Carthage - Punic Harbor Kothon

A little way north of the Tophet in Carthage, along Rue Hannibal lies the Kothon, the old Punic harbor, with two basins in which the mightiest fleet in the Mediterranean once lay at anchor. According to the ancient sources the commercial harbor was in the shape of a rectangle measuring 456m/500yds by 356m/390yds, linked with the sea by a channel 20m/65ft wide. The entrance to the Harbor could be closed by a chain. The naval Harbor to the north, which was surrounded by a high wall, had a diameter of 325m/355yds. A channel giving it direct access to the sea was constructed only during the Third Punic War. In the center of the Harbor is a small island, on which the palace of the commander of the fleet once stood. The naval Harbor alone had moorings for some 220 vessels, both along the landward side and round the island.