Carthage's Legacy
Carthage was ultimately destroyed in The Battle of Carthage in 146 BC when Rome sacked it and burned it to the ground. All of the Carthaginians were either killed or enslaved and Carthage remained in ruins until 122 BC when the Romans decided to start a colony there, but, with the Punic Wars still being recent at the time, the colony failed. Julius Caesar then proposed that the Romans rebuild Carthage, and 5 years after Caesar's death, Carthage rose again. Carthage then remained under control in the Byzantine Empire until it was completely destroyed once again by the Muslims in 698 AD. The Muslims built modern day Tunisia directly beside the ruins of Carthage, which tourists can still visit today.Unfortunately, the ruins of Carthage are one of the only things still observable today that really displays what ancient Carthage may have been like. This is because after Rome sacked Carthage, everything was burned to the ground, including most primary sources that may have shown more on Carthage's culture in detail. Some of the only primary sources left of Carthage are those of Roman writers and authors which cannot all be trusted, but what we do know about Carthage is that it was an extremely wealthy and advanced empire with a complex culture, religion, government, and powerful leaders.
Since Carthage was first established with many wealthy citizens from Tyre, they were able to start a very large city in a strategic spot on the coast of the Mediterranean. Carthage was the king of trade in the Mediterranean at it's height due to how they used their city's location to their advantage. They became increasingly wealthier as they used trade to gain many riches, and they used this money to build a massive, and the srongest navy. This also gave them more control over other cities or colonies surrounding the Mediterranean, so they were able to capture much of the land around the sea, and as they grew, so did their commerce, economy as they grew increasingly wealthier, and culture as they developed new ideas to shape their culture. Carthage was also known for it's advanced agricultural techniques that also helped their empire's economy boom. This adds to Carthage's legacy, and makes it one of the wealthiest and greatest trading empires known to exist today.
Since Carthage was first established with many wealthy citizens from Tyre, they were able to start a very large city in a strategic spot on the coast of the Mediterranean. Carthage was the king of trade in the Mediterranean at it's height due to how they used their city's location to their advantage. They became increasingly wealthier as they used trade to gain many riches, and they used this money to build a massive, and the srongest navy. This also gave them more control over other cities or colonies surrounding the Mediterranean, so they were able to capture much of the land around the sea, and as they grew, so did their commerce, economy as they grew increasingly wealthier, and culture as they developed new ideas to shape their culture. Carthage was also known for it's advanced agricultural techniques that also helped their empire's economy boom. This adds to Carthage's legacy, and makes it one of the wealthiest and greatest trading empires known to exist today.
Also, to rule their great empire, the Carthaginians established an oligarchal republic, which consisted of 2 executives, or the Suffets, and a senate of 300 people. Although, most likely corrupt due to the fact that the wealthiest families had more say in the Suffet and senates, the Carthaginian government created fair laws, and did not raise as big a barrier between different social classes as Rome did. So, their was less tension between citizens of Carthage unlike Rome, which had many civil wars, and their citizens were controlled and loyal, and the empire and it's trade continued to flourish under this government, as did it's citizens. The government helped Carthage grow to it's height, increase trade, and also made it peaceful, due to the large government, instead of one primary ruler.
Also, to add to Carthage's culture, they had a very unique and interesting religion. Though we don't know much about it, because much of the evidence was burned, we do know that it originated from the Pheonician religion, making it a polytheistic religion. They believed in many gods, but their principal figure was the goddess Astarte. To worship their many gods, Carthage's main religion had an organized church with priests and acolytes, and under these figures the citizens would perform dance rituals, animal sacrifices, and even child sacrifices... or so they presume. Whether or not in their religion kids were sacrificed is being debated to this day, but compelling evidence has been discovered such as the picture below of a child's charred remains in a burial urn. There have also been many uncovered tophets, which are the locations at which people are sacrificed or the sacrificed bodies go in ancient religion rituals, and inscriptions on graves in the tophets reveal that the children may not have died from any accidental cause. Although, there are also many professionals debating this topic that believe that these children died of a plague and were buried together for other religious reasons. This religion also affected their art and architecture, as seen through the many religious monuments across the ruins of Carthage, and this too made Carthage's culture even richer.
Also, to add to Carthage's culture, they had a very unique and interesting religion. Though we don't know much about it, because much of the evidence was burned, we do know that it originated from the Pheonician religion, making it a polytheistic religion. They believed in many gods, but their principal figure was the goddess Astarte. To worship their many gods, Carthage's main religion had an organized church with priests and acolytes, and under these figures the citizens would perform dance rituals, animal sacrifices, and even child sacrifices... or so they presume. Whether or not in their religion kids were sacrificed is being debated to this day, but compelling evidence has been discovered such as the picture below of a child's charred remains in a burial urn. There have also been many uncovered tophets, which are the locations at which people are sacrificed or the sacrificed bodies go in ancient religion rituals, and inscriptions on graves in the tophets reveal that the children may not have died from any accidental cause. Although, there are also many professionals debating this topic that believe that these children died of a plague and were buried together for other religious reasons. This religion also affected their art and architecture, as seen through the many religious monuments across the ruins of Carthage, and this too made Carthage's culture even richer.
Considering the many aspects of Carthaginian culture, Carthage very well could have changed the world dramatically. If Hannibal was to have won the second Punic War with his many war elephants, the Roman Empire would have been crushed, then Carthaginians would attack again to gain complete control over the Mediterranean. Since Rome had such a large impact on modern Europe, there being no Rome would completely change the basis of modern European culture, and even other cultures around the world. This is due to how Rome was such a large, dominant power for such a long time, so their ideas were eventually able to reach the corners of the globe. So, if Carthage was this large dominant power in the Mediterranean while Rome was supposed to be, the world would be much more based on their unique culture. Their ideas of government would eventually become the main ideas of Europe's governments, and the art and architecture would be substantially different, as it originated from a polytheistic religion based culture. Also, it would affect most of today's languages, because most of our languages are heavily influenced by Rome's culture, so our language would probably be a Carthaginian based one. It would eventually effect North America also, because our ideas originally came from Europe so they definitely would have changed the Americas when they were discovered. Above all of this though, the religion would be the biggest change of all. The Roman Empire was able to provide a perfect path for Christianity, today's most popular religion, and neither would there be Islam, because it is based off of the Christian religion, and these two religions shape and change our world a great amount, so without them our lives would most definitely be different. If Carthage had dominated rather than Rome, there never would have been anybody to push the spread of Christianity. Due to this, our religion would probably polytheistic, and that would change our modern day ideas, beliefs, and society. Carthage was a very wealthy trading empire, with and advanced culture that had the ability to change our world completely.