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Roman engineering, roads https://www.britannica.com/technology/Roman-road-system

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Roman road system, outstanding transportation network of the ancient Mediterranean world, extending from Britain to the Tigris-Euphrates river system and from the Danube River to Spain and northern Africa. In all, the Romans built 50,000 miles (80,000 km) of hard-surfaced highway, primarily for military reasons.

The first of the great Roman roads, the Via Appia ( Appian Way), begun by the censor Appius Claudius Caecus in 312 bce, originally ran southeast from Rome 162 miles (261 km) to Tarentum (now Taranto) and was later extended to the Adriatic coast at Brundisium (now Brindisi). The long branch running through Calabria to the Straits of Messina was known as the Via Popilia. By the beginning of the 2nd century bce, four other great roads radiated from Rome: the Via Aurelia, extending northwest to Genua (Genoa); the Via Flaminia, running north to the Adriatic, where it joined the Via Aemilia, crossed the Rubicon, and led northwest; the Via Valeria, east across the peninsula by way of Lake Fucinus (Conca del Fucino); and the Via Latina, running southeast and joining the Via Appia near Capua. Their numerous feeder roads extending far into the Roman provinces led to the proverb "All roads lead to Rome."

The Roman roads were notable for their straightness, solid foundations, cambered surfaces facilitating drainage, and use of concrete made from pozzolana (volcanic ash) and lime. Though adapting their technique to materials locally available, the Roman engineers followed basically the same principles in building abroad as they had in Italy. In 145 bce they began the Via Egnatia, an extension of the Via Appia beyond the Adriatic into Greece and Asia Minor, where it joined the ancient Persian Royal Road.

In northern Africa the Romans followed up their conquest of Carthage by building a road system that spanned the south shore of the Mediterranean. In Gaul they developed a system centred on Lyon, whence main roads extended to the Rhine, Bordeaux, and the English Channel. In Britain the purely strategic roads following the conquest were supplemented by a network radiating from London. In Spain, on the contrary, the topography of the country dictated a system of main roads around the periphery of the peninsula, with secondary roads developed into the central plateaus.

The Roman road system made possible Roman conquest and administration and later provided highways for the great migrations into the empire and a means for the diffusion of Christianity. Despite deterioration from neglect, it continued to serve Europe throughout the Middle Ages, and many fragments of the system survive today.

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Roman road system | Ancient Engineering, Construction & Maintenance

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Roman road system, outstanding transportation network of the ancient Mediterranean world, extending from Britain to the Tigris-Euphrates river system and from the Danube River to Spain and northern Africa. In all, the Romans built 50,000 miles (80,000 km) of hard-surfaced highway, primarily for

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Book: A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome by Alberto Angel

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A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome has 1,445 ratings and 162 reviews. The Books Blender said: Amo Alberto Angela. Lo amavo quando ero piccola e, oggi, gli...

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Primary Source: Picture of the Law of the Twelve Tables

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Video: The 1st Punic War

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Rome: The Punic Wars - The First Punic War - Extra History - #1

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Class Activity: Law of the Twelve Tables Activity

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Students are given a copy of Rome's Twelve Tables (included) and a handout with ten scenarios.They will look up the law in the Twelve Tables that corresponds with the situation and use the law to decide what should be done. My students did a great job

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Forum

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The Roman Forum was once Ancient Rome's district of basilicas, public spaces, and temples, that made up the Roman Empire's political, commercial, and social center. It is located in a valley between Capitoline and Palatine Hills. When the Roman Empire fell, the Forum did as well.

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Talks of Republic, Senate And Cosul

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Kids learn about the legacy of Ancient Rome including influences on modern-day government, law, languages, alphabet, architecture, engineering, religion, and fun facts.

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Walking tour of Rome

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Walk around tour of 10 of Ancient Rome's most famous landmarks

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Civil Laws

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Kids learn about the laws of Ancient Rome including how laws were made, who enforced the laws, the Roman Constitution, the Law of the Twelve Tables, citizenship, punishment, prisons, legacy, and fun facts.

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Colosseum

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Kids learn about the Colosseum of Ancient Rome. A huge amphitheatre for gladiator fights and other entertainment.

