History of Punic-era Tunisia: culture

History of Punic-era Tunisia: culture addresses various institutions and social organizations created by the people of the city-state of Carthage and surrounding regions. Unfortunately very few Punic writings from that era survived. Most surviving written works that discuss the civic and religious life in Punic-era Carthage come from Greek and Roman authors, whose own people were GeneRally hostile to Carthage.

Severe damage during the Third Punic War, then wholesale reconstruction during Roman times, make finding evidence of the prior Punic-era Carthage a very difficult. From ancient written descriptions and from meager on-site findings, certain features of the ancient city are known or surmised, as well as the rural life-style and culture enjoyed on the agricultural lands.

Carthage was originally founded as a base for Mediterranean-wide trade. Famous among its contemporaries for the city's great prosperity, business ventures in Carthage were key elements in the lives of many citizens. The family companies making its far-flung trading empire, which was backed by the state, and urban industries producing many commodities sold, are discussed.

The constitution of the city-state of Carthage drew the admiration of foreigners, notably Aristotle. The city-state's government, as studied by this famous philosopher of the 4th century BCE, had already Undergone significant developments since the first state institutions of earliest Carthage. These were probably taken from Phoenician models during the city's founding. Aristotle describes the constitution of Carthage in terms of ancient Greek political thinking. Yet ancient sources leave many questions unanswered, allowing room for competing interpretations of its history.

Puni religion also begins in Phoenicia, which shared several Semitic features in common with the religious history of its neighbor Ancient Israel, although with significant differences. As religion at Carthage developed in its new African environment, some mutual influence arose between the Punic and the native Berber views of worship and deity. Carthaginians understood themselves as a religious people. At the peak of the city's fame and prosperity, Tanit was recognized as the queen goddess of Carthage.

Extant writings

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. Yet only by this light may we perceive many of the subtleties of the Punic city, that is, by the early light given us by various ancient Greek and Roman authors.

Apart from inscriptions, hardly any Punic literature has survived, none in its own language and script. A brief catalogue would include:

• three short treaties with Rome (Latin translations);
• several pages of Hanno the Navigator's log-book concerning 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 are transcribed into Latin letters phonetically;
• the thousands of inscriptions made in Punic script, thousands, but many extremely short, e.g., a dedication to a deity with the personal name(s) of the devotee(s).

"[F]rom the Greek author Plutarch [(c. 46-c. 120)] we learn of the 'sacred books' in Punic safeguarded by the city's temples. Few Punic texts survive, however." Once "the City Archives, the Annals, and the scribal lists of suffets" existed, but evidently these were destroyed in the horrific fires during the Roman capture of the city in 146 BC.

Yet some Punic books (Latin: libri punici) from the libraries of Carthage reportedly did survive the fires. These works were apparently given by Roman authorities to the newly augmented Berber rulers. Over a century after the fall of Carthage, the Roman politician-turned-author Gaius Sallustius Crispus or Sallust (86-34) reported his having seen volumes written in Punic, which books were said to be once possessed by the Berber king, Hiempsal II (r.88-81). By way of Berber informants and Punic translators, Sallust had used these surviving books to write his brief sketch of Berber affairs.

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 (r.25 BC-AD 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. 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 Libyka survive, mostly from quotations made by other ancient authors. It may have been Juba II who 'discovered' the five-centuries-old 'log book' of Hanno the Navigator, called the Periplus, among library documents saved from fallen Carthage.

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, from ancient 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 also 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 was said to have lived in the 11th century, which is considered doubtful. Much later a Phoenician History by Philo of Byblos (64-141) 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) archives and records began to be kept on papyrus, which does not long survive in a moist coastal climate. Also, both Phoenicians and Carthaginians were well known for their secrecy.

Thus, of their ancient writings we have little of major interest left to us by Carthage, or by Phoenicia the country of origin of the city founders. "Of the various Phoenician and Punic compositions alluded to by the ancient classical authors, not a single work or even fragment has survived in its original idiom." "Indeed, not a single Phoenician manuscript has survived in the original [language] or in translation." We cannot therefore access directly the line of thought or the contour of their worldview as expressed in their own words, in their own voice. Ironically, it was the Phoenicians who "invented or at least perfected and transmitted a form of writing [the alphabet] that has influenced dozens of cultures including our own."

As noted, the celebrated ancient books on agriculture written by Mago of Carthage survives only via quotations in Latin from several later Roman works. His books are discussed in the City and country section below.

City and country

The original Punic settlements here were merely enclaves, started to service the trans-Mediterranean trading network created by the Phoenician mother-city, Tyre. The merchant harbor at Carthage was developed, after settlement of the nearby Punic town of Utica. Eventually the surrounding countryside was brought into the ORBit of the Punic urban centers, first commercially, then politically. Direct management over cultivation of neighboring lands by Punic owners followed.

