Phase 3

Carthage Becomes a Dominant Power

  From the time of Dido’s passing to the first king’s name mentioned after her as Hanno I there is a gap of 180 years. I consider this a transition period from the time Carthage was a Colony until the time when it became an independent City-state.

  When people spoke of Africa in ancient times, they generally meant the northern coast of Africa, and more specifically the coast west of Egypt (Cyrenaica and the Maghreb). The ancients vaguely knew of the existence of sub-Saharan Africa, but were unaware of its geography.  Despite its location in Africa, Egypt never expanded westwards. The expanse of the Libyan Desert cut Egypt off from the rest of North Africa. Egyptian boats, while well suited to the Nile, were not usable in the open Mediterranean. Moreover, the small Egyptian merchants had far more prosperous destinations on Crete, Cyprus and the Levant. 

   From their principal center of power at Carthage, the Carthaginians expanded and established small settlements (called emporia in Greek) along the North African coast; these settlements eventually served as market towns as well as anchorages. Hippo Regius and Rusicade are among the towns of Carthaginian origin on the coast of present-day Algeria.

The three names we have for the end of the Didoian Dynasty are as follows:

Damusi ca 675 BCE ?

Hanno I ca. 580-586 BCE

Malchus ca 556-550 BCE

Now Malchus is a Palestinian name known to the Jews.  One has a name that is used in the New Testament of the Bible.  Mal'-kus (Malchos, from the Hebrew means melekh, i.e. "counselor" or "king").  Nothing else is known about these three kings of Carthage.
  In 671 BCE, Esarhaddon the Assyrian King went to war against Pharaoh Taharqa of Egypt. Part of his army stayed behind to deal with rebellions in Tyre, and perhaps Ashkelon.  When the Assyrian Empire fell, the Babylonian Empire took their place.   Nebuchadnezzar II King of the Neo-Babylonian Empire besieged the city of Tyre for thirteen years (ca. 586–573 BCE) which ended in a compromise, with the Tyrians accepting Babylonian authority and agreeing to pay a tribute.  The Assyrians had allowed the people of Tyre to continue with their olive oil production, which served their empire well.  However, after the Neo-Babylonians laid siege on the city their olive oil production facilities were destroyed.  So there was a difference in administration of the city. It would seem that the Neo-Babylonians were the harsher of the two.  The mainland Greeks began their colonization efforts in the western Mediterranean with the founding of Naxos and Cumae in Sicily and Italy respectively, and by 650 BCE, the Phoenicians in Sicily had retreated to the western part of that island (that is Motya, Lilybaeum, and Panoramas). Around this time, the first recorded independent action by Carthage takes place, which is the colonization of Ibiza ( the third largest of the Balearic Islands).

The Ruins of Ibiza

  By the end of the 6th century BCE, Carthage was becoming one of the leading commercial centers of the West Mediterranean. Carthage would establish new colonies, repopulate old Phoenician ones, come to the defense of other Punic cities under threat from natives/Greeks, as well as expand her territories by conquest. While some Phoenician colonies willingly submitted to Carthage, paying tribute and giving up their foreign policy, others in Iberia and Sardinia resisted Carthaginian efforts.  The Phoenicians were the first to establish several commercial stations in Corsica and on Sardinia. After the Phoenicians, there arrived the Greeks, who also established their colonies. 

  We now return to the Carthaginian King List.   The first dynasty after the Didoian dynasty was the Magonid Dynasty.  It is composed of ten kings starting in ca 550 BCE and ending in ca 340 BCE.  Mago I ruled from ca 550-530 BCE. In addition, he was the founder of the Magonid Dynasty.  Under Mago I, Carthage established itself as the dominant military power in the western Mediterranean and the preeminent Phoencian city-state.  Nevertheless, Carthage was still economically dependent on Tyre.  It still sent tribute to the god Melqart in Tyre, the capital of Phoenicia, but acted increasingly independent. One of Mago's political achievements was an alliance with the Etruscans against Ancient Greece. This alliance lasted until around the time when Rome expelled the Etruscan kings.  Mago I was also active in Sicily, and married a Syracusan wife.  In 546 BCE, Phoenicians fleeing from Persian invasion established the colony of Alalia in Corsica (the Greeks had been on the island since 562 BCE), and began preying on Etruscan and Punic commerce. Between 540 and 535 BCE, a Carthaginian-Etruscan alliance expelled the Greeks from Corsica after the Battle of Alalia. 

Battle of Alalia Map

It is assumed that the Phocaean Greeks had 60 pentekonters (ships with 48 oars and 2 rudders for steering), not the trireme that would become famous at the Battle of Salamis.  The allied fleet was twice as large, also made of pentekonters, not the bireme normally used by the Phoenicians.

