Morning burst in through the open window with a hasty bird's chatter. He drowned out the sonorous cries of peddlers of bread and fruit, street vendors, car horns, even the endless rumble of the sea, invisible behind the walls of the snow-white houses of Tunisia. The clean and cool hotel room was furnished according to the featureless "global" hotel standard, only on the wall hung a large photograph of an ancient clay mask - a mysterious half-smile, strands of thick hair falling over the shoulders, a clearly defined scatter of eyebrows above wide-open huge eyes - a photograph that could hang only here, twelve kilometers from Carthage.

And although this mask is clearly and academically unambiguous in all scientific publications and prospectuses: a mask of the 5th century BC, found in a Phoenician burial during excavations of Carthage, I believed the inscription made under this photograph: “Beautiful Dido.”

Carthage arose several centuries earlier than the small Gallic village of Lutetia, which later became Paris. He was already when the Etruscans appeared in the north of the Apennine Peninsula - teachers of the Romans in the arts, navigation, and crafts. Carthage was already a large city when a furrow was made around the Palatine Hill with a bronze plow, thereby performing the ritual of founding the “Square Rome”.

And like the beginning of any city whose history goes back to a half-forgotten distance of centuries, the foundation of Carthage was also consecrated by a legend by the people's rumor.

The daughter of the ruler of the main Phoenician city of Tyre, Dido, was to inherit the royal throne with her husband. But Dido's brother killed the future heir, and the princess, fearing that the same fate awaited her, fled with her entourage to Africa. Her ship landed near the city of Utica. The exile turned to the Numidian king Giarbus with a request to give her some land to build a house for herself and her retinue. Giarb allowed Dido to build a house, but he should take up no more space than an ox skin would limit ... And then, in front of Giarb's astonished advisers, Dido cut the ox skin into thin strips and fenced off such a territory on which it was possible to build a whole city. Thus, on the northern coast of Africa, the fortress of Birsa, which means "skin", arose. And soon the city of Carthage sprawled near the walls of the fortress.

Like most ancient legends, the myth of Dido apparently reflects some real events of Phoenician history. But still, the place chosen for the construction of Carthage turned out to be too successful to attribute the honor of founding it to only one mind and chance - the city for many centuries kept under its control the main trade routes between the east and west of the Mediterranean. Vessels from Etruria and Spain, from the British Isles (even there, many researchers believe, Phoenician sailors went for tin) and from Sicily passed through the harbor of Carthage. And when the city of Tire fell under the onslaught of the Persians, Carthage became the capital of Phoenicia.

Twelve kilometers to Carthage. Behind the windows of the car, houses of coastal towns merged into one settlement - Punik, Krum, Salambo, flicker. Once they were an integral part of Carthage, now they are quiet resorts. It is now winter in North Africa, and the towns seem extinct. A small, unbelievably blue saucer of the trading harbor of Carthage flashed ahead.

And there is no Carthage itself ...

By the 5th century BC, all the Phoenician colonies in Africa, many lands of Spain, the Balearic Islands, and Sardinia were already subordinate to the new capital. Carthage by this time had become one of the richest cities in the Mediterranean.

Carthaginian merchants equipped expeditions to unknown lands in order to find, in modern terms, new markets for their goods. Few testimonies of ancient authors about the Carthaginian expeditions have come down to us, but even the little that we know is striking in its scope and power.

“The Carthaginians decided that Hanno would go to sea beyond the Pillars of Hercules and found the Carthaginian cities. He sailed with sixty ships, on which there were thirty thousand men and women, supplied with supplies and everything necessary, ”narrates the so-called “Periplus Hanno”, a story that has come down to us about one of the most famous Carthaginian odysseys.

