ahencyclopedia:BOOK REVIEW: Carthage: Fact and MythEVERY empire has a cultural rival that both
ahencyclopedia:BOOK REVIEW: Carthage: Fact and MythEVERY empire has a cultural rival that both terrifies and fascinates the populace. During Rome’s tenure as a Mediterranean superpower, the city had more than a few epic rivalries with its neighbors. Only one was so terrible, so frightening to the Roman people that upon its final defeat the Romans sowed the land with salt so no one could live in the city again. Carthage is a city only relatively recently excavated, and often misunderstood. The Roman slant in historical writings either give Carthaginians legendary superpowers as opponents, or relate their barbaric and foreign ways as justification for conquest. Early archaeologists looked on the city and culture from a decidedly Christian point of view. A graveyard of infant bones became proof that the Carthaginians sacrificed babies. Statues to Ba’al and other deities brought over from Phoenicia painted them as, again, barbarians. For centuries, Carthage existed in literature as a mythical city in modern Tunisia inspiring both awe and horror but not many facts.Read More Review by Jessica Titterington on AHE -- source link
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