A widely admired, 28-volume work on agriculture was authored in Punic by Mago (c.300). After the fall of Carthage (in 146), it was translated into Latin by Decimus Silanus (a Roman expert in the Punic language), and later into Greek; yet the original and both translations were lost. Mago's text, however, was quoted in Latin by Varro (116-27), a acclaimed Roman polymath, in his De re rustica, and by Columella (1st century AD), a Roman writer on agriculture. Mago was praised by Pliny the Elder (23-79), the Roman encyclopedist, for his knowledge of farming techniques. Mago was known to be a retired army general. Olive trees (e.g., grafting), fruit trees (pomegranate, almond, fig, date palm), viniculture, bees, cattle, sheep, poultry, implements, and farm management were among the ancient topics which Mago discussed. As well, Mago addresses the wine-maker's art (here a type of sherry).

In Punic farming society, according to Mago, the small estate owners were the chief producers. They were, two modern historians write, not absent landlords. Rather, the likely reader of Mago was "the master of a relatively modest estate, from which, by great personal exertion, he extracted the maximum yield." Mago counseled the rural landowner, for the sake of their own 'utilitarian' interests, to treat carefully and well their managers and farm workers, or their overseers and slaves. Yet elsewhere these writers suggest that rural land ownership provided also a new power base among the city's nobility, for those resident in their country villas. By many, farming was viewed as an alternative endeavor to an urban business. Another modern historian opines that more often it was the urban merchant of Carthage who owned rural farming land to some profit, and also to retire there during the heat of summer. It may seem that Mago anticipated such an opinion, and instead issued this contrary advice (as quoted by the Roman writer Columella):

"The man who acquires an estate must sell his house, lest he prefer to live in the town rather than in the country. Anyone who prefers to live in a town has no need of an estate in the country." "One who has bought land should sell his town house, so that he will have no desire to worship the household gods of the city rather than those of the country; the man who takes greater delight in his city residence will have no need of a country estate."

The issues involved in rural land management also reveal underlying features of Punic society, its structure and stratification. The hired workers might be considered 'rural proletariate', drawn from the local Berbers. Whether or not there remained Berber landowners next to Punic-run farms is unclear. Some Berbers became sharecroppers. Slaves acquired for farm work were often prisoners of war. In lands outside Punic political control, independent Berbers cultivated grain and raised horses on their lands. Yet within the Punic domain that surrounded the city-state of Carthage, there were ethnic divisions in addition to the usual quasi feudal distinctions between lord and peasant, or master and serf. This inherent instability in the countryside drew the unwanted attention of potential invaders. Yet for long periods Carthage was able to manage these social difficulties.

The many amphorae with Punic markings subsequently found about ancient Mediterranean coastal settlements testify to Carthaginian trade in locally made olive oil and wine. Carthage's agricultural production was held in high regard by the ancients, and rivaled that of Rome—they were once competitors, e.g., over their olive harvests. Under Roman rule, however, grain production (corn and barley) for export increased dramatically in 'Africa'; yet these later fell with the rise in Roman Egypt's grain exports. Thereafter olive groves and vineyards were re-established around Carthage. Visitors to the several growing regions that surrounded the city wrote admiringly of the lush green gardens, orchards, fields, irrigation channels, hedgerows (as boundaries), as well as the many prosperous farming towns located across the rural landscape.

Accordingly, the Greek author and compilor Diodorus Siculus (fl. 1st century BCE), who enjoyed access to ancient writings later lost, and on which he based most of his writings, described agricultural land near the city of Carthage circa 310 BC:

"It was divided into market gardens and orchards of all sorts of fruit trees, with many streams of water flowing in channels irrigating every part. There were country homes everywhere, lavishly built and covered with stucco. ... Part of the land was planted with vines, part with olives and other productive trees. Beyond these, cattle and sheep were pastured on the plains, and there were meadows with grazing horses."

The Chora (farm lands of Carthage) encompassed a limited area: the north coastal tell, the lower Bagradas river valley (inland from Utica), Cape Bon, and the adjacent sahel on the east coast. Punic culture here achieved the introduction of agricultural sciences first developed for lands of the eastern Mediterranean, and their adaptation to local African conditions.

The urban landscape of Carthage is known in part from ancient authors, augmented by modern digs and surveys conducted by archeologists. The "first urban nucleus" dating to the seventh century, in area about ten hectares (or four acres), was apparently located on low lying lands along the coast (north of the later harbors). As confirmed by archaeological excavations, Carthage was a "creation ex nihilo," built on 'virgin' land, and situated at the end of a peninsula (per the ancient coastline). Here among "mud brick walls and beaten clay floors" (recently uncovered) were also found extensive cemeteries, which yielded evocative grave goods, e.g., clay masks. "Thanks to this burial archaeology we know more about archaic Carthage than about any other contemporary city in the western Mediterranean." Already in the eighth century fabric dyeing operations had been established, evident from crushed shells of murex (from which the 'Phoenician purple'). Nonetheless only a "meager picture" of the cultural life of the earliest pioneers in the city can be conjectured, and nothing about housing, nor monuments, nor defenses. The Roman poet Virgil imagined early Carthage, when his legendary character Aeneas arrived there:

"Aneneas found, where lately huts had been, marvelous buildings, gateways, cobbled ways, and din of wagons. There the Tyrians were hard at work: laying courses for walls, rolling up stones to build the citadel, while others picked out building sites and plowed a boundary furrow. Laws were being enacted, magistrates and a sacred senate chosen. Here men were dredging harbors, there they laid the deep foundations of a theatre, and quarried massive pillars... ."