The Carthaginian fleet knew no equal at that time in the entire Mediterranean. The Carthaginian battle galleys “were built in such a way,” writes Polybius, “that they could move in any direction with the greatest ease ... If the enemy, fiercely attacking, crowded such ships, they retreated without putting themselves at risk: after all, light ships are not afraid of the open sea. If the enemy persisted in pursuit, the galleys turned around and, maneuvering in front of the formation of enemy ships or covering him from the flanks, again and again went to ram. Under the protection of such galleys, heavily loaded Carthaginian sailing ships could safely sail in "their" sea.

The rulers of Carthage maintained their power through an alliance with the Etruscans, and this alliance was like a shield that blocked the movement of the ancient Greeks to the trading oases of the Mediterranean. But under the blows of the Roman legions, the military power of the Etruscans began to decline, and Carthage began to seek an alliance with Rome. Your future assassin.

In addition to the lines of the guide, little reminds that there was one of the largest ports of antiquity - in the trading harbor of Carthage, as ancient sources say, 220 heavily loaded sailing ships could anchor at the same time. It seems that you are standing on a completely deserted shore. Desolation. Bitter wormwood smell of dry grass. Heaps of garbage. Marble debris: fragments of columns, pieces of capitals, blocks, details of stone carving - broken, broken architecture. In the green shade, under palm trees and bushes, lie sarcophagi - small stone boxes a little larger than a birdhouse. These are the ruins of the temple of Aesculapius - all that remains here from the Phoenician Carthage ...

For the first time, the Carthaginians concluded an alliance agreement with Rome at the end of the 6th century BC. At this time, Carthage waged a fierce struggle with Greece for dominion in Sicily. This struggle went on for more than three centuries - until the 4th century BC. Owning the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and having established itself in Spain, Carthage was the most powerful maritime power of the ancient world at the end of the 6th century BC.

But in 480 BC, at the Battle of Himera in Sicily, the united Greek army crushed the hitherto invincible Carthaginians. The autocracy of Carthage on the trade routes of the Mediterranean was over. True, he still struggled, struggled for more than one century, and individual stages of this struggle were successful for him. Carthage managed to almost completely regain Sicily, he expanded his possessions in Africa itself - and the current territory of Tunisia was almost entirely part of the Carthaginian state. The Carthaginian army, replenished with African warriors, again regained Sicily at the beginning of the 3rd century BC. But already in the middle of this century, Carthage stood up against

Rome, which did not want to share the Mediterranean with anyone.

For 118 years, the struggle between Carthage and Rome continued intermittently, a struggle that went down in history under the name "Punic Wars".

After the first Punic War, which lasted twenty-three years - from 264 to 241 BC - Carthage lost Sicily and paid 1200 talents of indemnity. Carthage decided to take revenge. The second war lasted seventeen years - from 218 to 201. The famous Carthaginian commander Hannibal made an unprecedented transition from Spain to Italy with his army, approached Rome, crushing the elite Roman legions. But this war also ended in defeat. Carthage lost Spain and paid 10,000 talents in indemnity.

In 149 BC, the third Punic War began. It lasted only three years. It's hard to even call it a war. As F. Engels wrote, "it was a simple oppression of the weakest enemy by ten times the strongest enemy."

And all these three years, the Roman senator Marcus Porcius Cato, with fanatical obstinacy, ended his speech, whatever it was, with the words: "Besides, I believe that Carthage must be destroyed."

And Carthage was destroyed. The agony of the doomed city lasted for six days. The legionaries of Scipio Aemilian captured the military port and gradually occupied the entire lower city. Fires broke out in Carthage, dying of hunger and thirst. On the seventh day, 55,000 citizens surrendered to the mercy of the victors.

... "Carthage must be destroyed." Scipio Aemilian carried out the order of the senate. Heavy plows plowed up what was left of its streets, and salt was sown in the land, on which only yesterday there were vineyards, grain grew and trees stood, in order to forever barren it.

The legend says that Scipio himself wept, watching the great city go into oblivion, and his retinue heard that the commander whispered the words of Homer: “There will be some day, and sacred Troy will perish, Priam and the people of the spear-bearer Priam will perish with it.”

