Classics

Ancient Carthage

Because the name of our College is Carthage, the Classics Department has decided to dedicate a part of the Classics web site to the ancient city of Carthage. To navigate to the page you wish to view, please click on of the options in the right-hand column.

Karthago: An Introduction

Tired out, / Aeneas' people made for the nearest land, / Turning their prows toward Libya. There's a spot / Where at the mouth of a long bay an island / Makes a harbor, forming a breakwater / Where every swell divides it as its comes in / And runs far into curving recesses. / There are high cliffs on this side and on that, / And twin peaks towering heavenward impend / On reaches of still water. Over these, / Against a forest backdrop shimmering, / A dark and shaggy grove casts a deep shade, / While in the cliffside opposite, below / The overhanging peaks, there is a cave / With fresh water and seats in living rock ...

— R. Fitzgerald, tr., Aeneid,Book 1. 216-230.

The ancient site of Carthage was located in what is today Tunisia, at one of Africa’s closest points to Europe (the island of Sicily). Carthage, then, could control trade from the eastern to the western Mediterranean.

Mythical History of Carthage

According to the mythical tradition, Elissa (Elishat) took a group of Tyrians first to Cyprus and then to the north coast of Africa opposite Sicily after her brother slew her husband. Because of the tales of all her wanderings, she received the name Dido (Deido) — the wanderer. The early Roman epic poets and Vergil used the name Dido, and that is how we remember her.

The story of Aeneas' visit to Carthage is well known and celebrated.

About Karthago

Faculty Spotlight

Classicist digs into lifestyles of the (ancient) rich and famous in Rome. Read more.

J-Term in Israel

Unearthing the Past. Annual study tour in northern Israel transforms Carthage undergrads into archaeologists.