[1] For biographical details see DESCARTES; MALEBRANCHE; SPINOZA.
[2] _Resp. ad secundas objectiones_, p. 74,--quoting from the Elzevir
edition.
[3] _Resp. ad tertias object_, p. 94.
[4] _Meditatio tertia_, p. 21.
[5] _Resp. quartae_, p. 234.
[6] _Meditatio quarta_, p. 26.
[7] _Resp. ad sec. object._ p. 75.
[8] _Resp. ad sec. object._ pp. 72-73.
[9] _Resp. Sextae_, 160-163.
[10] _Principia_, i. 35.
[11] _Notae in Programma_, p. 184.
[12] _Epistolae_, i. 110.
[13] _Resp. Sextae_, pp. 165-166.
[14] _Epist_. i. 66, 67.
[15] _Princ._ i. 60.
[16] _Morale_, i. I, S 2.
[17] _Recherche_, iii. pt. ii. ch. vi.
[18] _Recherche_, ch. vii.
[19] _Recherche_, ch. i.
[20] _Morale_, i. 2, S 5.
[21] _Entretien_. i. S 5.
[22] _Recherche_, iii. pt. ii ch. vii., S 4.
[23] _Recherche_, ch. ix.
[24] _Recherche_, i. pt. i. ch. i.
[25] _Recherche_, i. pt. i. ch. iv.
[26] _Recherche_, iv. ch. i.
[27] _Entretien_, iv.
[28] _Recherche_, v. ch. iv.
[29] _Recherche_, iv. ch. i.
[30] _Morale_, pt. i. ch. i. S 9.
[31] _Recherche_, iv. ch. v.
[32] _Eth._ ii. schol. 7.
[33] _Eth._ i. schol. 29.
[34] _De Emend._ viii. S 38.
[35] _Eth._ ii. lemma, 7 schol.
[36] _Eth._ iv. 3.
[37] _Eth._ ii. 40, schol. 2.
[38] _De Emend._ vii. S 42.
[39] _Eth._ ii. schol. 10.
[40] _Epist._ 32.
[41] _Epist._ 27.
[42] _Eth._ ii. 7.
[43] _Epist._ 27.
[44] _Eth._ i. schol. 17.
[45] _Tractatus de Deo et homine._ ii. 19.
[46] _Epist._ 29, 70.
[47] _Eth._ i. schol. 17.
[48] _Eth._ iv. schol. 22.
[49] _Eth._ iii. 6, 7.
[50] _Eth._ iii. 9.
[51] _Eth._ iii. Def. Affect. 1.
[52] _Eth._ ii. 49.
[53] _Eth._ ii. 45.
[54] _Eth._ iv. 1.
[55] _Eth._ iv. schol. 45.
[56] _Eth._ iv. 67.
[57] _Epist._ 57.
[58] _Epist._ 21.
[59] _Eth._ v. 36.
CARTHAGE (Phoenician _Kart-hadshat_, "New City"; Gr. [Greek: Karchedon],
Lat. _Carthago_ or _Carchedon_), one of the most famous cities of
antiquity, on the north coast of Africa; it was founded about 822 B.C.
by the Phoenicians, destroyed for the first time by the Romans in 146
B.C., rebuilt by the Romans, and finally destroyed by the Arabs in A.D.
698. It was situated in the heart of the Sinus Uticensis (mod. Gulf of
Tunis), which is protected on the west by the promontory of Apollo (mod.
Ras Ali el Mekki), and on the east by the promontory of Mercury or Cape
Bon (mod. Ras Addar). Its position naturally formed a sort of bastion on
the inner curve of the bay between the Lake of Tunis on the south and
the marshy plain of Utica (Sukhara) on the north. Cape Gamart, the Arab
village of Sidi-bu-Said and the small harbour of Goletta (La Goulette,
Halk el Wad) form a triangle which represents the area of Carthage at
its greatest, including its extramural suburbs. Of this area the highest
point is Sidi-bu-Said, which stands on a lofty cliff about 490 ft. high.
On Cape Gamart (Kamart) was the chief cemetery; the citadel, Byrsa, was
on the hill on which to-day stand the convent of Les Peres Blancs (White
Fathers) and the cathedral of St Louis. The harbours lay about
three-fifths of a mile south of Byrsa, near the modern hospital of the
Khram, at Cartagenna. The tongue of land, which runs from the harbours
as far as Goletta, to the mouth of the Catadas which connects the Lake
of Tunis with the sea, was known as _taenia_ (ribbon, band) or _ligula_
(diminutive of _lingua_, tongue). The isthmus connecting the peninsula
of Carthage with the mainland was roughly estimated by Polybius as 25
stades (about 15,000 ft.); the peninsula itself, according to Strabo,
had a circumference of 360 stades (41 m.). The distance between Gamart
and Goletta is about 6 m.
