CARTHAGE

The complete story of Carthage in one illustrated volume: the city that Rome tried to erase and the people who built it.Carthage began as a colony from Tyre, grew into the greatest sea power of the western Mediterranean, fought Greek Sicily for centuries, and then went to war with Rome. Its generals Hamilcar and Hannibal nearly broke the Roman Republic. Then Rome besieged the city for three years and burned it in 146 BCE. Yet the site lived on, as a Roman capital of Africa, a city of martyrs and of Saint Augustine, and a Vandal and Byzantine prize, until the Arab conquest of 698 CE.CARTHAGE follows that whole arc. You will stand at Himera, Cannae and Zama, meet Elissa, Hanno, Hannibal, Masinissa, Scipio and Cato, and walk the harbours, walls and streets of the city itself.This is also a book about how people lived. Separate chapters explain how Carthaginians quarried and laid stone, built with mud-brick and mortar, planned their tall houses, stored and drained water, ran estates, baked bread, pressed oil, dyed purple cloth, minted coins, traded across the sea and buried their dead. The Tophet and the question of child sacrifice are treated frankly as the open scholarly debate they are.Most of what we know was written by Carthage’s enemies. Every chapter ends with The Historian’s Verdict, a clear look at what the evidence proves, what it suggests and what remains unknown. Three Cultural Interludes follow Dido through literature and music, Hannibal through the centuries, and the archaeologists who recovered the city. Appendices include rulers and commanders, a timeline, a glossary, a cast of characters and a guide to sources. More than 270 illustrations and three maps bring the Punic world to life.If you enjoyed SPQR, HELLAS, EGYPT or KNIGHTS, CARTHAGE continues the series.