Drawing of a Greek Pentekonter

  Details of the battle are sketchy, but it is known that the Greeks had driven the allied fleet off, but had lost almost two-thirds of their own fleet in doing so: a Cadmean victory (A Cadmean victory is a reference to a victory that is so expensive that it causes one's own ruin), according to Herodotus. The rams of the surviving ships were severely damaged. Realizing that they could not withstand another attack, the Greeks evacuated Corsica, and initially sought refuge in Rhegion in Italy. Carthaginian and Etruscan battle losses are unknown A legend describes how Greek prisoners were stoned to death at Caere by the Etruscans, while the Carthaginians sold their prisoners into slavery. This battle is also known as “The Battle of Sardinia Sea”.  Corsica passed into Etruscan hands, while Carthage retained Sardinia ensuring that no Greek presence was established on the island.  The defeat also ended the westward expansion of the Greeks for all time.

  Carthage created her hegemony in part to resist Greek encroachments in the Phoencian sphere of influence. The Phoenicians initially did not resist the Greeks, but after Greece had reached Iberia in 638 BCE, Carthage emerged as the leader of the Phoencian resistance.  Under the Magonid Dynasty Carthage would establish an empire that would commercially dominate the western Mediterranean.

The Cothon in Carthage preparing for war

  The Phoenacan Greeks from Asia Minor (from the west coast of modern Turkey) founded the colony of Massalia around 600 BCE, which the Carthaginians had failed to prevent.  Marssalia becoming (the modern day Marseille, France) a thriving center of trade and a major rival of Carthage for the Spanish markets and the tin trade through Gaul. 

Terrain near Massalia (Marseille) today

Carthage would fight two more major naval battles for Massalia, losing both, but still managing to close the Strait of Gibraltar to Greek shipping and thus containing the Greek expansion in Spain by 480 BCE.  Carthaginians in support of the Phoenician colony at Gades in Iberia also brought about the collapse of Tartessos in Iberia by 530 BCE, either by armed conflict or by cutting off Greek trade.   The Persians had taken over Cyrene by this time, and Carthage may have been spared a trial of arms against the Persian Empire when the Phoenicians in the east refused to lend ships to Cambyses in 525 BCE for an African expedition.  Some suspect Carthage may have also paid him tribute to stop him. It is not known if Carthage had any role in the Battle of Cumae in 524 BCE, after which Etruscan power began to wane in Italy.

  It may be possible that the power of the Libyan tribes prevented expansion in the neighborhood of Carthage for some time. Until 550 BCE Carthage paid rent to the Libyans for the use of the land in areas surrounding the city and on Cape Bon for agricultural purposes.  The African domain controlled by Carthage was small at first and grew gradually. Carthage colonized the Syrtis Region (the area between Thapsus in Tunisia and Sabratha in northwest Libya between 700-600 BCE.  Carthage also focused on bringing the existing Phoencian colonies along the African coast into their influence prior to 509 B.C. as the first treaty of Rome records.  Their eastward expansion was stopped by the Greek colony of Cyrene (established in 630 BCE). 

Ruins of Cyrene

  Carthage spread her influence along the west coast relatively unhindered, but the chronology is unknown.  Wars with the Libyans, Numidians and Mauri took place, but it did not end up in an empire like the one the Romans would later create.  The Numidians were the Berber people who lived in Numidia (present day Algeria) and a smaller part of Tunisia.  The Numidians were one of the earliest natives to trade with the settlers of Carthage.  As Carthage grew, the relationship with the Numidians blossomed.  Carthage’s military used the Numidian cavalry as mercenaries. The Mauri (another term for the Moors) was a Latin designation for the population of Mauretania, the part of Africa east of Numidia, corresponding roughly  to the territory of modern Algeria and Morocco.  The Mauri consisted of a tribal confederation and were a Berber speaking people.

  The next king was Hasdrubal I ca 530-510 BCE.  Hasdrubal was elected "King" eleven times, was granted a triumph four times (the only Carthaginian to receive this honor - There is no record of anyone else being given similar treatment by Carthage) and had died of his battle wounds received in Sardinia. Carthage had engaged in a 25-year struggle in Sardinia, where the natives may have received aid from Sybaris, then the richest city in Magna Graecia (Greater Greece-or all those areas the Greeks had colonized) and an ally of the Phocaean Greeks.

Sybaris remains of Port facilities

  Apparently, Carthage had moved inland from its port colonies on the island. The Carthaginians faced resistance from Nora and Sulci in Sardinia, while Carales and Tharros had submitted willingly to Carthaginian rule. Hasdrubal’s war against the Libyans failed to stop the annual tribute payment. Around this time, the Carthaginians managed to defeat and drive away the colonization attempt near Leptis Magna in Libya by the Spartan prince Dorieus after three years.

Market of Leptis Magna

 Dorieus was later defeated and killed at Eryx in Sicily around 510 BCE while attempting to establish a foothold in Western Sicily.  