From Byrsa, which is only 195 ft. above the sea, there is a fine view;
thence it is possible to see how Carthage was able at once to dominate
the sea and the gently undulating plains which stretch westward as far
as Tunis and the line of the river Bagradas (mod. Mejerda). On the
horizon, on the other side of the Gulf of Tunis, rise the chief heights
of the mountain-chain which was the scene of so many fierce struggles
between Carthage and Rome, between Rome and the Vandals:--the Bu-Kornain
("Two-Horned Mountain"), crowned by the ruins of the temple of Saturn
Balcaranensis; Jebel Ressas, behind which lie the ruins of Neferis;
Zaghwan, the highest point in Zeugitana; Hammam-Lif, Rades (Ghades,
Gades, the ancient Maxula) on the coast, and 10 m. to the south-west the
"white" Tunis ([Greek: Leukos Tunes] of Diodorus) and the fertile hills
of Ariana. All round Byrsa, alike on the plain and on the slopes, are
fields of barley, vineyards and patches of cactus, interrupted only by
huge heaps of rubbish and excavation-mounds, the haunts of green
lizards, and by houses and villages built of materials drawn for many a
century from the ancient ruins.
The ancient harbours were distinguished as the military and the
commercial. The remains of the latter are to be seen in a partially
ruined artificial lagoon which originally, according to Beule, had an
area of nearly 60 acres; there were, however, in addition a large quay
for unloading freight along the shore, and huge basins or outer harbours
protected by jetties, the remains of which are still visible at the
water-level. The military harbour, known as Cothon, communicated with
the commercial by means of a canal now partially ruined; it was circular
in shape, surrounded by large docks 16-1/4 ft. wide, and capable of holding
220 vessels, though its area was only some 22 acres. In the centre was
an islet from which the admiral could inspect the whole fleet.[1]
Among the other ruins which have been identified are the circus or
hippodrome, traversed by the railway at the north of the village of
Duar-es-Shat; the forum, between Cothon and Byrsa, where stood the
Curia, the regular place of assembly of the senate, and near which were
the moneychangers' shops, the tribunal, the temple of Apollo, and in the
Byzantine period the baths of Theodora. Three main streets led from the
forum to Byrsa.
The hill of St Louis, the ancient citadel of Byrsa, has a circuit of
4525 ft. It appears to have been surrounded at least at certain points
by several lines of fortifications. It was, however, dismantled by P.
Scipio Africanus the younger, in 146 B.C., and was only refortified by
Theodosius II. in A.D. 424; subsequently its walls were again renewed by
Belisarius in 553. On the plateau of Byrsa have been found the most
ancient of the Punic tombs, huge cisterns in the eastern part, and near
the chapel of St Louis the foundations of the famous temple of Eshmun
(see below), and the palace of the Roman proconsul.
About 325 ft. from the railway station of La Malga are the still
imposing ruins of the amphitheatre. Near by, at the spot called Bir el
Jebana, Pere Delattre has discovered four cemeteries, one of which
contains the tombs of state officials or servants of the imperial
government. Rather more than half a mile north-west of Byrsa are the
huge cisterns of La Malga, which, at the time of the Arab geographer,
Idrisi, still comprised twenty-four parallel covered reservoirs, 325 ft.
by 71-1/2 ft.; of these fourteen only remain.
On the hill of the Petit Seminaire, which is separated from Byrsa by a
valley, Pere Delattre has discovered a Christian basilica, the baths of
Gargilius, large graves with several levels of tombs, and much debris of
sculpture, which, however, is insufficient to enable us to say that this
is the site of the temple of Tanit or Juno Caelestis. The quarter of
Dermeche, near the sea, whose name recalls the Latin _Thermis_ or
_Thermas_, is remarkable for the imposing remains of the baths
(_thermae_) of Antoninus. In one place called Douimes was the Ceramicus
where excavation has discovered a graceful basilica, proto-Punic tombs,
potters' ovens with numerous terra-cotta moulds which were abandoned
after the siege in 146 B.C., and finally a Roman palace with superb
marble statues. Farther on are huge reservoirs of Borj-Jedid which are
sufficiently well-preserved to be used again.
Behind the small fort of Borj-Jedid is the plateau of the Odeum where
the theatre and fine marble statues of the Roman period have been laid
bare; beyond is the great Christian basilica of Damus-el-Karita (perhaps
a corruption of _Domus Caritatis_); in the direction of Sidi-bu-Said is
the _platea nova_, the huge stairway of which, like so many other
Carthaginian buildings, has of late years been destroyed by the Arabs
for use as building material; on the coast near St Monica is the
necropolis of Rabs where Delattre dug up fine anthropoid sarcophagi of
the Punic period.
In the quarter of Megara (Magaria, mod. La Marsa) it would seem that
there never were more than isolated buildings, villas in the midst of
gardens. At Jebel Khaui (Cape Kamart) there is a great necropolis, the
sepulchral chambers of which were long ago rifled by Arabs and Vandals.
This cemetery had a Jewish quarter.
We must mention finally the gigantic remains in the western plain of the
Roman aqueduct which carried water from Jebel Zaghwan (_Mons
Zeugitanus_) and Juggar (Zucchara) to the cisterns of La Malga. From the
_nymphaeum_ of Zaghwan to Carthage this aqueduct is 61 Roman miles
(about 56 English miles) long; in the plain of Manuba its arches are
nearly 49 ft. high.