What follows here is a description most appropriate to the city-state of Carthage, circa 150 BC (just before the Third Punic War in which it was destroyed), with some mention of the city's earlier stages. The two inner harbors [called in Punic cothon] were located in the southeast; one being commercial, and the other for war. Their definite functions are not entirely known, probably for the construction, outfitting, or repair of ships, perhaps also loading and unloading cargo. Larger anchorages existed to the north and south of the city. North and west of the cothon were located several industrial areas, e.g., metalworking and pottery (e.g., for amphora), which could serve both inner harbors, and ships anchored to the south of the city.

About the Byrsa, the citadel area to the north, considering its importance our knowledge of it is patchy, due to the fiery fall of the city in 146. The Byrsa heights were the reported site of the Temple of Eshmun (the healing god), at the top of a stairway of sixty steps. A temple of Tanit (the queen goddess) was likely situated on the slope of the 'lesser Byrsa' immediately to the east. Also situated on the Byrsa were luxury homes.

South of the citadel, near the cothon, the inner harbors, was the tophet, a special and very old cemetery, which when begun lay outside the city's boundaries. Here the Salammbô was located, the Sanctuary of Tanit, not a temple but an enclosure for placing stone stelae. Evidence from here may indicate the occurrence of child sacrifice. Probably it was "dedicated at an early date, perhaps by the first settlers."

Between the sea-filled cothon for shipping and the Byrsa heights lay the agora [Greek: "market"], i.e., the central marketplace for business and commerce. The agora was also an area of public squares and plazas, where the people might formally assemble, or gather for festivals. It was the site of religious shrines, and the location of whatever were the major municipal buildings of Carthage. Here beat the heart of civic life. In this district of the city-state, more probably, the ruling suffets presided, the council of elders convened, the tribunal of the 104 met, and justice was dispensed at trials in the open air.

Early residential districts wrapped around the Byrsa from the south to the north east. Houses usually were whitewashed and blank to the street, but within were courtyards open to the sky. In these neighborhoods multistory construction later became common, some up to six stories tall according to an ancient Greek author. Several architecutural floorplans of homes have been revealed by recent excavations, as well as the general layout of several city blocks. Stone stairs were set in the streets, and drainage was planned, e.g., in the form of soakways leaching into the sandy soil. Along the Byrsa's southern slope were located not only fine old homes, but also many of the earliest gravesites, interspersed with the living, juxtaposed.

Artisan workshops were located in the city at sites north and west of the harbors. The location of three metal workshops (implied from iron slag and other vestiges of such activity) were found adjacent to the naval and commercial harbors, and another two were further up the hill toward the Byrsa citadel. Sites of pottery kilns have been identified, between the agora and the harbors, and further north. Earthenware often used Greek models. A fuller's shop for preparing woolen cloth (shrink and thicken) was evidently situated further to the west and south, then by the edge of the city. Carthage also produced very refined objects. During the 4th and 3rd centuries, the sculptures of the sarcophagi became works of art. "Bronze engraving and stone-carving reached their zenith."

The elevation of the land at the promontory on the seashore to the northeast (now called Sidi Bou Saïd), was twice as high above sea level as that at the Byrsa (roughly 100 meters versus 50). In between runs a ridge that several times reaches 50 meters; this ridge continues northward along the seashore, and forms the edge of a plateau-like area between the Byrsa and the sea). Newer urban developments lay here in these northern districts.

Surrounding Carthage were walls "of great strength" said in places to rise above forty feet (13 m.), being nearly thirty feet (10 m.) thick, according to ancient authors. To the west three parallel walls were built. The walls altogether ran for about thirty-three kilometers to encircle the city. The heights of the Byrsa were additionally fortified; this area being the last to succumb to the Romans in 146 BC. The Romans had landed their army on the strip of land extending southward from the city.

Trade and business

Maritime trade was the original raison d'être of the city, its commercial lifeblood. Carthage, of course, drew upon the business experience, the range of commodities, and the navigation lore of the Phoenicians. To distinguish: Phoenicia excelled more as a trading nation, than as producers of goods for sale. Yet they crafted quality textiles, including the development of a purple dye from marine life [the murex shellfish], which became famous throughout the ancient Mediterranean for its regal color and endurance (fade resistance). Jewelry, glass, and ceramics were also fabricated and entered the flow of commerce. Later, agricultural products were added. Yet at the beginning of their Mediterranean ventures, which led to the founding of Carthage, the Phoenicians had "travelled westward not as true colonists but as traders."