Underfoot are huge stone slabs, corroded by time. Now it is a road to nowhere - the ancient Carthaginian road from North Africa to Libya and further to Egypt. The gilded chariots of the victors rushed along it and the Roman legionnaires passed, the blood of the Carthaginian mercenaries who rebelled against their masters at the end of the Second Punic War, the blood of the Ligurians, Lusitans, Balearians, Lydians, Greeks, Egyptians shed here. And in the distance, near the sea, the light trunks of Roman columns turn white ...

Twenty-four years after the destruction of Carthage, on the site where Roman plows passed on the last day of the last Punic War, the Romans built a new city. All that was left of the Phoenician Carthage went as building material for the buildings and temples of Roman Carthage. Carthage very quickly became the administrative, economic and cultural center of the entire African Roman province. In AD 29, Emperor Augustus granted Carthage the rights it had before the Punic Wars. The city in northern Africa has again become rich and powerful. The hills running down to the sea were again built up with white-stone houses, temples, palaces, again the slave market was noisy in many languages.

For six centuries Carthage was Roman. In the 5th century it was conquered by the Vandals and became the capital of their kingdom. In the VI century, Carthage came under the rule of Byzantium. In VII captured and again destroyed by the Arabs. In the 9th century, there was only a small village on the site of Carthage, in which only about a thousand inhabitants lived. And in the XVI century Carthage - Phoenician, Roman, Byzantine - was finally destroyed by the Spaniards.

And in our days, over Carthage, over what remains of Carthage, the threat of a third death looms.

The significance that Carthage played - its architects, artists, jewelers, sculptors, artisans - for the whole of North Africa, especially for Tunisia, is enormous. Being at the crossroads of international routes, Carthage absorbed the cultures of all peoples and tribes like a sponge. The oldest ornament found by archaeologists in Carthage has Syrian features, some figurines of the Phoenician mother goddess are clearly made in the Greek style, and figurines are found in the Carthaginian settlements of Tunisia, the whole appearance of which is strikingly similar to the ancient Egyptian sphinxes. And all this wealth has been closely intertwined for thousands of years with local, African traditions in art and culture. One of the largest Tunisian researchers, Jalal El-Kafi, writes that "in the history of Tunisia - an area where civilizations of the entire Mediterranean world have long met and crossed - Carthage appears as one of the peaks in the majestic panorama of a cultural tradition that spans more than one millennium." Carthage was killed twice, but it was too big to disappear without a trace.

A large bush of pale lilac flowers, and in it, as if fused with it, stands a snow-white Corinthian capital. It was not destroyed, not broken by a person, but time, wind, sand and water removed from it that sharpness that is inevitable in any product that has just come out from under the hand of the master - it stands as a light sketch in stone, light and beautiful. And nearby, right on the ground, framed by openwork greenery of climbing plants, a piece of fresco flares up on a fragment of an ancient wall. About Carthage remind not only the products of its masters, discovered by archaeologists, exhibited in numerous museums around the world. In many cities and towns of the Maghreb, mosques, khan's palaces, residential buildings were built from its ruins: you often see either a stone with a half-erased inscription from Carthage, inserted into the wall of an ordinary house, or a pedestal made from a block of antique columns.

But the main thing that has preserved Carthage for centuries is the land. The land of Carthage has become a protected field for archaeologists. Who can take the liberty of saying what masterpieces of world art the explorer's spade will stumble upon tomorrow in this land?

And this protected field is under the threat of destruction.

This time the final one. The city of Tunisia is growing, it is already cramped within the old walls, within the old borders, and it has attacked Carthage.

Roads, car parks, campsites, villas, hotels, motels - ordinary buildings, without a plan, chaotic, begin to close this land. El-Kafi writes that "if things continue as they are now, the brick and concrete of modern residential areas will inevitably bury the land of Carthage under them."

