The Archaeological Site of Carthage is a site dispersed in the current city of Carthage (Tunisia) and classified as part of the World Heritage by UNESCO since 1979.
It is dominated by the hill of Byrsa, which was the center of the Punic city. Today, it is distinguished by the massive silhouette of the Acropolium, built at the end of the 19th century on the presumed site of the tomb of King Louis IX (Saint Louis), who died there during the Eighth Crusade. Near the cathedral, opposite this empty tomb whose remains were repatriated to France, are the remains of the most important quarter of the city. Only a few foundations and some fragments of columns remain, but one can gauge the power that emanated from the city at that time: immense dimensions, large spaces, panoramic views, and the organization of the streets.
The rapid development of the modern city, risking the destruction of the remains forever, led prominent Tunisian archaeologists to alert public opinion, and UNESCO launched a vast international campaign between 1972 and 1992 to save Carthage. This turning point was completed with its classification as a World Heritage Site.
This article will only address the current state of the archaeological site, a large number of elements having been lost in ancient or more recent times. The difficulty for visitors now lies in the extreme dispersion of the remains, even though some clusters can be distinguished. For the city and the country, the challenge is more complex: to protect the testimonies of the past while minimizing disruption to the daily life of the population.
Geography
Location
"History attaches itself to the places it has once chosen," according to Serge Lancel. It must be acknowledged that geography played a significant role in Carthage's role, with the great city being compared to a "ship at anchor" by Strabo. The location of cities among the Phoenicians responded to the dual requirement of openness to the sea and protection from the interior lands. The foundations of Tyre, Sidon, and Gades followed this pattern
More than the older colony of Utica, Carthage appears favored by geography. It is located at the border of the two basins of the Mediterranean Sea, thus in a very conducive location for trade. At the bottom of the Gulf of Tunis, facing Jebel Boukornine, ancient Carthage presents itself as a promontory barred by hills, the main one being Byrsa, a territory easy to defend and bordered by the sea on three of its sides. Polybius speaks of it as a "peninsula almost entirely surrounded either by the sea ("the was not yet closed and formed a bay"), or by a lake and connected to the continent by an isthmus barred and by a chain of difficult-to-cross hills"
Protected on the sea side, the city also appears preserved by the hills and by the Lake of Tunis, with the presence of two sebkhas reinforcing this particularity. +Location of the site's componentsComponentsCoordinatesComponentsCoordinatesAmphitheaterBasilica of Damous El KaritaBasilica of DermechBasilica of Saint CyprianBasilica MajorumCisterns of La MalgaColumned buildingAdmiralty isletCircular monumentPunic necropolisesOdeonCommercial portMilitary portMagon quarterPunic quarter of ByrsaRotunda of Damous El KaritaTheaterAntonine BathsTophet of SalammbôRoman villas
Soil characteristics Although the site does not have many complete buildings, the ground is littered with fragments of the most precious marbles. Among these fragments are two or three varieties of white statuary marble – probably from the quarries of Paros and Luni – and a variety of Pentelic marble, several varieties of cipollino marble, many fragments of yellow Siena marble, Pavonazzo marble, porphyry feldspar in large quantities – sometimes in blocks of several cubic feet – and pink Egyptian porphyry.Adolphe Dureau de la Malle, op. cit., p. 246.
Pacho thinks that, like in Cyrene, the territory of Carthage does not offer precious materials but rather materials, such as marble, porphyry, and granite, foreign to the city and imported from afar. De Buch, a learned geologist from Berlin, and Mesnard de La Groye, a former geology teacher at the Collège de France, having studied these fragments, believe they come from quarries in Italy and Greece.
Notes on Cyrenaica by Frederick William Beechey report around Carthage the presence of a conglomerate of sandstone and a limestone without fossils and therefore not very solid.
History and rediscovery of the site The great African city experienced rapid expansion as a civilization of the Mediterranean melting pot specific to Phoenician culture,This term "melting pot" is particularly validated by archaeological evidence shifting from a strong Egyptian influence in the 7th–6th centuries BC (see on this subject the work by ) to a Hellenic influence in the 4th century BC. then this growth was brutally halted, but the city managed to be reborn through the will of the Roman victors and thanks to its exceptional location. Nevertheless, in the turmoil of the divisions of the Mediterranean world, Carthage passed into the background: first pillaged, then forgotten, leading Gustave Flaubert to write in a letter to Ernest Feydeau in October 1858 that "we know nothing about Carthage."
It took the tenacity of a few enthusiasts to change this state of affairs, and a risk of final destruction for an international campaign to prevent the rival of Rome from falling definitively into oblivion, into "the abyss of history."
Ancient history of the site
Regarding the first occupants, the Libyco-Numidian population substrate, little information is available. Archaeology is silent on this matter, the only mentions available being the ancient texts of Appian (Libyca, 1, 2) and Justin (Epitome of the Philippic Histories, XVIII, 5, 8).