In establishing commercial relations with native peoples, communication became an issue due to language differences, especially in more distant and less developed lands along the western Mediterranean and Atlantic. To be avoided was any chance of armed conflict, which was bad for business. The Phoenicians, and later the merchants of Carthage, came to use a procedure of silent barter. The Greek author Herodotus (born in 484 BC) wrote that it was employed in Africa (for example, among "Libyans beyond the Pillars of Heracles"), where gold dust was used in trade. Herodotus in his Istorion tells us of the way it was done—which is here summarized:

Merchants took their ship-borne wares and placed them on the beach for inspection, then withdrew to "raise a smoke". Locals would come to see and, beside the goods desired, leave an amount of gold; then withdraw. The traders would return, and if a "fair price" take it; otherwise, they would withdraw again. The local then might add more gold, and so back and forth. There was, wrote the ancient Greek, "perfect honesty" on both sides.

The merchants of Carthage were in part heirs of the Mediterranean trade developed by Phoenicia, and so also heirs of the rivalry with Greek merchants. Business activity was accordingly both stimulated and challenged. Cyprus had been an early site of such commercial contests. The Phoenicians then had ventured into the western Mediterranean, founding trading posts, including Utica and Carthage. The Greeks followed, entering the western seas where the commercial rivalry continued. Eventually it would lead, especially in Sicily, to several centuries of intermittent war.

Although Greek-made merchandise was generally considered superior in design, Carthage also produced trade goods in abundance. That Carthage came to function as a manufacturing colossus was shown during the Third Punic War with Rome. Carthage, which had previously disarmed, then was made to face the fatal Roman siege. The city "suddenly organised the manufacture of arms" with great skill and effectiveness. According to Strabo (63BC-AD21) in his Geographica:

"[Carthage] each day produced one hundred and forty finished shields, three hundred swords, five hundred spears, and one thousand missiles for the catapults... . Furthermore, [Carthage although surrounded by the Romans] built one hundred and twenty decked ships in two months... for old timber had been stored away in readiness, and a large number of skilled workmen, maintained at public expense."

The textiles industry in Carthage probably started in private homes, but the existence of professional weavers indicates that a sort of factory system later developed. Products included embroidery, carpets, and use of the purple murex dye (for which the Carthaginian isle of Djerba was famous). Metalworkers developed specialized skills, i.e., making various weapons for the armed forces, as well as domestic articles, such as knives, forks, scissors, mirrors, and razors (all articles found in tombs). Artwork in metals included vases and lamps in bronze, also bowls, and plates. Other products came from such crafts as the potters, the glassmakers, and the goldsmiths. Inscriptions on votive stele indicate that many were not slaves but 'free citizens'.

Phoenician and Punic merchant ventures were often run as a family enterprise, putting to work its members and its subordinate clients. Such family-run businesses might perform a variety of tasks: (a) own and maintain the ships, providing the captain and crew; (b) do the negotiations overseas, either by barter or buy and sell, of (i) their own manufactured commodities and trade goods, and (ii) native products (metals, foodstuffs, etc.) to carry and trade elsewhere; and (c) send their agents to stay at distant outposts in order to make lasting local contacts, and later to establish a warehouse of shipped goods for exchange, and eventually perhaps a settlement. Over generations, such activity might result in the creation of a wide-ranging network of trading operations. Ancillary would be the growth of reciprocity between different family firms, foreign and domestic.

State protection was extended to its sea traders by the Phoenician city of Tyre and later likewise by the daughter city-state of Carthage. Stéphane Gsell, the well-regarded French historian of ancient North Africa, summarized the major principles guiding the civic rulers of Carthage with regard to its policies for trade and commerce:

• (1) to open and maintain markets for its merchants, whether by entering into direct contact with foreign peoples using either treaty negotiations or naval power, or by providing security for isolated trading stations;
• (2) the reservation of markets exclusively for the merchants of Carthage, or where competition could not be eliminated, to regulate trade by state-sponsored agreements with its commercial rivals;
• (3) suppression of piracy, and promotion of Carthage's ability to freely navigate the seas.

Both the Phoenicians and the Cathaginians were well known in antiquity for their secrecy in general, and especially pertaining to commercial contacts and trade routes. Both cultures excelled in commercial dealings. Strabo (63BC-AD21) the Greek geographer wrote that before its fall (in 146 BC) Carthage enjoyed a population of 700,000, and directed an alliance of 300 cities. The Greek historian Polybius (c.203-120) referred to Carthage as "the wealthiest city in the world".

