Evening star., 1915-03-20
CARTHAGE A GAY CITY,
ITS TREASURES REVEAL
Art of Phoenician and Roman Tu-
nisia Described by F. E.
johnson.
Carries Members of Archaeological
Institute Back Thousands
Of Years.

Members of the Washington Chapter
of the Archaeological Institute of Amer
ica who heard Frank Edward johnson
talk about the Phoenician and Roman
art treasures Of Tunisia in the Ma
tlonal Museum yesterday afternoon
needed but little imagination to steI
back two or three thousand years ane
place themselves squarely In the middle
of the Phoenician cities whose ruin:
were shown by Mr.. Johnson on the
screen. Mr.. Johnson's close intimacy
with his subject, the fine choice of pic
lures and the rare coloring of many o,
the slides made it entirely possible te
see in the minds eye a swiftly running
history of northern Africa from the
time the elusive Dido made her famous
real estate deal with bulls hide Gu,
into strips down to the day when the
Arabian hordes swept over the Roman
cities of the northern African plains
after that part of the empire had be.
year peace.
Byrsa as It Now Stands.
NAi' oohiiScil SuoWGd pictures or
the screen the "Byrsa" as 1t now
stands. crowned with monastery OF
doubtful architecture. The Byrsa was
Carthage, The New city" as it was
called when the Pheonicians were
padding up and down the short coasts
OF the known world, and the Bulls
Hide Deal, as every high school boy
knows, was getting as much land as
could he covered by q bulls hide" The
leather. cut into shoestring lengths
was stretched out over a conside rable
area.
In the johnson pictures one could
Imagine ones self standing on Il street
corner in Carthage, before the PuniC
wars disturbed the town, and looking
over two little bays to mountain
whereon thousands of heather mothers
have sacrificed their own children to
Baal. The pillars and walls and
tombs which have been uncovered from
their long rest under Tunis sands show
that Carthage borrowed it's art from a
variety OF sources, Mr.. Johnson point
ing out in several instan noes traces OF
the Egyptian. However. the wonder
of them is that they are standing sc
well preserved today after dozen
wars and thousands of years have
swept over them, leaving their memory
something like a fairy tale or a dream
until one comes face to face with the
actual stones over which the Roman
soldiers cla,nbered in the three Punit
wars. or can see pictures of them.
Traces of Carthage Walls.
Traces of the three remarkable walls
johnson. The city was thrice engir-
died, for strategic and siege purposes
with wide zones between each wall to
permit agricultural operations within
the walls in case beleagurins
army sat outside and occasionally
threw Il few tons of rocks at the gates
The walls We're thick and contained
armories for horses, war elephants and
men, and also had granaries capable
of holding d five-year food supply, and
yet Scipio tore up the city at the end
of the three wars, and. acting on in
structions from the war Office" wiped
Rome's greatest and bitterest rival OFF
the face of the earth, SO that a plow
literally traversed the site Of one OF
the greatest towns of the old world.
This was lat Be, and after that. for
several times as many centuries as the
United States has been alive, the
Romans held sway in Carthage, their
traces being shown at the National
Museum yesterday.
Was a Lively Town.
According to the Phoeniclan things OF
Carthage which have been found be-
meath the wreck left by Scipio, it was
a lively town, Paris or Vienna. Its
women were loud dressers, and on the
word of Mr.. Johnson himself used as
much powder and rouge as the women
of the modern city. Moreover they we're
tine looking women, according to the
4kenesses in bronze and stone which
hv- rrh CT q aY,d
according 10 the lecturer yesterday
wore their hair III a marcel wave. with
a sort Of Psyche knot at the back" In
things of luxury the Carthaglniars took
great care; their artists had fine talent
and some remarkable pictures of their
handiWork were shown by Mr.. Johnson.
After Carthage fell and the Romans
took possession, the mark of Rome was
placed in the Tunisian plains. Mr..
Johnson showed picture after picture
of the we'll paved streets in northern
Africa. AS in many another old Ro-
man town one could see the grooves
worn in the paving by the limousines
of that day-chariors drawn by the
finest horses the world had seen up TO
that time. Mr.. Johnson showed the re-
lnarkable water systems of that time,
auueducts which carried to Roman Car
thase 100000 gallons of water a day y,
and also auueduct bridges in other
parts of old Tunis which have with
stood the hlEh water OF a score OF CEN
turtles.
Playhouse of Romans.
The lecturer had taken remarkable
care to obtain many pictures of the
playhouses the Romans had built in
Africa These were amphitheaters in
which the casts were composed of
Christians, prisoners and the wild
beasts of the interior. their roles re-
curing them to perish for the pleasure
of the populace. One of the amphithe-
aters shown by Mr.. Johnson, a remark
ably impressive ruin. would have held
more spectators than the Yale Bowl OF
the Harvard Stadium, where from 50,-
600 to $4,000 persons gather to see
more scientific and somewhat less bru-
tai foot ball.
Mr. Johnson proved to be a specialist
in finding and preserving in photo
graphs the wonderful mosaics left to
the world by Romans in Carthage after
the Arabians swooped down. Aside
from the artistic merit, these mosaic.
have wonderful value in presenting
to the modern eye pictures of life in
that country in the days when Virgil
was alive.
What Mosaics Show.