Though several famous travellers visited and described the ruins of
Carthage during the first thirty years of the 19th century, such as
Major Humbert, Chateaubriand, Estrup, no scientific investigations
took place till 1833. In that year Captain Falbe, Danish consul at
Tunis, made a plan of the ruins so far as they were visible. In 1837
there was formed in Paris, on the initiative of Dureau de la Malle, a
_Societe pour les fouilles de Carthage_; under the auspices of this
body Falbe and Sir Grenville Temple undertook researches, and a little
later Sir Thomas Read, English consul, following the example of the
Genoese and the Pisans, carried away to England the mosaics, columns
and statues of the baths of Antoninus. The Abbe Bourgade, chaplain of
the church of St Louis erected in 1841, collected together Punic
stelae and other antiquities from the surrounding plain; these formed
the nucleus of the magnificent museum subsequently formed by Pere
Delattre at the instigation of Cardinal Lavigerie. Between 1856 and
1858 Nathan Davis made excavations on the supposed site of the Odeum,
and in 1859 Beule undertook his celebrated investigations on Byrsa.
Among other explorers were A. Daux in 1866; von Maltzan in 1870; E. de
Sainte-Marie in 1874; Ch. d'Herisson in 1883; E. Babelon and S.
Reinach in 1884; Vernaz in 1885; Gauckler in 1903. Of these the
majority were sent officially by the French government. But their
attempts were partial, disjointed and without any systematic plan;
they were entirely superseded by the brilliant and persevering work of
R.P. Delattre. The Musee Lavigerie, the result of his labours,
contains a vast archaeological treasure, the interest of which is
doubled by the fact that it stands in the very midst of the ancient
site. Unfortunately Delattre's work suffered too often from the
absence of a cordial understanding with the directors of the
antiquities department, La Blanchere and P. Gauckler, who, having
themselves undertaken excavations, transported their finds to the
Bardo museum, by the help of the public funds at their disposal.
The main authority for the topography and the history of the
excavations is Aug. Audollent's _Carthage romaine_ (Paris, 1901). A
topographical and archaeological map of the site was published under
the direction of Colonel Dolot and with the assistance of Delattre and
Gauckler by the Ministere de l'Instruction Publique in 1907.
_History._--The history of Carthage falls into four periods: (1) from
the foundation to the beginning of the wars with the Sicilian Greeks in
550 B.C.; (2) from 550 to 265, the first year of the Punic Wars; (3) the
Punic Wars to the fall of Carthage in 146 B.C.; (4) the periods of
Roman and Byzantine rule down to the destruction of the city by the
Arabs in A.D. 698.
(1) _Foundation to 550 B.C._--From an extremely remote period Phoenician
sailors had visited the African coast and had had commercial relations
with the Libyan tribes who inhabited the district which forms the modern
Tunis. In the 16th century B.C. the Sidonians already had trading
stations on the coast; with the object of competing with the Tyrian
colony at Utica they established a trading station called Cambe or
Caccabe on the very site afterwards occupied by Carthage. Near
Borj-Jedid unmistakable traces of this early settlement have been found,
though nothing is known of its history. According to the classical
tradition Carthage was founded about 850 B.C. by Tyrian emigrants led by
Elissa or Elissar, the daughter of the Tyrian king Mutton I., fleeing
from the tyranny of her brother Pygmalion. According to the story,
Elissa subsequently received the name of Dido, i.e. "the fugitive."
Cambe welcomed the new arrivals, who bought from the mixed
Libyo-Phoenician peoples of the neighbourhood, tributaries of the Libyan
king Japon, a piece of land on which to build a "new city,"
_Kart-hadshat_, the Greek and Roman forms of the name. The story goes
that Dido, having obtained "as much land as could be contained by the
skin of an ox," proceeded to cut the skin of a slain ox into strips
narrow enough to extend round the whole of the hill, which afterwards
from this episode gained the name of _Byrsa_. This last detail obviously
arose from a mere play on words by which [Greek: Bursa] "hide," "skin,"
is confused with the Phoenician _bosra, borsa_, "citadel," "fortress."
In memory of its Tyrian origin, Carthage paid an annual tribute to the
temple of Melkarth at Tyr, and under the Roman empire coins were struck
showing Dido fleeing in a galley, or presiding over the building of
Byrsa. On the Vatican _Virgil_ there is a representation in miniature of
workmen shaping marble blocks and columns for Dido's palace.
The early history of Carthage is very obscure. It is only in the 6th
century that real history begins. By this time the city is
unquestionably a considerable capital with a domain divided into the
three districts of Zeugitana (the environs of Carthage and the peninsula
of C. Bon), Byzacium (the shore of the Syrtes), and the third comprising
the emporia which stretch in the form of a crescent to the centre of the
Great Syrtis as far as Cyrenaica. The first contest against the Greeks
arose from a boundary question between the settlements of Carthage and
those of the Greeks of Cyrene. The limits were eventually fixed and
marked by a monument known as the "Altar of Philenae." The destruction
of Tyre by Nebuchadrezzar (q.v.), in the first half of the 6th century,
enabled Carthage to take its place as mistress of the Mediterranean. The
Phoenician colonies founded by Tyre and Sidon in Sicily and Spain,
threatened by the Greeks, sought help from Carthage, and from this
period dates the Punic[2] supremacy in the western Mediterranean. The
Greek colonization of Sicily was checked, while Carthage established
herself on all the Sicilian coast and the neighbouring islands as far as
the Balearic Islands and the coast of Spain. The inevitable conflict
between Greece and Carthage broke out about 550.
