Facts about Carthage

1. 16

   Carthage's merchant fleet conducted extensive trade routes to Britain's tin mines and the Baltic amber sources, establishing commercial networks that stretched beyond the Mediterranean into northern Europe during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE.

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2. 15

   Carthage's famous general Scipio Africanus defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in 202 BCE, forcing Carthage to surrender its Spanish territories and pay an indemnity of 10,000 talents of silver over 50 years.

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3. 14

   Carthaginian coins minted from 350 to 146 BCE featured the goddess Tanit on the obverse and a horse on the reverse, becoming the most widely circulated currency throughout the western Mediterranean trade networks.

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4. 13

   Carthage's vast land empire stretched across North Africa, Spain, and Mediterranean islands, controlling territory that at its height encompassed over 1 million square kilometers by the 3rd century BCE.

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5. 12

   Carthage's tophet sanctuary contained over 20,000 cremated remains of infants and children sacrificed to the gods Baal Hammon and Tanit between the 8th and 2nd centuries BCE.

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6. 11

   Around 149 BCE, Carthage's wealthy merchant class controlled vast olive oil production facilities across North Africa that supplied markets throughout the Mediterranean, rivaling grain exports as the city's primary agricultural wealth source.

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7. 10

   Carthage's renowned merchant Mago wrote a 28-volume agricultural treatise in the 2nd century BCE that was so valuable the Roman Senate ordered it translated into Latin after destroying the city in 146 BCE.

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8. 09

   Carthage's harbor at Cothon featured two separate basins designed to accommodate 220 merchant vessels and 60 warships simultaneously, making it an engineering marvel of the ancient Mediterranean.

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9. 08

   Carthage's Council of 104 magistrates, established by the mid-3rd century BCE, created one of antiquity's earliest democratic governing systems with divided executive power to prevent tyranny.

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10. 07

    Between 509 and 348 BCE, Carthage signed three successive treaties with Rome that progressively restricted Carthaginian expansion in Sicily and the western Mediterranean, establishing the commercial boundaries that would eventually spark the Punic Wars.

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11. 06

    Carthage's agricultural hinterland in North Africa produced surplus grain that fed the city's massive population and financed its military campaigns throughout the Mediterranean during the 3rd century BCE.

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12. 05

    Three major wars between Rome and Carthage spanning 118 years from 264 to 146 BCE resulted in Carthage's complete destruction and Rome's emergence as the Mediterranean's supreme power.

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13. 04

    Purple dye production in Carthage generated enormous wealth through murex shell harvesting, with thousands of tons of shells processed annually to create the luxury fabric that commanded premium prices across the Mediterranean.

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14. 03

    Carthage's population reached approximately 700,000 people by 200 BCE, making it one of the ancient Mediterranean world's largest cities.

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15. 02

    Carthage's military commander Hannibal crossed the Alps with approximately 37 war elephants in 218 BCE during the Second Punic War against Rome.

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16. 01

    Carthage's naval fleet contained approximately 300 warships at its peak around 250 BCE, making it the Mediterranean's dominant maritime power.

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