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Interactive Source: The division of Rome walk through.

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The Division of the Roman Empire, A.D. 284

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Primary Source: Gospel of John

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John 1, New International Version (NIV) | Chapter 1 | The Bible App | Bible.com

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John 1, New International Version (NIV) The Word Became Flesh In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things ...

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Video: Rise of Julius Caesar

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- [Instructor] We're going to talk about one of the most significant figures in Western history, and that's Gaius Julius Caesar. Now, what we'll see is, his life really marks the transition from official Roman Republic to the Roman Empire. And I say official Roman Republic, because it's important to keep in mind, even at the time of Julius Caesar's birth, at the beginning of the 1st century BCE, the Roman Republic already looked something like an empire. You might remember that during the Punic Wars they were able to take over Carthage's possessions in Africa, and in Spain, at the end of the 3rd Punic War, they were also, and this wasn't part of the Punic War, but they were separately, in 146 BCE, were also able to take over Greece. So any state that has conquered these people that have different languages, cultures, and they don't have the same rights as a citizen of that state, well, this is, by most definitions, what would constitute an empire. But, during Julius Caesar's birth and during his life, Rome was still officially a republic, and that's referring more to its form of government; you had a very powerful Senate, you had these Consuls who were elected for these one-year terms, and there were all of these checks and balances. As we'll see, his life, especially the end of his life, marks the transition to an empire, in which there's a Roman Emperor who holds most of the power. But let's go into the story, and there's going to be a significant cast of characters here that I'm going to go into. So by 60 BCE, Julius Caesar is roughly 40 years old, and he's already a significant figure in the Republic. He is born to a patrician family, he rises up through the ranks, he's charismatic figure, and in 60, he forms a triumvirate with two other powerful figures in Rome, so you have... This is Julius Caesar, of course, and he forms this triumvirate, which later gets known as the First Triumvirate, with Crassus, who is the richest man in Rome at the time and is believed to be one of the richest men in Roman history. As you can see, Crassus is a good bit older than Julius Caesar, he's born more than a decade before Julius Caesar, and he also forms this alliance with Pompey, who is also a little bit older than Julius Caesar, and is a significant military figure, a general, in the Roman Republic. And this First Triumvirate, even though it wasn't an official, it's an official government group, it allowed them to really hold the power of the Roman Republic, and to really move and hold the power within the Senate, this First Triumvirate. And even though Julius Caesar was a Patrician, he was part of the nobility, they had populist tendencies, they wanted to do things for the people. You could view them as, in certain ways, progressive, they wanted to do land redistribution, versus the conservatives, who wanted to hold the power in the aristocracy. And so, this First Triumvirate is able to use their influence to put Julius Caesar in as Consul for the year 59 BCE. And, as I just mentioned at the beginning of this video, there are two Consuls, the other one was a figure named Bibulus, but Julius Caesar is able to dominate the position, and he's a very powerful Consul, and he tries to put all of these populous reforms into place. So this is already starting to cause a lot of tension in the Senate between the populus and the conservatives. Now, after he's done his one-year term, he becomes Pro Consul, which you can view as a military governor, and he's given regions that border Gaul, so he's given what would be considered Southern France right over here, border with the Gallic tribes, I guess you'd say, near the Italian Alps; these are two of the regions, two of the three regions, that he's given to govern. And he uses his position as military governor, as Pro Consul, to expand the territories into Gaul, to take on these Gallic tribes. Now the Gauls, or these Gallic tribes, they're super fragmented, there's many, many of them, Plutarch says on the order of 