Map of Carthage
I am starting with the Carthage history because it has a heady mix of history and mythology, moreover i am a sucker for underdogs.The most insightful part of being a history buff, is the realization that no matte how powerful or magnificent an Empire might be, it has its own life of struggle, glory and decay. Yet what remains is what those people did while they had their moments under the sun.
Who the hell were Carthaginians?
Well to put it simply, they were the arch nemesis of the famous ROMANS. Their story is so incredulous, that it would put the best fiction writer to shame.
To put things in perspective, here is the map of Roman empire & the Carthage empire.
The area above Mediterranean is Roman empire and one below is Carthage
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....
It all started with a Phoenician (
Click here to know more about Phoenicia) Princess Elissa, whose husband was murdered by her brother Pygmalion and she was forced to flee the capital city of Tyre with a loyal band of followers in 813 BC.
She carried away a huge fortune of gold from the royal treasury and after a long sea voyage that also encompassed Cyprus (from where they picked up a royal priest and 80 prostitutes, don't ask why) she finally landed in North Africa in the present day Libya and Tunisia,
Flag of Empire of Carthage
How did she make an Empire?
Herein the local king granted her permission to buy an area that could be covered by bull's hide. Yet the princess managed to get a strategic hillock overlooking the port where she built her citadel for further expansion.
How did she do that?
How did she do that? She cut the bulls hide into thin strips, these she arranged back to back to encircle the small hillock called Byrsa hill. Wow talk about reading the fine print.
Coin depicting Queen Dido
From here there was no looking back, her followers were already master seafarers and traders. They kept building ports along the the Mediterranean coast of North Africa and her empire flourished.
Famed port city of Carthage
How did Elissa become Dido?
Elissa was renamed as Dido by the Libyans meaning the 'wanderer'. She is mentioned in many Greek and Roman works including Vergil's Aeneid and Timaeus Taormia.
But where is the mythology?
Now here is the intersection of History and Mythology. She is supposed to have fallen in love with one of the heroes of Trojan war Aeneas, who was returning to his homeland.
Meeting of Dido and Aeneas
But soon Aeneas left her after some time and went on to raise the first Roman city. Heartbroken, Dido cursed that her people and the Roman would always be enemies and committed suicide by leaping in fire.
So why did the Romans & Carthaginians become enemies?
OK, now fast forward to 264 BC, Sicily and Corsica were important islands astride the Mediterranean trade route. They were under the influence of Carthage, but through subterfuge and military muscle, the Romans managed to swing the two islands under their influence and eject the Carthaginians. This led to the three Punic wars between Carthage and Rome.
Punic wars
Here i want to bring out the next hero, Hannibal Barca, not to be confused with Hannibal the Cannibal. Now, Carthaginians were basically merchants who after the demise of Princess Dido were ruled by a council of Ministers instead of a monarch. Even their army consisted of mostly mercenaries and conscripts and adventurers led by Carthaginian generals.
Hannibal Barca
So whether it was the curse of Dido or the mercantile conflict of interests, the result were Punic wars, which effectively changed the course of world history. The Greek historian Polybius is one of the main sources of information about the Punic Wars. He was an eyewitness to the siege and destruction of Carthage in 146 B.C.
Invasion route followed by Hannibal
The Romans were complacent in their confidence that their Northern flank was adequately protected by the insurmountable Alps mountains.
Hannibal's neat trick
Hannibal led the Carthaginian army and inflicted a series of crushing defeats on Romans, the world's most powerful empire of its time. His immortality in annals of History lies from the fact that he took his army consisting of elephants from present day Spain, across the Alps mountains and down the shocked Roman cities. The Romans had never imagined that an enemy could invade them from that hazardous direction.
Crossing the Alps with elephants
He defeated many Roman armies and burnt many of his enemy cities to ground.
So did the Carthaginians win?
No. In an ironic twist of fate, finally it was internal politics that defeated Hannibal and saved the Roman empire from being wiped out from history. The Carthaginian council of ministers, jealous of the extreme popularity of Hannibal, became apprehensive that upon defeat of Romans, Hannibal would come back and become the Emperor. Thus they didn't send supplies and reinforcements urgently needed by Hannibal hundred of miles away.
Finally Hannibal had to return to Carthage for want of supplies and also to save Carthage from an invasion by Roman army. The weakened army was defeated by Romans in a crafty manner. They used special trumpets to scare the elephants of Hannibal, who trampled its own soldiers. In later years Hannibal was exiled from Carthage, wherein he committed suicide to prevent his capture from the Romans.
Ruins of Carthage in present day Tunisia
End of an Empire....
In the third Punic war, the Romans besieged Carthage, burnt the 700 years old city and sold its inhabitants to slavery. How different history could have been, had the Hannibal been provided support from Carthage and the Roman empire destroyed. For example, it was the acceptance of Christianity as the national faith by Roman emperor Constantine I, that led to the widespread acceptance of the religion in 312 AD.
In the end, the rise and fall of Carthage has been mentioned in many works of historians but should also remind us that how great empires can be extinguished by a singular erroneous decisions. However the two Carthaginian heroes Princess Dido and Hannibal continue to be remembered as an example that seemingly impossible quests can be accomplished if one has the vision and energy for it.
PS : I firmly believe that the character of Khaleesi in Game of thrones is inspired by Princess Dido, but that is another story for another post.