(2) _Wars with the Greeks._--In 550, the Carthaginians, led by the
suffetes Malchus, conquered almost all Sicily and expelled the Greeks.
In 536 they defeated the Phocaeans and the Massaliotes before Alalia on
the Corsican coast. But Malchus, having failed in Sardinia, was banished
by the stern Carthaginian senate and swore to avenge himself. He laid
siege to Carthage itself, and, after having sacrificed his son Carthalo
to his lust for vengeance, entered the city as a victor. He ruled until
he was put to death by the party which had supported him. Mago, son of
Hanno, succeeded Malchus, as suffetes and general-in-chief. He was the
true founder of the Carthaginian military power. He conquered Sardinia
and the Balearic Islands, where he founded Port Mahon (Portus Magonis),
and so increased the power of Carthage that he was able to force
commercial treaties upon the Etruscans, and the Greeks of both Sicily
and Italy. The first agreement between Carthage and Rome was made in
509, one year after the expulsion of the Tarquins, in the consulship of
Junius Brutus and Marcus Horatius. The text is preserved by Polybius
(_Hist._ iii. 22-23). It assigned Italy to the Romans and the African
waters to Carthage, but left Sicily as a dangerous neutral zone.
Mago was succeeded as commander-in-chief by his elder son Hasdrubal (c.
500), who was thrice chosen suffetes; he died in Sardinia about 485. His
brother Hamilcar, having collected a fleet of 200 galleys for the
conquest of Sicily, was defeated by the combined forces of Gelo of
Syracuse and Theron of Agrigentum under the walls of Himera in 480, the
year in which the Persian fleet was defeated at Salamis (some say the
two battles were simultaneous); it is said that 150,000 Carthaginians
were taken prisoners. The victory is celebrated by Pindar (_Pyth._ i.).
These two leaders of the powerful house of the Barcidae each left three
sons. Those of Hasdrubal were Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Sapho; those of
Hamilcar, Himilco, Hanno and Gisco. All, under various titles, succeeded
to the authority which it had already enjoyed. About 460 Hanno,[3]
passing beyond the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Gibraltar), founded
settlements along the West African coast in the modern Senegal and
Guinea, and even in Madeira and the Canary Islands.
In Sicily the war lasted for a century with varying success. In 406
Hannibal and Himilco destroyed Agrigentum and threatened Gela, but the
Carthaginians were forced back on their strongholds in the south-west by
Dionysius the Elder, Dionysius the Younger, Timoleon and Agathocles
successively, whose cause was aided by a terrible plague and civil
troubles in Carthage itself, A certain Hanno, unquestionably of the
Barcide house, attempted to seize the supreme power, but his partisans
were overwhelmed and he himself suffered the most cruel punishment.
Profiting by these troubles, Timoleon defeated the Carthaginians at
Crimissus in 340, and compelled them to sue for peace. This peace was
not of long duration; Agathocles crossed to Africa and besieged
Carthage, which was then handicapped by the conspiracy of Bomilcar.
Bomilcar was crucified, and Agathocles having been obliged to return to
Sicily, his general Eumarcus was compelled to carry his army out of
Africa, where it had maintained itself for three years (August 310 to
October 307). After the death of Agathocles, the Carthaginians
re-established their supremacy in Sicily, and Mago even offered
assistance to Rome against the invasion of Pyrrhus (480). Pyrrhus
crossed to Sicily in 277, and was preparing to emulate Agathocles by
sailing to Africa when he was compelled to return to Italy (see SICILY:
_History_).
Delivered from these dangers and more arrogant than before, Carthage
claimed the monopoly of Mediterranean waters, and seized every foreign
ship found between Sardinia and the Pillars of Hercules. "At Carthage,"
said Polybius, "no one is blamed, however he may have acquired his
wealth." The sailors took the utmost care to conceal the routes which
they followed; there is a story that a Carthaginian ship, pursued by a
Roman galley as far as the Atlantic, preferred to be driven out of her
course and sunk rather than reveal the course to the Cassiterides,
whither she was bound in quest of tin. The owner being saved, the senate
made good his losses from the public treasury (Strabo, iii. 5. 11).
(3) _Wars with Rome._[4]--The first Punic War lasted twenty-seven years
(268-241); it was fought by Carthage for the defence of her Sicilian
possessions and her supremacy in the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Romans,
victorious at the naval battles of Mylae (Melazzo) and Ecnomus (260 and
256), sent M. Atilius Regulus with an army to Africa. But the
Carthaginians, by the help of the Spartan Xanthippus, were successful,
and Regulus was captured. The fighting was then transferred to Sicily,
where Hasdrubal was defeated at Panormus (250); subsequently the Romans
failed before Lilybaeum and were defeated at Drepanum, but their victory
at the Aegates Islands ended the war (241). Carthage now desired to
disband her forces, but the mercenaries claimed their arrears of pay,
and on being refused revolted under Spendius and Matho, pillaged the
suburbs of Carthage and laid siege to the city itself. Only the genius
of Hamilcar Barca raised the siege; the mercenaries were caught in the
defile of the Axe, where they were cut down without mercy. This war,
which all but ruined Carthage, is known to the Roman historians as the
_bellum inexpiabile._
This peril averted, Carthage undertook the conquest of Spain. It was the
work of Hamilcar, and lasted nine years up to the day of Hamilcar's
death, sword in hand, in 228. His son-in-law, Hasdrubal Pulcher, built
Carthagena in 227 and concluded with Rome a treaty by which the Ebro was
adopted as the boundary of the Carthaginian sphere. On his death the
soldiers chose for themselves as leader Hannibal, son of Hamilcar. At
this period Carthage, with a population of perhaps 1,000,000, was in the
enjoyment of extraordinary prosperity alike in its internal industries
and in its foreign trade. The manufacture of woven goods, especially,
was a flourishing industry; the Greek writer Polemo records a special
treaty dealing with Carthaginian fabrics which were a recognized luxury
throughout the ancient world. In Sicily, Italy and Greece the
Carthaginians sold especially black slaves, ivory, metals, precious
stones and all the products of Central Africa, which came thence by
caravan. In Spain they sought copper and silver, and it was by them that
the modern mines of Huelva, as also those of Osca and Carthagena, were
first exploited. The district round Carthage, with its amazing
fertility, was the granary of the city, as it was later that of Rome.
