For 600 years, the city-state of Carthage dominated the western Mediterranean. Founded in the 9th century B.C.E. as a small colonial outpost, it grew into the region’s largest and wealthiest empire. Home to Hannibal and Dido, war elephants, and vast fleets, Carthage commanded one of the ancient world’s greatest navies, ruling territories from the coast of northwestern Africa to modern-day Spain, Sardinia, Sicily, and beyond.
When it inevitably clashed with Rome for supremacy, the struggle spanned more than a century, three wars, and 43 years of active fighting. After Carthage ultimately fell and was destroyed in 146 B.C.E., its story was largely erased—leaving Rome to write the history books.
Drawing on the latest archaeological discoveries and groundbreaking research, ancient historian Eve MacDonald restores Carthage’s story, reclaiming a culture long overshadowed by Roman mythmaking. She reveals this cosmopolitan city as one of wealth and brave warriors as well as of amazing beauty and technological sophistication—and explains why the Romans feared Carthage as one of the few rivals ever to defeat them multiple times, and what the world lost when this extraordinary civilization vanished.
MacDonald’s book, Carthage: A New History (W. W. Norton & Company), is available for purchase.
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