Ancient Carthage was an ancient Semitic civilisation based in North Africa. Initially a settlement in present-day Tunisia, it later became a city-state and then an empire. Founded by the Phoenicians in the ninth century BC, See more

Foundation legends
The specific date, circumstances, and motivations concerning Carthage's founding are unknown. All surviving accounts of the city's … See more

The military of Carthage was one of the largest in the ancient world. Although Carthage's navy was always its main military force, the army acquired a key role in extending Carthaginian power over the native peoples of northern Africa and the southern See more

The name Carthage /ˈkɑːrθɪdʒ/ is the Early Modern anglicisation of Middle French Carthage /kar.taʒ/, from Latin Carthāgō and … See more

Compared to contemporaneous civilizations such as Rome and Greece, far less is known about Carthage, as most indigenous records were lost in the wholesale … See more

Power and organization
Before the fourth century, Carthage was most likely a monarchy, although modern scholars debate whether Greek writers mislabeled political leaders as "kings" based on a misunderstanding or ignorance of the city's … See more

Carthaginians spoke a variety of Phoenician called Punic, a Semitic language originating in their ancestral homeland of Phoenicia (present-day Lebanon).
Like its parent language, Punic was written from right to left in … See more