Creation of Carthage
Creation Myth
Virgil, The Aeneid, Book 1
Fleeing from Troy, Juno persuades Aeolus to blow Aeneas away from Sicily. When Neptune realises this, he stops the winds and Aeneas finds himself near Libya so lands there. Whilst exploring the area, Aeneas meets Venus who reveals that Dido is the local queen, and that she had fled Tyre when her husband, Sychaeus (the richest man in Tyre), was murdered by her brother, Pygmalion. Sychaeus reveals the location of his treasure to Dido in a dream, who uses this to flee with some other men from Tyre. Venus then sneaks Aeneas into Carthage where he meets Dido, who infected with love by Amor, who is disguised as Aeneas' son, Ascanius. Dido invites the Trojans to share citizenship as she was also once an exile too. She then asks Aeneas how he arrived in Carthage. |
De Mulieribus 6 = FGrH 566 F.60
Theiosso. She, says Timaeus, was called Elissa in the Phoenician tongue and was the sister of Pygmalion, the king of the Tyrians. He says that Carthage in Libya was founded by her, for after her husband was killed by Pygmalion, she placed her money in boats and fled with some fellow citizens. After suffering much, she reached Libya and was called Dido by the Libyans in the local tongue, because of her many wanderings. After she founded the aforementioned city, the king of the Libyans wanted to marry her. She refused, but was compelled by her compatriots to comply. Pretending that she had to perform a certain rite to annul her vows, she prepared and lit a great pyre near her palace. She then threw herself from the house into the fire. Justin, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, 18.4-6 Justin claims that the Tyrians had already established a colony at Utica in Africa. When the Tyrian king died, he appointed his son, Pygmalion, and his daughter, Elyssa, as joint heirs. However, Pygmalion was still very young. Elyssa married her uncle, Acerbas, who was a priest of Hercules (Melqart) and had hidden his own riches. Due to these riches, Pygmalion murdered his uncle, causing Elyssa great upset. Promising to move into Pygmalion's home (presumably with Acerbas' riches), Elyssa fled from Tyre, "admitting into her confidence some of the leading men of the city, in whom she saw that there was a similar hatred of the king, and an equal desire to escape". In the process of flight, Elyssa also dropped bags of sand into the ocean which she was trying to portray as money. Elyssa then arrived at Cyprus where she was met honourably by the priest of Jupiter. Elyssa also ordered that eighty women, who were prostituting themselves on a beach as part of marriage ceremonies, be captured in order to give her men wives. Reaching Africa, Elyssa was able to bargain with the inhabitants of the coast so that they could build a city on the ground that a single ox-hide could cover. She ordered the ox-hide to be cut as thinly as possible to make as large an area as possible, called Byrsa. Locals began to trade with the new city and ambassadors from Utica also brought gifts. An ox's head was found that warned of wealth but also hard labour and enslavement. However, when this was moved away a horse's head was found that indicated a warlike and powerful people. After the city had begun to grow, Hiarbas, king of the Maxitani, demanded marriage to Elyssa on the threat of war. Elyssa promised to "go whither the fate of her city called her". It took her three months to accomplish her promise, raising a funeral pile where she sacrificed many victims. Taking a sword with her, she climbed to the top of the pile and killed herself, telling the people that "she would go to her husband as they had desired her". |
Foundations of Carthage
Phoenician Kart hadašt, "new city".
Timaeus of Tauromenion claims that Carthage was founded in 814 BC or 813 BC, whereas Justin claims that it was rather 825 BC. The reliability of Timaeus has been questioned - Polybius was a notable critic. It can be claimed that he distorted the truth in order to promote his favourites such as Timoleon and criticise others such as Dionysus I of Syracuse and Agathocles. However, it is difficult to test his reliability as his work, around 40 books in The Histories (focussed on Greek history from early to the First Punic War), has not survived. On the other hand, Cicero is particularly favourable to Timaeus and he is used as a key source by Pompeius Trogus, Plutarch and Diodorus Siculus. Furthermore, Polybius states that "he underwent in collecting records from Assyria, and in studying the customs of the Ligures, Celts, and Iberians" (Polybius, 12.28a.3).