Constitution of State

The government of Carthage was undoubtedly patterned after the Phoenician, especially the mother city of Tyre, but Phoenician cities had kings and Carthage apparently did not. An important office was called in Punic the Suffets (a Semitic word agnate with the Old Hebrew Shophet usually translated as Judges as in the Book of Judges). Yet the Suffet at Carthage was more the executive leader; but he also served in a judicial role. Birth and wealth were the initial qualifications. It appears that the Suffet was elected by the citizens, and held office for a one year term; probably there were two of them at a time; hence quite comparable to the Roman Consulship. A crucial difference was that the Suffet had no military power. Carthaginian generals marshalled mercenary armies and were separately elected. From about 550 to 450 the Magonid family monopolized the top military position; later the Barcid family acted similarly. Eventually it came to be that, after a war, the commanding general had to testify justifying his actions before a court of 104 judges.

Aristotle (384-322) discusses Carthage in his work, Politica; he begins: "The Carthaginians are also considered to have an excellent form of government." He briefly describes the city as a "mixed constitution", a political arrangement with cohabiting elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, i.e., a king (Gk: basileus), a council of elders (Gk: gerusia), and the people (Gk: demos). Later Polybius of Megalopolis (c.204-122, Greek) in his Istoria would describe the Roman Republic in more detail as a mixed constitution in which the Consuls were the monarchy, the Senate the aristocracy, and the Assemblies the democracy.

Evidently Carthage also had an institution of elders who advised the Suffets, similar to a Greek gerusia or the Roman Senate. We do not have a Punic name for this body. At times its members would travel with an army general on campaign. Members also formed permanent committees. The institution had several hundred members from the wealthiest class who held office for life. Vacancies were probably filled by co-option. From among its members were selected the 104 Judges mentioned above. Later the 104 would come to evaluate not only army generals but other office holders as well. Aristotle regarded the 104 as most important; he compared it to the ephorate of Sparta with regard to control over security. In Hannibal's time, such a Judge held office for life. At some stage there also came to be independent self-perpetuating boards of five who filled vacancies and supervised (non-military) government administration.

Popular assemblies also existed at Carthage. When deadlocked the Suffets and the quasi-senatorial institution of elders might request the assembly to vote; also, assembly votes were requested in very crucial matters in order to achieve political consensus and popular coherence. The assembly members had no legal wealth or birth qualification. How its members were selected is unknown, e.g., whether by festival group or urban ward or another method.

The Greeks were favorably impressed by the constitution of Carthage; Aristotle had a separate study of it made which unfortunately is lost. In his Politica he states: "The government of Carthage is oligarchical, but they successfully escape the evils of oligarchy by enriching one portion of the people after another by sending them to their colonies." "[T]heir policy is to send some [poorer citizens] to their dependent towns, where they grow rich." Yet he continues, "[I]f any misfortue occurred, and the bulk of the subjects revolted, there would be no way of restoring peace by legal means." Aristotle remarked also:

"Many of the Carthaginian institutions are excellent. The superiority of their constitution is proved by the fact that the common people remain loyal to the constitution; the Carthaginians have never had any rebellion worth speaking of, and have never been under the rule of a tyrant." Here one may remember that the city-state of Carthage, who citizens were mainly Libyphoenicians (of Phoenician ancestry born in Africa), dominated and exploited an agricultural countryside of composed mainly of native Berber sharecroppers and farmworkers, whose affiliations to Carthage were open to divergent possibilities. Beyond these more settled Berbers and the Punic farming towns and rural manors, lived the independent Berber tribes, who were mostly pastorialists.

In the brief, uneven review of government at Carthage found in his Politica Aristotle mentions several faults. Thus, "that the same person should hold many offices, which is a favorite practice among the Carthaginians." Aristotle disapproves, mentionting the flute-player and the shoemaker. Also, that "magistrates should be chosen not only for their merit but for their wealth." Aristotle's opinion is that focus on pursuit of wealth will lead to oligarchy and its evils.

"[S]urely it is a bad thing that the greatest offices... should be bought. The law which allows this abuse makes wealth of more account than virtue, and the whole state becomes avaricious. For, whenever the chiefs of the state deem anything honorable, the other citizens are sure to follow their example; and, where virtue has not the first place, their aristocracy cannot be firmly established."

In Carthage the people seemed politically satisfied and submissive, rarely exercising the few opportunities to assent to state decisions given them in their assemblies. Popular influence over government appears not to have been an issue at Carthage. Being a commercial republic fielding a mercenary army, the people were not conscripted for military service, an experience which can foster the feel for popular political action. But perhaps this misunderstands the society; perhaps the people, whose values were based on small-group loyalty, felt themselves sufficiently connected to their city's leadership by the very integrity of their social fabric. Carthage was very stable; there were few openings for tyrants. Only after defeat by Rome devastated Punic imperial ambitions did the people of Carthage seem to question their governance and to show interest in political reform.

