Evening star., 1934-10-13
CARTHAGE RUINS
!. NOW MERE SCARS.
Ancient City of Pomp and
Power Still Grips Interest
of Tourists.
BY JAMES WALDO FAwCErT.

BY JAMES WALDO FAwCETT.
American tourists. visiting Tunis on
the north coast Of Africa, customarily
are invited to journey out to La Marsa
TO inspect the ruins Of the most ia
!, nous city Of Africa In antiquity" But
the excursion is disappointing. AL
that remains Of the ancient capital Of
the great punic republic Is series Of
scars upon the deserts face. Cato
the Elder has had his wish. Carthage
has been destroyed.
The name Of the town. however,
still possesses a romantic attraction.
Generation after generation, humanity
reads the story with undim1nished in
terest. A legend launched nearly
three milleniums ago persists in the
imagination Of mankind. The Garth
aginian was the big bad wolf" Of
ancient times, and the place which
!, was his den continues to enjoy the
celebrity Of his wickedness, his power,
! his rise and fall.
; Archeologists, exploring the site,
sigh for the picture which Mancinus,
commander of the feet in the Third
Punic War, exhibited to the Roman
people to demonstrate the might Of
their enemy. Had the panorama,
drawn for that purpose, survived,
their task would be easier. A modern
d.,
difficulty" by suggesting that it, is
comparable with that which may con-
front the investigators of Is centuries
hence as to whether London or South
wark stood on the north side of the
Thames.
City Protected.
Jean Babelon says the city "was
situated in the heart of the Sinus
Uticensis (Gulf of Tunis), which is
protected on the west by the promon-
tory of Apollo CRas Ali ell Mekki), and
on the east by the promontory of
Mercury or Cape Bon (RaS Addar)
It's position naturally forms a sort of
bastion on the inner curve of the bay
between the Lake of Tunis on the
south and the marshy plain of Utica
(Sukhara), on the north. Cape Ga
mart, the Arab village of Sidi- Said
and the small harbor Of Goletta form
triangle, which represents the area
OF Carthage at its greatest, including
Its extramural suburbs"
According to tradition, Dido, fleeing
from Tyre, was the sponsor of the
original settlement. Given permission
to occupy as much land as could
be encompassed by an OK hide, she
Is supposed to have cut the hide into
thin thongs long enough to inclose
q considerable area. The date is
thought to have been about $50 BIC.
A citadel was constructed at a very
early period on the hill of st. Louis,
or the Byrsa, and the first city grew
up IN the shadow Of the fortress
Vast Fortified Camp.
The walls Of the capital are almost
impossible to trace, but it is known
that they ran In three lines and we're
connected with towers four stories
high. within each wall" says the
Everyman's Library, Atlas of An
cient and Classical Geography" were
built two stories Of vaulted chambers
or easements, in the lower range Of
which were stables for 800 elephants
and in the upper range stables for
1000 horses, with ample stores of
food for both. In the spaces between
the walls there we're barracks for
10000 infantry and 1000 cavalry, with
magazines and stores of proportionate
p1aa 6Y9{&t1IA fNVV.afvanr {ya Ha -
fortified camp between the city and
the isthmus."
As for the maritime ARRANGEMENTS
Of the community, the same authority
declares: THE port consisted Of an
outer and an inner harbor, with q
passage from the one into the other;
and the outer had an entrance from
the sea 10 feet wide, which was closed
with iron chains. The outer harbor
was for the merchantmen and was
full Of moorings. The inner harbor
was reserved for the ships of war.
Just within its entrance was an is
land called Cothon, rising to a con-
siderable elevation above the sur
rounding banks, and thus serving the
double purpose of q mask to conceal
the harbor from without and an OBJ
servatory for the port admiral, who
had his tent upon it, whence he gave
signals by the trumpet and commands
by the voice of herald. The shores
Of the island and Of the port were
built up with great quays, in which
were constructed docks for 220 ships
with storehouses for all their
equipments"
Houses Of Six Stories
Near the inner harbor was the forum,
from which three narrow streets of
houses six stories high gave access to
the Byrsa, the fortified plateau first
claimed by Dido. A temple of Aes-
culapius crowned the height, with the
praetorium of the proconsuls OF Africa,
later the palace Of the Vandal kings
and the residence of the Byzantine
governors, adjacent.
In the forum was the Senate house,
the tribunal. a temple to the Phoeni-
clan equivalent of Apollo and other
public and semi public edifices. On
the north side of the Byrsa the ruins
Of two temples, thought to be those of
Coelestis and Saturn. have been found,
and on the west and southwest side
the remains of the Baths of Gargi-
lianae, o circus and an amphitheater
have been disclosed.
The streets of the town were straight
and regularly disposed at right angles.
Water was brought within the walls
by means Of an aqueduct, SO miles
long, from Jebel zaghwan. There
were reservoirs on the west and south
sides.
Karthada, meaning the new town"
was the primitive name of the city.
The earliest period Of its history was
the happiest. 1t prospered by rea-
son of the adversely Of older COM
munities In the East. The destruc-
ton Of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar
brought 1t accessions of population
and wealth. BY the end of the sixth