Mago in about 350 b.c.e. be translated for Rome’s use. Th e
Carthaginians also bred and traded prized Arabian horses.
Much of Carthage’s wealth came from brokering trade in
these goods.
Carthage’s infl uence also spread southward. Th e empire
sent caravans into the African continent, where they traded
for such goods as ebony, ivory, salt, timber, gold, and hides,
and such animals as apes and peacocks. To the north they
obtained amber from the Scandinavian countries. In sum-
mary, the Carthaginians traded in just about every commod-
ity that anyone wanted in the ancient world. Th eir effi ciency
in storing, transporting, buying, and selling goods (they in-
vented the auction) was the source of the empire’s wealth and
power.
According to legend, Carthage was founded under the
leadership of Queen Elissar, sometimes spelled Elissa or
Alissa. In the Aeneid of the Roman writer Virgil, the queen is
called Queen Dido. Details of the queen’s life are sketchy, but
according to such sources as the Roman writer Justin, her fa-
ther was King Matten, known also as Belus II or Muttoial. At
his death the throne passed jointly to Elissar and her brother,
King Pygmalion. She then married Acherbas, her uncle, a
man of great wealth. Her brother, though, was a tyrant and
wanted to gain control of Acherbas’s wealth, so he killed
Acherbas. Elissar escaped and founded the city of Carthage.
Little is known of her subsequent fate, though according to
Virgil she committed suicide.
Some details survive about the rulership of Carthage.
Th rough most of its history the empire was ruled by an oligar-
chy of judges known as suff ets, from the Hebrew word shofet,
meaning “judge.” (Th e Phoenicians were a Semitic-speaking
people, meaning that their language was similar to that of the
ancient Jews.) Early in the empire’s history was a governing
body of judges called the Hundred and Four, whose primary
role was to oversee the military. Additionally, the city of Car-
thage was ruled by a governor.
A supreme council made up of the empire’s most infl uen-
tial and wealthy families exercised power in the empire. Ad-
ditionally, two judges with both judicial and executive powers
were elected, though historians do not know whether they
were elected by the people or by the council. While this oligar-
chy ruled the empire, Carthage had elements of a democracy,
including a constitution (written about by the Greek philoso-
pher Aristotle), workers’ unions, and elected representatives.
A council of elders acted in an advisory capacity. One Greek
historian, Polybius, notes that the Carthaginian people had
more power over their government than the Roman people
had over theirs. Separate from the civil administration was a
class of appointed admirals and generals.
One of the most important oligarchic families of ancient
Carthage was the Barcid family, best known as tenacious op-
ponents of the Roman Empire. Th e family name Barcid is an
invention of historians for a family whose original name was
Barca or sometimes Barcas, meaning “lightning” in the Se-
mitic languages. According to legend, the Barcids descended
from Queen Elissar, though Rome’s destruction of Carthage
makes it unlikely that the true origins of the family will ever
be known. Th e Barcid family was the closest thing to a ruling
dynasty that Carthage produced.
Th e Barcids rose to power in the third century b.c.e. Th ey
saw that the Roman Republic was expanding and foresaw that
Rome could eventually eclipse Carthage and put an end to
Carthage’s power on the sea. Accordingly, the Barcids were
the driving force behind the First Punic War and led prepara-
tions for the Second Punic War. Moreoever, they founded in
Iberia a number of cities whose names still survive, includ-
ing Barcelona and Cartagena, which evolved from Carthago
Nova, or New Carthage.
Some of the most famous members of the Barcid fam-
ily include Hamilcar Barca (270?–228 b.c.e.), a military com-
mander during the First Punic War. Hasdrubal the Fair (?–221
b.c.e.), Hamilcar’s son-in-law, followed in his father-in-law’s
footsteps and continued Carthaginian expansion in Iberia.
Hannibal Barca was Hamilcar’s son and became one of the
most famous military commanders in history when he led
his troops over the Alps from Spain and crushed the Roman
forces in the Battle of Cannae in 216 b.c.e. His brother Has-
drubal (?–207 b.c.e.) defended Iberia in Hannibal’s absence,
then led reinforcements to Italy in 207 b.c.e. Th eir youngest
brot her, Mago Barca (243–203 b.c.e.), not to be conf used w it h
the Mago who wrote the agricultural treatise mentioned ear-
lier, was also an able military commander.KUSH
In the fourth millennium b.c.e. the ancient Egyptians colo-
nized a region around the fi rst cataract of the Nile River.
(Along its length the fl ow of the river’s waters is interrupted
by cataracts, or shallow areas with rocks, islands, and rapids.
Th ese cataracts are conventionally numbered from south to
north, since this is the direction in which the Nile River fl ows.)
Th is region was called Nubia, divided into Upper Nubia to the
south and Lower Nubia to the north (again, because of the di-
rection of the river’s fl ow). Because Egypt maintained control
of these regions to the south, Egyptian civilization was spread
southward into the interior of the African continent. A king-
dom grew up along the Nile, in the fl oodplain between the
fi rst and third cataracts. Th e Egyptians called this kingdom
Kush. Th us, Nubia refers to the region, roughly modern-day
Sudan; Kush refers to the people and their kingdom.
Th e kingdom of the Kush functioned as a major center
for trade. Goods from the southern part of Africa, including
gold, ebony, ivory, exotic animals, and slaves, passed through
Kush on the way to points north. While at various points in
their history the Kush ruled their own independent king-
dom in Upper Nubia, at other points they were an Egyptian
colony, and Lower Nubia remained a colony through most
of its history. Th roughout their history, the Kush thought of
themselves principally as Egyptian, and their religion, archi-
tecture, government, and other aspects of their culture were
essentially Egyptian.390 empires and dynasties: Africa