For over a millennium, the city of Carthage was at the forefront of history as a crossroads of civilizations due to its geographical location.
Phoenician and Punic Carthage
According to tradition, the city was founded by Dido (also known as Elissa) in 814 BC, about sixty years before its rival, Rome, which would eventually surpass it. The city quickly expanded, creating various colonies and confronting Greek colonies, particularly in Sicily. These, especially Syracuse and Agrigento, brought war to Punic lands at the beginning of the 5th century and then at the end of the 4th century. It was during the vicissitudes of this antagonism that the destruction of the Punic city of Kerkouane is placed.
The first relations with Rome were peaceful, as evidenced by treaties concluded in 509 BC,Polybius, Histories, III, V. then in 348 BC and 306 BC, which guaranteed Carthage exclusivity in trade from Africa and no pillaging against Rome's allies in Italy. The episodes known as the Punic Wars saw the antagonism extend over more than a century, from 264 BC to 146 BC. A favorable outcome for the Punic city seemed possible, as evidenced by the adventure of General Hannibal Barca. The first conflict took place from 264 BC to 241 BC, resulting in Carthage losing Sicily and paying a heavy tribute.
This first defeat led to serious social consequences with the episode of the Mercenary War, from 240 BC to 237 BC, with the city being saved by Hamilcar Barca. Carthage then oriented its imperialism towards the Iberian Peninsula and clashed with Rome's allies, making the second conflict inevitable (219 BC–201 BC). After 205 BC, the war took place only on African soil, with the year 202 BC marking the final victory of Scipio Africanus at Zama. The following fifty years saw Carthage regularly repay the heavy tribute but also equip itself with costly facilities like the Punic ports in their final state of development. Yet, faced with the city's recovery and the end of tribute payments, Rome demanded that the Carthaginians abandon the city and withdraw to the hinterland. On this subject, Velleius Paterculus wrote that "Rome, already mistress of the world, did not feel safe as long as the name of Carthage existed." The logical refusal that followed this intransigence led to the third conflict, which, along with the siege of Carthage, lasted three years.
At its end, even if salt was not spread on the ground as legend has it, the destruction of the city was total, and a curse was placed on its site. Remarkably, this city with its ground declared , meaning cursed, was able to be reborn and become a crucial center for the diffusion of cultural, artistic, and spiritual novelties, even if it was not their original cradle.
Roman Carthage Gaius Gracchus, tribune of the plebs in 123 BC, attempted in 122 BC to establish a colony of former veterans, a short-lived attempt – the memory of the old rival was still vivid less than a quarter of a century after its destruction – but archaeological traces remain in the Carthaginian countryside, particularly the centuriations. The desire to settle veterans resurfaced with Julius Caesar, but this project also came to nothing due to Caesar's assassination on the Ides of March in 44 BC. The rebirth of the city was the work of Augustus, who refounded it in 29 BC and renamed it : to the ancient name were added his own family – the Julii – and the concord so desired after the horrors of the civil wars that had agitated Rome in the last century BC.
The first constructions of the city were public; they responded to the design of making it an example of Romanity and launching the process of Romanization in this region with a Libyco-Numidian and Punic past. Private installations came only later, with the growing enrichment provided by the numerous exports to Rome: mainly wheat, but also olive oil intended particularly for the cura annonae system. From an administrative city – seat of the procurator — it became an important and prosperous city with a population estimated at 300,000 inhabitants at the time of the Vandal conquest. However, the first Roman city is poorly known due to the successive catastrophes that struck it: earthquakes, fire under the reign of Antoninus Pius.
The accession to imperial power of the Severan dynasty reflects the enrichment of the African land at the end of the 2nd century and the beginning of the 3rd century. However, the crises that shook the Roman Empire in the 3rd century had serious consequences for Carthage, notably during the usurpation of Gordian I and the repression that followed his fall in 238: the city was pillaged, including its temples.Herodian, History of the Roman Emperors from Marcus Aurelius to Gordian III, VII, XXIV. Similarly, from 308 to 311, the city became the capital of the usurper Domitius Alexander and, upon his fall, was again subjected to pillaging. With this century, Carthage nevertheless experienced renewed economic growth, expressed by the vitality of both private constructions, with multiple villas demonstrating the opulence of their owners, and public constructions, particularly the facilities for the new dominant cult.
Christian Carthage
In an open space like Carthage was at the time – the port was notably connected to the great cities of Alexandria and Antioch, which were two major centers of evangelization — Christianity developed early, following the important Jewish communities established in the city. By the end of the 1st century, colonists, merchants, and soldiers were also agents of the propagation of Christianity, and the new religion progressed rapidly in the province, despite sporadic persecutions, with the first martyrs attested as early as 17 July, 180.