Module 1

Entry Phase

I was inspired to write this history by a song I heard by Al Stewart called “Hanno the Navigator.”  Al Stewart is one of the few people today who can sing and produce great historical music and I have been listening to his music for years.  Therefore, when I researched the song I decided it was worth writing about.  The song is as follows:

It is from his album “Sparks of Ancient Light.” 

Copyright 2008 Al Stewart licensed to Appleseed Recordings

  Most ancient literature concerning Carthage comes from Greek and Roman sources. Considering the rivalry of the political economies of Hellenic Sicily versus Carthage, and of Republican Rome versus Carthage, it is not surprising that both Greek and Roman authors generally viewed Carthage as an antagonist. Only in this light may many of the subtleties of the Punic Empire’s history and culture be perceived, that is, as illuminated by various ancient Greek and Roman commentators.  Therefore, in using them as sources I must look for an objective way to tell this story. 

  Apart from inscriptions, hardly any Punic literature has survived, and none in its own language and script. Very few primary historical Carthaginian sources survive.  There are a few translations of Punic texts into the Greek and Latin.  There are also some Punic inscriptions on monuments and buildings discovered in modern times. A brief catalogue would include:

Three short treaties with Rome (Latin translations). Several pages of Hanno the Navigator's logbook. The logbook concerns his fifth century maritime exploration of the Atlantic coast of West Africa (Greek translation). Fragments quoted from Mago's fourth/third century 28-volume treatise on agriculture (Latin translations). The Roman playwright Plautus (c.250-184) in his Poenulus incorporates a few fictional speeches delivered in Punic, whose written lines were transcribed into Latin letters phonetically.   Thousands of inscriptions made in Punic script, that is extremely short, e.g., a dedication to a deity with the personal name(s) of the devotee(s)."From the Greek author Plutarch (c. 46-c. 120) we learn of the 'sacred books' in Punic safeguarded by the city's temples.

Plutarch

Few Punic texts survive, however." Once "the City Archives, the Annals, and the scribal lists of suffets" existed. However, evidently these records were destroyed in the horrific fires during the Roman capture and destruction of the city in 146 BC.  You could say this was humankind’s first scorched earth destruction of a city and civilization.  

The Historian Polybius

Many of the main sources for this history come from such ancient historians as Livy, Polybius, Appian, Cornelius Nepos, Silius Italicus, Plutarch who I already mentioned, Dio Cassius, and Herodotus and even the philosopher Aristotle.  All of these authors came from civilizations that were usually in competition or conflict with Carthage.  All of these written accounts are by outsiders and include significant bias.  Even in the light of recent discoveries, much of the material remains ambiguous.

The Roman Historian Livy

  Probably some of Hiempsal II's libri punici, that had escaped the fires that consumed Carthage in 146 BC, wound up later in the large royal library of his grandson Juba II (ca 25 BCE-CE 24). Juba II not only was a Berber king, and husband of Cleopatra's daughter, but also a scholar and author in Greek of no less than nine works. He wrote for the Mediterranean-wide audience then enjoying classical literature. 

Juba II

The libri punici inherited from his grandfather surely became useful to him when composing his Libyka, a work on North Africa written in Greek. Unfortunately, only fragments of the Libyka survive, mostly from quotations made by other ancient authors. In the end, however, most Punic writings that survived the destruction of Carthage "did not escape the immense wreckage in which so many of Antiquity's literary works perished." Accordingly, the long and continuous interactions between Punic citizens of Carthage and the Berber communities that surrounded the city have no local historian. Their political arrangements and periodic  crises, their economic and work life, the cultural ties and social relations established and nourished (infrequently as kin), are not known to us directly from ancient Punic authors in written accounts. Neither side has left us their stories about life in Punic-era Carthage.

  Regarding Phoenician writings, few remain and these seldom refer to Carthage. The more ancient and most informative are cuneiform tablets, ca. 1600-1185 BCE, come from ancient city of Ugarit, located to the north of Phoenicia on the Syrian coast; it was a Canaanite city affiliated with the Hittites. The clay tablets tell of myths, epics, rituals, medical and administrative matters, and correspondence. The highly valued works of Sanchuniathon, an ancient priest of Beirut, who reportedly wrote on Phoenician religion and the origins of civilization, are themselves completely lost, but some little content endures twice removed. Sanchuniathon is believed by some to have lived in the 11th century, but this is considered doubtful. Much later a Phoenician History by Philo of Byblos (141-64 BC) reportedly existed, written in Greek, but only fragments of this work survive. An explanation proffered for why so few Phoenician works endured: early on (11th century BC) archives and records began to recorded on papyrus, which does not long survive in a moist coastal climate.

Philo of  Byblos

 In addition, both Phoenicians and Carthaginians were well known for their secrecy in - trade and business- and that was the reason for their civilization’s success.  However, information did escape from different sources from the past and discoveries made in later times through exploration, research, and the sciences.  Some of the information has not survived the passage of time. I have tried to make this the best history I have written by including the sources within the text in parenthesis. The sources I use come from Wikipedia, but they have been reorganized in a more chronological and original composition.

 I do not use the word chapter in my books instead I use the word Phase in that word’s place as it is a new book- division name  that I have invented to add originality to my work. This history will be composed of three Modules instead of Volumes or Parts, because any time one engages in the study of history one becomes a time traveler.  Using the word Module makes it feel like it could be so.