatever peace

8434.26 -> treaty the Romans demanded, no matter how

8436.899 -> punishing.

8438.46 -> This general was a man named Hamilcar

8441 -> Barca. He was proud, a competent general,

8445.68 -> and he had been winning some of his

8448.42 -> battles in Sicily. He believed that

8451.3 -> signing such a punishing treaty was

8453.52 -> madness, and so, he refused the order to

8456.88 -> negotiate.

8458.5 -> In his place, the senate sent a more

8461.02 -> junior commander to capitulate to Rome.

8468.359 -> The First Punic War ended in the year

8471.7 -> 241 BC, 23 years after it had begun, with

8477.16 -> the signing of the Treaty of Lutatius.

8481.479 -> It was one of the longest continuous

8483.64 -> wars to ever take place in the ancient

8486.1 -> world.

8487.06 -> It had exhausted both Rome and Carthage,

8489.88 -> and driven them both to the brink of

8492.04 -> bankruptcy.

8493.54 -> But Rome, as the victor, had at least

8496.42 -> gained something from all the years of

8498.76 -> carnage.

8500.92 -> Under the terms of the treaty, Carthage

8503.439 -> was forced to give up all its remaining

8505.84 -> territory in Sicily to Rome, and possibly

8508.96 -> the island of Corsica, too.

8511 -> Carthage was forced to release all Roman

8513.46 -> prisoners without ransom, while hefty

8516.1 -> ransoms were charged for any

8517.899 -> Carthaginian held by Rome,

8520.72 -> and they were forced to pay a staggering

8523.479 -> 82 tons of silver in reparations to Rome

8527.02 -> over the next ten years.

8530.38 -> All of this meant that Carthage could no

8533.38 -> longer afford to pay its armies.

8536.38 -> Many of these were foreign mercenaries

8538.66 -> that it was already in debt to, and in

8541.359 -> the same year as the treaty was signed, a

8544 -> large band of these mercenaries, around

8546.22 -> 20,000 men or so, camped outside

8548.979 -> the city itself and refused to budge

8551.74 -> until they got paid.

8554.28 -> But the state was all but bankrupt.

8558.46 -> When the Carthaginian senate delayed in

8560.859 -> paying them, they mutinied and began

8563.26 -> looting and burning the countryside.

8567.34 -> While the two decades of war had been

8569.979 -> tough on the citizens of Carthage, it had

8572.8 -> been even tougher on the rural regions

8575.14 -> of Africa it ruled over.

8577.84 -> Carthaginian provinces like Libya had

8580.899 -> sent huge numbers of men to fight for

8583.6 -> Carthage, and they were subjected to

8586.6 -> punishing taxes to pay for it all.

8589.6 -> Their resentment had been slowly

8592.12 -> building, and now it boiled over.

8595.8 -> When news of this army of rioting

8598.96 -> mercenaries reached some of these

8601.06 -> discontented cities, they saw their

8603.28 -> chance to free themselves of the rule of

8606.16 -> Carthage entirely.

8608.319 -> Many of them rebelled, and soon Carthage

8611.319 -> was engulfed in a civil war.

8614.56 -> It looked for the first time like the

8617.02 -> entire empire might come apart at the

8619.72 -> seams, as Polybius writes.

8624.52 -> For three years and about four months

8627.399 -> did the Mercenaries maintain a war

8629.56 -> against the Carthaginians, which far

8632.02 -> surpassed any that I have heard of for

8634.479 -> cruelty and inhumanity.

8637 -> The many battles in which they have been

8639.28 -> engaged at sea have naturally left them

8642.1 -> ill-supplied with arms, sailors, and

8644.74 -> vessels. They had no store of provisions

8647.319 -> ready and no expectation whatever of

8650.8 -> external assistance from friends or

8652.96 -> allies.

8654.1 -> They were indeed now thoroughly taught

8656.8 -> the difference between a foreign war

8658.66 -> carried on beyond the seas and the

8661.479 -> domestic insurrection.

8665.14 -> The civil war that followed, which would

8667.78 -> become known as the Mercenary War, would

8670.54 -> unfold with unparalleled brutality.

8674.08 -> The bodies of crucified rebels would

8676.72 -> have become a regular sight along the

8678.939 -> roads. The instability caused a famine,

8682.12 -> and Carthage was forced to raise an army

8684.88 -> from its citizens, forcing ordinary

8687.52 -> people in the capital to fight.

8690.46 -> The man tasked by the Carthaginian

8692.8 -> senate with carrying out this civil war

8695.2 -> was the proud general Hamilcar Barca,

8698.2 -> the man who had refused to sign the

8700.6 -> treaty with Rome.

8702.58 -> Throughout these years of violence, he

8705.04 -> would have seen his homeland burning, his

8707.62 -> people starving and dying, and all this

8710.8 -> time, he nursed his hatred for his Roman

8714.22 -> enemies.

8721.68 -> At enormous cost, Hamilcar Barca would

8725.68 -> eventually crush the rebels, and he

8728.26 -> sometimes did this quite literally.

8731.14 -> Many insurgents captured in the later

8734.02 -> years of the war were executed beneath

8737.08 -> the feet of Carthage's elephants, the

8739.899 -> ultimate living symbol of the empire's

8742.72 -> power.

8744.64 -> After four years of civil war, some

8747.819 -> measure of order returned to the

8749.92 -> scorched countryside.

8752.68 -> The empire of Carthage had survived, but

8756.16 -> they were now in an even worse state

8758.02 -> than before.

8759.64 -> Meanwhile, the Romans had spent four

8762.04 -> years recovering and drawing wealth from

8764.979 -> their new lands in Sicily and Corsica. At

8768.64 -> Carthage's time of weakness, Rome moved

8771.939 -> to capture the island of Sardinia, too,

8774.399 -> which had escaped its grasp during the

8777.04 -> war and was now rebelling against

8778.899 -> Carthage's weakened rule.

8781.899 -> The Carthaginians could do nothing to

8784.42 -> stop them, as Polybius recalls.

8788.8 -> When the Carthaginians expressed

8791.14 -> indignation of this on the ground that

8793.42 -> the lordship over Sardinia more properly

8796 -> belonged to them, the Romans voted to

8798.939 -> declare war against them. The

8800.979 -> Carthaginians, however, having just had an

8803.8 -> almost miraculous escape from

8805.72 -> annihilation in the recent civil war,

8807.819 -> yielded to the necessities of the hour

8810.58 -> and not only abandoned Sardinia, but they

8813.939 -> paid the Romans 1,200 talents into the

8816.58 -> bargain that they might not be obliged

8818.859 -> to undertake the war for the present. The

8821.8 -> new balance of power in the

8823.42 -> Mediterranean was clear. Carthage was now

8826.96 -> a hollowed-out husk.

8830.38 -> If they were to reclaim any of the power

8833.02 -> that they had once held, the next

8835.18 -> generation of Carthaginian military

8837.22 -> leaders would need to produce a general

8839.68 -> of such genius that he could turn around

8842.62 -> the hopes and fortunes of this

8844.78 -> floundering empire,

8846.76 -> a general that would conduct a campaign

8849.16 -> so daring that it is still studied in

8852.76 -> military academies to this day.

8855.7 -> That man would bear a name that in

8858.819 -> Phoenician meant ëby the grace of Baalí.

8861.96 -> His name was Hannibal.

8867.76 -> Hannibal

8888.479 -> was the son of the general Hamilcar

8891.399 -> Barca.

8893.439 -> When the First Punic War ended, he was a

8896.56 -> boy of only six years old, and he would

8899.02 -> have watched with the formative mind of

8901 -> a child as the world he knew was torn

8903.939 -> apart by violence, and his father

8906.04 -> struggled to end the rebellions.

8909.34 -> When Rome had snatched away the island

8911.74 -> of Sardinia, Carthage lost the last of

8914.62 -> its profitable central Mediterranean

8916.6 -> islands, and with the empire so weakened,

8919.54 -> its economy was in freefall.

8922.66 -> If it was to right itself, Carthage would

8925.12 -> need to find vast resources of minerals,

8928.02 -> metals, and people,

8930.76 -> and Hannibal's father knew that the only

8933.28 -> way these could be found was by

8935.38 -> expanding Carthage's last remaining

8937.78 -> overseas territories.

8939.819 -> These were in southern Spain, as Polybius

8943.54 -> writes. Hamilcar,

8946.62 -> with the anger felt by all his

8949.18 -> compatriots at this last outrage, as soon

8952.54 -> as he had finally crushed the mutiny of

8954.819 -> mercenaries and secured the safety of

8957.34 -> his country, at once threw all his

8960.04 -> efforts into the conquest of Spain.

8964.66 -> Hamilcar gathered an army and set out for

8968.2 -> the Spanish colonies.

8970.479 -> Rome now ruled the seas, and Carthage's

8974.02 -> navy was so weakened that he was unable

8976.54 -> to travel the whole way to Spain by ship.

8979.2 -> Instead, he had to march all the way

8981.64 -> across North Africa and ferry his army

8984.58 -> across the sea at the narrow Straits of

8986.92 -> Gibraltar.

8989.62 -> When he left,

8991.12 -> he took his own young son Hannibal with

8993.52 -> him to teach the boy the art of war and

8996.88 -> to ensure that he passed on his burning

8999.88 -> hatred for Rome.

9002.28 -> At the time, when his father was about to

9005.1 -> start with his army on his expedition to

9008.16 -> Spain, Hannibal, then nine years of age,

9011.16 -> were standing by the altar while

9013.92 -> Hamilcar was sacrificing to Zeus.

9017.22 -> His father took him by the hand, led him

9020.16 -> up to the altar, and bade him lay his

9023.1 -> hand on the victim and swear never to be

9026.58 -> the friend of the Romans. He made his own

9029.64 -> son Hannibal such an enemy of Rome that

9033.18 -> none could be more bitter.