Mago had drawn up a treaty dealing with agriculture and' rural economy
generally, which was subsequently brought to Rome and translated into
Latin by Decimus Silanus by order of the senate (J.P. Mahaffy, "The Work
of Mago," in _Hermathena_, xv. pp. 29-35).
In the midst of this prosperity the Second War with Rome broke out. At
this time the genius of Carthage is incarnate in Hannibal; his campaigns
in Spain, Italy and Africa have won the admiration of military experts
of all periods. The war became inevitable in 210 when Hannibal captured
Saguntum, which was in alliance with Rome. Passing through Spain and
Gaul, Hannibal resolved to carry the war into the heart of Italy
(218-217). The battles of the Ticinus, Trebia and Trasimene Lake are but
stages in the wonderful progress which culminated in the battle of
Cannae (August 2, 216). The road to Rome was now open to him, but he did
not profit by his advantage, while the Carthaginian senate, to its
shame, withheld all further support. His brother Hasdrubal with his
relieving army was defeated at the Metaurus in 207; the Romans recovered
their hold in Spain, and, seeing that Hannibal was unable to move in
Italy, carried the war back to Africa. Hearing that Scipio had taken
Utica (203) and defeated Hasdrubal and Syphax, king of Numidia, Hannibal
returned from Italy, but with a hastily levied army was defeated at Zama
(October 19, 202). The subsequent peace was disastrous to Carthage,
which lost its fleet and all save its African possessions.
After the Second War Carthage soon revived. The population is said still
to have numbered 700,000, and despite its humiliation, the city never
ceased to inspire alarm at Rome. The Numidian prince Massinissa, rival
of Syphax and a Roman protege, took advantage of a clause in the treaty
of 202, which forbade Carthage to make war without the consent of the
Roman senate, to extend his possessions at the expense of Carthage. In
response to a protest from Carthage an embassy including M. Porcius Cato
the Elder was sent to inquire into the matter, and Cato was so impressed
with the city as a whole that on returning to Rome he never made a
speech without concluding with the warning "Delenda est Carthago."
At this time there were three political parties in Carthage: (1) that
which upheld the Roman alliance, (2) hat which advocated the Numidian
alliance, and (3) the popular party. These three were led respectively
by Hanno, Hannibal Passer, Hasdrubal and Carthalo. The popular faction,
which was turbulent and exasperated by the bad faith of the Romans,
expelled the Numidian party and declared war in 149 on Massinissa, who
was victorious at Oroscope. Rome then intervened, determined finally to
destroy her now enfeebled rival. War was declared on the pretext that
Carthage had engaged in war with Massinissa without the sanction of
Rome. The third Punic War lasted three years, and after a heroic
resistance the City fell in 146. The last champions of liberty
entrenched themselves under Hasdrubal in the temple of Eshmun, the site
of which is now occupied by the chapel of St Louis. The Roman troops
were let loose to plunder and burn. The thick bed of cinders, blackened
stones, broken glass, fragments of metal twisted by fire, half-calcined
bones, which is found to-day at a depth of 13 to 16 ft. under the
remains of Roman Carthage between Byrsa and the harbours, bears grim
witness, in accord with the accounts of Polybius and Appian, to the
terrible fate which overtook this part of the city. Before long a
commission arrived from Rome to decide the fate of the province of
Carthage. In the city itself, temples, houses and fortifications were
levelled to the ground, the site was dedicated with solemn imprecations
to the infernal gods, and all human habitation throughout the vast
ruined area was expressly forbidden.
_Constitutional History._--The narrative must here be interrupted by
an account of the political and religious development of Phoenician
Carthage. Carthage was an aristocratic republic based on wealth rather
than on birth. Indeed, the popular party, which included certain noble
families such as the Barcidae, was always powerful, and thus
government by demagogues was not infrequent. So Aristotle, writing
about 330, emphasizes the importance of great wealth in Carthaginian
politics. The government was in fact a plutocracy. The aristocratic
party was represented by the two suffetes and the senate; the
democratic by the popular assembly. The suffetes (_Sofetim_) presided
in the senate and controlled the civil administration; the office was
annual, but there was no limit to re-election. Hannibal was elected
for twenty-two years. The senate, which, like that of Tyre, was
composed of 300 members, exercised ultimate control over all public
affairs, decided on peace and war, nominated the Commission of Ten,
which was charged with aiding and controlling the suffetes. This
commission was subsequently replaced, by a council of one hundred,
called by the Greeks _gerousia_. This tribunal, which maintained law
and order and called the generals to account, gradually became a
tyrannical inquisition. Frequently it met at night in the Temple of
Eshmun On Byrsa, in secret sessions described by Aristotle as [Greek:
sussitia ton hetairion].