  The types of government agreements Carthage made with those city-states under their influence varied.  It shows the characteristics of the Delian League (allies sharing defense expenses), or the Spartan kingdom -serfs toiling for the Punic elite and state, and to a lesser extent, the Roman Republic (allies contributing manpower/tribute to furnish to the Carthaginian war machine).  The African lands near the city faced the harshest control measures, with Carthaginian officers administering the area and Punic troops garrisoning the cities.  Many of the cities who had agreements with Carthage had to destroy their defensive walls, while the Libyans living in the area had few rights.  The Libyans could own land, but had to pay tribute (50% agricultural produce and 25 % of their town income), and serve in the Carthaginian armies as conscripts.  Tributary allies such as Leptis Magna paid an annual tribute to Carthage. They ran their own internal affairs, retained defensive walls, but depended on Carthage’s international policy. These cities had to furnish military personnel for the Punic Army and Navy along with tribute.  Allies like Utica were more independent and had their own government.  Carthage stationed administration and troops in both Iberia and Sardinia to control her domain.  In return, the fleet had to combat piracy, and Carthage would fight wars to protect these cities under her protection from external threats.

 Hamilcar I c.510-480 BCE. Was Hasdrubal I’s brother and succeeded him to the throne. Carthage had concluded treaties with several powers, but the ones with Rome are the most famous. In 509 BCE, there was a treaty signed between Carthage and Rome indicating a division of influence and commercial activities. 

Latium and Rome in the 5th Century BCE

  This is the first known source indicating that Carthage had gained control over Sicily and Sardinia, as well an emporia and the area north of Cape Bon in Africa. Carthage may have signed the treaty with Rome, then an insignificant backwater power, because the Romans had treaties with the Phocaeans and Cumae, who were aiding the Roman struggle against the Etruscans at that time. Carthage had similar treaties with Etruscan, Punic and Greek cities in Sicily. By the end of the 6th Century BCE, Carthage had conquered most of the old Phoenician colonies e.g. Hadrumetum, Utica and Kerkouane, subjugated some of the Libyan tribes, and had taken control of parts of the North African coast from modern Morocco to the borders of Cyrenaica.

The ruins of Kerkouane

 It was also fighting wars in defense of Punic colonies and commerce, however, only the details of her struggle against the Greeks have survived - which often makes Carthage seem "obsessed with Sicily (which was only one of their problems)".

  The island of Sicily (which was across from Cape Bon), lying at Carthage's doorstep, became the arena on which this conflict played out. From their earliest days, both the Greeks and Phoenicians had been attracted to the large island, establishing a large number of colonies and trading posts along its coasts. Small battles had been fought between these settlements for centuries. Carthage had to contend with at least Greek three incursions, in 580 BCE, in 510 BCE and a war in which the city of Heraclea was destroyed.

Ruins of the city of Heraclea

  Gelo had fought in the last war and had secured terms for the Greeks.  Gelo fought in a number of the conflicts between the various tyrant kings of Sicily and earned a reputation as a formidable soldier. His performance was so impressive that he was promoted to be commander of the cavalry for Hippocrates, tyrant of Syracuse. From this position he played a key role in a number of battles, including one against Syracuse, a city which he himself would later conquer (according to Herodotus).

Gelo Greek Tyrant

  The Punic domain on Sicily by 500 BCE contained the cities of Motya, Panoramas (Palermo) and Soluntum. By 490 BCE, Carthage had concluded treaties with the Greek cities of Selinus, Himera, and Zankle (modern Messina) in Sicily.  Gelo backed in part by other Greek city-states, had been trying to unite the island under his rule since 485 BC.  Carthage looking for an excuse to stop this movement decided to intervene at the instigation of the tyrant of Rhegion, who was the father-in-law of the deposed tyrant of Himera.

Ruins of Himera

  Hamilcar prepared the largest Punic overseas expedition to date and after three years of preparations, sailed for Sicily. However, as fate or luck would have it the Punic fleet was battered  by storms en route, the Punic army was destroyed and Hamilcar was killed in the Battle of Himera by the combined armies of Himera, Akragas and Syracuse under Gelo. Carthage made peace with the Greeks and paid a large indemnity of 2000 silver talents, but lost no territory in Sicily.  

  This defeat had far-reaching consequences, both political and economic, for Carthage. Politically, the old government of entrenched nobility was ousted, replaced by the Carthaginian Republic. They continued to elect their kings, but their power began to erode, with the senate and the “Tribunal of 104” gaining dominance in political matters, and the position of “Suffet” becoming more influential.  Economically sea-born trade with the Middle East was cut off by the mainland Greeks, as the Greek sphere of influence boycotted Carthaginian traders.  This led to more trade with the west and with the caravan-borne trade with the east. 

 For the next 70 years Carthage made no recorded forays against the Greeks nor aided either the Elymians/Sicels or Etruscans, then locked in a struggle with the Greeks.  Based on the abstinence in Greek affairs, some suspect that Carthage was crippled after the defeat of Himera.   Nevertheless, this silence in activity could also mean that few records concerning Carthage survive from those years too. A non-intervention treaty could have been made with the Greeks since Carthage retained its territory on Sicily. After that war a period of peace existed between them.  The Carthaginians exercised much influence on the island of Sicily and the native people of the island the Eymans and Sicels were their allies at this time. So it was really a small price to pay to maintain their status quo. This would set a precedent for future conflict on Sicily.