9036.54 -> Despite the weakened state of Carthage,

9039.38 -> Hamilcar succeeded in conquering the

9042 -> Celtic tribes of Spain. He built a new

9045.06 -> city there that became known as New

9047.76 -> Carthage, now the southern Spanish city

9050.58 -> of Cartagena.

9053.16 -> While the young boy Hannibal grew up in

9056.1 -> Spain, he would have likely visited the

9058.38 -> Temple of Melqart or Hercules in Gades,

9062.1 -> that temple with the golden olive tree

9064.68 -> at its center.

9066.3 -> He would have heard stories about

9068.22 -> Hercules and his legendary journey over

9071.04 -> the Alps, herding the cattle of Geryon,

9073.979 -> the giant.

9075.12 -> Perhaps he would have even learned the

9076.8 -> history of the Greek, Agathocles, and

9079.439 -> his daring strike right at the heart of

9081.96 -> his stronger enemy. All this while, he

9085.14 -> would have dreamed of one day making his

9087.42 -> own mark on history.

9092.88 -> When his father Hamilcar died and his

9096.3 -> successor was assassinated, it would soon

9098.76 -> fall to the young Hannibal to lead the

9101.22 -> Carthaginian armies in Spain.

9104.28 -> He continued his father's work of

9106.74 -> expanding their territories, pushing back

9109.26 -> the local Celtic tribes who opposed him,

9111.78 -> and it's clear he developed a flare for

9114.72 -> warfare.

9116.16 -> By the time he was 27, Hannibal

9118.92 -> controlled more than half of the Iberian

9121.26 -> Peninsula, a vast and wealthy territory

9124.14 -> of nearly a quarter-million square

9126.18 -> kilometers.

9127.859 -> From his father, he had inherited an army

9130.56 -> of 60,000 battle-hardened troops,

9133.2 -> the best in the empire, and a stable of

9136.74 -> 200 war elephants.

9139.319 -> He had also forged alliances with a

9142.02 -> number of Celtic tribes in Spain that he

9145.02 -> knew would come to his aid if needed.

9148.26 -> He was now at the head of the wealthiest

9150.899 -> and most powerful province of the empire.

9155.7 -> Hannibal and his father's success in

9158.58 -> Spain restored the lifeblood of Carthage,

9161.64 -> and silver once again flowed through the

9164.76 -> empire.

9165.66 -> It's said that just one Spanish mine in

9168.359 -> the region of Baebelo, with its shafts

9171.06 -> running more than two kilometers into

9172.859 -> the mountainside, was producing nearly a

9175.5 -> thousand kilograms of silver each week

9177.72 -> for Hannibal's treasury.

9179.64 -> Analysis shows that the coins being

9182.04 -> minted in Spain at this time were of an

9184.74 -> exceptionally high content of silver,

9186.6 -> while those being minted back in

9189.06 -> Carthage were still watered down with

9191.64 -> cheaper metals.

9195.479 -> All of this meant that Hannibal was

9198.12 -> beginning to feel increasingly confident

9200.1 -> about testing the bounds of what he

9202.68 -> could get away with, both with the Senate

9205.2 -> back in Carthage and with his sworn

9208.02 -> enemy of Rome.

9213.359 -> The Roman poet Silius Italicus gives one

9216.84 -> description of his character.

9219.84 -> He was one, by nature, eager for action,

9223.26 -> yet an oath-breaker, cunning beyond all,

9226.859 -> though of questionable fairness. Armed, he

9230.939 -> was no respecter of the gods; bold to do

9233.58 -> wrong, scorning the virtues of peace, and

9236.88 -> with a thirst for human blood alive in

9239.64 -> his deepest marrow. Above all, in the

9243.06 -> flower of his youth, he longed to erase

9245.88 -> that defeat, a generation's shame, and

9249.359 -> drown their peace treaty deep in the

9253.02 -> Sicilian Sea.

9256.62 -> The location for the flashpoint that

9259.02 -> would spark the Second Punic War was the

9262.02 -> town of Saguntum, just north of what is

9264.54 -> today Valencia in southern Spain.

9267.62 -> Saguntum was a Roman ally, and Rome had

9271.38 -> been watching with concern as Carthage's

9273.66 -> Spanish borders edged ever closer.

9276.6 -> Rome had made it very clear that they

9279.359 -> would not tolerate a Carthaginian attack

9281.64 -> on the city of Saguntum,

9284.58 -> but Hannibal was willing to call their

9287.1 -> bluff.

9288.899 -> In the year 219 BC, at the age of 28, he

9293.22 -> led his army against the city and put it

9295.8 -> under siege.

9297.72 -> The fighting didn't go smoothly; the

9300.84 -> people of Saguntum put up a fierce

9303.18 -> defense from their walls, and Hannibal

9305.76 -> was even wounded in the thigh by a

9307.74 -> javelin, but his move to take the city

9310.26 -> was a clear spit in the eye of the

9312.84 -> Romans.

9314.399 -> When they heard about what was happening,

9316.14 -> Rome dispatched some envoys who turned

9319.38 -> up at Hannibal's siege camp at Saguntum

9321.6 -> and demanded to speak with him.

9323.88 -> He had his man send them away, telling

9326.7 -> them that he was too busy to talk to

9328.68 -> them.

9329.7 -> The Romans must have left seething with

9332.34 -> rage.

9334.68 -> Back in Carthage, news of Hannibal's

9337.319 -> actions were likely met with excitement

9339.72 -> by his supporters and with a frenzy of

9343.08 -> dismay by others.

9345.84 -> One of his great opponents, a man named

9348.96 -> Hanno, is supposed to have delivered a

9351.359 -> blistering speech against him in the

9353.46 -> Carthaginian senate, the words of which

9356.1 -> the later Roman historian Livy imagines.

9361.74 -> As long as any single representative of

9364.319 -> the blood and name of Barca survives,

9366.479 -> our treaty with Rome will never remain

9369.359 -> unimperilled. You have sent to the army, as

9372.359 -> though supplying fuel to fire, a young

9374.64 -> man who is consumed with a passion for

9376.859 -> sovereign power, and who recognizes that

9379.26 -> the only way to it lies in passing his

9381.84 -> life surrounded by armed legions and

9384.54 -> perpetually stirring up fresh wars. It is

9387.359 -> against Carthage that Hannibal is now

9389.76 -> bringing up his towers. It is Carthage

9392.22 -> whose walls he is shaking with his

9394.14 -> battering rams. The ruins of Saguntum

9397.14 -> will fall on our heads, and the war which

9399.96 -> has begun with Saguntum will have to be

9402.12 -> carried on with Rome.

9405.06 -> But Hannibal also had plenty of

9407.46 -> supporters, and even his strongest

9409.68 -> opponents in the senate found themselves

9412.02 -> in something of a bind.

9414.479 -> Many would have likely preferred to have

9416.88 -> Hannibal arrested and his armies given

9419.28 -> to some more predictable general, but in

9422.04 -> truth, they had no idea how to do this.

9425.16 -> Hannibalís soldiers were loyal to him, and

9427.92 -> any move against him would cause a civil

9430.26 -> war that could lose Carthage all of the

9433.319 -> wealthy Spanish provinces on which their

9435.72 -> entire economy now rested.

9439.02 -> But the Romans, too, were paralyzed by

9441.54 -> indecision. For the eight months of the

9444.479 -> siege of Saguntum, Rome did nothing but

9447.6 -> complain.

9449.66 -> When Hannibal finally took the city, the

9453.3 -> Romans sent a delegation of ambassadors

9455.939 -> to Africa to demand an explanation.

9460.08 -> The clouds of war were once again

9462.6 -> gathering over the sea.

9466.56 -> When these men arrived, they spoke before

9469.74 -> the Carthaginian senate and demanded to

9472.439 -> know whether Hannibal's capture of

9474.06 -> Saguntum was the official policy of

9476.28 -> Carthage or just the work of one rogue

9479.22 -> general.

9480.479 -> If he had acted alone, they demanded that

9483.06 -> Hannibal be arrested and handed over for

9485.76 -> punishment. If Carthage failed to do that,

9489.06 -> Rome would declare war.

9492 -> The historian Appian described this

9494.64 -> moment as the Carthaginian senate made

9497.399 -> its choice.

9499.28 -> The Romans now sent ambassadors to

9501.899 -> Carthage to demand that Hannibal should

9503.58 -> be delivered up to them as a violator of

9505.38 -> the treaty. If they would not give him up,

9507.96 -> war was to be declared forthwith.

9510.899 -> The chief of the embassy pointed to the

9513.18 -> fold of his toga and, smiling, said, ëHere,

9516.38 -> Carthaginians, I bring you peace or war.

9519.359 -> You may take whichever you choose.í The

9522.42 -> latter replied, ëYou may give us whichever

9524.88 -> you like.í

9526.26 -> When the Romans offered war, they all

9528.6 -> cried out, ëWe accept it.í

9532.46 -> The poet Silius Italicus, writing some

9536.52 -> centuries after the conflict, gives an

9539.1 -> even more florid rendition.

9542.1 -> He gestured to them that he carried war

9545.34 -> and peace in his hands, demanding they

9548.22 -> choose, and when the senators refused to

9551.34 -> accept either, he replied, shaking his

9554.1 -> robes as if pouring out battle and ruin

9556.68 -> from his arms; ëTake war, unhappy Libya,

9560.52 -> with an outcome like the first.í

9565.14 -> The Roman historian Livy describes the

9568.02 -> conflict that ensued in the following

9570.72 -> terms.

9572.1 -> The most memorable of all wars ever

9574.92 -> waged, the war that is, which, under the

9578.58 -> leadership of Hannibal, the Carthaginians

9581.1 -> waged with the Roman people, for neither

9583.92 -> have states or nations met in arms

9585.899 -> possessed of ample resources,

9588.06 -> nor was their own might and power ever

9590.819 -> so great.