300 of these Gallic tribes. They were militarily, fairly sophisticated, they were, many historians say, comparable to the Romans, but it was their fragmentation that allowed Julius Caesar to go after them. So over the course of his governorship, of his position as Pro Consul, you also have the Gallic Wars, and that's what I have depicted here in red, from 58 BCE to 52 BCE, and they end here in Alesia, where Julius Caesar's legions are able to win decisively. And that is the end, and he's able to take all of this territory for Rome. Now, while that was happening, in 53 BCE, which is right over here, in 53, yeah, this is 53 BCE, Crassus, who you might remember, was part of this First Triumvirate, he is off over here in the East fighting the Parthians; you might remember, the Parthians, this is now the Parthian-Persian Empire, they're the successors of the Seleucids or the successor of Alexander the Great, who was the successor in Persia of the Achaemenid Empire, and while fighting the Parthians, he is killed, Crassus is killed while fighting the Parthians, which breaks up this First Triumvirate, and then Pompey switches sides. He switches sides over to the conservative side. So now, instead of being one of Julius Caesar's allies, he becomes one of his opponents. And so Julius Caesar, he's victorious, he's able to conquer these powerful Gallic tribes. Plutarch, according to him, Julius Caesar's legions fought on the order of three million Gauls, I don't know if those numbers are exaggerations, they sound like they might be a little bit of one, of which one million were killed and one million were enslaved, 800 cities were destroyed, 300 tribes were overrun; and those might be exaggerations, they probably were, but it tells you the scope of what Julius Caesar did when he took over Gaul. So, he's already this very charismatic figure, he was Consul, but he's a controversial figure in the Senate. He has these more populist tendencies, while there's a lot of these conservatives in the Senate. The First Triumvirate breaks, Pompey switched sides, he's able to take over Gaul, and so you can imagine as he is now victorious, the Senators are worried. They're like, this guy, if he comes back to Rome, he might have too much power, and he might have too much power to do the things that we, especially the conservatives, don't want him to do. This land redistribution, and all of the things like that. And so they tell him, in 50 BCE, so this is 50 BCE, let me circle that, in 50 BCE they tell him to leave his Pro Consul position, disband his army, and return to Rome. Now, Julius Caesar's thinking to himself, wait, I just did all of this. These people are afraid of me, if I go without my title, without my army, who knows what they're gonna do to me when I go back to Rome. So he says, I either go back without my armies, or I go with my armies. And so, he decides to do the latter, he takes his armies, and he crosses the Rubicon River. Now, crossing the Rubicon, I'm gonna write this down, Crossing the Rubicon, is now a phrase that we have in our culture that means you've gone past the point of no return. There's a famous quote ascribed to Julius Caesar once he crossed the Rubicon, as the die has been cast, it's the point of no return. And this was a really big deal, because it was illegal for a governor general, a Pro Consul, to take their legions outside of territories they governed, and this wasn't just any region, he was taking it into the Italian peninsula, he was taking it to Rome. So this was very, very, very illegal. So the Senators weren't happy about this, so they said "Hey Pompey, you have to go face "your former ally, Julius Caesar." Now Pompey doesn't know that Julius Caesar only has one legion, a legion is about 4-5000 soldiers. He's thinking surely if Julius Caesar is crossing the Rubicon, he must have a trick up his sleeve, he's already had, you know, conquering Gaul, he's established himself as this significant military figure, and so Pompey says, you know, Senators, I'm not gonna keep him from going to Rome just yet, I'm gonna go over to the East into Greece where we can build up our armies and make sure we are prepared to retake Rome. And so the Senators aren't too happy about this, but a good number of them says, "Okay, well if you're "gonna leave, we're gonna go with you." And so, Julius Caesar is actually able to, in 49 BCE, take Rome. But this isn't the end, and we will continue it in the next video, because you, as I just said, the power of Rome has now moved over to Greece. A good number of the powerful Senators, you have Pompey and his armies over in Greece, Pompey controls significant fractions of the navy, and so a civil war has now broken out in the Roman Republic.