In 196, following the Second Punic War (218-201), Hannibal Barca, still greatly admired as a Barcid military leader, was elected Suffet. When his reforms were blocked by a financial official about to become a Judge for life, Hannibal rallied the populace against the 104 Judges. He proposed a one year term for the 104, as part of a major civic overhaul. Additionally, the reform included a restructuring of the city's revenues, and the fostering of trade and agriculture. The changes rather quickly resulted in a noticeable increase in prosperity. Yet his incorrigible political opponents cravenly went to Rome, to charge Hannibal with conspiracy, namely, plotting war against Rome in league with Antiochus the Hellenic ruler of Syria. Although Scipio Africanus resisted such maneuver, eventually Roman intervention forced Hannibal to leave Carthage. Thus corrupt city-state officials efficiently blocked Hannibal Barca's efforts to reform Carthage.

The above description of the constitution basically follows Warmington. Largely the earlier descriptions are given by Greek foreigners who likely would see in Carthage reflections of their own institutions. How strong was the Hellenizing influence within Carthage? The basic difficulty is the lack of adequate writings due not only to the secretive nature of the Punic state, but also to the utter destruction of the capital city and its records. Another view of the constitution of Carthage is given by Picard as follows.

Mago (6th century) was King of Carthage, Punic MLK or malik (Greek basileus), not merely a SFT or Suffet, which then was only a minor official. Mago as MLK was head of state and war leader; being MLK was also a religious office. His family was considered to possess a sacred quality. Mago's office was somewhat similar to that of Pharaoh, but although kept in a family it was not hereditary, it was limited by legal consent. Picard, however, believes that the council of elders and the popular assembly are late institutions. Carthage was founded by the King (MLK) of Tyre who had a royal monopoly on this trading venture. Accordingly, it was the royal authority stemming from this traditional source of power that the MLK of Carthage possessed. Later, as other Phoenician ship companies entered the trading region, and so associated with the city-state, the MLK of Carthage had to keep order among a rich variety of powerful merchants in their negotiations over risky commerce across the seas. Under these circumstance, the office of MLK began to be transformed. Yet it was not until the aristocrats of Carthage became wealthy owners of agricultural lands in Africa that a council of elders was institutionalized at Carthage.

Punic religion

The Phoenicians of Tyre brought their inherited customs and habitual understandings with them to north Africa. The religious practices and beliefs of Phoenicia were cognate generally to their neighbors in Canaan, which in turn shared characteristics common throughout the ancient Semitic world. "Canaanite religion was more of a public institution than of an individual experience." Its rites were primarily for city-state purposes; payment of taxes by citizens was considered in the category of religious sacrifices. Unfortunately, much of the Phoenician sacred writings known to the ancients have been lost.

Like their Hebrew cousins the Phoenicians were known for being very religious. While there remain favorable aspects regarding Canaanite religion, several of its reported practices have been widely criticized, in particular, temple prostitution, and child sacrifice. The tradition of temple prostitution became forbidden in Hebrew religion, e.g., by the reforms instituted under King Josiah. In the foundation story of Abraham and Isaac, it is shown that the ancient, regional, religious practice of child sacrifice was not required by the Hebrew Deity. Notwithstanding these and other important differences, cultural religious similarities between the ancient Hebrews and the Phoenicians persisted.

Canaanite religious mythology does not appear as elaborated compared with existent literature of their cousin Semites in Mesopotamia. In Canaan the supreme god was called El, which means "god" in common Semitic. The storm god Baal, meaning "master". Other gods were called by royal titles, as in Melqart meaning "king of the city", or Adonis for "lord". On the other hand the Phoenicians, notorious for being secretive in business, might use these non-descript words as cover for the secluded name of the god, known only to a select few initiated into the inmost circle, or not even used by them, much as their neighbors the ancient Hebrews used the word Adonai (Heb: "Lord") to place a cover over the name of their God.

The Semitic pantheon was well-populated; which god became primary evidently depended on the exigencies of a particular city-state or tribal locale. Due perhaps to the leading role of the city-state of Tyre, its reigning god Melqart was prominent throughout Phoenicia and overseas. Also of great general interest was Astarte (Heb: Ashtoreth), (Bab: Ishtar), a fertility goddess who also enjoyed regal and matronly aspects. The prominent deity Eshmun of Sidon developed from a chthonic nature for agriculture into a god of health and healing. Associated with the fertility and harvest myth widespread in the region, in this regard Eshmun was linked with Astarte; other like pairings included Ishtar and Tammuz in Babylon, and Isis and Osiris in Egypt.