9594.6 -> Growing up among the fires of civil war,

9597.479 -> Hannibal had learned never to let your

9600.18 -> homeland become a battlefield. He knew

9603.3 -> that if he waited in Spain, his lands

9605.88 -> would soon become host to a Roman

9608.16 -> invasion force. His fields would burn. His

9611.939 -> silver mines would dry up, and his people

9614.7 -> would suffer.

9616.319 -> So, he decided to take his war to

9619.8 -> Rome.

9622.74 -> He withdrew to his capital of New

9625.2 -> Carthage for the winter, to prepare and

9628.14 -> plan, and here, Livy describes him giving

9631.74 -> the following speech to his soldiers.

9635.399 -> You are on the eve of an expedition that

9637.859 -> will carry you far afield, and it is

9640.319 -> uncertain when you will see again your

9642.12 -> homes. With the first signs of spring,

9645 -> with Heavenís good help, we may begin a

9648.06 -> war that shall bring us vast renown and

9650.22 -> treasure.

9652.08 -> The journey from New Carthage to Italy

9655.26 -> was one of about 1,500 kilometers, so

9658.979 -> Hannibal knew that a long and dangerous

9661.38 -> march awaited him once the spring

9663.72 -> arrived,

9665.04 -> and at the end of this journey, a

9667.5 -> monumental problem loomed ahead of him.

9670.26 -> That's because the geography of the

9672.66 -> Italian Peninsula made it something of a

9675.84 -> natural fortress.

9679.34 -> Beginning in the Cretaceous Period

9681.84 -> around 100 million years ago, the steady

9684.84 -> northward movement of the African

9686.76 -> continental plate crushing beneath the

9689.46 -> Eurasian plate in the region of Sicily

9692.1 -> had caused the Earth's crust to bend and

9695.399 -> pleat, driving up a dramatic series of

9698.64 -> mountains that form a sheer wall between

9701.58 -> the Italian Peninsula and Celtic Western

9704.34 -> Europe, which the Romans called Gaul.

9707.939 -> These mountains, known as the Alps, can

9711.479 -> tower up to five kilometers from sea

9714 -> level, with permanent snow-capped peaks

9717 -> choked with icy glaciers, and with only a

9720.54 -> few narrow crossing points.

9723.12 -> The Roman writer Ammianus Marcellinus

9726.12 -> describes the appearance of the Alps at

9728.819 -> this time.

9731.399 -> This country of Gaul, because of its

9734.16 -> lofty chains of mountains always covered

9736.439 -> with formidable snows, was formerly all

9739.439 -> but unknown to the inhabitants of the

9741.359 -> rest of the globe, except where it

9743.46 -> borders on the coast; and mountain

9746.399 -> bulwarks enclose it on every side,

9748.64 -> surrounding it naturally, as if by the

9751.68 -> art of man.

9753.899 -> The most commonly-used roads were the

9756.72 -> ones that went around this natural wall,

9759.06 -> the narrow corridor that follows the

9761.7 -> coastline past what is now the French

9764.1 -> port town of Nice.

9766.14 -> But as the only way into and out of

9768.54 -> Italy, these roads were heavily defended

9771.66 -> and lined with forts stacked with Roman

9774.72 -> legionaries.

9776.58 -> Here, the Romans could have staged a

9779.16 -> fearsome defense.

9781.56 -> Faced with this problem, Hannibal would

9784.38 -> need a daring solution,

9786.72 -> and it's here that those stories may

9789 -> have come back to him, stories he must

9791.28 -> have heard as a child of the great hero

9794.1 -> Hercules leading his herd of cattle

9797.1 -> directly over the Alps.

9800.46 -> The Romans believed that it was

9802.319 -> impossible to cross the Alps with an

9804.6 -> army weighed down with supplies, with

9807.96 -> horses, oxen, and with a herd of 37

9811.62 -> elephants.

9812.939 -> It would be madness to even attempt it,

9815.64 -> and for that reason, it was the last

9818.64 -> thing they would ever have expected.

9829.8 -> When spring came and the Romans heard of

9832.92 -> the Carthaginian army beginning its

9835.26 -> march, they sent ambassadors along the

9838.08 -> coastal roads and into what they called

9840.979 -> Transalpine Gaul. There were Celtic

9844.14 -> tribes of Gauls living on both the

9846.66 -> Italian and the northern side of the

9848.939 -> Alps, and so, the Romans used the Latin

9851.58 -> word cis, meaning ëon this sideí and trans,

9855.18 -> meaning ëon the other sideí, to

9857.58 -> differentiate between them. The Roman

9860.16 -> ambassadors approached the leaders of

9862.439 -> these Transalpine Gauls, and informed

9865.62 -> them of the Carthaginian army then

9868.14 -> making its way towards them.

9870.66 -> They asked these Gauls to bar the way

9873.42 -> to Hannibal and his troops, but they

9876.3 -> didn't get the reception they'd hoped

9878.58 -> for, as Livy describes.

9882.66 -> When the envoys, boasting of the renown

9885.54 -> and valor of the Roman people and the

9887.939 -> extent of their dominion, requested the

9890.28 -> Gauls to deny the Phoenician a passage

9892.26 -> through their lands and cities, if he

9894.3 -> should attempt to carry the war into

9895.8 -> Italy, it is said that they burst out

9899.04 -> into such peals of laughter that the

9901.68 -> magistrates and elders could scarce

9903.54 -> reduce the younger men to order.

9905.76 -> So stupid and impudent a thing, it seemed,

9908.52 -> to propose that the Gauls should bring

9910.979 -> down the war on their own heads and

9913.56 -> offer their own fields to be pillaged in

9916.14 -> place of other men's.

9919.2 -> This was perhaps the first sign that

9922.14 -> things weren't going to go as the Romans

9925.02 -> might have wished.

9928.2 -> But on his march south, Hannibal did

9930.899 -> encounter significant resistance from

9933.6 -> local peoples who didn't welcome the

9936.479 -> presence of his army,

9938.399 -> and in France, it was only through the

9941.1 -> excessive distribution of gifts that the

9944.04 -> Gauls allowed him and his men to pass.

9948.78 -> The first true obstacle was the river

9951.72 -> Rhone, one of France's largest rivers.

9957.24 -> Here, Hannibal's army crossed with

9960 -> difficulty, building rafts to ferry his

9963.42 -> men and equipment across,

9965.819 -> but the elephants here posed a

9968.46 -> significant challenge.

9970.38 -> These animals were terrified of water,

9973.2 -> and so, to get them across, the

9975.72 -> Carthaginians built enormous rafts built

9978.66 -> from whole tree trunks and covered them

9980.88 -> with earth and turf so that the

9983.1 -> elephants would believe they were still

9984.84 -> standing on dry land.

9987.42 -> In that way, they were able to coax two

9990.06 -> of the females onto the rafts and across

9993.06 -> the river,

9994.08 -> and from there, the rest of the herd were

9996.78 -> ferried across.

9999.6 -> Hannibal then followed the river road

10002.12 -> north and found a tribe of Gauls who

10005.42 -> agreed to help him achieve his

10007.58 -> impossible plan;

10009.08 -> to cross the vast natural barrier of the

10012.319 -> Alps.

10014.359 -> These Gauls gave Hannibal and his men

10017.06 -> supplies and warm clothing for the

10019.88 -> mountain crossing, but the task ahead was

10022.88 -> still staggering.

10024.68 -> By this time, it was October. Winter was

10028.34 -> closing in, and the passes of the Alps

10030.92 -> were choked with ice and snow.

10034.04 -> The later Roman writer Ammianus

10036.5 -> Marcellinus writes one account of these

10039.56 -> treacherous alpine passes.

10042.56 -> In these Alps, there rises a lofty

10045.439 -> ridge which scarcely anyone can cross

10047.66 -> without danger,

10049.22 -> for as one comes from Gaul, it falls off

10052.22 -> with sheer incline,

10054.26 -> terrible to look upon because of

10056.359 -> overhanging cliffs on either side;

10059.12 -> then over precipitous ravines on either

10061.64 -> side and chasms rendered treacherous

10064.16 -> through the accumulation of ice, men and

10066.8 -> animals descending with hesitating steps

10069.14 -> slide forward, and wagons as well.

10072.38 -> In winter, the ground, caked with ice, and

10076.22 -> as if it were polished and therefore

10078.02 -> slippery, drives men headlong in their

10080.899 -> gait, and the spreading valleys, made

10083.84 -> treacherous by ice, sometimes swallow up

10086.84 -> the traveler.

10090.319 -> The march to the top of the pass took

10092.78 -> nine days, and we can only imagine the

10095.6 -> hardship that these men, their horses and

10098.479 -> oxen, and elephants all endured during

10101.479 -> those days,

10103.1 -> but on the ninth day, they reached the

10105.439 -> top,

10106.52 -> and now gazed down through the Alpine

10109.1 -> pass into the green lowlands of Italy

10112.28 -> stretching out below them.

10114.859 -> But the descent from the mountains would

10117.08 -> prove to be even more treacherous than

10119.12 -> the climb.

10120.439 -> On their way down, they found that a

10122.78 -> recent landslide had turned what was

10125.24 -> already a difficult road into an

10127.819 -> unpassable precipice.

10129.8 -> The historian Livy describes the

10132.08 -> obstacle that faced them.

10134.899 -> The result was a horrible struggle, the

10137.54 -> ice affording no foothold in any case, at

10140.6 -> least of all on a steep slope.

10142.819 -> When a man tried by hands or knees to

10145.04 -> get on his feet again, even those useless

10147.8 -> supports slipped from under him and let

10149.84 -> him down.

