Jonathan R. W. Prag and Josephine C. Quinn, demonstrate that already by the late republican era, “poenus/punicus” tended to be more generally associated with North Africa. Also the first use of the latin expression “punica fides” was used for the Moorish king Bocchus: C. Courtois demonstrated that certain African cultural artifacts were referred to as…

Carthage : A History by Serge Lancel is the definitive guide to the famous empire that rocked Rome to its core. https://www.amazon.com/Carthage-History-Serge-Lancel/dp/1557864683 The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, Colonies and Trade by Maria Aubet is a fantastic book. A good portion of her book is dedicated to the colonies, with emphasis on the colonies along…

Our extant sources say very little about relations between the Carthaginians and the Ptolemies. The only direct evidence comes from Appian of Alexandria (second century A.D.), a rather late source unfortunately, who states that the Carthaginians requested a 2000-talent loan from Ptolemy II during the First Punic War. Ptolemy, “friends with both the Romans and…

Often overlooked are the ties of friendship/hospitality between the Roman and Carthaginian aristocracies. Even during the Second Punic War, Hannibal had not received the full backing of his government, which included a peace faction led by his family rival Hanno so-called “the Great.” The thirty-man “sacred council” of the Carthaginian Senate later proved more than…

Our surviving samples of Carthaginian literature—namely, the Greek translation of the Periplus of Hanno (Ἄννωνος περίπλους) and a few fragments from the agricultural treatise of Mago—have unfortunately reinforced the view, expounded by the likes of B. H. Warmington, that the art of writing in the Punic world was unappreciated, unsophisticated, and the product of a…

The Carthaginians were introduced to war elephants by Pyrrhus of Epirus (295-272 B.C.) during its sicilian campaign, leading them to promptly abandon their Tyrean war chariots. They first deployed elephants against the Romans during the Battle of Agrigentum (262 B.C.) Carthage employed war elephants that were native to North Africa and were smaller compared to…