Carthage (Tunisia): photos and reviews. Tunisia. Carthage must be destroyed Where are the ruins of Carthage

For the average modern person ancient Carthage, most likely, is associated with Hannibal, Rome and the fact that it certainly had to be destroyed. Someone might remember where was Carthage and that it was the Carthaginians who began to use elephants on the battlefield. At this point, the stock of knowledge about this ancient city will most likely be exhausted.

In fact Carthage was one of the most powerful states of antiquity, and not only in military terms. In its heyday, this state, located in the north of what is now Tunisia, controlled vast territories in northern Africa and Europe. The Carthaginians monopolized shipping in the western Mediterranean. This monopoly was an inexhaustible source of replenishment of the treasury, allowing it to maintain a powerful army and an excellent navy. Agriculture provided great income in an almost ideal climate.

Carthage - stages of the history of the ancient city

As often happens in history, it was power that destroyed Carthage. Rome could not tolerate such a strong neighbor at hand. As a result of the three Punic Wars, Carthage suffered an unconditional defeat.

The hatred of Senator Cato Sr., who mentioned the destruction of Carthage even in speeches dedicated to the budget of Rome, materialized. The city was wiped off the face of the earth, and the ruins were also covered with salt. But the strategic location of Carthage was so advantageous that the Romans soon came to their senses and built a new beautiful and modern city for those times on the site of ancient Carthage. After the Romans, the city was ruled by Vandals and Arabs. History of Carthage tells about at least four eras of prosperity and decline.

Due to the concentration of archaeological artifacts in a relatively small area, modern archaeologists have to work hard to correctly date and classify their finds, so multi-layered are the excavations.

Bardo Museum

Research that began at the end of the 19th century immediately brought such a number of finds that it became clear that they would not fit into any existing museum. The French colonial authorities gave away an entire palace for the new museum. Now it is called the Bardo Museum. But a huge palace was not enough - many exhibits are located in the open air.

Despite the predominance of Roman and Muslim artifacts, a whole hall is dedicated to monuments of the Punic era (the Romans called the Carthaginians Punics) in the Bardo Museum. The main and most controversial exhibit in the hall is considered to be a stele depicting a scene of the sacrifice of a small child. A number of scientists and historians are confident that the Carthaginians sacrificed infants and the stela “priest with child” is convincing evidence of this. In addition to the heritage of the Carthaginians, the museum widely displays exhibits dating back to the times of the Roman possession of Carthage and the Muslim conquest.

In memory of the Romans, sculptures, weapons and coins remained. The Muslim period enriched the museum's treasury with beautiful mosaics.

The stela with the image of the unfortunate child was delivered to the Bardo Museum from Tophet. This place is believed to have served as both an altar and a cemetery. The remains of small burnt bodies found here spoke in favor of human sacrifice. But later studies showed that most of the buried children were either stillborn or died of natural causes at an early age. Most likely, very young children who died from illnesses were simply buried in Tophet. Nevertheless, the gloomy aura of the cemetery at this altar still remains - in later times, the first Christians buried their dead here.

National Museum of Carthage

A very impressive collection of antiquities is also collected in the National Museum of Carthage. It was originally located in the building from which the Romans began rebuilding Carthage at the beginning of our era. On Birsa Hill, strategically dominating the area, the ruins of the Carthaginian citadel still remained, and have survived to this day. Gradually, other buildings were added to the museum, and as a result, the National Museum has now become a gigantic complex, which is very difficult to get acquainted with without prior preparation in just one day.

The museum building itself is made of white marble. Inside there are several rooms of different sizes. They present works of art and folk art, sorted in chronological order: Punic Carthage, the era of Roman rule, the period of the Arab conquest. There are also exhibits brought from other places and associated with Carthage solely by the time of creation. The National Museum houses one of the largest collections of ancient and medieval coins.

Baths of Antoni Pius

Emperor Antony Pius is not very famous in history. No wonder - he did not wage major wars and did not annex new provinces to Rome. He paid primary attention to improving the well-being of the inhabitants of the empire. And his name is in city ​​of Carthage immortalized in the name of the baths. From the actual baths, only fragments of walls and several columns have been preserved, only one of which stands in its proper place.

It is not very convenient for a modern person to walk on the hewn stones with which the road is paved. But when you go to the Baths of Antonius Pius, you really get in touch with antiquity. The baths had direct access to the sea, but the marble staircase along which the Romans descended to the shore has not survived to this day.

Cathedral of Saint Louis

On Birsa Hill is located the relatively new, by the standards of Carthage, St. Louis Cathedral. A very beautiful building was built at the end of the 19th century on the site of the Crusader camp, in which the French king Louis IX died during the Eighth Crusade.