Now the government of Tunisia, together with UNESCO, is looking for ways to save Carthage. The project "Carthage - Tunisia" is being created. Optimal options for the urban development of Tunisia are being sought in order to allocate significant areas of the future city for archaeological zones.

“Carthage must not be destroyed” - such an epigraph can be prefaced to the Carthage-Tunisia project. And I would like to believe that steel, glass and concrete of the 20th century AD will not rise like the last tombstone over the earth of the ancient city.

Each of us from the school bench knows the Latin phrase "Carthage must be destroyed!". It was said by an ancient senator, urging other nobles to put an end to the rivalry between the Eternal City and an amazingly beautiful village in Africa. With this phrase, the politician always ended his speeches and, in the end, achieved what he wanted.

Why and who destroyed Carthage, it becomes clear when you make a short excursion into the past. In the world of that era, there were two great and powerful states that were complete opposites. In the Apennines, the Romans had a well-developed agricultural sector, economy, legal system, and army. In Carthage, trade flourished, everything was decided by money and status, and mercenaries made up military power. If Rome based its power on land, then the African city was a sea power. On the Apennine Peninsula, a pantheon of indulgent gods was worshiped, and on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea, numerous human sacrifices were made to the bloodthirsty Moloch. These two superpowers, sooner or later, had to collide foreheads, which resulted in a whole series of

Before answering the question of who destroyed Carthage, it should be said that the rivalry between the two civilizations lasted more than a hundred years. It was not profitable for any state to destroy the enemy, since their territorial interests did not touch. Rome fought to expand its borders at the expense of a weaker enemy, while the Carthaginians supplied their goods to all corners of the empire and needed a stream of slaves.

Guild Carthage led actions against with varying degrees of success. Such campaigns always ended in a truce. But the African side was the first to violate all agreements, which could not please the proud Eternal City. Violation of the treaty for Rome was an insult, so wars unfolded again. In the end, the senate made a decision and chose the one who destroyed Carthage to the ground.

When the legions approached the walls of Carthage, they were sure of a peaceful end to the war. The Romans knew that the death sentence had already been passed. The Roman commander, who destroyed Carthage, patiently and gradually announced all the requirements of the Senate. The townspeople obediently performed them in the hope that the illustrious army would soon leave. The inhabitants of the legendary African city were allowed to take their wealth with them and leave their homes. After that, they razed it to the ground, plowed it with a heavy plow and sowed it with salt, cursing these places forever. The main reason for these measures, the one who destroyed Carthage, called the lack of negotiability. After all, when they made promises, they obviously knew that they would not fulfill them.

By the way, the inhabitants of Carthage realized late, but no longer believed them. History has captured the heroic siege of the African pearl before its complete destruction. The onslaught of Scipio in 146 put an end to the history of this beautiful city on the Mediterranean coast and a great state. Despite the Roman rites, life returned to these parts after some time. the mild climate and favorable geographical position attracted new colonizers. But the city never reached its former glory.

The truth sounds beautiful: Kar-fa-gen ?!
This city was once in the Phoenician state, translated from the Phoenician "New City".
The state, by the way, was also called Carthage.
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It was a long time ago, though.
Carthage was founded in 814 BC by Queen Elissa and by the 3rd century BC. became the largest country in the Mediterranean. Suffice it to say that Southern Spain, North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica were under his command.
A huge army, consisting of 50 thousand foot soldiers, 9 thousand horsemen and 37 war elephants, led by the Carthaginian commander Hannibal, marched through the lands of modern Italy, Spain, France, leaving behind the ashes of burned cities.

We reached the Eternal City. It was then that I found a scythe on a stone.
In the Roman Senate, the words of Mark Porcius Cato were repeated daily: Whoever comes to us with a sword ... "Carthage must be destroyed!"
And they, the Romans, did destroy Carthage. It happened in 146 BC.
They say (or rather, they write) that the conquerors themselves wept, seeing how cultural and civilized Carthage perished.