10151.16 -> There were no stumps or roots anywhere

10153.26 -> to afford a purchase to either hand or

10155.24 -> foot; in short, there was nothing for it

10158.72 -> but to roll and slither on the smooth

10161.12 -> ice and melting snow.

10165.02 -> The decision was made to cut a stepped

10168.56 -> path into this sheer wall, and the episode

10171.68 -> has become one of the most famous in the

10174.38 -> mythical retelling of these events that

10176.899 -> would take place over the next centuries.

10179.899 -> The story goes that Hannibal ordered his

10182.54 -> men to gather large amounts of wood and

10185.66 -> build a great fire against the rock of

10187.88 -> the precipice.

10190.04 -> As the fire blazed and the flames licked

10192.979 -> at the icy stone, the rock heated up,

10196.28 -> then the soldiers would pour their

10198.62 -> rations of sour wine against the heated

10201.14 -> rock, causing its temperature to rapidly

10203.84 -> drop and the rock to crack. With iron

10207.68 -> tools, they then worked away at these

10210.2 -> fissures until after four days of labor,

10213.2 -> steps were cut into the rock, as Livy

10216.68 -> recounts.

10219.26 -> After thus heating the crag with fire,

10221.42 -> they opened a way in it with iron tools

10223.939 -> and relieved the steepness of the slope

10226.1 -> with zigzags of an easy gradient,

10228.74 -> so that not only the baggage animals but

10230.96 -> even the elephants could be led down.

10233.42 -> Four days were consumed at the cliff, and

10236 -> the animals nearly perished of

10237.439 -> starvation,

10238.46 -> for the mountaintops are all

10240.5 -> practically bare, and such grass as does

10243.56 -> grow is buried under snow.

10248.18 -> Whether this episode unfolded quite in

10250.819 -> this manner or not, from the perspective

10253.28 -> of Hannibal's followers, the purpose of

10255.859 -> telling this story was clear; here was a

10259.34 -> new Hercules, it said, a man who has

10262.28 -> crossed the Alps with his herd of

10264.08 -> elephants, a man who achieves great

10266.899 -> labors wherever he goes, a man for whom

10270.38 -> the very rock of the mountain presents

10273.08 -> no obstacle.

10276.92 -> Climbing down into the foothills, the men

10279.8 -> must have felt the lowland warmth wash

10282.08 -> over their skin for the first time with

10284.96 -> a sense of enormous relief, as Livy

10288.02 -> recounts.

10290.78 -> Lower down one comes to valleys and

10293.06 -> sunny slopes and rivulets, and near them

10295.58 -> woods and places that begin to be fitted

10297.74 -> for man's habitation. There the beasts

10300.319 -> were turned out to graze, and the men,

10302.479 -> exhausted with toiling at the road, were

10305.24 -> allowed to rest.

10308.78 -> But the audacity of Hannibal's plan had

10312.2 -> come at a cost,

10313.64 -> as Polybius writes.

10316.52 -> When Hannibal crossed the Rhone, he had

10319.16 -> 38,000 infantry and more than 8,000

10322.58 -> cavalry. He lost nearly half in the pass;

10325.819 -> while the survivors had, by these long

10329.42 -> continued sufferings, become almost

10331.899 -> savage in look and general appearance.

10336.38 -> Nevertheless, Hannibal and his men now

10339.62 -> stood and looked out over the lands of

10342.439 -> Italy below.

10344.24 -> They had caught the Romans completely by

10347.24 -> surprise.

10352.6 -> At the outbreak of war with Carthage,

10355.84 -> Rome knew that Hannibal's army was on

10358.939 -> the move.

10360.26 -> They sent out messengers to find out any

10362.779 -> word about the location of his forces,

10365.18 -> but recently they had been coming back

10368.12 -> empty-handed.

10369.92 -> After crossing the river Rhone, the

10372.26 -> Carthaginian general had disappeared.

10375.319 -> He wasn't in Gaul. He wasn't in Spain. For

10379.1 -> the Romans, the situation must have been

10381.26 -> puzzling and a little concerning.

10385.18 -> When news came to them of what Hannibal

10388.1 -> had done, the first note of panic began

10391.16 -> to set in.

10392.42 -> Polybius recounted the reaction of one

10395.359 -> Roman general.

10397.7 -> Publius had not expected that Hannibal would

10400.34 -> even attempt the passage of the Alps, or

10403.1 -> if he did attempt it, that he could

10405.08 -> escape utter destruction.

10408.319 -> He was immensely astonished at his courage

10410.42 -> and adventurous daring when he heard that he

10412.88 -> had not only got safe across, but was

10415.279 -> actually besieging certain towns in

10417.319 -> Italy.

10419 -> The Roman government was typically slow-

10422 -> -moving, and the speed of Hannibal's

10424.22 -> attack had stunned them.

10427.22 -> Scarcely had the last rumor about the

10429.74 -> taking of Saguntum by the Carthaginians

10432.26 -> ceased to attract attention, then news came

10435.439 -> that Hannibal had arrived in Italy with

10437.96 -> his army.

10439.279 -> What made matters worse was that

10441.5 -> Hannibal was now recruiting allies from

10443.96 -> the Cisalpine Gauls in the foothills of

10446.779 -> the Alps, Celtic tribes on the Italian

10449.3 -> side of the mountains who had fought with

10452 -> the Romans before.

10454.819 -> The Roman senate went into a panic. They

10458.359 -> brought up reinforcements from Sicily,

10460.52 -> from an army that at that moment had

10462.92 -> been preparing to invade Africa.

10465.62 -> The general Sempronius Longus led this

10468.92 -> army of more than 40,000 to intercept

10471.62 -> Hannibal's forces in northern Italy. They

10474.74 -> met at the battle of Trebia in December

10477.56 -> of the year 218 BC.

10480.02 -> Here, Hannibal's powerful and

10482.6 -> determined forces utterly smashed the

10485.3 -> Roman army, killing at least 20,000

10488.359 -> soldiers.

10490.46 -> When news of this defeat reached Rome,

10493.34 -> the mood in the senate must have been

10496.1 -> bleak.

10497.6 -> Hannibal marched south and crossed the

10500.6 -> Apennine mountains that run down the

10503.359 -> center of Italy, and crushed another

10505.52 -> Roman army on the shore of Lake

10507.5 -> Trasimene, killing another 15,000 Romans

10511.06 -> and capturing 10,000 prisoners.

10514.88 -> From there, his march seemed to be

10517.399 -> unstoppable.

10520.04 -> Hannibal would rampage across Italy for

10523.16 -> a total of fifteen years.

10526.04 -> Chastened by their defeats, the Romans

10528.92 -> now avoided any battles with him, trying

10531.8 -> instead to suffocate his army and cut

10534.859 -> off his supplies.

10536.479 -> They even resorted to a scorched-earth

10539.12 -> campaign in which they burned their own

10541.819 -> countryside in a desperate attempt to

10544.88 -> starve Hannibal's troops.

10547.64 -> Hannibal's strategy was to march south,

10550.359 -> hoping that the conquered Greek cities

10552.74 -> of southern Italy would greet him as a

10555.56 -> liberator and throw off the rule of

10557.779 -> their Roman masters, but the journey was

10560.899 -> hard. On his way, all but the largest of

10563.96 -> his elephants would die as a result of

10566.66 -> the harsh Italian winter, and while

10569.12 -> riding through the marshes of central

10570.92 -> Italy, Hannibal himself caught an

10573.56 -> infection that caused the loss of one of

10576.2 -> his eyes.

10578.18 -> When he reached southern Italy, he seized

10580.939 -> a vast supply depot at the town of Cannae,

10583.64 -> and the Roman senate realized their

10586.46 -> strategy of suffocating him wouldn't

10588.439 -> work.

10590.359 -> They ordered a vast army to be drawn up,

10593.18 -> 86,000 soldiers, the largest that had

10597.14 -> ever been raised in Roman history, and

10599.899 -> with this force, they sent the best and

10602.24 -> brightest of Roman society to march

10605.12 -> south to meet Hannibal at Cannae.

10608.72 -> Hannibal, now frustrated with these

10611.42 -> months without a battle, was all too

10613.88 -> eager to accept.

10616.46 -> Once again, the Roman army was utterly

10619.52 -> smashed, and the defeat was so total that

10622.939 -> even high members of Roman society were

10625.88 -> slaughtered on the battlefield.

10627.92 -> Livy describes the aftermath.

10631.34 -> It is said that 45,500

10633.52 -> foot and 2,700 horse was slain, in an

10639.26 -> almost equal proportion of citizens and

10641.42 -> allies.

10642.439 -> In the number were the quaestors of both

10645.02 -> consuls and 29 military tribunes, some

10649.58 -> of consular rank, some of praetorian; and

10652.939 -> besides these, 80 senators, all men who had

10655.52 -> held offices which would have given

10657.5 -> them the right to be elected to the

10658.939 -> senate, but had volunteered to serve as

10661.22 -> soldiers in the legions. The prisoners

10663.74 -> taken in this battle are said to have

10665.6 -> numbered 3,000 foot soldiers

10668.3 -> and 1,500 horsemen.

10671.6 -> When news of this staggering defeat

10674.18 -> reached Rome, the city went into a panic.

10679.939 -> The people of Rome began seeing evil

10682.64 -> omens and portents everywhere. One

10685.76 -> senator was dispatched to Greece to

10688.52 -> consult the oracle at Delphi,

10691.04 -> and as the Carthaginians had once done

10693.8 -> under threat by Agathocles, the Romans

10697.04 -> resorted to rituals of human sacrifice

10699.74 -> to appease their angry gods, as Livy

10703.58 -> describes.