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Rise of Julius Caesar (video) | Khan Academy

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Learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

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Children's Book: Romulus and Remus: The Twins Who Made Rome

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Interactive Source: World History: Head of Emperor Augustus

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BBC - Primary History - World History - Head of Emperor Augustus

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BBC Primary History - A History of the World - Bronze Head of Augustus

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Class Activity: Ancient Rome: Expansion and Conquest

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Judaism

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Carthage

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Carthage was a Phoenician city-state on the coast of North Africa (the site of modern-day Tunis) which, prior the conflict with Rome known as the Punic Wars (264-146 BCE), was the largest, most affluent, and powerful political entity in the Mediterranean. The city was originally known as Kart-hadasht (new city) to distinguish it from the older Phoenician city of Utica nearby. The Greeks called the city Karchedon and the Romans turned this name into Carthago.

It was founded c. 814 BCE by the legendary Phoenician queen Dido, increased in size after an influx of refugees from the city of Tyre following Alexander the Great's conquests of 332 BCE, and afterwards expanded until it was the seat of the Carthaginian Empire with colonies (such as Sabratha) along the North African coast, in Sicily, Spain, and elsewhere; these would all be lost following the Punic Wars which elevated Rome to Carthage's former position as the greatest Mediterranean power.

The history of the ancient city is usually divided into five periods:

Ancient Carthage (Punic Republic) - c. 814-146 BCE

Roman Carthage - 146 BCE - 439 CE

Vandal Carthage - 439-534 CE

Byzantine Carthage (Exarchate of Africa) - 534-698 CE

Muslim Arab Carthage (Islamic Carthage) - 698-1270 CE

Owing to limitations of space, this article will primarily deal with Ancient Carthage/the Punic Republic.

In 698 CE, the city was conquered during the Muslim Arab invasion of North Africa and destroyed. It would be rebuilt, though on a modest scale compared with the city at its height, until it was completely destroyed under the reign of Muhammad I al-Mustansir (r. 1228-1277 CE) after defeating the European Christian invasion of the Eighth Crusade of 1270 CE. The site would continue to be inhabited, though the ancient ruins were neglected until the 1830s CE when modern excavations began.

Foundation & Expansion

According to legend, Carthage was founded by the Phoenician Queen Elissa (better known as Dido) c. 814 BCE; although Dido's historicity has been challenged, the founding does date to about this time. Dido was allegedly fleeing the tyranny of her brother Pygmalion of Lebanon, landed on the coast of North Africa, and established the city on the high hill later known as the Byrsa. The legend claims that the Berber chieftain who controlled the region told her she could have as much land as an ox hide would cover; Dido cut a single ox hide into thin strips and lay them end-to-end around the hill, successfully claiming it for her people.

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The city developed significantly following Alexander's destruction of the great industrial & trade center of Tyre when refugees fled to Carthage.

Dido's reign is described by the Roman poet Virgil (l. 70-19 BCE), and others, as impressive, noting how the city grew from the small community on the hill to a grand metropolis. This account, and others like it, are legendary but Carthage, which seems to initially have been a minor port on the coast where Phoenician traders stopped to resupply or repair their ships, was clearly a major center of trade by the 4th century BCE.

The city developed significantly following Alexander's destruction of the great industrial and trade center of Tyre (considered Carthage's mother-city) in 332 BCE when Phoenician refugees fled from there to Carthage. These Tyrians arrived with whatever wealth they had and, since many whom Alexander spared were those rich enough to buy their lives, they landed in the city with considerable means which established Carthage as the new center of Phoenician trade.

The Carthaginians then established a working relationship with the tribes known as the Masaesyli and the Massylii of the North African Berber (Imazighen) Kingdom of Numidia who would fill the ranks of their military, primarily as formidable cavalry troops. From a small town on the coast, the city grew in size and grandeur with enormous estates covering miles of acreage. Carthage quickly became the richest and most powerful city in the Mediterranean.

Carthaginian government, formerly a monarchy, was a republic based on meritocracy (rule of the elite) by the 4th century BCE. The top position was held by two elected magistrates known as suffetes ("judges") who governed in conjunction with a senate of between 200-300 members who held the position for life. Laws were passed by an assembly of citizens who would vote on measures proposed by the suffetes and senate. The aristocrats lived in palaces, the less affluent in modest but attractive homes, and the lower classes in apartments or huts outside the city.

Tribute and tariffs regularly increased the city's wealth on top of the lucrative business in maritime trade. The city's harbors were immense, with 220 docks, and gleaming columns which rose around it in a half-circle, in front of towering arches and buildings ornamented with Greek sculpture. There were two harbors, one for trade and the other for warships, which operated constantly in resupplying, repairing, and outfitting vessels. The Carthaginian trading ships sailed daily to ports all around the Mediterranean Sea while their navy, supreme in the region, kept them safe and, also, opened new territories for trade and resources through conquest as the Carthaginians built their empire.

