Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-06-01
The Ruins of Carthage.

SuCCeSS 10 the party VI HiiciiN
archaeologists who are organizing an
expedition to dig in the African wastes
for traces Of the ancient city of Car
thage. The world of today in its
commerce and its general civilization,
owes much to Carthage and yet there is
no great city of antiquity about which
the modern world knows less. So thor
oughly did the Romans succeed in the
task Of razing the city which was their
hated rival, that no man even knows its
exact location. 1t was not far from
the modern city Of Tunis, at the point
where the north coast of Africa extends
approaches most nearly to the island
of Sicily, and century after its utter
destruction by the Romans they select
ed it's site for colonization, and the city
founded on or near it's ruins became
the third in the Roman empire.
Carthage was founded hundred
years before the foundation of Rome,
by the Phoenicians, a people chiefly
known for their achievements in COM
merce, and yet the nation which gave
the Hebrews their language and the
Greeks their alphabet. For centuries
the city held the mastery of the sea
and rivalled Greece and Rome in power.
The wars between the Romans and the
Cartnaginians, called the Punic wars,
occupy much space in Roman annals
and give to history some Of it's great
est names. Carthage had great gen.
erals, but Rome had greater resources
and was helped by civil strife at Car
thage. After Carthage was beaten
and humbled, Rome was not content.
The third Punic war was one or the
saddest events of history and the great
est blot on the fame of Rome. Cato
convinced Rome that Carthage must be
blottcd out, and the destruction was as
ruthless as it was complete. After the
fall and burning of the city, the
plough was passed over it's site and
the very ground was cursed by the Ro-
mans.
Our only histories of Carthage are
written by the Romans who feared and
hated it. We know little indeed of the
life, literature, customs and govern
ment of the city, or any of it's activi-
ties through the five or six centuries of
it's greatness, save where it came i'll
contact with hostile Rome. Its story is
a tantalizing riddle to those who would
unravel the course of human progress.
We may regard the triumph of Rome
as the survival of the fittest, but that
does not lessen the regret which all
students feel that so little is known OF
Carthage and that there is so little evil
dence to assist in restoring the ancient
city.
Perhaps these American archaeolo-
gists from under the drifted sand and
the silt may bring to light valuable
relics of the city of Hannibal, and their
efforts will meet with universal APP
prevail. Babylon, Troy and Pompeii
have been exhumed in part, and from
| their ruins the people of today have
been able to write new history of the
Babylonians. of the Trojans, and OF
the Pompeiians. The monuments UNI
| earthed, together with the written rec
ords, have made our knowledge of the
civilization Of those cities fairly accu-
rate. All that we know of Carthage Is
| what has been handed down by the
Roman conquerors and historians, who
Tin spite of their prejudices against
Rome's greatest foe) were compelled
| to acknowledge the great progress
| which that city had made and to pay
tribute to the virtues of its people. A
few tablets, a few inscriptions. toni
here and there may give us an idea OF
the greatness of Carthage from the
Carthagnians themselves, and if such
memorials are found we may yet be
able to fill a page in ancient history
about Carthage which for centuries has
been blank.