The cathedral dominates the area and is clearly visible from all sides. For some time, St. Louis Cathedral was considered the main Catholic church on the continent. After Tunisia became an independent state from a French colony in 1964, the relics of the holy king were taken to France, and Catholic services in the cathedral ceased. Since 1994, the temple has been used only as a concert hall and museum.

Hill of Jupiter

Somewhat north of Birsa Hill there is another noticeable hill - Jupiter Hill. Unlike the remains of buildings preserved on Birsa Hill, the ruins here have not been identified. Archaeologists have not yet figured out the purpose of the vast buildings and colonnades. There was once a Christian monastery on the hill, but the surviving fragments clearly do not belong to it.

Carthaginian aqueduct

After the recreated Carthage became the center of a large Roman province, the city became attractive to the nobility and the rich. The still preserved ruins of Roman villas eloquently indicate that, as in other centers of Ancient Rome, there was competition among the ruling elite in the size, beauty and functionality of the villas, the owners of which spent at most a couple of months a year in them. Some villas were as tall as today's six-story buildings.

Water supply to dense and fairly high-rise buildings was not a problem for the Romans. In Carthage, for this purpose, they built a giant aqueduct. Water was supplied to the city from a distance of 132 kilometers, from the foot of the Tunisian mountains.

The average height of the aqueduct was 20 meters. Now parts of the aqueduct are destroyed, but the surviving sections are enough to evoke admiration for ancient engineering and the amount of labor spent on the construction of the water pipeline. According to the calculations of modern experts, the carrying capacity of the Carthage Aqueduct was up to 400 liters per second.

Amphitheater and modern Carthage

An amphitheater was just as important an attribute of a large Roman city as an aqueduct. There was also an amphitheater in Carthage. The building was multi-purpose. Not only gladiator fights took place there, but also naval battles (the arena could be turned into a lake), and the executions of the first Christians. It is estimated that in the Roman era the amphitheater could accommodate up to 50,000 spectators.

It has now been restored on a much smaller scale, with only minor fragments remaining of the Roman structure.

The modern name of Carthage is Carthage. This is a suburb of the capital of Tunisia - the city of Tunis, in which, in addition to historical buildings, there is also the residence of the president and a university.

Not far from the city of Tunis is Carthage, a city that was founded by the Phoenicians sometime in 814 BC. In those days, several trading colonies were established on the Tunisian coast to carry out barter trade with the local population.

By the 5th century BC, these settlements had turned into one large maritime power, which was called Carthage; in the 3rd century BC, this state became a powerful opponent of Rome. The hostility between the two powers turned into three wars that shook the ancient world.

Carthage and its mercenary army, war elephants and generals terrified the inhabitants of Rome, for many people today the word “Carthage” evokes an association with the phrase: “Carthage must be destroyed.” This expression was used in ancient times by the senator of Rome, Cato the Elder, at the end of his speech.

The last war between the countries ended with the defeat of Carthage in 146 BC. There was nothing left of the power; the Romans tried to scatter 400 carts of salt on the ruins, so that even the local land would be barren for many more years.

Throughout the 19-20 centuries and to this day, excavations of the ruins of the ancient city continue. Today, anyone who comes to Tunisia can visit these places, but almost no one can see everything at once, because work is underway on one part, and part has a special regime status , the rest is located on a vast territory. It is unrealistic to walk around the entire area in one day, so tourists are better off choosing the most significant objects and studying them, or coming here several times.

Among all the splendor that can still be explored, I would especially like to note the ruins of the Antonine Baths - one of the largest resorts of the ancient era. These baths are second in size only to the Baths of Trajan in Rome. Also noteworthy is the Roman amphitheater, which could accommodate up to 50,000 people at a time, as well as the aqueduct.

Also not far from Tunisia, in its suburbs there is the Bardo National Museum - one of the largest repositories of ancient valuables. You will not find such a number of unique exhibits anywhere else.

Carthage on the map of Tunisia

Not far from the city of Tunis is Carthage, a city that was founded by the Phoenicians sometime in 814 BC. In those days, several trading colonies were established on the Tunisian coast to carry out barter trade with the local population.

By the 5th century BC, these settlements had grown into one large maritime power, which was called Carthage, in the 3rd century BC..." />

Carthage is the birth of the Tunisian legend. Tunisia is the northernmost country in Africa, where there was a mixture of different styles from Africa, Asia and Europe. It was in Tunisia that East met West. The Carthage area is the most expensive and prestigious suburb of the capital of Tunisia. It is built up with white mansions with luxurious gardens. The summer residence of the country's president is located in the Carthage region. Lovers of antiquities and ancient history, your path lies in Carthage for self-development, gaining new knowledge about the mysterious African country of Tunisia, to broaden your horizons!