The city had four residential sections, which grew up around the citadel of the Byrsa in the center, and was surrounded by walls which stretched 23 miles (37 kilometers) in length from the harbors inland. The city had all the accommodations and refinements of any great ancient city - a theater for entertainment, temples for religious observances, a necropolis, an agora (marketplace) - but on a much grander scale. Its patron deity was the goddess of love and fertility, Tanit who was worshipped alongside her consort Baal-Hamon. It is possible that children were sacrificed to Tanit in the sacred precinct known as the Tophet, but this claim has been challenged, and it is equally likely that the Tophet of Carthage was simply a necropolis reserved for infants and the young.

Affluence & Invasion

The city's wealth was due not only to its advantageous position on the North African coast, from which it could control sea traffic between itself and its colony on Sicily, but also to the people's skill in agriculture. The writer Mago of Carthage (dates unknown) wrote a work of 28 volumes devoted to agriculture and veterinarian science which was considered the most comprehensive on the subject of its time and reflects the Carthaginian's intense interest in farming and animal husbandry. Mago's works were considered so important that they were among the few that would be spared by the Romans after Carthage's final defeat in 146 BCE. Roman references to the books are now all that remain of them.

The Carthaginians planted fruit trees, grapes, olive trees, and vegetables in a ring of gardens irrigated by small canals and then expanded their cultivation outward beyond the city walls to fields of grains. The fertility of the land, and their expertise in cultivation, increased the city's wealth through trade with the interior as well as maritime trade elsewhere as Carthage continued to flourish.

It was this expansion that first brought Carthage into conflict with others. In 310-307 BCE, North Africa was invaded by Agathocles of Syracuse (r. 317-289 BCE) who sought to subdue Carthage and use her wealth to fund his wars. Agathocles was able to feed his army easily off the land because the crops grew in such abundance. He was only defeated because the Libyans and Berbers, who worked the land, sided with the Carthaginians who had treated them well. Agathocles was driven from North Africa and Carthage continued to prosper until it became involved in a conflict with Rome, then just a small city-state on the Tiber River in Italy, in 264 BCE.

The Punic Wars

Control of Sicily was divided between Rome and Carthage who supported opposing factions on the island which quickly brought both parties into conflict directly with each other. These conflicts would be known as the Punic Wars from the Phoenician word for the citizens of Carthage (given in Greek as Phoinix and in Latin as Punicus). When Rome was weaker than Carthage, they posed no threat. The Carthaginian navy had long been able to enforce the treaty which kept the Roman Republic from trading in the western Mediterranean. When the First Punic War (264-241 BCE) began, however, Rome proved far more resourceful than Carthage could have imagined.

Though they had no navy and knew nothing of fighting on the sea, Rome quickly built 330 ships which they equipped with clever ramps and gangways (the corvus) which could be lowered onto an enemy ship and secured; thus turning a sea battle into a land battle. After an initial struggle with military tactics, Rome won a series of victories and finally defeated Carthage in 241 BCE. Carthage was forced to cede Sicily to Rome and pay a heavy war indemnity.

Following this war, Carthage became embroiled in what is known as The Mercenary War (241-237 BCE) which started when the Carthaginian army of mercenaries demanded the payment Carthage owed them. This war was finally won by Carthage through the efforts of the general Hamilcar Barca (l. c. 285 - c. 228 BCE), father of the famous Hannibal Barca (l. 247-183 BCE) of the Second Punic War.

Carthage suffered greatly from the First Punic and Mercenary War and, when Rome occupied the Carthaginian colonies of Sardinia and Corsica, there was nothing the Carthaginians could do about it. They tried to make the best of their situation by expanding holdings in Spain but again went to war with Rome when Hannibal attacked the city of Saguntum, an ally of Rome in Spain, in 218 BCE.

