Although the city of Carthage was destroyed several times and eventually fell into disrepair, it did not lose its reputation. A metropolis populated by devious merchants with a mighty war fleet. Feared, admired and influenced many. To African peoples from the hinterland, to the Greeks and Romans of Antiquity and to Europeans during the Renaissance. It all comes back in the new book Carthage. Rise &Fall .
This book about Carthage shows the latest insights about the city, its multicultural society and its influence on other countries, peoples and times. It is clearly not a catalog for the exhibition of the same name in the National Museum of Antiquities, although of course there are objects on display in the book.
Based on recent excavations and research, the authors paint a new picture of the famous city from Antiquity. Or new; amended. The nice thing about this is that these findings often corroborate the writings of the time of Carthage. A good example is the founding year of the city. According to Virgil's Aeneid, the Phoenician queen Dido is said to have founded the city in 814 BC.
No material this old had been found for a long time, which made science doubt this date. It wasn't a myth for nothing. On the basis of new archaeological research and with the help of technological developments, there are objects that date from the beginning of the 9 e . century appear to date. This seems to confirm the myth….
Dutch contribution
The book begins with a focus on Jean-Emile Humbert. This romanticist rediscovered (the remains of) Carthage in 1817. Humbert is the most important connection between the Netherlands and the famous city from Antiquity and the reason why the Rijksmuseum owns many objects from Carthage. When Humbert returned to the brand new Kingdom of the Netherlands after his discovery, he found a recently established museum for antiquities in Leiden.
Here he could sell his finds and on behalf of the museum he went back twice for more. However, in 1826 Humbert got no further than Italy, because he fell in love with a local beauty. Instead of archaeological excavations from Carthage, he sent Etruscan objects to Leiden. In any case, the good man is better known in present-day Tunisia than with us.
But more recent contributions from Dutch soil can also be found in the book. On-site excavations by the University of Amsterdam have uncovered an industrial estate, where high concentrations of calcium have been discovered. This unraveled the secret behind the superior iron of the Carthaginians:iron becomes extra strong when calcium is added during the production process. We did not know before that the Carthaginians possessed this knowledge and it was lost in the destruction of the city.
Famous aspects and unknown additions
The book provides a nice overview of the history of Carthage, both from the Punic period and the Roman period. It is primarily divided into known and unknown themes from this history, and in addition, the chapters have been arranged chronologically as much as possible. Carthage is now best known for the three Punic Wars, for Hannibal crossing the Alps with his elephants and for her fleet. It is no coincidence that the Romans wrote about these aspects of the city. Those same Romans razed the city to the ground in 146 BC, leaving few other testimonies about the city and its inhabitants.
Of course, these well-known aspects of Carthaginian history are reflected in the book, but it also has a special addition. The last part examines not only Christian Carthage but also the image of the city after its decline in the early Middle Ages. The illustrious stories did not disappear with that. From the Renaissance onwards, the city frequently appeared in European art and literature. In the last century, Carthaginian history (or what we make of it) even got a place on the screen and in games. This representation of the later image of Carthaginian history fits in well with the structure of the rest of the book. After all, most of what we know about Carthage is secondhand:Carthage's library has also been consumed by the flames.
The objects of this devastated multicultural society that we are still excavating are open to interpretation and discussion. This book takes part in this by highlighting different points of view. The debate as to whether the countless babies in the burial fields are sacrifices or not is still ongoing. Are these newborns buried after their death or were the babies killed to appease the god Baal? This heated debate is not reflected in the exhibition, but it does receive attention in the book.
A new vision of Carthage that is frequently reflected in the exhibition is the influence of the city on the region. Recent research shows that the vision of a purely Phoenician city needs to be adjusted. The spot in Tunisia where Dido (or at least the merchants from modern-day Lebanon) founded the city of Carthage was not an uninhabited spot on the map. The hinterland was also not an empty desert, through which only the occasional lone nomad traveled. Not only was Carthage a multicultural society in which African peoples were represented, the cultures also influenced each other.
This vision was developed as a result of recent archaeological research and could already be found in ancient writings. After the destruction and reconstruction of the city by the Romans, the influence remained visible, for example in the depiction of gods. The god Baal continued to exist in his Punic form but was given the Roman name Saturn.
One of the highlights of both the book and the exhibition is the Carthaginian ship's ram. It was used and sunk off the coast of Sicily during the First Punic War. The ship's ram was discovered in 2010 by Professor Sebastiano Tusa, who wrote a contribution about the discovery. He is one of the seven Tunisian specialists who contributed to the book.
The ship's ram can be seen in the museum, with a short explanation. It is discussed in greater detail in the book, with the authors citing ancient writings. If you want to know how the Carthaginians and the Romans deployed their ships during naval battles and which tactical 'moves' they made, you can indulge yourself.
All in all a book with a lot of information, both known and new. It is pleasant to read, especially the texts of Dutch origin (the translations by the Tunisian experts do contain a lot of jargon) and is full of beautiful color photos. An interesting addition to the exhibition (although the book is not as thick as the photo suggests….). For those interested:Kennislink has written a report about this exhibition.