The dates provided by Timaeus and Justin can be supported by the lists of Tyrian kings provided by Joephus, which would also suggests that Elyssa/Dido could have been a real person, as Josephus relied on Menander who used Tyrian sources. "...Badezorus, who lived forty-five years, and reigned six years; he was succeeded by Matgenus his son: he lived thirty-two years, and reigned nine years; Pygmalion succeeded him: he lived fifty-six years, and reigned forty-seven years. Now, in the seventh year of his reign, his sister fled away from him, and built the city of Carthage in Libya..." (Josephus, 1.116-126). These dates have been matched by radio-carbon dating which has revealed that the oldest finds in Carthage can be dated to the last twenty-five years or so of the ninth century BC.
It is likely that the first settlers at Carthage were traders and farmers, making use of the great location between the eastern and western Mediterranean basins as well as the fertile agricultural land. It is likely that the city was first governed by a magistrate from Tyre but later kings gained control before a system was set-up in which two annually elected suffetes (judges) were in power. As Carthage grew, a number of colonies were established along the North African coast. When Tyre was captured by the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar in around 575 BC, Carthage became the de-facto leader of the Phoenician colonies across the Mediterranean. To the east and north-east, were Cyrenaica and parts of Sicily, in the north, the coasts of Sardinia and Corsica, in the west, the ports of the Maghreb and Andalusia. On top of this, Carthage controlled the gold from Senegal and the 'tin isles' along the Atlantic Coast.
Timaeus of Tauromenion claims that Carthage was founded in 814 BC or 813 BC, whereas Justin claims that it was rather 825 BC. The reliability of Timaeus has been questioned - Polybius was a notable critic. It can be claimed that he distorted the truth in order to promote his favourites such as Timoleon and criticise others such as Dionysus I of Syracuse and Agathocles. However, it is difficult to test his reliability as his work, around 40 books in The Histories (focussed on Greek history from early to the First Punic War), has not survived. On the other hand, Cicero is particularly favourable to Timaeus and he is used as a key source by Pompeius Trogus, Plutarch and Diodorus Siculus. Furthermore, Polybius states that "he underwent in collecting records from Assyria, and in studying the customs of the Ligures, Celts, and Iberians" (Polybius, 12.28a.3).
The dates provided by Timaeus and Justin can be supported by the lists of Tyrian kings provided by Joephus, which would also suggests that Elyssa/Dido could have been a real person, as Josephus relied on Menander who used Tyrian sources. "...Badezorus, who lived forty-five years, and reigned six years; he was succeeded by Matgenus his son: he lived thirty-two years, and reigned nine years; Pygmalion succeeded him: he lived fifty-six years, and reigned forty-seven years. Now, in the seventh year of his reign, his sister fled away from him, and built the city of Carthage in Libya..." (Josephus, 1.116-126). These dates have been matched by radio-carbon dating which has revealed that the oldest finds in Carthage can be dated to the last twenty-five years or so of the ninth century BC.
It is likely that the first settlers at Carthage were traders and farmers, making use of the great location between the eastern and western Mediterranean basins as well as the fertile agricultural land. It is likely that the city was first governed by a magistrate from Tyre but later kings gained control before a system was set-up in which two annually elected suffetes (judges) were in power. As Carthage grew, a number of colonies were established along the North African coast. When Tyre was captured by the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar in around 575 BC, Carthage became the de-facto leader of the Phoenician colonies across the Mediterranean. To the east and north-east, were Cyrenaica and parts of Sicily, in the north, the coasts of Sardinia and Corsica, in the west, the ports of the Maghreb and Andalusia. On top of this, Carthage controlled the gold from Senegal and the 'tin isles' along the Atlantic Coast.