The popular assembly was composed, not of all the citizens, but of the
_timuchi_ (Gr. [Greek: time, echein]), i.e. those who possessed a
certain property-qualification. The election of the suffetes had to be
ratified by this assembly. The two bodies were almost always in
opposition, and this was one of the chief causes of the ruin of
Carthage.
The army was recruited externally by senators who were sent to the
great _emporia_ or trade-centres, even to the most remote, to contract
with local princes for men and officers. The payments, agreed upon in
this way, were frequently in arrears; hence the terrible revolts such
as that of the "bellum inexpiabile." It was not till the 3rd century
that Carthage, in imitation of the kings of Syria and Egypt, began to
make use of elephants in war. The elephant used was the African type
(_elephas capensis_), which was smaller than the Asiatic (_elephas
indicus_), though with longer ears. In addition to the mercenaries,
the army contained a legion composed of young men belonging to the
best families in the state; this force was important as a nursery of
officers.
_Religion_.--The religion of Carthage was that of the Phoenicians.
Over an army of minor deities (_alonim_ and _baalim_) towered the
trinity of great gods composed of Baal-Ammon or Moloch (identified by
the Romans with Cronus or Saturn); Tanit, the virgin goddess of the
heavens and the moon, the Phoenician Astarte, and known as Juno
Caelestis in the Roman period; Eshmun, the protecting deity and
protector of the acropolis, generally identified with Aesculapius.
There were also special cults: of Iolaus or Tammuz-Adonis, whom the
Romans identified to some extent with Mercury; of the god Patechus or
Pygmaeus, a deformed and repulsive monster like the Egyptian Ptah,
whose images were placed on the prows of ships to frighten the enemy;
and lastly of the Tyrian Melkarth, whose functions were analogous to
those of Hercules. The statue of this god was carried to Rome after
the siege of 146 (Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxxvi. 12. 39). From
inscriptions we know the names of other minor deities, which are
perhaps only other names of the same gods, e.g. Rabbat Umma, "the
great mother"; Baalat haedrat, "mistress of the sanctuary"; Ashtoreth
(Astarte), Illat, Sakon, Tsaphon, Sid, Aris (? Ares).
From the close of the 4th century B.C. the intimate relations between
the Carthaginians and the Sicilian Greeks began to introduce Hellenic
elements into this religion. In the forum of Carthage was a temple to
Apollo containing a colossal statue, which was transported to Rome.
The Carthaginians once at least sent offerings to Delphi, and Tanit
approximated to some extent to Demeter; hence on the coins we find the
head of Tanit or the Punic Astarte crowned with ears of corn, in
imitation of the coins of the Greek Sicilian colonies. The symbol of
Tanit is the crescent moon; in her temple at Carthage was preserved a
famous veil or _peplus_ which was venerated as the city's palladium.
On the innumerable votive stelae which have been unearthed, we find
invocations to Tanit and Baal-Ammon, as two associate deities ([Greek:
theoi paredroi]). The usual formula in these inscriptions is, "To the
great lady Tanit, the manifestation [reflex, face] of Baal
(_Tanti-Pene-Baal_) and to our lord Baal-Ammon, the vow of Bomilcar,
son of Mago, son of Bomilcar, because they have heard his prayer"
(_Corp. inscr. semit._ vol. i. pp. 276 f.; Audollent, _Carth. Rom._ p.
369).
Baal-Ammon or Moloch, the great god of all Libya, is represented as an
old man with ram's horns on his forehead; the ram is frequently found
with his statues. He appears also with a scythe in his hand ("_falcem
ferens senex pingitur_." St Cyprian, _De idol. vanit._ 11). At
Carthage children were sacrificed to him, and in his temple there was
a colossal bronze statue in the arms of which were placed the children
who were to be sacrificed (Diod. Sic. xx. 14; Justin xviii. 6, xix. 1;
Plut. _De superstit._ 13, _De sera num. vindic._ 6.). The children
slipped one by one from the arms into a furnace amid the plaudits of
fanatical worshippers. These sacrifices persisted even under Roman
rule; Tertullian states that even in his time they took place in
secret (_Apolog._ cix.; cf. Delattre, "Inscript. de Carth.," in
_Bulletin epigraphique_, iv. p. 317; Audollent, op. cit. p. 398).
(4) _Roman Period._--In 122 B.C., twenty-four years after the
destruction of the city by Scipio Aemilianus, the Roman senate, on the
proposal of Rubrius, decided to plant a Latin colony on the site. C.
