Carthage: The Lost Mediterranean Civilisation

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it is usually identified as a completely separate body... [continue reading]

A city-state is an independent country whose territory consists solely of a single major city and the area immediately surrounding it. Examples include the city-states of ancient Greece (the poleis such as Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth), the Phoenician cities of Canaan (such as Tyre and Sidon), and the Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia (such as Babylon... [continue reading]

According to legend, Carthage was founded by the Phoenician Queen Elissa (better known as Dido) sometime around 813 BCE. The city (in modern-day Tunisia, North Africa) was originally known as Kart-hadasht (new city) to distinguish it from the older Phoenician city of Utica nearby. The Greeks called the city Karchedon and the Romans turned this name into Carthago... [continue reading]

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 existance of sub-Saharan Africa, but were unaware of its geography. Despite its location in Africa, Egypt never expanded westwards. The expanse of... [continue reading]

A City is defined as a populated urban center of commerce and administration with a system of laws and, usually, regulated means of sanitation (the word derives from the Latin civitas). The first cities sprang up in the region known as Mesopotamia between 4300 and 3100 BCE. The city of Ur was first settled in 4000 BCE and walled cities, for defence, were common... [continue reading]