This is the title of my recent essay about Carthage. For those who do not know about it, Carthage was an ancient empire that ruled in North Africa, north of Tunisia. Its naval fleet, large wealth from maritime trade, and magnificent history, have all given Carthage the reputation it deserves. I compared Carthage to what would be its biggest rival yet, Rome. I hope you enjoy it :)
This is a picture of the City of Carthage itself (note that the circular location was its main trading hub)
People
have regarded the Mediterranean Sea as the birthplace of many famous,
historical, and legendary cultures. Some
of such societies were the Roman Republic and the lands of Carthage. Rome originated in modern-day Italy, fictionally
founded by two twins, Romulus and Remus, raised by a wolf. Rome started as a city-state, ruled by a king,
the first was Romulus. There were seven
kings that ruled Rome, during the time as Rome grew. After conquering the surrounding territories,
Rome became a republic, after forcibly deposing the last Roman king. The Republic became ruled by senators and the
people. Meanwhile, Carthage originated
as a Phoenician colony in North Africa, founded by Queen Dido
who ran away from Phoenicia when her life was threatened by her brother. Dido named the new colony “Car-Chaddash”,
which means “New City”
in Phoenician. Because of Carthage’s
reliance on not only their motherland-city of Phoenician, but the sea and its
maritime trading abilities, Carthage became a beacon for travelers and gained a
reputation for becoming extremely wealthy, soon conquering its surrounding
African lands. Eventually, Phoenicia was
sacked by barbarians, allowing Carthage to become an independent,
economically-wealthy, state. Between
Rome and Carthage a conflict was inevitable as both sides set their eyes on
Sicily, known to be very valuable for its strategic position and amounts of
wealth. Although the start of the conflict
was sudden, it would take three entire wars, known as the Punic Wars, to weaken
both sides, until one would fall to the ground first, while the other would
dominate the Mediterranean Sea. The
Carthaginians and Romans were different as shown by their different military
tactics and strategies, but they were also rather similar, as they traded
similar items to obtain similar economic benefits.
Carthage and Rome had completely
different military strategies, regarding how they fought during land battles
and sea battles. First, their navies
were different in terms of the ships’ purpose.
Carthage had created the Quinquereme,
a large ship based on Greek design that had five layers of rowers. Each ship had a large bronze tip in the front
that had a ramming purpose. The ship traveled at a fast speed and hit the
enemy ship, created a hole in the enemy ship that caused it to sink, and have
the enemy sailors drown. The Quinquereme
was renowned for its speed and ferocity, and it was revered as a war machine. The
Carthaginians relied on this tactic to successfully destroy Roman ships, unlike
the Romans
The Romans had originally tried to use Triremes, a
similar type of Greek ship, only with three layers of rowers, but it was
destroyed very quickly. The Romans eventually stole the Carthaginian
design and built Quinqueremes of their own, but with a different purpose. Since the Romans were excellent in land
battles, they simply used their ships as floating devices to create a
land-battle-like scenario. They relied on their land battle tactics,
such as grappling, boarding, and archery, instead of using their ships as
ramming devices. There were advantages to this strategy, such
as the sailors were trained in hand-to-hand combat, and the ships had more
space to carry more soldiers. While their naval strategies differed, their
land-conflicts also were quite different.
Second, the Carthaginians and the
Romans had different land battle tactics.
The Carthaginians relied on the use of auxiliaries to help fight with
them. In many battles, the Carthaginians
put Spanish, Celtic, and Libyan soldiers in their armies. One of the most famous Carthaginian generals
of all time, Hannibal Barca, used these auxiliaries, by using their different
fighting techniques to have a variety of options to use in battle. The
Carthaginians accepted other forms of battle from their auxiliaries, unlike the
Romans.
The Romans had different uses of the auxiliaries. The Romans did not heavily rely on them as
the Carthaginians did. They mostly
relied on their infantry, which was their most effective part of their army. The infantry was based off of the Greek
phalanx, but was changed to create maniples,
which were groups of miniature versions of the phalanx. Later, these maniples were converted into
cohorts,
which were groups of maniples put into one unit. When they did use auxiliaries, which were usually
mercenaries (soldiers for hire), they
were used as archers and cavalry
(soldiers who rode on horses to battle).
The auxiliaries were be trained to conform to how the Romans wanted to
use them, without viewing their original fighting styles as an advantage,
unlike Hannibal. The Carthaginians also
used the cavalry, as many of their auxiliaries
used horses in battle. Despite the
similarity regarding cavalry, there were other differences, one regarding the
use of elephants.
Hannibal was especially known for his use of elephants
in land battles. According to Picture 1, Hannibal is on one
side of the coin, with an elephant on the other, demonstrating that Hannibal
used elephants in battle. Africa, where
Carthage was located, was a place where there was an abundance of elephants. They were intimidating to the enemy, since
elephants were giant and were rarely used in battle by other armies, making the
elephants a rare, but powerful weapon.
They were used to seat archers,
who could shoot down enemies below, and their massive bulk could easily crush a
handful of soldiers.