10706.16 -> By the direction of the Books of Fate,

10709.16 -> some unusual sacrifices were offered;

10712.58 -> amongst others, a Gaulish man and woman

10714.92 -> and a Greek man and woman were buried

10716.72 -> alive in the cattle market, in a place

10719.42 -> walled in with stone, which even before

10722.18 -> this time had been defiled with human

10724.22 -> victims,

10725.359 -> a sacrifice wholly alien to the Roman

10727.939 -> spirit.

10730.76 -> To raise a new army, the Romans reduced

10734.12 -> the age of boys that were allowed to

10736.34 -> serve in the military to 17, and began

10739.52 -> enlisting criminals, those with crushing

10742.22 -> debts, and even slaves.

10744.859 -> But their situation looked bleak.

10748.399 -> After the battle of Cannae, many of the old

10751.46 -> Greek cities of southern Italy began to

10754.04 -> join Hannibal and rebel against Rome.

10757.42 -> Sicily looked like it could break free,

10759.74 -> too, and for the next 11 years, war would

10763.64 -> rage all over southern Italy.

10766.939 -> In the year 211 BC, Hannibal even marched

10770.779 -> against Rome itself, causing great panic

10774.08 -> in the city,

10775.279 -> but like the Greek king Pyrrhus before him,

10778.399 -> Hannibal saw no hope of breaching the

10781.76 -> city's imposing Servian walls.

10785.6 -> The Carthaginian senate made several

10788.24 -> attempts to open up a new front in this

10791.06 -> war and capitalize on Hannibal's

10793.88 -> stunning success. They sent armies into

10796.939 -> northern Italy and Sicily, hoping to

10799.52 -> regain some of their former territories,

10801.859 -> but none of their other generals had the

10805.279 -> same ability, and these attempts all

10808.22 -> ended in defeat.

10811.34 -> Rome now realized that trying to stop

10814.52 -> Hannibal was useless,

10816.74 -> and the only way they could turn the

10818.6 -> tide of this war was to attack Carthage

10821.359 -> in return.

10823.64 -> They sent one army into Spain, led by a

10827 -> general named Publius Cornelius Scipio,

10829.88 -> who had been among the few survivors of

10832.7 -> the battle of Cannae, and he was remarkably

10836.06 -> successful.

10837.859 -> In the year 209 BC, in a devastating blow,

10842.24 -> Scipio managed to capture the Spanish

10844.819 -> capital of New Carthage.

10847.819 -> Three years later, he defeated the last

10850.399 -> remaining Carthaginian army in Spain,

10853.52 -> essentially seizing the entire province

10856.04 -> and its abundant silver mines for Rome.

10860 -> Despite everything Hannibal had achieved,

10862.399 -> the war was starting to turn in Rome's

10865.46 -> favor.

10866.84 -> Four years later in 205 BC, with Hannibal

10870.74 -> still rampaging in Italy, the Romans gave

10873.62 -> Scipio command of the armies of Sicily

10876.859 -> and ordered him to set sail for Africa,

10880.16 -> to bring this war to the gates of

10882.8 -> Carthage itself.

10886.22 -> After a year of preparation,

10889.04 -> Scipio set sail in 204 BC.

10894.319 -> Faced with this invasion that could

10896.899 -> behead his entire society, Hannibal was

10900.14 -> forced to take his army and leave Italy,

10902.899 -> to hurry back to Carthage and defend the

10905.779 -> city, as the Roman poet Silius Italicus

10909.439 -> renders it.

10912.26 -> Carthage, with all her limbs severed, now

10916.22 -> depended upon a single man; only the

10919.34 -> name of Hannibal prevented her great

10921.5 -> realm from sliding into utter ruin.

10924.74 -> Envoys promptly set sail, crossing the

10928.04 -> sea to recall him, with a plea from his

10930.74 -> country warning that should he choose to

10933.26 -> linger, the city of Carthage might exist

10936.5 -> no more.

10938.72 -> Hannibal marshaled all the forces of

10941.899 -> Carthage and met Publius Scipio in North

10945.38 -> Africa in October of the year 202 BC, at

10950.3 -> a place called Zama.

10954.5 -> Here, on the eve of battle,

10957.02 -> Scipio and Hannibal finally met for the

10959.84 -> first time, and Hannibal seems to have

10962.84 -> presented a dejected, weary face, as

10966.859 -> Polybius writes.

10969.859 -> The next day, both commanders advanced

10972.859 -> from their camps, attended by a few

10975.38 -> horsemen. Presently, they left these

10977.96 -> escorts and met in the intervening space

10980.54 -> by themselves, each accompanied by an

10983.24 -> interpreter. Hannibal was the first to

10985.7 -> speak.

10986.6 -> After the usual salutation, he said that

10989.779 -> he wished that the Romans had never

10992.12 -> coveted any possession outside Italy, nor

10995.479 -> the Carthaginians outside Libya.

10999.56 -> To this battle, Hannibal brought 80

11002.02 -> elephants from the stables of Carthage.

11005.68 -> But recently, one of Carthage's most

11009.04 -> important allies, the kingdom of Numidia

11012.279 -> to their west, had seen the writing on

11014.8 -> the wall and had switched sides, declaring

11018.58 -> for Rome.

11020.02 -> For centuries, Numidia had provided

11022.6 -> Carthage with its crucial cavalry, and

11025.72 -> now Carthage found itself facing these

11028.899 -> same Numidian horsemen on the

11030.7 -> battlefield.

11032.14 -> On top of this, the Romans had developed

11034.54 -> new tactics to neutralize Carthage's

11037.24 -> great strength, the fearsome war

11039.7 -> elephants.

11041.62 -> When the battle began, the elephants of

11044.14 -> Carthage charged, but the Roman lines

11047.02 -> opened up to swallow them, containing

11049.779 -> them with spears and pelting them with

11052.06 -> javelins. These animals panicked and

11055.84 -> stampeded back through the Carthaginian

11058.24 -> lines.

11059.56 -> In the chaos, the Numidian cavalry, now

11062.68 -> fighting with the Romans, swung into the

11065.38 -> rear of the Carthaginian ranks, and

11068.08 -> Hannibal's army was driven from the

11070.42 -> field. He

11071.8 -> only narrowly escaped with his life.

11076 -> after 17 long years of war, Carthage was

11080.319 -> once again decisively defeated.

11091.74 -> After the years of the destruction that

11094.899 -> Hannibal had wrought in Italy, Rome was

11098.14 -> in no mood to be lenient.

11101.859 -> They forced Carthage to sign an even

11104.68 -> more crushing peace treaty than the

11106.84 -> first.

11107.68 -> All of its overseas territories in Spain

11111.1 -> and elsewhere were stripped away from it,

11113.92 -> and many of its lands in North Africa

11116.38 -> were handed over to the Numidians,

11119.62 -> and Carthage was ordered to pay more

11121.899 -> than 370 tons of silver, nearly five

11125.859 -> times the amount they had paid after the

11128.62 -> First Punic War.

11130.84 -> The treaty also aimed to destroy

11133.42 -> Carthage's ability to wage war in the

11136.12 -> future.

11136.899 -> It banned them from keeping any war

11139.359 -> elephants, all of which were handed over

11142 -> to the Romans, and restricted the size of

11144.76 -> their fleet to only ten ships, barely

11148.12 -> enough to even protect them from pirates.

11151.24 -> The rest of the Carthaginian navy was

11153.939 -> burned in its port.

11156.16 -> The Roman poet Silius Italicus describes

11159.7 -> the scene.

11161.38 -> Then Carthage witnessed a dreadful sight,

11164.319 -> her fleet being set ablaze, the waves

11168.22 -> aglow with the sudden conflagration,

11170.46 -> while Nereus, lord of the ocean, trembled

11175 -> at the glare.

11177.64 -> The Carthaginians were restricted from

11180.46 -> declaring war anywhere outside of Africa,

11183.34 -> and only in Africa if they got the

11186.279 -> permission of Rome first.

11188.56 -> The new political situation was clear;

11191.979 -> Carthage was now entirely subservient to

11195.64 -> Rome.

11200.319 -> Hannibal would live for another 20 years

11203.439 -> after the battle of Zama, although he

11206.38 -> would go into exile in the East, retiring

11209.56 -> to Tyre, the mother city of Carthage, and

11213.16 -> then to the Selucid Empire and Armenia.

11217.6 -> The writer Pausanius claims that he died

11221.02 -> when he cut his finger on his drawn

11223.479 -> sword and developed septicemia from the

11226.66 -> wound.

11227.8 -> Other more dramatic stories describe him

11230.859 -> taking poison when he finds his dwelling

11233.56 -> place surrounded by soldiers loyal to

11236.2 -> the Romans, come to capture him and take

11239.38 -> him back to Rome in chains.

11255.899 -> The Second Punic War was over, and once

11260.26 -> more, peace returned to that part of the

11262.899 -> Mediterranean that would last for

11265.06 -> another 50 years.

11267.34 -> During this time, despite its diminished

11270.819 -> situation, Carthage continued to flourish.

11274.96 -> Ironically, it seemed to do them good to

11278.08 -> be freed from the responsibilities of

11280.18 -> defending far-flung colonies and

11282.46 -> territories that for centuries had

11284.56 -> drained their treasury. Nothing about the

11287.859 -> war had changed the city's central role

11290.56 -> in the network of Mediterranean trade.

11293.04 -> Money still flowed into it from all

11295.899 -> corners of the sea, so much so that the

11299.02 -> Carthaginians offered to pay off the

11301.3 -> entirety of the reparations they owed to

11303.76 -> Rome just ten years after the end of the

11306.58 -> war, when the treaty had given them fifty

11309.16 -> years to pay it.

11311.8 -> Some of the largest and grandest

11313.96 -> buildings in Carthage were constructed

11316.479 -> during these decades after the Second

11319 -> Punic War.

11320.859 -> For the people of the city,

11322.6 -> it must have been a time of renewed hope,

11325 -> as the wounds of the long conflict began

11328.6 -> to heal.