The Second Punic War (218-202 BCE) was fought largely in northern Italy as Hannibal invaded Italy from Spain by marching his forces over the Alps. Hannibal won every engagement against the Romans in Italy. In 216 BCE he won his greatest victory at the Battle of Cannae but, lacking sufficient troops and supplies, could not build on his successes. He was finally drawn from Italy and defeated by the Roman general Scipio Africanus (l. 236-183 BCE) at the Battle of Zama, in North Africa, in 202 BCE and Carthage again sued for peace.

Placed, again, under a heavy war indemnity by Rome, Carthage struggled to pay their debt while also trying to fend off incursions from neighboring Numidia under the king Masinissa (r. c. 202-148 BCE). Masinissa had been Rome's ally in the Second Punic War and was encouraged by Rome to raid Carthaginian territory at will. Carthage went to war against Numidia and, in so doing, broke the peace treaty with Rome which forbid Carthage from mobilizing an army.

Carthage felt it had no choice but to defend itself against Masinissa's invasions but was censured by Rome and ordered to pay a new war debt to Numidia. Having only recently paid off their debt to Rome, they now owed a new crippling war debt. Rome was not concerned with whatever conflict Carthage and Numidia were involved in but did not care for the sudden revitalization of the Carthaginian military.

Carthage believed that their treaty with Rome was ended when their war debt was paid; Rome disagreed. The Romans felt that Carthage was still obliged to bend to Roman will; so much so that the Roman Senator Cato the Elder ended all of his speeches, no matter what the subject, with the phrase, "Further, I think that Carthage must be destroyed." In 149 BCE, Rome decided upon just that course of action.

A Roman embassy to Carthage presented a list of demands which included the stipulation that Carthage be dismantled and then rebuilt further inland, thus negating the long-recognized advantage it had in trade from its position on the coast. The Carthaginians, understandably, refused to do so and the Third Punic War (149-146 BCE) began.

The Roman general Scipio Aemilianus (l. 185-129 BCE) besieged Carthage for three years until it fell. After sacking the city, the Romans burned it to the ground, leaving not one stone on top of another. A modern myth has grown up that the Roman forces then sowed the ruins with salt so nothing would ever grow there again but this claim has no basis in fact. It is said that Scipio Aemilianus wept when he ordered the destruction of the city and behaved virtuously toward the survivors of the siege.

Later History

Power shifted from Utica back to Carthage & it remained an important Roman colony until it fell to the Vandals.

Utica now became the capital of Rome's African provinces and Carthage lay in ruin until 122 BCE when Gaius Sempronius Gracchus (l. 154-121 BCE) the Roman tribune, founded a small colony there. Gaius' political problems, and the memory of the Punic wars still being too fresh, however, caused the colony to fail. Julius Caesar proposed and planned the rebuilding of Carthage and, five years after his death, Carthage rose again. Power now shifted from Utica back to Carthage - which became Rome's breadbasket owing to the same agricultural success which had enriched it before - and it remained an important Roman colony until it fell to the Vandals under their king Gaiseric (r. 428-478 CE) in 439 CE.

Carthage had risen in prominence as Christianity grew and Augustine of Hippo (St. Augustine, l. 354-430 CE) contributed to its prestige by living and teaching there. The city was considered so illustrious, in fact, that the Council of Carthage of 397 CE was held there; the series of synods which would confirm the biblical canon for the Western Church, legitimizing the narratives which would come to be known as the Bible. The Vandal invasion of North Africa did nothing to halt Christianity's development there, but tensions would rise between the Arian Christians (the Vandals primarily) and Trinitarian Christians just as they did elsewhere.

The Vandals under Gaiseric took full advantage of the location of their new city and plundered passing ships at will while also raiding coastal cities. Roman attempts to dislodge them failed and so a treaty was signed in 442 CE between Gaiseric and Valentinian III (r. 425-455 CE) acknowledging the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa as a legitimate political entity and establishing peaceful relations. When Valentinian III was assassinated in 455 CE, however, Gaiseric disregarded the treaty, believing it was an agreement only between himself and the emperor, and sailed for Rome. He looted the city but, in accordance with the request of Pope Leo I (served 440-461 CE), did not damage it nor harm the populace. The Vandals would continue to hold Carthage, and profit from its location, until after Gaiseric's death.