Religious institutions of great antiquity in Tyre, called marzeh (MRZH, "place of reunion"), did much to foster social bonding and "kin" loyalty. These institutions held banquets for their membership on festival days. Various marzeh societies developed into elite fraternities, becoming very influential in the commercial trade and governance of Tyre. As now understood, each marzeh originated in the congeniality inspired and then nurtured by a series of ritual meals, shared together as trusted "kin", all held in honor of the deified ancestors. Later, at the Punic city-state of Carthage, the "citizen body was divided into groups which met at times for common feasts." Such festival groups may also have composed the voting cohort for selecting members of the city-state's Assembly.

Religion in Carthage was based on inherited Phoenician ways of devotion. In fact, until its fall embassies from Carthage would regularly make the journey to Tyre to worship Melqart, bringing material offerings. Transplanted to distant Carthage, these Phoenician ways persisted, but naturally acquired distinctive traits: perhaps influenced by a spiritual and cultural evolution, or synthesizing Berber tribal practices, or transforming under the stress of political and economic forces encountered by the city-state. Over time the original Phoenician exemplar developed distinctly, becoming the Punic religion at Carthage. "The Carthaginians were notorious in antiquity for the intensity of their religious beliefs." "Besides their reputation as merchants, the Carthaginians were known in the ancient world for their superstition and intense religiousity. They imagined themselves living in a world inhabited by supernatural powers which were mostly malevolent. For protection they carried amulets of various origins and had them buried with them when they died."

At Carthage as at Tyre religion was integral to the city's life. A committee of ten elders selected by the civil authorities regulated worship and built the temples with public funds. Some priesthoods were hereditary to certain families. Punic inscriptions list a hierarchy of cohen (priest) and rab cohenim (lord priests). Each temple was under the supervision of its chief priest or priestess. To enter the Temple of Eshmun one had to abstain from [...] intercourse for three days, and from eating beans and pork. Private citizens also nurtured their own destiny, as evidenced by the common use of theophoric personal names, e.g., Hasdrubal, "he who has Baal's help" and Hamilcar [Abdelmelqart], "pledged to the service of Melqart".

The city's legendary foundress, Elissa or Dido, was the widow of Acharbas the high priest of Tyre in service to its principal deity Melqart. Dido was also attached to the fertility goddess Astarte. With her Dido brought not only ritual implements for the worship of Astarte, but also her priests and sacred prostitutes (taken from Cyprus). The agricultural turned healing god Eshmun was worshipped at Carthage, as were other dieities. Melqart became supplanted at the Punic city-state by the emergent god Baal Hammon, which perhaps means "lord of the altars of incense" (thought to be an epithet to cloak the god's real name). Later, another newly arisen deity arose to eventually reign supreme at Carthage, a goddess of agriculture and generation who manifested a regal majesty, Tanit.

The name Baal Hammon (BL HMN) has attracted scholarly interest. The more accepted etymology is to "heat" (Sem: HMN). Modern scholars at first associated Baal Hammon with the Egyptian god Ammon of Thebes, both the Punic and the Egyptian being gods of the sun. Both also had the ram as a symbol. The Egyptian Ammon was known to have spread by trade routes to Libyans in the vicinity of modern Tunisia, well before arrival of the Phoenicians. Yet Baal Hammon's derivation from Ammon no longer may considered the most likely, as Baal Hammon has since been traced also to Syrio-Phoenician origins, confirmed by recent finds at Tyre. Baal Hammon is also presented as a god of agriculture: "Baal Hammon's power over the land and its fertility rendered him of great appeal to the inhabitants of Tunisia, a land of fertile wheat- and fruit-bearing plains."

"In Semitic religion El, the father of the gods, had gradually been shorn of his power by his sons and relegated to a remote part of his heavenly home; in Carthage, on the other hand, he became, once more, the head of the pantheon, under the enigmatic title of Ba'al Hammon."

Prayers of individual Carthaginians were often addressed to Baal Hammon. Yet this deity was recipient of the very troubling practice of child sacrifice. Diodorus (late 1st century BCE) wrote that when Agathocles had attacked Carthage (in 310) several hundred children of leading families were sacrificed to regain the god's favor. Modernly, the French novelist Gustave Flaubert's 1862 work Salammbô graphically featured this god as accepting such sacrifice.

The goddess Tanit during the 5th and 4th centuries became queen goddess, supreme over the city-state of Carthage, thus outshining the former chief god and her associate, Baal Hammon. Tanit was represented by "palm trees weighed down with dates, ripe pomegranates ready to burst, lotus or lilies coming into flower, fish, doves, frogs... ." She gave to mankind a flow of vital energies. Tanit may be Berbero-Libyan in origin, or at least assimilated to a local deity.George Aaron Barton, Semitic and Hamitic Origins. Social and Religious (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania 1934) at 304-306.

"It seems probable, therefore, that Tanith was a pre-Phoenician goddess of fertility of the Hamites, ...that she was so popular that after the coming of the Phoenicians they too worshipped her to such a degree that she largely displaced their native goddess Astart." Barton (1934) at 305. Here the ancient Berbers were the local Hamitic people.

