Carthage

Governorate: Tunis Nord

Altitude: 0-70m/0-230ft

Situation and characteristics

Carthage lies on a peninsula reaching out into the Bay of Tunis which is protected on the landward side by two shallow lakes. With its avenues lined by palms and eucalyptus trees, its villas and gardens full of red hibiscus blossom and purple bougainvilleas, Carthage is Tunis's most attractive suburb. But of ancient Carthage, once the greatest city in North Africa, and its thousand years of history there are only scanty and scattered remains, and visitors who have seen Dougga, Bulla Regia, Sbeitla or Maktar may be disappointed. These other cities, however, have the advantage of not having been willfully destroyed and used for more than a thousand years as a quarry of building stone; nor have they been built over in the 19th and 20th centuries as Carthage has. Nevertheless the remains of this ancient city are still worth a visit for the sake of the structures, mainly of the Roman period, which have survived. History

The foundation of Carthage goes back to a distant legendary past. According to legend a Phoenician princess named Elissa, daughter of the king of Tyre, fled from Tyre following a dispute over succession to the throne and landed on the coast of Tunisia, with a few faithful followers, in 814 B.C. A Numidian prince agreed to her request for a piece of land the size of a cow-hide: whereupon Elissa cut the hide into thin strips and with them enclosed an area of land on which the town of Qart Hadasht (known to the Romans as Carthago) was built. The truth of the legend cannot be checked, but at any rate there is evidence of the existence of Carthage as early as 750 B.C., and the first Carthaginian settlement was built on the hill known as Byrsa, the "Cow-Hide".

In antiquity the Sebkha Ariana (salt lake) was still linked with the sea, so that Carthage lay at the end of an easily defensible peninsula linked with the mainland only at its east end. It was enclosed by a wall over 40km/25mi long, 10m/33ft thick and up to 13m/43ft high, reinforced by towers, ditches and earthworks, which protected the city and the surrounding agricultural area from enemy attack. The city was defended by 20,000 infantry, 4,000 cavalry and 300 elephants. Under the Magonid dynasty (Hamilcar, Hasdrubal, Hannibal) Carthage became the leading commercial power in the western Mediterranean; its seamen sailed round the whole of Africa and discovered the coasts of Britain. The conflict between Carthage and the other Mediterranean power, Rome, led to the three Punic Wars, which ended in the complete destruction of Carthage in 146 B.C. The city was plundered, burned down, razed to the ground and ploughed over; and the whole area was sprinkled with salt so that even the soil should be made infertile.

Something over a hundred years later the area was resettled by the Romans: in the reign of Augustus the Colonia Julia Carthago was founded, and soon afterwards it became the seat of the provincial government. Thereafter it grew and flourished, and by the early second century A.D. it was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, with a population of around 300,000. Magnificent public buildings were erected during this period, second only to those in Rome itself. As in Punic times, the central feature of the city was the hill of Byrsa, with the Capitol and the forum, and the Romans largely preserved the general layout of the Punic town. By the beginning of the fourth century Carthage had become the leading city in Christian Africa and the see of a bishop. Under Byzantine rule it retained its predominance in North Africa, until in 692 the Arabs arrived and once again utterly destroyed the city. Thereafter Carthage fell into an oblivion which ended only under the French protectorate, when the Catholic Mission, honoring the city's early Christian tradition, established its African headquarters in Carthage.

The ancient remains are scattered over the whole area of the town, and the principal sights can most conveniently be seen on foot. Alternatively it is possible to hire a horse-drawn carriage or a taxi. The drivers know their way around and can take visitors wherever they want. In order to avoid misunderstandings it is advisable to agree the fare in advance. The suburban railroad (TGM) can also be a help in getting to the various sites.

Access

20km/12.5mi east of Tunis on the road to La Goulette. Regular bus services; suburban railroad (TGM, Tunis-Carthage) from the station at the east end of Avenue Habib Bourguiba, Tunis (either Salammbo or Hannibal stop).