Gracchus and Fulvius Flaccus were entrusted with the foundation of the
new city, which was christened _Colonia Junonia_, and placed under the
protection of Juno Caelestis, the new name for the Punic Tanit. But its
prosperity was obstructed both by unpropitious omens and by the very
recollection of the ancient feud, and fifty years later Marius,
proscribed by Sulla, found the ruins practically deserted. In the
neighbourhood were the scattered remnants of the old Punic population,
who, according to Athenaeus (_Deipnosoph._ v. 50), had actually had the
assurance to send ambassadors to Mithradates the Great assuring him of
their support against Rome. Ultimately M. Minucius Rufus passed a law
abrogating that of 122 and suppressing the _Colonia Junonia_.
Julius Caesar, pursuing the lost supporters of Pompey, encamped on the
ruins of the city, and there, according to tradition, had a dream which
induced him to re-establish the abandoned colony. Returning to Rome, he
despatched thither the poor citizens who were demanding land from him.
Later on Augustus sent new colonists, and, henceforward, the machinery
of administration was regularly centred there (Appian viii. 136; Dio
Cass. lxxx. 1; Audollent, op. cit. p. 46). The proconsuls of the African
province had hitherto lived at Utica; in 14-13 B.C. C. Sentius
Saturninus transferred his headquarters to Carthage, which was
henceforth known as _Colonia Julia Carthago_. Several inscriptions use
this name, as also the bronze coins which bear the heads of Augustus and
Tiberius, and were struck at first in the name of the _suffetes_,
afterwards in that of _duumviri_.
Pomponius Mela and Strabo already describe Carthage as among the
greatest and most wealthy cities of the empire. Herodian puts it second
to Rome, and such is the force of tradition that the Roman citizens
resident in Carthage boasted of its Punic past, and loved to recall its
glory. Virgil in the _Aeneid_ celebrated the misfortunes of Dido, whom
the colonists ultimately identified with Tanit-Astarte; a public
Dido-cult grew up, and the citizens even pretended to have discovered
the very house from which she had watched the departure of Aeneas. The
religious character of these legends, coupled with the city's resumption
of its old role as mistress of Africa, and its independent spirit,
reawakened the old distrust, and even up to the invasions of the Vandals
the jealous rivalry of Rome forbade the reconstruction of the city
walls.
The revolt of L. Clodius Macer, legate of Numidia, in A.D. 68 was warmly
supported by Carthage, and one of the coins of this short-lived power
bears the symbol of Carthage personified. At the moment of the accession
of Vitellius, Piso, governor of the province of Africa, was in his turn
proclaimed emperor at Carthage. A little later, under Antoninus Pius, we
read of a fire which devastated the quarter of the forum; about the
same time, i.e. under Hadrian and Antoninus, there was built the famous
Zaghwan aqueduct, which poured more than seven million gallons of water
a day into the reservoirs of the Mapalia (La Malga); the cost of this
gigantic work was defrayed by a special tax which pressed heavily on the
inhabitants as late as the reign of Septimius Severus; allusions to it
are made on the coin-types of this emperor (E. Babelon, _Revista
italiana di numismatica_, 1903, p. 157).
In the early history of Christianity Carthage played an auspicious part,
in virtue of the number of its disciples, the energy and learning of
their leaders, the courage and eloquence of its teachers, the
persecutions of which it was the scene, the number of its councils and
the heresies of which it witnessed the birth, propagation or extinction
(see CARTHAGE, SYNODS OF). The labours of Delattre have filled the St
Louis museum at Carthage with memorials of the early Church. From the
end of the 2nd century there was a bishop of Carthage; the first was
Agrippinus, the second Optatus. At the head of the apologists, whom the
persecutions inspired, stands Tertullian. In 202 or 203, in the
amphitheatre, where Cardinal Lavigerie erected a cross in commemoration,
occurred the martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas. Tertullian was
succeeded (248) by a no less famous bishop Cyprian. About this time the
proconsul Gordian had himself proclaimed (239) emperor at Thysdrus (El
Jem). Shortly afterwards Sabinianus, aspiring to the same dignity, was
besieged by the procurator of Mauretania; the inhabitants gave him up
and thus obtained a disgraceful pardon (R. Cagnat, _L'armee romaine
d'Afrique_ p. 52; Audollent, op. cit. p. 73). Peace being restored, the
persecution of the Christians was renewed by an edict of the emperor
Decius (250). Cyprian escaped by hiding, and subsequently caused the
heresy of Novatian to be condemned in the council of 251. In 257, in a
new persecution under Valerian, Cyprian was beheaded by the proconsul
Galerius Maximus.
About 264 or 265 a certain Celsus proclaimed himself emperor at
Carthage, but was quickly slain. Probus, like Hadrian and Severus,
visited the city, and Maximian had new baths constructed. Under
Constantius Chlorus, Maxentius proclaimed himself emperor in Africa;
this caused great excitement in Carthage, and the garrison, which was
hostile to the pretender, compelled L. Domitius Alexander to assume the
purple. Domitius was, however, captured by Maxentius and strangled at
Carthage. About 311 there arose the famous Donatist heresy, supported by
270 African bishops (see DONATISTS and CONSTANTINE I.). At the synod of
Carthage in 411 this heresy was condemned owing to the eloquence of
Augustine. Two years later the Carthaginian sectaries even ventured upon
a political rebellion under the leadership of Heraclianus, who
proclaimed himself emperor and actually dared to make a descent on Italy
itself, leaving his son-in-law Sabinus in command at Carthage. Being
defeated he fled precipitately to Carthage, where he was put to death
(413). Donatism was followed by Pelagianism (see PELAGIUS), also of
Carthaginian origin, and these religious troubles were not settled when
in May 429 the Vandals, on the appeal of Count Boniface, governor of
Africa, crossed the Straits of Gibraltar and invaded Mauretania.