Another view, supported by recent finds, holds that Tanit originated in Phoenicia, being closely linked there to the goddess Astarte. Tanit and Astarte: each one was both a funerary and a fertility goddess. Each was a sea goddess. As Tanit was associated with Ba'al Hammon the principal god in Punic Carthage, so Astarte was with El in Phoenicia. Yet Tanit was clearly distinguished from Astarte. Astarte's heavenly emblem was the planet Venus, Tanit's the crescent moon. Tanit was portrayed as chaste; at Carthage religious prostitution was apparently not practiced. Yet temple prostitution played an important role in Astarte's cult at Phoenicia. Also, the Greeks and Romans did not compare Tanit to the Greek Aphrodite nor to the Roman Venus as they would Astarte. Rather the comparison of Tanit would be to Hera and to Juno, regal goddesses of marriage, or to the goddess Artemis of child-birth and the hunt. Tertullian (c.160-c.220), the Christian theologian and native of Carthage, wrote comparing Tanit to Ceres, the Roman mother goddess of agriculture.

Tanit has also been identified with three different Canaanite goddesses (all being sisters/wives of El): the above 'Astarte; the virgin war goddess 'Anat; and the mother goddess 'Elat or Asherah. Her being a goddess, or symbolizing a psychic archetype, accordingly it is difficult to assign a single nature to Tanit, or to clearly represent her to consciousness.

A problematic theory derived from sociology of religion proposes that as Carthage passed from being a Phoenician trading station into a wealthy and sovereign city-state, and from a monarchy anchored to Tyre into a native-born Libyphoenician oligarchy, Carthaginians began to turn away from deities associated with Phoenicia, and slowly to discover or synthesize a Punic deity, the goddess Tanit. A parallel theory posits that when Carthage acquired as a source of wealth substantial agricultural lands in Africa, a local fertility goddess, Tanit, developed or evolved to eventually became supreme. A basis for such theories may well be the religious reform movement that emerged and prevailed at Carthage during the years 397-360. The catalyst for such dramatic change in Punic religious practice was their recent defeat in war when led by their king Himilco (d. 396) against the Greeks of Sicily.

Such transformation of religion would have been instigated by a faction of wealthy land owners at Carthage, including these reforms: overthrow of the monarchy; elevation of Tanit as queen goddess and decline of Baal Hammon; allowance of foreign cults of Greek origin into the city (Demeter and Kore); decline in child sacrifice, with most votive victims changed to small animals, and with the sacrifice not directed for state purposes but, when infrequently done, performed to solicit the deity for private, family favors. This bold historical interpretation understands the reformer's motivation as "the reaction of a wealthy and cultured upper class against the primitive and antiquated aspects of the Canaanite religion, and also a political move intended to break the power of a monarchy which ruled by divine authority." The reform's popularity was precarious at first. Later, when the city was in danger of immanent attack in 310, there would be a marked regression to child sacrifice. Yet eventually the cosmopolitan religious reform and the popular worship of Tanit together contributed to "breaking through the wall of isolation which had surrounded Carthage."

"When the Romans conquered Africa, Carthaginian religion was deeply entrenched even in Libyan areas, and it retained a great deal of its character under different forms." Tanit became Juno Caelestis, "and Caelestis was supreme at Carthage itself until the triumph of Christianity, just as Tanit had been in pre-Roman times." Regarding Berber (Libyan) religious beliefs, it has also been said:

"[Berber] belief in the powers of the spirits of the ancestors was not eclipsed by the introduction of new gods--Hammon, or Tanit--but existed in parallel with them. It is this same duality, or readiness to adopt new cultural forms while retaining the old on a more intimate level, which characterizes the [Roman era]."

Such Berber ambivalence, the ability to entertain multiple mysteries concurrently, apparently characterized their religion during the Punic era also. After the passing of Punic power, the great Berber king Masinissa (r.202-148), who long fought and challenged Carthage, was widely venerated by later generations of Berbers as divine.

See also

• Berber people
• Berber languages
• Ancient Libya
• Shoshenq I
• Phoenician languages
• Phoenicia
• Utica
• Carthage
• Hanno the Great
• Hannibal Barca
• Syphax
• Masinissa
• Scipio Africanus
• Jugurtha
• Juba I of Numidia
• Septimius Severus
• Apuleius
• Augustine
• Africa Province
• Exarchate of Africa
• Praetorian prefecture of Africa
• North Africa during the Classical Period
• History of Tunisia

Reference notes

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ar:تاريخ تونس ca:Història de Tunísia de:Geschichte Tunesiens es:Historia de Túnez fr:Histoire de la Tunisie he:היסטוריה של תוניסיה lt:Tuniso istorija ja:チュニジアの歴史 pl:Historia Tunezji pt:História da Tunísia ru:История Туниса sl:Zgodovina Tunizije sr:Историја Туниса sv:Tunisiens historia vec:Storia de la Tunixia