page_title: Carthage National Museum
section_title: Phoenician
hierarchical_section_title: Carthage National Museum / Punic collections / Phoenician
caption_attribution_description: English: Punique Ceramics of the "Musée national de Carthage" (National Museum of Carthage). Français: Céramiques puniques du Musée national de Carthage.
context_page_description: Carthage National Museum is a national museum in Byrsa, Tunisia. Along with the Bardo National Museum, it is one of the two main local archaeological museums in the region. The edifice sits atop Byrsa Hill, in the heart of the city of Carthage. Founded in 1875, it houses many archaeological items from the Punic era and other periods.
  The Carthage National Museum is located near the Cathedral of Saint-Louis of Carthage. It allows visitors to appreciate the magnitude of the city during the Punic and Roman eras. Some of the best pieces found in excavations are limestone/marble carvings, depicting animals, plants and even human sculptures. Of special note is a marble sarcophagus of a priest and priestess from the 3rd century BC, discovered in the necropolis of Carthage. The Museum also has a noted collection of masks and jewelry in cast glass, Roman mosaics including the famous "Lady of Carthage", a vast collection of Roman amphoras. It also contains numerous local items from the period of the Byzantine Empire. Also on display are objects of ivory.
context_section_description: The various excavations at the site have uncovered numerous items characterizing the Phoenician civilization. The museum contains items which reveal a distinct connection with the Levant steeped in Egyptian and in particular Greek culture, and the ties of Carthage with Sicily during the Hellenistic period.  Testimonies to these connections are many objects of pottery, oil lamps and amulet s discovered in excavating the necropolis.
  The museum has a fine collection of Punic ceramics found from the late 19th century. A number of lamps were found during the excavation of pottery kilns dating back to the Third Punic War.
  The amulets of Egyptian deities (Isis, Osiris, Horus, and Bès) indicates the importance of ties between the Phoenicians and the Ancient Egypt, the first retaining these cultural elements once they arrived in the Western Mediterranean.
caption: Punic ceramic discoveries, note the number of oil lamps unearthed.
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