Genseric, who was hailed with one accord by all the different sectaries
as the champion of their several views, appeared in 439 before the walls
of Carthage, which had been hastily rebuilt after five hundred years by
the order of Theodosius II. The priest Salvianus has left a splendid
picture of Carthage at this moment (_de Gubern._ vii. 16). It had
500,000 inhabitants, and 22 basilicas (several of which have been
discovered by Delattre). Genseric entered almost without a blow (October
19, 439), and gave over the city to plunder before departing for his
attack on Italy. From this time Carthage became, in the hands of the
Vandals, a mere pirate stronghold, such as Tunis and Algiers were
subsequently to become. Once, in 470, the fleet of the Eastern empire
under the orders of Basiliscus appeared in the Bay of Carthage, but
Genseric succeeded in setting fire to the attacking ships and from Byrsa
watched their entire annihilation.
_Byzantine Rule_.--Under Genseric's successors (see VANDALS), Carthage
was still the scene of many displays of savage brutality, though
Thrasamund built new baths and a basilica. Ultimately Gelimer, the last
Vandal king, was defeated at Ad Decimum by the Byzantine army under
Belisarius, who entered Carthage unopposed (September 14, 533). The
restored city now received the name of Colonia Justiniana Carthago;
Belisarius rebuilt the walls and entrusted the government to Solomon.
New basilicas and other monuments were erected, and Byzantine Carthage
recovered for a century the prosperity of the Roman city.
At length the Arabs, having conquered Cyrenaica and Tripolitana (647),
and founded Kairawan (670), arrived before Carthage. In 697 Hasan ibn
en-Noman, the Gassanid governor of Egypt, captured the city almost
without resistance. But the garrison left by the Arabs was quite unable
to defend itself against the patrician Joannes, who retook the city and
hastily put it in a state of defence. Hasan returned furious with anger,
defeated the Byzantines again, and decreed the entire destruction of the
city. His orders were fulfilled; and in 698 Carthage finally disappears
from history. Once again only does the name appear in the middle ages,
when the French king, Louis IX., at the head of the eighth crusade,
disembarked there on the 17th of July 1270. He died, however, of the
plague on the 25th of August without having recovered northern Africa
for civilization.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--I. _Ancient_.--(a) Polybius, Diodorus Siculus, Livy,
Appian, Justin, Strabo; (b) for the Christian period, Tertullian,
Cyprian, Augustine; (c) for the Byzantine and Vandal, Procopius and
Victor de Vita. All the references to the topography of Roman and
Byzantine Carthage are collected in Audollent, _Carthage romaine_
(1901), pp. 775-825, which also contains a full list of modern works
(pp. 13-32. and p. 835).
II. _Modern_.--The most important are: Falbe, _Recherches sur
l'emplacement de Carthage_ (Paris, 1833); Dureau de la Malle,
_Topographie de Carthage_ (Paris, 1835); Nathan Davis, _Carthage and
her Remains_ (London, 1861); Beule, _Fouilles a Carthage_ (Paris,
1861); Victor Guerin, _Voyage archeologique dans la regence de Tunis_
(Paris, 1862); E. de Sainte Marie, _Mission a Carthage_ (Paris, 1884);
C. Tissot, _Geographie comparee de la province romaine d'Afrique_
(Paris, 1884-1888, 2 vols.); E. Babelon, _Carthage_ (Paris, 1896);
Otto Meltzer, _Geschichte der Karthager_ (Berlin, 1879-1896, 2 vols.);
Paul Monceaux, _Les Africains, etude sur la litterature latine de
l'Afrique; Les Paiens_ (Paris, 1898); _Histoire litteraire de
l'Afrique chretienne_ (Paris, 1901-1909, 3 vols.); Pallu de Lessert,
_Vicaires et comtes d'Afrique_ (Paris, 1892); _Fastes des provinces
africaines sous la domination romaine_ (Paris, 1896-1901, 2 vols.); R.
Cagnat, _L'Armee romaine d'Afrique_ (Paris, 1892); C. Diehl,
_L'Afrique byzantine, histoire de la domination byzantine en Afrique_
(Paris, 1896); Aug. Audollent, _Carthage romaine_ (Paris, 1901); A.J.
Church and A. Gilman, _Carthage_ in "Story of the Nations" series
(1886). For the numerous publications of Pere Delattre scattered in
various periodicals see _Etude sur les diverses publications du R.P.
Delattre_, by Marquis d'Anselme de Puisaye (Paris, 1895); Miss Mabel
Moore's _Carthage of the Phoenicians_ (London, 1905) contains a useful
summary of Delattre's excavations. See further for the discussion of
particular points: "Chronique archeologique africaine," published by
Steph. Gsell, in the _Revue africaine_ of Algiers, 1893, and following
years; and in the _Melanges d'archeologie et d'histoire de l'Ecole
francaise de Rome_, vol. xv. (1895 and following years); Dr Carton,
"Chronique archeologique nord-africaine," in the _Revue tunisienne_.
(E. B.*)