Phoenicians from Tyre (Lebanon) founded Carthage, an ancient city-state in the area that is modern Tunisia. Carthage became a major economic and political power in the Mediterranean fighting over territory in Sicily with the Greeks and Romans. Eventually Carthage fell to the Romans, but it took three wars. The Romans destroyed Carthage at the end of the Third Punic War, but then rebuilt it as a new Carthage.Here are some important points from the history and legends of Carthage and the Phoenicians.
Carthage and the Phoenicians
Although Alpha and Beta are Greek letters that give us our word alphabet, the alphabet itself comes from the Phoenicians, at least conventionally. The 22-letter abecedary of the Phoenicians contained only consonants, some of which had no equivalent in Greek. So the Greeks substituted their vowels for the unused letters. Some would say that without the vowels, it was not an alphabet. If vowels aren't required, Egypt can also make a claim for the earliest alphabet.
- What Was the 1st Alphabet?
- Review: Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization, by Barry Powell
Were this the only contribution of the Phoenicians, their place in history would be assured, but they did more. So much, it seems like jealousy that prompted the Romans to set out to annihilate them in 146 B.C., when they razed Carthage and were rumored to have salted its earth.
The Phoenicians are also credited with
- inventing glass,
- the bireme (two tiers of oars) galley,
- the luxurious purple dye known as Tyrian,
- circumnavigating Africa, and
- navigating by the stars.
The Founding of Carthage - Legend
In Tyre, after Dido's brother killed her husband, Queen Dido fled Tyre to settle in Carthage, where she sought to buy land for her new settlement. Coming from a nation of merchants she asked to buy the area of land that would fit within an oxhide. The local inhabitants thought she was a fool, but she got the last laugh when she cut the oxhide (byrsa) into strips to enclose a large area.
Later, Aeneas, on his route from Troy to Latium, stopped in Carthage where he had an affair with the queen. When she found that he had abandoned her, Dido killed herself, but not before cursing Aeneas and his descendants. Her story is an important part of Vergil's Aeneid and supplies a motive for the hostility between the Romans and Carthage.
At length, in dead of night, the ghost appears
Of her unhappy lord: the specter stares,
And, with erected eyes, his bloody bosom bares.
The cruel altars and his fate he tells,
And the dire secret of his house reveals,
Then warns the widow, with her household gods,
To seek a refuge in remote abodes.
Last, to support her in so long a way,
He shows her where his hidden treasure lay.
Admonish'd thus, and seiz'd with mortal fright,
The queen provides companions of her flight:
They meet, and all combine to leave the state,
Who hate the tyrant, or who fear his hate.
...
At last they landed, where from far your eyes
May view the turrets of new Carthage rise;
There bought a space of ground, which (Byrsa call'd,
From the bull's hide) they first inclos'd, and wall'd.
Translation from (www.uoregon.edu/~joelja/aeneid.html) of Vergil's Aeneid Book I
Vital Differences of the People of Carthage
The people of Carthage seem more primitive to modern sensibilities than the Romans or Greeks for one main reason: They sacrificed humans, babies and toddlers (possibly their first born to "ensure" fertility). Unlike Romans of their time, they hired mercenary soldiers and had a capable navy. They were extremely adept at trade, a fact that allowed them to rebuild a profitable economy even after the setbacks of military defeat and a yearly tribute to Rome of almost 10 tons of silver. Such wealth allowed them to have paved streets and multi-story homes, compared with which proud Rome looked shabby.
For more information, see: "North African News Letter 1," by John H. Humphrey. American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 82, No. 4 (Autumn, 1978), pp. 511-520