11331.6 -> But their diminished political situation

11334.42 -> did have its downsides.

11344.1 -> Banned from declaring war without Roman

11347.38 -> permission, Carthage repeatedly found

11349.66 -> itself defenseless against ambitious

11352.479 -> rivals in North Africa,

11355.12 -> and one of these was the new Roman ally

11358.12 -> and King of Numidia, named Massinissa.

11367.319 -> Massinissa was the king who had betrayed

11369.76 -> the Carthaginians before the battle of Zama,

11372.279 -> sending his powerful Numidian cavalry to

11375.7 -> fight for the Romans, and possibly

11377.68 -> tipping the entire battle in their favor.

11380.8 -> As a result, he had lived a long and

11383.56 -> prosperous life.

11385.54 -> He was now at the age of 86, and his long

11389.5 -> reign had seen Numidia break free of

11392.02 -> Carthage and become a North African

11394.779 -> power in its own right, and a loyal ally

11397.84 -> of Rome.

11399.7 -> But Massinissa wasn't content with this,

11402.58 -> and he always coveted more land for his

11405.7 -> growing kingdom.

11407.439 -> With the power of Rome now backing him

11409.899 -> and Carthage's hands tied behind its

11412.84 -> back, he repeatedly moved to seize

11415.54 -> wealthy pieces of land from the weakened

11418.3 -> former empire.

11420.52 -> The Carthaginians, bound by their treaty,

11423.52 -> had to appeal to the Romans to allow

11426.16 -> them to defend themselves, but Rome

11429.16 -> considered Massinissa a crucial ally, and

11432.399 -> they always ruled in his favor.

11435.939 -> Carthage was like a great stricken whale

11439.54 -> slowly being eaten alive by sharks.

11444.34 -> In the year 152 BC, half a century after

11448.3 -> the end of the Second Punic War, the

11451.06 -> Numidian King Massinissa seized a

11454.24 -> particularly rich tract of farmland that

11457.12 -> had belonged to Carthage for centuries,

11459.64 -> and the Carthaginians were

11461.26 -> understandably upset, as the Roman

11464.02 -> historian Appian writes.

11467.5 -> Not long afterward, Massinissa raised a

11470.56 -> dispute about the land known as the ëbig

11472.899 -> fieldsí and the country belonging to 50

11475.6 -> towns, which is called Tysca. Again, the

11479.56 -> Carthaginians had recourse to the Romans.

11482.26 -> Again, the latter promised to send envoys

11485.08 -> to arbitrate the matter, but they delayed

11487.72 -> until it seemed probable that the

11490 -> Carthaginian interests would be utterly

11492.1 -> ruined.

11494.56 -> Rome finally agreed to send a delegation

11497.62 -> to Carthage to mediate this dispute.

11501.819 -> One of the men sent as part of this

11503.92 -> delegation was an irascible Roman

11506.56 -> senator by the name of Cato the Elder.

11510.46 -> Cato at this time was 81 years old, and

11514.12 -> had spent much of his time in the

11515.68 -> senate railing against what he perceived

11518.439 -> as the increasingly loose morals of

11521.08 -> Roman society.

11523 -> As a young man, he had fought against the

11525.7 -> armies of Hannibal in Italy, and as a

11528.58 -> result, he had grown to utterly detest

11531.04 -> the Carthaginians and everything they

11533.56 -> stood for.

11535.42 -> When he arrived in Carthage, Cato

11538.54 -> expected to find the city a barbarian

11541.18 -> backwater, impoverished by its two

11544.24 -> subsequent defeats at the hands of Rome,

11547.66 -> but what he found horrified him.

11550.96 -> Carthage was a booming city that seemed

11554.439 -> to be doing better than ever, and to his

11557.56 -> shock, the visible wealth of the city

11559.96 -> seemed to outdo that of Rome itself.

11564.46 -> In Plutarch's biography of Cato, he

11567.76 -> describes the old senator's reaction.

11571.02 -> The city was by no means in a poor or lowly

11574.3 -> state as the Romans supposed, but rather

11577.06 -> teeming with vigorous fighting men,

11579.66 -> overflowing with enormous wealth, filled

11582.52 -> with arms of every sort and with

11584.56 -> military supplies, and more than a

11588.46 -> little emboldened by all this.

11593.08 -> The writer Appian records another

11596.02 -> version of this moment, as the senators

11599.02 -> rode through the wealthy landscape

11601.479 -> outside the city.

11604.96 -> They carefully observed the country; they

11608.02 -> saw how diligently it was cultivated and

11610.66 -> what great estates it possessed. They

11613.359 -> entered the city and saw how greatly it

11615.88 -> had increased in wealth and population

11617.439 -> since its overthrow by Scipio not long

11620.439 -> before.

11621.88 -> When they returned to Rome, they declared

11624.399 -> that Carthage was to them an object of

11626.62 -> apprehension rather than of jealousy, the

11629.62 -> city being so ill-affected, so near to

11632.5 -> them, and growing so rapidly.

11636.46 -> The old senator Cato was shaken by his

11639.939 -> experience.

11641.56 -> From then, he would dedicate the final

11643.84 -> years of his life to a single cause.

11647.74 -> Now at every debate in the senate, Cato

11651.34 -> would end every one of his statements,

11653.5 -> whether on the price of grain or the

11655.84 -> wars in Gaul, whether on the appointment

11658.12 -> of new consuls or the response to a

11661.54 -> flood in the south, with a single

11666.6 -> phrase; ceterum, censeo Carthago delenda est.

11670.02 -> Furthermore, I believe Carthage must be

11673.84 -> destroyed.

11675.22 -> Many in the Roman senate were starting

11678.04 -> to agree with him.

11686.62 -> Finally, a year after Cato's visit to

11689.979 -> Carthage, the Carthaginians had had

11692.5 -> enough of the Numidian king Massinissa

11695.38 -> taking advantage of their situation.

11698.56 -> They sent an army of 50,000 men to seize

11702.279 -> back some of the farmland that he had

11704.68 -> taken.

11705.76 -> But their army was decisively defeated

11708.46 -> by the Numidians.

11711.12 -> Carthage's last attempt to defend itself

11714.279 -> had been a failure, but to the Romans, it

11717.76 -> was also a breach of their treaty, and it

11721.06 -> was enough of a pretext to go to war one

11724.12 -> final time to destroy their old rival

11727.54 -> for good.

11730.84 -> In the year 149 BC, the old Phoenician

11734.92 -> city of Utica seems to have felt the

11738.399 -> change in the winds.

11740.08 -> They also changed allegiances, declaring

11743.56 -> their loyalty to Rome, and in the same

11746.26 -> year, a large Roman army used the port of

11749.5 -> Utica to land in North Africa, and

11752.38 -> prepared to march on the city of

11754.42 -> Carthage.

11756.22 -> At news of this army landing, the

11759.1 -> Carthaginians were distraught.

11762.16 -> They sent envoys to meet the Romans, and

11765.16 -> when they arrived, the Romans demanded

11767.319 -> that the city be completely

11769.14 -> demilitarized and hand over all of their

11772.42 -> military equipment.

11774.16 -> The Carthaginians complied.

11777.22 -> They came back with every piece of armor

11779.92 -> and weaponry they could find, offering

11782.68 -> their total surrender,

11784.54 -> and with the Roman general sitting over

11787.12 -> them on his high seat, they pleaded with

11789.7 -> the Romans not to go to war.

11793.84 -> Carthage was now completely disarmed, and

11797.62 -> in response, the Romans offered them

11799.84 -> peace on one condition, but it was a

11804.22 -> condition so absurd that even they must

11807.399 -> have known it would be rejected.

11810.819 -> They demanded that the Carthaginians

11812.8 -> abandoned their city so that it could be

11815.56 -> demolished in its entirety and moved 16

11819.16 -> kilometers or so inland and away from

11822.52 -> the sea.

11824.02 -> Appian recounts these Roman demands.

11829.3 -> Censorinus rose, and with a stern

11832.66 -> countenance, spoke; ëYield Carthage to us,

11836.319 -> and betake yourselves where you like

11838.6 -> within your own territory, at a distance

11841.06 -> of at least ten miles from the sea, for we

11844.18 -> are resolved to raze your city to the

11847.18 -> ground.í

11849.939 -> Such a task would be virtually

11852.16 -> impossible, and of course for the

11854.439 -> sea-going Phoenicians of Carthage, would

11857.08 -> have essentially ended their livelihoods

11859.54 -> for good.

11860.979 -> Moving the city would have meant

11863.14 -> abandoning their temples, the cemeteries

11865.72 -> where their ancestors were buried, every

11868.3 -> street and corner that they knew.

11871.479 -> Appian records the outpouring of grief

11874.359 -> as the Carthaginians were informed of

11877.42 -> the Roman plans.

11881.439 -> While he was yet speaking,

11884.08 -> the Carthaginians lifted their hands

11886.66 -> toward heaven with loud cries and called

11890.38 -> on the gods.

11892 -> They flung themselves on the ground and

11894.46 -> beat it with their hands and heads. Some

11896.8 -> of them even tore their clothes and

11899.02 -> lacerated their flesh, as though they

11901.18 -> were absolutely bereft of their senses.

11904.979 -> After the first frenzy was past, there

11907.779 -> was great silence and prostration, as of

11910.84 -> men lying dead.

11912.76 -> So pitiable was this mingling together

11915.64 -> of public and private grief that it

11917.68 -> drew tears from the Romans themselves.

11922.84 -> The Carthaginians withdrew to their city,

11925.479 -> and the entire civilian population

11927.899 -> prepared to withstand their attackers.

11932.5 -> The historian Appian summarizes the dire

11935.56 -> situation that the citizens of Carthage

11938.319 -> faced.

