Carthage — Ancient Phoenician City-State and Mediterranean Power

Carthage is located on the African Mediterranean coast about ten kilometers east of present-day Tunis in northern Tunisia. Carthage was located on the most important Phoenician trade route between the Levant and Gibraltar. Its location on the Straits of Sicily allowed it to control maritime trade in the Mediterranean. This was a major reason for its economic and military dominance. At the same time, there was a connection from Sicily to the Tyrrhenian Sea and the northern Mediterranean.

The city itself was situated on a peninsula bordered by the Gulf of Tunis to the east, the Sebkhet Ariana lagoon to the north and the Lake of Tunis to the south. The location was strategic because it allowed the city to be easily defended from the land side. The Byrsa Hill was the centre of both Punic and Roman Carthage. North of the city proper, but still within the city walls, was the agricultural area of Megara in ancient times.

Trade

The Punic were excellent seafarers. It is therefore not surprising that maritime trade played a central role in Carthage's economy. Located at the crossroads of the trade routes between the eastern and western as well as the northern and southern Mediterranean, Carthage was also one of the main transshipment points for foreign goods.

The most important commercial interest of the Carthaginians was the acquisition of metal. Silver they imported mainly from southern Spain, where there were productive mines near the city of Carthago Nova (now Cartagena), besides from Sardinia and Etruria. Gold probably came from West Africa by direct or indirect trade. The demand for less valuable metals such as copper and iron could probably be met by domestic deposits in North Africa. The tin needed for bronze production was imported from Galicia or southern Spain via the Atlantic coast. Under the navigator Himilkon, the Carthaginians even undertook an expedition to Britain in order to develop the tin deposits there.

Agriculture

North Africa was an agriculturally very productive area in antiquity, and recent research emphasizes that agribusiness played a major role early on, along with trade. It is possible that in the upper class those who belonged more to a merchant aristocracy competed with the large landowners. Then, in Roman times, the province of Africa was considered, along with Egypt, a "granary of Rome" until late antiquity; the area was still partly forested at that time and therefore held the topsoil. The Punic had developed advanced agricultural techniques early on. The Carthaginian writer Mago composed an agricultural encyclopedia in the early 2nd century BC that has not survived but was often cited by Roman authors. In Byzacena, an area roughly corresponding to the present-day Tunisian Sahel, and in the Medjerda Valley, the Punic people obtained excellent harvests. In addition to wheat, olive trees, vines, fig trees and date palms were intensively cultivated.

Fishing was also a lucrative industry. Tuna were caught off the coast of Carthage. Above all, however, fishing was carried out off the Atlantic coast of Spain and present-day Morocco, from where the salted fish was exported to Carthage and in the form of garum to other places in the Mediterranean.

Craft

Product manufacturing in the city of Carthage consisted primarily of weaving and dyeing mills, as well as ceramic production plants. Apart from textiles, however, the products were not exported, but were primarily aimed at the domestic market. Another important branch of industry was shipbuilding. The wood required for this could be obtained from the oak and pine forests that still existed in the vicinity of Carthage at that time. Using lime as an additive, high-quality iron was produced in a multi-stage process. In general, metallurgy was so advanced that only further in-depth studies will provide insights into the causal connections of the power of the Carthaginian Empire. Bronze was produced from tin and copper and made into vessels and other objects. Especially in times of war, the production of weapons flourished.

Mint

The first Carthaginian coinage did not begin until after the Carthaginian invasion of Sicily (around 410 BC), where the Carthaginians came to appreciate the already highly developed Greek coinage. The first Carthaginian coins were therefore produced in Sicily. These Siculo-Punic coinages were therefore strongly oriented towards Greek models. From the middle of the 4th century BC the head of Tanit dominates the obverse of the coins and on the reverse a standing horse, occasionally with a palm tree in the background. Hamilkar and his descendants minted their own coins for the Spanish possessions from c. 237/234 BC.