Carthage: The Lost City of Semites
Don’t tell me violence doesn’t solve anything. Look at Carthage.
-Robert A. Heinlein
I recently listened to a podcast on the rise and fall of Carthage. By the end, how Carthaginians acted and the decisions they made felt familiar. Way too familiar. One of the cultures I come from would act the way they acted.
Carthage
Carthage was a civilization for over 700 years. It was the wealthiest and at times, the most powerful in the world.
Carthage was the first to develop an alphabet that the Greeks and Romans later copied, which led to the English alphabet. The Carthaginian writing system is the source of all writing today.
They were a merchant nation, and the first to offer insurance to cover ships that were pirated or destroyed, dispersing risk and thus increasing commerce. Even how Carthage was founded was clever.
The local king said he would give them land the size of an ox hide. They cut up an ox hide into thin strips and made a massive border. The king didn’t want to go back on his word so he gave them the land the ox hide bordered. Carthage meant “new city” and was founded in the middle of the web of cities they controlled.
Carthaginians paid others to do the fighting whenever possible. Disorder in the senior ranks was common with tons of debate. They were hard-set in their principles and would ignore rules they didn’t agree with.
I did research, and yes, Carthaginians were Semites. I’ve read books on the Punic Wars and Hannibal. Weirdly, none ever mentioned this.
An old NY Times piece convincingly argues Hannibal was Jewish:
The great Carthaginian was born in a city founded by Phoenicians from Tyre led by Dido-Elissa, sister of King Pygmalion and great-niece of Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, King of Israel. In short, the Carthaginians were Phoenicians, that is, northwest Semites, probably Canaanites, and of the same stock and almost the same language as the Hebrews. Indeed, the first-century Roman author Silius Italicus places Hannibal in a temple at Gades (modern Cadiz), praying to a god who had no idols or physical representations, which Silius thought marvelous and unaccountable.
When reading traditional historical sources, pretty much no one is gay (they slept in the same bed together for years and wrote each other love letters, but they’re totally straight), and similarly, no one is on drugs while making crazy decisions. Hannibal has been revered as the greatest general of all time for generations. Given our antisemitic past, of course, we weren’t taught Carthage was Semitic.
The Carthaginian and Roman armies were more significant and powerful than the largest armies over a millennia later. They had epic battles. Rome and Carthage had 43 years of warfare between 264 and 146 BC.
Carthage had strong principles and morals that led them to defend their land, which gave the Romans an excuse to start the third and final Punic War.
During the Third Punic War, Carthage gave up all their weapons to their enemy thinking they’d be appeased and would leave them alone. They lacked an understanding of Roman culture. This misunderstanding led to their losses and their ultimate demise.
Punic Wars
The first Punic War lasted 23 years. It was seen as too expensive to keep fighting. Hamilcar, the Carthaginian general, didn’t want to surrender. Hamilcar stubbornly refused. Carthage had to send a junior officer to surrender on Carthage’s behalf.
Rome got Sicily and Corsica along with 82 tons of silver over 10 years as part of the surrender terms.
Shortly after the treaty was signed, Carthage had an awful rebellion. The reparations were so high that Carthage couldn’t pay its mercenaries. After 23 years of the largest war in Carthaginian history, Carthage fought a bloody civil war for 3 years.
Hamilcar led Carthage through the civil war and won. His son watched. Hamilcar trained his son. They had a deep hatred for Rome. Hamilcar made his son, Hannibal, swear never to be the friend of Romans.
Hannibal became a successful general himself taking over Spanish provinces for Carthage. At 28, Hannibal sieged a city Rome said Carthage wasn’t allowed to take over as it was too close to Roman territory. The siege didn’t go smoothly and a javelin wounded Hannibal. But even so, Hannibal succeeded after 8 months. There was fierce debate in Carthage over Hannibal’s actions. Hannibal brought great wealth to Carthage through his conquests in Spain, but now he upset Rome.
Rome sent an envoy to Carthage. The Roman envoy said they bring peace on the one hand if Carthage imprisons Hannibal, and war on the other hand if they refuse to bring Hannibal to justice. Carthage accepted war.
Second Punic War
Hannibal began his march toward Rome. Some groups let Hannibal through as they hated Rome, while others needed to be bribed.
Hannibal had 38K infantry, 8K cavalry, and war elephants. He lost half his army during his famous crossing of the Alps. Despite his great losses, it was worth it.
Romans were preparing to invade Africa and weren’t prepared to defend Italy. Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps caught the Romans completely surprised.
Hannibal hid his army along the side of the road as the Romans passed. The ambush marked the first battle. They killed 20K Roman soldiers. Hannibal recruited local tribes who despised Rome to refill his ranks. During the next battle, Hannibal’s army killed 10K and captured 15K Romans.
Romans stopped fighting battles with Hannibal. They’d use their army to contain him but never engage. Romans burned their own farms and countryside to try to starve Hannibal’s troops. It worked. Hannibal was getting starved out by the scorched earth warfare. Many elephants died. Hannibal got an infection and lost one of his eyes.
With this news, the Romans raised the largest army ever. Eighty-six thousand men were sent to meet Hannibal. The Romans far outnumbered Hannibal’s army and were fighting in their own backyard.
Hannibal crushed them, killing 45K infantry and 2.7K cavalry with the remainder of the Romans fleeing or taken prisoner. An entire generation of Roman men was slaughtered in one day– Roman consuls and senators were among the slain. This was the Battle of Cannae. It’s still studied to this day.
