Re-discovering Ancient Carthage

Look hard enough amongst the modern suburb of Carthage and you will find the remains of its Roman and Phoenician past.

At first glance, there isn’t much left of ancient Carthage. The original Phoenician city was destroyed by the Romans in 146BC. Later they rebuilt. But today, the city they re-established is gone. All that appears to remain is a residential suburb of modern Tunis.

But fragments of ancient Carthage do remain. Excavations in the 1970s around the Byrsa hill have revealed the remains of the Punic city under the Roman forum. The Punic ports also survive with their harbours clearly visible. And amongst the modern villas, there is the tophet cemetery where the remains of young children were interred alongside emblems of the City’s guardian deities Baal and Tanit. Human sacrifice or a children’s cemetery? The debate continues.

Then there are the remains of Roman Carthage; its forum, the Antonine baths and along a roadside hidden amongst the trees, the amphitheatre.

Put these fragments together and a sense of the cities ancient glories can be recreated.