11940.54 -> They reflected that their city was

11942.52 -> without arms, that it was empty of

11944.92 -> defenders, that it had not a ship, not a

11947.859 -> catapult, not a javelin, not a sword, nor a

11951.34 -> sufficient number of fighting men.

11953.68 -> They had neither mercenaries, nor friends,

11956.08 -> nor allies, nor time to procure any. Their

11960.34 -> enemies were in possession of their

11961.96 -> children, their arms, and their territory.

11964.26 -> Their city was besieged by foes provided

11967.479 -> with ships, infantry, cavalry, and engines,

11970.66 -> while Massinissa, their other enemy, was

11973.479 -> on their flank.

11976.72 -> But the city was still a formidable

11979.359 -> fortress. Its triple line of defensive

11982.66 -> walls could withstand any assault,

11985.84 -> and it had complex systems for gathering

11988.899 -> rainwater and storing it in vast

11991.5 -> cisterns, allowing it to maintain a

11994.54 -> continuous supply of fresh drinking

11996.46 -> water.

11997.479 -> The Romans settled in for a siege, but

12000.479 -> soon found it to be much more difficult

12002.58 -> than they had expected.

12005.279 -> They controlled the seas, but swift

12007.8 -> Carthaginian sailors were still able to

12010.62 -> smuggle food into the city's harbor at

12013.2 -> night.

12015.18 -> The Romans tried again and again to

12017.88 -> storm the city walls, but each time, they

12020.64 -> were fought back by the citizens, now

12023.46 -> fighting tooth and nail for their

12025.5 -> survival with every tool and improvised

12028.68 -> weapon they could find, as Appian

12031.439 -> recounts.

12033.66 -> All the sacred places, the temples and

12036.96 -> every other unoccupied space, were turned

12039.72 -> into workshops where men and women

12041.819 -> worked together day and night without

12043.859 -> pause, taking their food by turns on a

12046.859 -> fixed schedule. Each day, they made a

12049.439 -> hundred shields, 300 swords, a thousand

12052.68 -> missiles for catapults, 500 darts and

12055.859 -> javelins, and as many catapults as they

12058.5 -> could. For strings to bend them, the women

12061.26 -> cut off their hair for want of other

12063.12 -> fibers.

12064.979 -> The siege of Carthage went on for three

12068.22 -> years.

12070.02 -> In the year 147, command of the besieging

12073.92 -> army was given to a new consul, in fact,

12077.1 -> the 36-year-old adopted grandson of the

12080.16 -> great Publius Scipio, who had beat

12082.68 -> Hannibal at the battle of Zama some 50

12085.439 -> years earlier, a man named Scipio

12088.439 -> Aemilianus.

12090.779 -> With him came his personal friend and

12093.899 -> official documenter of the expedition,

12095.939 -> the Greek historian Polybius, who writes

12099.6 -> this part of his history as an

12101.64 -> eyewitness.

12103.52 -> Infuriated at the smugglers still

12106.319 -> supplying the besieged city, the Roman

12109.2 -> general Scipio ordered a vast stone

12111.84 -> barrier to be built in the mouth of

12114.479 -> Carthage's harbor, blocking any further

12117.42 -> attempts to resupply it.

12119.7 -> Food became scarce in the city,

12122.88 -> but still the defenders struggled on.

12126.84 -> But in the spring of the year 146 BC, the

12131.52 -> spirit of the Carthaginians was

12133.8 -> exhausted. Scipio launched a full-scale

12137.52 -> assault of the city from the area of the

12140.34 -> harbor, and the great walls of Carthage

12142.92 -> were finally breached.

12145.8 -> The Roman legions poured into the city

12148.5 -> and began to massacre every person they

12152.04 -> could find.

12154.02 -> Appian described the scenes that

12156.72 -> followed.

12159.779 -> Then came new scenes of horror as the

12163.14 -> fire spread and carried everything down.

12165.359 -> The soldiers did not wait to destroy the

12168.06 -> buildings little by little, but all in a

12170.7 -> heap. So, the crashing grew louder and

12173.939 -> many corpses fell with the stones into

12176.22 -> the midst. Others were seen still living,

12179.12 -> especially old men, women, and young

12181.62 -> children, who had hidden in the inmost

12183.96 -> nooks of the houses, some of them wounded,

12186.66 -> some more or less burned, and uttering

12190.02 -> piteous cries.

12192 -> Still others, thrust out and falling from

12195.239 -> such a height with the stones, timbers,

12197.22 -> and fire, were torn asunder in all shapes

12200.399 -> of horror, crushed and mangled. Trenches

12203.76 -> were filled with men. The tug of war, the

12207.18 -> glory of approaching victory, the rush of

12210.12 -> the soldiery, the orders of the officers,

12212.64 -> the blast of the trumpets, tribunes and

12216 -> centurions marching their cohorts hither

12218.399 -> and thither --

12219.42 -> all together made everybody frantic and

12222.6 -> heedless of the spectacles under their

12224.58 -> eyes.

12226.68 -> The slaughter of Carthage's citizens

12229.14 -> went on for six days, during which it's

12232.979 -> thought that an estimated 60,000 people

12235.62 -> were put to the sword.

12238.2 -> The Roman general Scipio set his

12241.08 -> soldiers to work in shifts so that they

12244.319 -> would not become tired of the killing,

12246.899 -> and on the seventh day, Scipio ordered

12249.479 -> his soldiers to begin taking prisoners.

12252.899 -> From this point, a further 50,000

12255.859 -> Carthaginians were rounded up and sold

12258.479 -> into slavery.

12260.279 -> From there, they would be sold and

12262.8 -> dispersed to all corners of the Roman

12265.5 -> republic.

12267.359 -> Carthage was burned to the ground and

12270.779 -> demolished brick by brick.

12273.42 -> Some Carthaginians held out for some

12276.479 -> time in the citadel of Byrsa, the

12279.54 -> fortified hill on which legend has it

12281.88 -> that Elishaya once cut apart her ox hide

12284.76 -> at the city's founding.

12287.279 -> According to Appian, when the

12289.319 -> Carthaginian general Hasdrubal finally

12292.26 -> surrendered, his wife set fire to the

12295.439 -> main temple and climbed upon its roof.

12298.979 -> Just like the mythical figure of

12301.62 -> Elishaya, she then cast herself and her

12304.739 -> children into the flames.

12307.92 -> It is said that as the fire was lighted,

12310.319 -> the wife of Hasdrubal, in full view of

12313.319 -> Scipio, arrayed in the best attire

12315.899 -> possible under such circumstances,

12318.96 -> and with her children by her side,

12321.6 -> said in Scipio's hearing;

12323.88 -> ëFor you, Roman, the gods have no cause of

12327.479 -> indignation,

12328.68 -> since you exercise the right of war.

12331.56 -> Upon this, Hasdrubal, betrayer of his

12334.979 -> country and her temples, of me and his

12338.399 -> children, may the gods of Carthage take

12340.8 -> vengeance,

12342.12 -> and you be their instrument.í

12345.359 -> Having reproached him thus, she slew her

12348.54 -> children, flung them into the fire, and

12350.76 -> plunged in after them.

12352.8 -> Such they say was the death

12355.92 -> of the wife of Hasdrubal.

12360.66 -> The historian Polybius, who accompanied

12363.42 -> Scipio throughout the entire siege,

12365.88 -> writes with little detail about what

12368.279 -> unfolded, but he does note that in the

12371.1 -> moment of his victory, the Roman general

12373.62 -> turned to him and said something strange.

12377.399 -> In the burning ruins of Carthage, Scipio

12380.46 -> Ammianus seems to have felt a spark of

12383.7 -> apprehension, a sudden fear or

12386.7 -> realization that one day the same fate

12389.64 -> might befall his own great city of Rome.

12394.859 -> Turning around to me at once and

12397.26 -> grasping my hand, Scipio said,

12400.14 -> ëA glorious moment, Polybius,

12402.899 -> but I have a dread foreboding that

12405.12 -> someday the same doom will be pronounced

12408 -> on my own country.í

12409.92 -> It would be difficult to mention an

12412.62 -> assurance more statesmanlike and more

12415.26 -> profound.

12416.399 -> At the moment of our greatest triumph

12418.859 -> and of disaster to our enemies -- to bear

12422.46 -> in mind at the season of success the

12425.34 -> mutability of fortune.

12428.88 -> Appian records that Scipio is said to

12431.939 -> have wept at the sight of Carthage

12434.16 -> burning, and that he recited a line from

12437.279 -> Homer's great epic The Iliad, in which

12440.46 -> Andromache, the wife of Hector, laments

12443.76 -> the coming destruction of Troy.

12449.04 -> Scipio, beholding this city, which had

12452.34 -> flourished 700 years from its foundation

12454.8 -> and had ruled over so many lands, islands,

12458.04 -> and seas, rich with arms and fleets,

12461.06 -> elephants and money, equal to the

12464.04 -> mightiest monarchies but far surpassing

12466.38 -> them in bravery and high spirit, now come

12469.739 -> to its end in total destruction.

12473.279 -> Scipio, beholding this spectacle, is said

12476.34 -> to have shed tears and publicly lamented

12479.16 -> the fortune of the enemy. After

12481.319 -> meditating by himself a long time and

12483.96 -> reflecting on the rise and fall of

12485.819 -> cities, nations, and empires, as well as of

12488.88 -> individuals upon the fate of Troy, that

12491.64 -> once proud city, upon that of the

12494.16 -> Assyrians, the Medes, and the Persians,

12497.16 -> greatest of all, and later the splendid

12500.16 -> Macedonian Empire, either voluntarily or

12503.16 -> otherwise, the words of the poet escaped

12505.56 -> his lips;

12506.76 -> ëThe day shall come in which our sacred Troy

12509.16 -> and Priam, and the people over whom spear-

12512.04 -> -bearing Priam rules, shall perish all.í

12516.899 -> But back in Rome, there was no such sense

12520.2 -> of foreboding. The city exploded in

12523.26 -> celebration at the news.