Well, what happened, happened. Over two thousand years ago.
And in 1953 AD, in the suburbs of the city of Tunisia, excavations began on the site of Carthage. And - about a miracle! - a whole quarter of the old "New City" was released from under the ash layer.
And since 1979, excursions have been conducted here.
Would you like to see?
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Although many Romans dreamed of personally leading the destruction of the old enemy's capital, the one who destroyed Carthage was Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus Jr. He was a skilled Roman commander, not deprived of oratory and having significant political weight. When he was appointed military tribune, Rome began the last Punic war, during which Carthage was destroyed.

Its history was quite rich. He was the son of Lucius Aemilius Paulus, and he came into the Scipio family through adoption. His military career began quite early - in 168 BC. he participated in the battle of Pydna, after which, with his father and his army, he marched throughout Greece, after which he entered Rome in triumph. Already in 151 BC. he was appointed legate under the consul Lucius Lucullus Scipio Aemilianus. In this position, he took part in military operations against the Celtiberians. At the battle of Intercation, he was challenged to a duel by the leader of the Spaniards, whom the Roman slew in battle.

In 149, the Third Punic War began. The Romans decided to destroy the unfinished enemy, and began to send impossible demands to the Carthaginians. When they refused to leave their city and go deep into the mainland, the Romans started a war. Scipio Aemilianus may not have expected to be the one who destroyed Carthage, but it was he who was appointed commander in this campaign. During the siege of Carthage, which lasted three years, he stopped any attempts to repulse the siege by the Carthaginians, and more than once saved his people from inevitable defeat. For his exploits in 147, he received the position of consul and supreme commander in the war. When in 146 he captured and destroyed Carthage, the Romans called him African.
The destroyer of Carthage has since gained considerable fame in Roman society. Already in 142, he was elected censor, and he went to Asia and Egypt on special assignments from the Senate. In 134, he was again elected consul, and was appointed commander of the Roman troops in Spain. There he won the Numantine war, managing to surround the city of Numantia with a system of impenetrable fortifications and deprive him of support.
When Scipio Aemilianus returned to Rome, riots reigned there. He openly opposed Tiberius Gracchus, and had significant support in the country. However, during a heated argument in the Senate, he died unexpectedly. It is possible that he was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy by his political rivals.

The history of the Punic wars had its sad but logical conclusion. The ideas of international parity were still very far away, and the stronger enemy sought to simply destroy, wipe out the weaker one. This is what happened to Carthage.

Peace conditions 201 BC e., which ended the Second Punic War, were extremely difficult for Carthage. Carthage lost all its overseas territories, had to disband the army and navy, a huge indemnity was imposed on the city, which had to be paid within fifty years. In addition, Carthage could no longer independently determine foreign policy, the Romans also exercised special control so that the Punes, God forbid, would not modernize weapons. Of course, there were still enough people in Carthage who dreamed of restoring their former power. However, after Hannibal fled from the city, their voice was weak. In general, the Carthaginians were loyal to their overlords. But this did not save Carthage.

At the head of one of the commissions that were sent from Rome to Africa in order to resolve controversial issues regarding Carthage, a principled and incorruptible senator, a consistent supporter of the anti-Punic policy, Mark Porcius Cato, was placed. Arriving back, this senator reported that he was worried about the speed with which Carthage restored its material well-being. He declared that until Carthage was destroyed, the Romans could not feel at ease. Cato the Elder ended each of his speeches on any issue with the catchphrase now: “Besides, I believe that Carthage must be destroyed!” The adoption of such a radical decision was in the hands of many Roman merchants and business executives. In the end, Cato's opinion won out. Now the destruction of a wealthy city was only a matter of time and opportunity. He introduced himself soon after.