Romans resorted to human sacrifice, alien to the Roman spirit, to appease the gods. Groups started rebelling against Rome as it was now seen as weak. Rome desperately tried to enlist prisoners in their army.
Rome never again sent an army to face Hannibal in their homeland. Hannibal spent 11 more years rampaging throughout Italy.
No other Carthaginian general who led campaigns against other Roman provinces won. The generals didn’t have Hannibal’s ability.
Scipio Africanus was one of five hundred men in the middle of the Battle of Cannae who fought his way out and escaped alive. Scipio’s father (Cornelius Scipio) and uncle (Scipio Asina) both led armies against Hannibal’s father (Hamilcar) in the First Punic War. (Fun fact: Asina means ass as in donkey. Scipio Asina once messed up during a battle, and Romans don’t forget.)
Scipio Africanus led Rome to successfully capture numerous Carthaginian provinces. Realizing they can’t defeat Hannibal in their own land: the best defense is a counterattack. Rome sent Scipio to Carthage. Scipio prepared one year for the exhibition. When Scipio was finally sent off, Hannibal was summoned to return to defend Carthage.
Hannibal and Scipio met each other the night before the battle. Hannibal, the general who had never lost a battle, was tired and dejected. A key Carthage ally, Numidia, had just switched to Rome, so Carthage lost its cavalry and Rome gained that same cavalry.
Without the excess Carthaginian cavalry, Scipio knew how to deal with war elephants. With his weakened army and battered spirit, the undefeated Hannibal lost the final battle and thus the Second Punic War.
Rome forced Carthage to sign an even more stringent treaty than before which gave up all lands in Spain and North Africa to Rome along with 370 tons of silver. Rome stopped Carthage from taking war elephants and only allowed 10 warships, not even enough to defend their merchant ships. The Roman army burned the Carthaginian fleet of warships as both armies watched.
The Second Punic War lasted 17 years. Hannibal had a smaller, less well-trained army. But he pulled off some of the best military tactics of all time. They’re still studied in military schools around the world today.
Third Punic War
In 152 BC, 50 years after the 2nd Punic War. A Roman ally kept taking land from Carthage. Carthage couldn’t defend itself as it wasn’t allowed an army. They kept appealing to Rome to stop their neighbor from stealing their land and murdering their people. Rome did nothing.
A Roman senator, Cato, visited Carthage and saw how extraordinarily wealthy it was. He also saw that they had military supplies, which violated their treaty. Carthage was thriving more than Rome. Cato wanted to destroy Carthage as he believed it would always be a threat to Rome. He ended every speech he gave on any topic with “Furthermore, I believe Carthage must be destroyed”. After intense repetition, some senators started to agree.
Having enough of their rambunctious neighbor, Carthage sent an army of 50K men to seize back some of the farmland stolen from them. They failed. Romans saw this as a breach of the treaty and used this as an excuse to destroy Carthage once and for all.
When Carthaginians saw the Romans land, they sent out an envoy to greet them. The Romans demanded they hand over all their military equipment. Carthage complied and offered total surrender. They knew they were outmatched. Carthage pleaded to not go to war. The Romans offered peace on one condition– Carthage must abandon their city so it can be demolished, and they must move 10 miles inland away from the sea.
They would have to abandon their homes, temples, streets, and infrastructure. Not to mention this would be impossible as they’re a seafaring merchant nation. With the news hitting the city, Carthaginians were bereft of their senses and called to the gods. Their calls drew tears from the Romans themselves. The once mighty Carthage was now a city without arms, without friends, and without allies. All the world was against them.
They had nothing but their city walls. A massive triple line of defensive walls. The Romans settled in for a siege. It was harder than expected as Carthage smuggled food in at night via sea. Carthage used everything they could to forge weapons, from scraps on the street to the hair on their heads. They made shields, catapults, swords, and other weapons.
The siege went on for 3 years. When it took too long, the grandson of Scipio Africanus, also named Scipio, was brought in to lead the siege. Scipio built a stone harbor to stop smugglers from bringing food to Carthage. He then built a passageway for Romans to enter through the harbor. They massacred everyone inside.
The slaughter went on for 6 days. Scipio set them to work in shifts to not get tired of killing. Sixty thousand people were murdered. After 6 days of slaughter, Rome started taking prisoners, fifty thousand were taken. Carthage was burned to the ground along with their fields. The buildings were torn down and their stones scattered so not even rubble remained.
Scipio wept at the site of Carthage’s annihilation. A civilization that stood for 700 years. He publicly lamented the fortune of the city. Scipio talked about Assyria and Persia falling. He said one day Rome will meet its end as well. People ignored his philosophizing.
Instead, people in Rome took to the streets to celebrate their complete victory over their nemesis.
Aftermath
No Carthaginian survived. Their voice, memory, and city were destroyed. The victor was the only one to survive to write the history of Carthage. Their tale will forever be told by outsiders. Ironic for the civilization that invented the written word.
Over a century later, Rome founded a Roman colony on the rubble of Carthage. They kept the name Carthage, but it’s not the same city. Nothing remains of Carthage but stories.
Rome should have lost. They essentially lost the first and second Punic Wars at different points. Any other civilization would have called it quits, but Rome didn’t. When they lost a generation of men, they kept fighting until they had a new generation. Failure wasn’t an option. Their courage and ambition were endless.
Imagine what would have happened if Carthage had Rome’s courage.