12525.779 -> When the people of Rome

12529.04 -> heard of the victory early in the

12531.6 -> evening, they poured into the streets and

12534.54 -> spent the whole night congratulating and

12537.18 -> embracing each other like people just

12539.819 -> now delivered from some great fear, just

12542.64 -> now confirmed in their worldwide

12544.439 -> supremacy, just now assured of the

12547.319 -> permanence of their own city, and winners

12550.02 -> of such a victory as never before.

12552.779 -> They talked about the height of the

12554.76 -> walls and the size of the stones.

12557.399 -> They pictured to each other the whole

12559.62 -> war as though it were just taking place

12562.08 -> under their own eyes.

12567.38 -> In the days that followed, ash would have

12570.84 -> settled over the charred ruins of

12573.54 -> Carthage.

12575.7 -> From its final victory in the Punic Wars,

12578.96 -> Rome would emerge as the only superpower

12582.3 -> left in the Mediterranean.

12584.7 -> The scattered Greek kingdoms that

12586.8 -> remained were one by one absorbed by it,

12589.739 -> and in the coming centuries, it would

12592.5 -> grow to encompass the entire shore of

12594.96 -> that sea, cover all but the farthest

12597.42 -> stretches of Western Europe, and shape

12600 -> the entire course of European history.

12603.66 -> But Carthage would become just a name, a

12607.8 -> coin that had lost its value, an emblem

12610.979 -> of an age that had passed into nothing.

12619.979 -> After the carnage of the siege, the

12622.979 -> blackened ruins of the city were emptied

12625.5 -> of all life.

12627.84 -> But for the Romans, this still wasn't

12630.6 -> enough.

12631.92 -> In the years that followed, they sent

12634.319 -> further delegations to the city to

12637.26 -> systematically take it apart piece by

12639.899 -> piece to ensure that no population crept

12643.38 -> back to repopulate its ruins, that never

12647.16 -> again would their great rival resurface

12650.1 -> in North Africa.

12653.04 -> Some of the libraries and archives of

12655.92 -> Carthage survived the burning of the

12658.38 -> city.

12659.279 -> In these were kept the books of

12661.439 -> Carthaginian history, perhaps poetry and

12664.739 -> mythology, science and medicine, documents

12668.399 -> of the Phoenician voyages of discovery

12670.739 -> to the edges of the world,

12673.02 -> but all of these were taken by the

12675.42 -> Romans. Some were simply burned, while

12679.08 -> others were distributed among the Romanís

12681.779 -> African allies.

12683.64 -> As a result, not a single one of these

12686.819 -> works has survived.

12689.52 -> Today, scarcely a few documents written

12692.76 -> by a Carthaginian can be read, and no

12695.7 -> works of literature or history have come

12698.7 -> down to us.

12700.1 -> So, for the next two thousand years,

12703.26 -> their story would be told by others.

12707.34 -> Their voices and their memory, just like

12710.52 -> their city, were completely erased.

12716.939 -> The territory of Carthage was absorbed

12719.939 -> into the new Roman province of Africa,

12722.58 -> and for the next hundred years, what

12725.22 -> remained of the ruins of Carthage were

12728.04 -> left to crumble into the sands, home to

12731.34 -> wild dogs,

12732.56 -> overgrown with scrub and weeds and marram

12736.319 -> grass, washed with salt from the sea air,

12739.58 -> the roost of gulls and crows.

12745.38 -> More than a century later,

12747.66 -> Rome would send a party of

12750.06 -> 3,000 colonists to the ruins of the

12752.819 -> shattered city, and they founded a Roman

12755.58 -> colony on the rubble.

12757.859 -> As they settled the area, the ruins of

12760.979 -> Carthage were themselves buried beneath

12763.38 -> a new Roman town that shared almost

12765.899 -> nothing of the city that had once stood

12768.3 -> there except its name, and even the ruins

12772.02 -> of the city as it had once been would

12775.319 -> soon be forgotten.

12780.779 -> Around the year 1835, the British

12784.439 -> statesman Sir Grenville Temple visited

12787.26 -> the ruins of Carthage, and wrote the

12789.84 -> following description of his

12791.64 -> disappointment upon finding how little

12794.399 -> remained of that once great city.

12799.14 -> Early on the morning following, I walked

12802.92 -> to the site of the great Carthage, of

12805.38 -> that town at the sound of whose name

12807.899 -> mighty Rome herself had so often

12810.72 -> trembled.

12811.92 -> I was prepared to see but few vestiges

12814.92 -> of its former grandeur,

12816.899 -> but my heart sunk within me when

12819.72 -> ascending one of its hills, for I beheld

12822.779 -> nothing more than a few scattered and

12825.66 -> shapeless masses of masonry.

12828.38 -> Its very name is now unknown to the

12832.08 -> present inhabitants.

12833.819 -> Buried in the silence of the grave, no

12837.359 -> living soul appearing, except

12839.52 -> occasionally a soldier going or

12841.739 -> returning from the fort, or the solitary

12844.739 -> and motionless figure of an Arab,

12846.899 -> watching his flocks from the summit of

12849.3 -> the fragment of some former palace or

12851.64 -> temple. Solitude and silence hold sway

12855.18 -> over the whole scene, a scene which

12858.18 -> impresses on the mind a feeling of

12860.34 -> melancholy,

12861.899 -> which I found difficult to shake off.

12869.939 -> Another person who visited these ruins

12872.64 -> was the English poet Letitia Elizabeth

12875.7 -> Landon, and I'd like to end the episode

12878.58 -> with her poem, entitled Carthage.

12883.2 -> As you listen, imagine what it would feel

12885.84 -> like to watch the streets and temples of

12888.66 -> that city crumble and burn, as 800 years

12892.38 -> of history is buried beneath ash and

12895.739 -> soot.

12897.06 -> Imagine every book that has ever been

12899.7 -> written in your native language

12901.399 -> destroyed, and your people enslaved and

12905.58 -> scattered about the face of the Earth.

12908.46 -> Imagine what it would feel like to see

12910.92 -> your own hometown disappear, emptied of

12914.04 -> all life and demolished brick by brick,

12916.739 -> then left empty, until only a scattering

12920.64 -> of ruins remains.

12926.54 -> Low it lieth -- earth to earth --

12930.72 -> all to which that earth gave birth --

12934.62 -> palace, market street, and fane;

12938.7 -> dust that never asks in vain,

12942.359 -> hath reclaimíd its own again.

12945.96 -> Dust,

12947.46 -> the wide worldís king.

12949.8 -> Where are now the glorious hours of a

12953.34 -> nationís gatheríd powers?

12956.46 -> Like the setting of a star in the

12959.46 -> fathomless afar,

12961.319 -> timeís

12962.52 -> eternal wing

12963.779 -> hath around those ruins cast the dark

12967.38 -> presence of the past.

12970.08 -> Thou dost build thy home on sand,

12973.56 -> and the palace-girdled strand

12976.859 -> fadeth like a dream.

12980.46 -> Thy great victories only show

12983.939 -> all is nothingness below.

12992.42 -> Thank you once again for listening to

12995.58 -> the Fall of Civilizations Podcast.

12998.7 -> I'd like to thank my voice actors for

13000.739 -> this episode; Michael Hajiantonis, Lachlan

13004.279 -> Lucas, Alexandra Boulton, Simon Jackson, Tom

13008.779 -> Marshall-Lee, Chris Harvey, Nick Denton,

13011.84 -> and Paul Casselle.

13014.12 -> Sound engineering was by Alexei Sibikin.

13017.3 -> I'd like to thank my historical advisor

13020.239 -> for this episode, Dr. Michael J. Taylor

13023.12 -> from the University of Albany.

13025.819 -> Original music was composed and produced

13028.76 -> by Pavlos Kapralos, featuring Sass Hoory

13032.72 -> on percussion, Anastasia Papadopoulou on

13035.96 -> vocals, June Filetti on oboe, and on the

13040.04 -> oud and flute, Pavlos Kapralos.

13042.979 -> All original tracks composed for this

13045.68 -> episode will be available to download

13047.66 -> for all Patreon subscribers.

13050.359 -> A public list of all sources and

13053.12 -> recommended reading for this episode

13054.68 -> will also be available on Patreon.

13058.22 -> I love to hear your thoughts and

13059.779 -> responses on Twitter, so please come and

13062.18 -> tell me what you thought. You can follow

13064.16 -> me @PaulMMCooper. If you'd like

13067.46 -> updates about the podcast, announcements

13070.04 -> about new episodes, as well as images,

13072.319 -> maps, and reading suggestions, you can

13075.02 -> follow the podcast at Fall_of_Civ_Pod,

13077.899 -> with underscores separating the words.

13081.319 -> This podcast can only keep going with

13083.96 -> the support of our generous subscribers

13085.88 -> on Patreon. You help me cover my costs

13088.64 -> and help me keep the podcast ad-free.

13091.88 -> You also let me dedicate more time to

13094.34 -> researching, writing, recording, and

13096.5 -> editing, to get the episodes out to you

13098.72 -> faster, and bring as much life and detail

13101.54 -> to them as possible.

13103.279 -> I want to thank all my subscribers for

13105.68 -> making this happen.

13107.3 -> If you enjoyed this episode, please

13109.52 -> consider heading onto patreon.com/

13111.56 -> fallofcivilizations_podcast,

13114.38 -> or just Google Fall

13118.22 -> of Civilizations Patreon. That's

13120.859 -> P-A-T-R-E-O-N.

13124.7 -> For now, all the best, and thanks for

13128 -> listening.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dbdVhVSat8