The history of Tunisia is the history of Carthage. In Tunisia, the Phoenicians became the pioneers. As skilled sailors and traders, they founded several colonies in the eastern territory of Tunisia in the Mediterranean Sea. Carthage achieved the greatest prosperity. The Punic period of Tunisia's history covers 814-146 BC. In 146 BC. e. During the Third Punic War, the city of Carthage was burned and completely destroyed by the ancient Romans. After 100 years, the Romans returned here and rebuilt Carthage. It is his artifacts that tourists see on excursion routes.

The Roman period (146 BC - 439 AD) entered the history of Tunisia with the seizure of all the lands of the “Province of Africa”. The Romans and Greeks began to explore ancient cities. Income from the trade and sale of olive oil was a success in the development of this North African territory. Plunge into the history of the rule of Great Rome! Today in Carthage we are wandering among typical Roman ancient buildings.

Carthage is the ancient capital of Tunisia. The legendary city of Carthage, even today, retains traces of its former power in elements of columns, buildings, sculptures, ancient coins and other artifacts. Particularly impressive are the National Museum of Carthage and the Baths of the Roman Emperor Antony Pius - the second largest in the Roman Empire after the Baths of Caracalla in the “eternal city” of Rome.

Excursion Carthage in Tunisia

Excursion Carthage - the remains of a former civilization in the form of ruins and excavations, presented as an open-air museum in the center of the Tunis vilayet. From Tunis to Carthage can be reached by the urban railway TGM (Tunis-Goulet-Marsa) 12 km from the city center. The TGM Tunis Marine station is located near the Clock Tower on Avenue Habib Bourguiba. On the territory of Carthage there are 10 different sites for tourists to explore in remote places (single ticket for all sites). The ruins of Carthage are interesting because of the layers of excavations and remains of structures from several eras: Phoenician, Roman, Arab and Byzantine. Archaeologists have restored: a Roman amphitheater, an ancient aqueduct, Roman baths, the remains of residential areas, sanctuaries. One of the main excavation sites of Carthage is a 6.5 km long site. The ruins of the Punic Tophet are an altar for open-air burials of children.

A suburb of Tunisia, the famous city-state of Carthage and its sites currently look like solid stones in the crown of the archaeological park of the capital. Plan your route around the sights of Carthage in advance. You need to start your visit from the sea and move from south to north as if through the pages of history. Start of the journey through the antiquities of Carthage - Phoenician burials and trading ports of the Phoenicians. Next, explore the exhibits of the Roman era and finish the tour with the treasures of the Christian basilica. You have the right to choose any course of events! The islet of Amyroth in Carthage is a landmass of a military and commercial port of the Phoenicians. The quarter of Roman villas, the baths of Antonius Pius, rainwater collection tanks and Birsa Hill are mesmerizing in size.

Birsa is the citadel of Carthage on the high hill of the same name. Birsa has reached our times in the form of ruins from the Roman era. Birsa is compared to the acropolis - an unchanging attribute of Greek cities. This is the so-called “Upper City”. The Temple of St. Louis on the hill of Birsa is the most interesting part of the excursion to Carthage. The National Museum of Carthage was built in the place where the Romans laid the first stone for the construction of the ancient city. The museum with archaeological finds from ancient Carthage was opened in 1875 in a former monastery and is considered the oldest in Tunisia.

The ruins of Carthage are located in the suburbs of the city of Tunis. You can get to them by high-speed tram, reaching the following stops:

Carthage-Hannibal- from this stop you can get to the Antonine Baths, the Roman Theater, and the top of the hill, the Museum of Carthage.

Carthage President- to the Basilica of St. Cyprien and to the presidential palace.

Carthage-Amilcar- to the American cemetery.

Carthage-Birsa- to the Oceanographic Museum, the Punic Tophet and the nearby hotel.

This is what the city of Carthage looked like in ancient times

Historical reference

The city of Carthage was founded at the end of the 9th century BC. e. Phoenicians. In the 3rd century BC. e. reached its greatest power and became the capital of the largest state in the Western Mediterranean. As a result of wars with Rome, he lost the conquered lands. In 146 BC. e. was captured by Roman legionnaires and destroyed.

100 years later, Julius Caesar planned to found a Roman colony on the site of the Carthaginian ruins. It was called the "Carthaginian colony of Julia". In the 1st century, the city, reborn from ruins, became one of the largest in the Roman Empire. 300 thousand citizens lived in it. A circus with 60 thousand seats, a theater, Roman baths, and an amphitheater were built for them.