The Romans, on the other hand, never used elephants in
warfare. The Romans did not have a place
where elephants were in large quantities, like Carthage in Africa. While the Romans and the Carthaginians had
different military strategies, the items that they traded were quite similar,
with similar outcomes, hopes, and desires.
The Carthaginians and the Romans
were both similar because they had many of the same items to trade, which can
tell many about how the cultures were at the time. First, both traded metals. The known world had already known about the
many metals that existed. For both the
Romans and the Carthaginians, different kinds of metals were used for many
applications, such as ceramics,
and more notably, in forges. Iron
was especially popular in making swords and spears with, both popular weapons
of the Romans and Carthaginians, regarding their weaponry. The fact that it was being traded with other
civilizations, emphasizes that certain metals, especially iron and bronze, were
important from a cultural and military standpoint.
Secondly, both powers traded grain. Grain was considered the primary crop to
induce the growth of many civilizations.
Therefore, it was considered a very valuable crop for the Carthaginian
and Roman peoples. Its abundance in Rome
allowed its cities to flourish, while having a large grain supply for drastic
measures, such as famine. As for the Carthaginians, they relied on
maritime trade to obtain their large quantities of grain. Note must also be taken that both cities were
large ones, and they, along their conquered territories, had large populations
that were growing quickly. This meant
that the trade for more grain was be necessary to provide enough to feed and
satisfy every person in the city. This
same scenario helped both powers make money by exporting them to other places
who also required grain in their communities.
Thirdly, both powers traded fruits. Fruits were consumed in Rome and Carthage for
long periods of time. Both peoples recognized
that fruits contained a large amount of nutrition. Seeing it value regarding, and incredible tastes,
the Romans and Carthaginians eagerly wanted to trade to obtain as much fruit as
possible. As mentioned above, both
powers were large hubs of large quantities of people, and population boom was
in effect. Therefore, large quantities
of food had to be imported to feed everyone, and also exported to other places
in dire need of food and nutrition, which further connects the Romans to the
Carthaginians.
Fourthly, both powers traded wine. Wine became popular via the Greeks, who often
drank wine at symposiums (intellectual parties). While being used to get drunk and feel good,
it was also used as a medicine, since it had antibacterial properties, which
also made it cleaner than water, to a certain extent, because water was easily
polluted. Although symposiums never was
popular in Carthage nor Rome, the wine’s ability to intoxicate people became
increasingly popular and profitable as Roman and Carthaginian traders profited
from the human desire for wine and revelry.
They received many kinds of wine from various areas of the Mediterranean,
such as the Greeks, the Etruscans, and the Gauls. This same quality was craved by not only the
Carthaginians and the Romans, but many more, and was thus exported to obtain
more money.
Fifthly, both powers traded fish. Fish was very abundant in the Mediterranean
Sea, and thus abundant along its shores.
As Carthage and Rome had access to the sea, having connections along the
coast, both peoples immediately used their ports as places to trade fish to
others. Also, different types of fish
live in different areas, making a certain area of the Mediterranean contain a
specific kind of fish, and making that fish more exclusive to others. This made the Romans and Carthaginians import
a variety of fish. The Carthaginians
even traded imported fish to other powers, like Spanish tuna to Greece. Finally, fish also contained a large amount
of protein, which made it even more valuable to the Romans and Carthaginians. Even though both powers traded a variety of
items, both traded similar products to obtain similar outcomes.
While the Carthaginian military
strategies differed from the Romans, the items they traded were very similar,
which helped define each culture through its ideas and intentions. The Carthaginians used their navy to ram
enemy ships, while the Romans used their boats as floatation devices to create
a land-battle at sea. Also, the
Carthaginians used auxiliaries quite frequently, and used their individual skills
to provide a variety of options to use in battle. The Romans rarely used auxiliaries, and only
used them to incorporate them into or to the aid of the infantry. The Carthaginians and Romans similarly traded
metal, grain, fruits, wine, and fish. Carthage
eventually lost the Punic Wars, and the city was razed to the ground. However, even after the city was destroyed,
Carthage made a significant impact on the world, as did Rome. Although both empires eventually fell, both
left imprints on the world, such as demonstrating the effort and power of the
past man, and showing large extents of patriotism. History is based on the findings of such
motivations and actions. Different
powers have different abilities, and overall, it is with the combination of
similarities and differences that make up what a civilization really is.
Bibliography
Primary Sources:
Polybius,
Histories, Perseus Tufts.
Secondary Sources:
Adkins, Lesley
and Adkins, Roy. Handbook to Life in
Ancient Rome .USA: Oxford University
Press.
Kagen, Donald. On The Origins Of War: And The Restoration
of Peace. New York, USA:
Anchor Books, 1995.
Miles, Richard. Carthage Must Be Destroyed. New York, USA: Penguin Books, 2010.
Prince
Corsica, Engineering an Empire: Carthage,
2012.
Wells, Benjamin
W. Business and Politics at Carthage. The Sewane Review Vol. 28, No. 4. October 1920: 503.
Woolf,
Greg. Roman World. UK: Cambridge
University Press, 2003.
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