Carthage was subjected to constant raids by the Numidians of King Masinissa, who felt his impunity due to the restrictions imposed on the city by the Romans. In the end, the Punians began to arm themselves in order to repulse the brazen attacks of the Numidians. However, they did not wait for the official permission of Rome. In response, the Romans began to prepare for war. In Carthage, they tried to hush up the conflict: the leaders of the anti-Roman party were condemned to death, an embassy went to Rome to ask for peace. The Senate set them conditions that the ambassadors themselves could not accept. While they traveled to Africa for unlimited powers, an army had already sailed from Rome. The following conditions were set for the new embassy: the Carthaginians must hand over 300 noble hostages and fulfill all the requirements of the Roman commander-in-chief, who had already been given the appropriate instructions.

The hostages were handed over, and the conversation with the commander took place already in Africa. Here the Romans demanded the surrender of all weapons and elephants. The Carthaginians agreed to this. After that, the last demand of the Romans was made: the city of Carthage should be demolished, and a new settlement founded away from the sea. This event, which happened in 149 BC. e. (Carthage had just finished paying its half-century indemnity), and served as the beginning of the Third Punic War.

The Carthaginians understood that it was about the very existence of their state (and it was hard not to understand this). They asked for a thirty-day reprieve to appeal to the Senate for mercy. The Romans were sure that the Punians could no longer resist without weapons, and this time they showed mercy. The reprieve was given. In Carthage, secretly from the Roman garrison (which is surprising in itself), general hard work began in preparation for a long struggle. According to the stories of ancient historians, women cut off their hair to make bow strings out of them, men forged weapons day and night, supplies were delivered by sea and land from all over the Carthaginian region, city residents dismantled the walls of public and private buildings to strengthen the city walls.

After a month, the Romans found that Carthage was fully prepared to repel attacks, and its defenders were well armed. The very first assault showed that the war could drag on. The Roman army had to stand under the walls of the enemy city for about two years. The command of the siege was entrusted to the most capable Roman general, Scipio Aemilianus, who skillfully took advantage of the fame gained here by his grandfather, the famous Scipio Africanus. The new commander restored discipline in the Roman army and began to act more energetically. The Carthaginians lost the outer wall of the city, a blockade of Carthage was established from the sea and land. The Romans built a dam that blocked the entrance to the city harbor. The Punians managed at first to deal with this problem by digging a canal that allowed their ships to reach the open sea. But they did not manage to use the results of this activity. The moment for the attack of the Roman fleet, which did not expect the appearance of the Carthaginian ships, was for some reason missed, and soon the Roman soldiers, at the direction of Scipio, filled up the canal and blocked the isthmus, building a long wall.

Winter 147/146 BC e. became the last for the famine-stricken defenders of Carthage. In the spring, the Romans stormed the city, but for another six days a fierce struggle was waged on its streets for every house. Most of the Punians took refuge in the citadel in the middle of the city. Scipio ordered to burn everything around to make it possible to attack from different sides. Only then did the besieged surrender. Less than a tenth of the population that inhabited Carthage at the beginning of the Third Punic War left the citadel. Elsewhere, Hasdrubal, the chief of defense, was taken prisoner (according to legend, he cowardly asked for mercy, while his closest associates and his wife and children set themselves on fire in one of the city's temples).

The Senate insistently ordered Scipio to liquidate Carthage. The huge city was set on fire and burned for seventeen days. Then a furrow was drawn across the city - a symbol of destruction. The land on which Carthage stood was forever cursed and covered with salt, so that for many years not a single blade of grass could grow here. The former possessions of Carthage became the Roman province of Africa. Only in 29 BC. e. Julius Caesar ordered to arrange a colonial city on the site of Carthage. In 439, already n. e. the vandals made it the capital of their state. A hundred years later, he passed to the Byzantines and vegetated in provincial silence until the Arabs in 698 again swept him off the face of the earth.

By the way, from a legal point of view, we can assume that the Third Punic War continued until recent days. The Romans did not conclude a peace treaty with Carthage! The historical “oversight” was corrected on February 2, 1985, when the mayor of Rome and the mayor of the Tunisian city of Carthage, which had revived after many years of desolation, signed an agreement on peace and cooperation.