The decline of the Roman Empire also affected Carthage. In 439 it was captured and plundered by the Vandals. Then came the period of Byzantine conquests, and the city began to revive again. At this time, Christians firmly established themselves in it. But at the end of the 7th century, the Arabs came and put an end to the once prosperous and powerful city. It fell into disrepair, and the stone buildings were dismantled for the construction of Tunisia.

List of interesting places

Antonine Baths are the ruins of the largest Roman baths, which in size competed even with the baths of Rome. Also of interest is the Punic Cemetery with its chapel and graves decorated with mosaics.

Museum of Carthage, located on a hill, is notable for stunning views of the city and coast. It includes the ruins of streets, a public library, a chapel, and a church. You can admire the elements of the magnificent mosaic.

Basilica of Saint Cyprien is a Christian temple. Previously, it was surrounded by a cemetery. Reopened in 1915. It offers breathtaking views of the sea. The temple, apparently, was dedicated to the safe voyage of sailors. It is located north of the main ruins of Carthage. There is a grocery store nearby where you can buy pastries and drinks.

Oceanographic Museum built in 1924 on the initiative of the head of state. It was erected on the site of a military Carthaginian harbor. Also of interest Presidential palace. It is well guarded. You should know that photographing the palace itself, the helicopter pad, and the boat pier is prohibited. You can only watch from afar.

American Cemetery and a memorial to soldiers who fell in World War II. 2,841 American military personnel killed in North Africa are buried here. The monument bears the names of 3,724 Americans whose remains have not been found or identified.

This is an incomplete list of everything that is included in the ruins of Carthage. To make the tour more pleasant, eateries are scattered near the tourist routes. You can eat there, relax and gain strength to continue the excursion.

Carthage on the map of Tunisia is located 35 km from Tunis, the capital of the Tunisian Republic. There are a huge number of attractions here, among which the greatest interest among travelers from all over the world are the ruins of ancient times that remain from the ancient city. We definitely recommend you visit.

According to many portals, Carthage in Tunisia is among the TOP 1000 most interesting attractions on the planet for tourists, and it is far from last on this list.

Carthage on the map of Tunisia at its dawn

Carthage is a ruin located near Tunisia. This city with a rich history was founded 60 years before Rome by the Phoenicians in the 9th century BC and was once the center of the intersection of trade routes through the Sahara Desert and Western Asia.

Located on a peninsula overlooking the Gulf of Tunis, during its heyday Carthage was a great port where ships sailed from the north and south. All the merchants of the world went here to trade or just take a break from a long voyage, because the city-state offered a lot of entertainment.

Interestingly, the ruins of the ancient city can be found in a variety of archaeological sites. It was once the capital of the Phoenician state of the same name and was considered one of the superpowers of the Mediterranean. As a result of the Punic Wars, the city-state was destroyed, and over time it was rebuilt by the Romans, turning it into a cultural center, which was then again destroyed by Vandals and Arabs.

Modern Carthage on the map of Tunisia

Today, it houses the residence of the President of Tunisia and the national museum, which houses exhibits preserved from the 1st century AD (the period of the Roman Empire). On the coast itself, in the Archaeological Park, which unites the multiple baths of Antoninus Pius, you can find:

• Mosaic panels;
• Ancient stone sarcophagi, tombstones and funeral vases;
• Skillfully executed sculptural compositions;
• Artifacts from the Punic period;
• Ruins of the first churches and cathedrals.

On the slope of the Odeon hill you can see the remains of the settlement of the same name, the ruins of Roman villas, as well as a theater where international festivals and theatrical performances are still held today.
Among the later buildings that you can see while on an excursion in Carthage:

• Temples from the reign of Byzantium;
• Cathedral of St. Cyprian, striking with its atmosphere of calm and grandeur;
• Saint-Louis Cathedral, which deserves attention due to its color;
• Lavigerie Museum, where you can find many relic exhibits.

Carthage also attracts tourists from six continents of the Earth with its nature and picturesque views of the bay.

Why you should visit Carthage

A traveler should take at least one excursion to the picturesque ruins of this city in order to personally feel the former significance of this place and touch the history of the world with his own hands. The former beauty of Carthage amazed with its grandeur and uniqueness. Until now, when you look at the remains of buildings, you are surprised at how rich this capital was, which has become one of the greatest monuments of history and architecture.

You won’t be able to see all the most interesting places in one go. Travelers often return to Carthage again to see a new attraction or ancient relic.

Tourists get to Carthage by city railway along the Tunis-Goulet-Marsa line in just a quarter of an hour from the capital or by taxi in half the time.

Fragment from a tour of the ruins - Video