The later Vandal king Gelimer (r. 530-534 CE), an Arian Christian, reinstituted the persecution of Trinitarian Christians which enraged the Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I (r. 527-565 CE), a trinitarian, who sent his great general Belisarius (l. 505-565 CE) to North Africa. Belisarius won the short-lived Vandalic War (533-534 CE), brought Gelimer back to Constantinople in chains, and restored Carthage to the Byzantine Empire (330-1453 CE) under which it continued to flourish.

Under the Byzantines, Carthage prospered through trade and as a major source of grain for the Eastern Roman Empire (the Western Roman Empire having fallen c. 476 CE). Around 585 CE, Carthage became the seat of the Exarchate of Africa under the Byzantine emperor Maurice (r. 582-602 CE), a separate administrative region established for more effective rule of the western areas of the empire.

In 698 CE, the Muslims defeated the Byzantine forces at the Battle of Carthage, destroyed the city completely, and drove the Byzantines from Africa. They then fortified and developed the neighboring city of Tunis and established it as the new center for trade and governorship of the region. Under the Arab Muslims, Tunis fared better than Carthage, but the city continued to thrive until the Eighth Crusade of 1270 CE when it was taken by the European Crusaders who fortified the citadel of the Byrsa. Once they were defeated, Muhammad I al-Mustansir had the city's defenses torn down and many of the buildings razed to prevent any further such occupation.

Conclusion

The site of the ancient city continued to be inhabited and was included in the region taken by the Ottoman Empire (1299-1922 CE) who had no interest in excavating the ruins. The stones of the fallen houses, temples, and walls were carried off for personal or administrative building projects or left where they had been found. Modern archaeological excavation began in the 1830s CE through the efforts of the Danish consulate and continued under the French between c. 1860-1900 CE.

Further work at the site was undertaken throughout the first part of the 20th century CE but, as at Sabratha and other sites, the archaeologists were more interested in the Roman history of Carthage. The political and cultural zeitgeist of the time defined the Carthaginians, who were Semites, as a people of little value, and anti-Semitism significantly influenced not only the interpretation of physical evidence but the choice of what was kept for placement in museums or discarded.

The history of the period of Ancient Carthage, therefore, suffered as much from these modern-day excavations as from the city's destruction by Rome or later conflicts. It was not until after World War II that systematic, unbiased, work at Carthage would begin; a paradigm consistent with the excavation and interpretation of many other ancient sites.

Carthage still lies in ruin in modern-day Tunisia and remains an important tourist attraction and archaeological site. The outline of the great harbor can still be seen as well as the ruins of the homes, public baths, temples, and palaces from the time when the city of Carthage ruled the Mediterranean as the most opulent jewel of the North African coast.

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Carthage was a Phoenician city-state on the coast of North Africa (the site of modern-day Tunis) which, prior the conflict with Rome known as the Punic Wars (264-146 BCE), was the largest, most affluent, and powerful political entity in the Mediterranean.

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Roman Empire

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According to legend, Ancient Rome was founded by the two brothers, and demigods, Romulus and Remus, on 21 April 753 BCE. The legend claims that in an argument over who would rule the city (or, in another version, where the city would be located) Romulus killed Remus and named the city after himself. This story of the founding of Rome is the best known but it is not the only one.

Other legends claim the city was named after a woman, Roma, who traveled with Aeneas and the other survivors from Troy after that city fell. Upon landing on the banks of the Tiber River, Roma and the other women objected when the men wanted to move on. She led the women in the burning of the Trojan ships and so effectively stranded the Trojan survivors at the site which would eventually become Rome. Aeneas of Troy is featured in this legend and also, famously, in Virgil's , as a founder of Rome and the ancestor of Romulus and Remus, thus linking Rome with the grandeur and might which was once Troy.

Still other theories concerning the name of the famous city suggest it came from Rumon, the ancient name for the Tiber River, and was simply a place name given to the small trading center established on its banks or that the name derived from an Etruscan word which could have designated one of their settlements.

Early Rome

Originally a small town on the banks of the Tiber, Rome grew in size and strength, early on, through trade. The location of the city provided merchants with an easily navigable waterway on which to traffic their goods. The city was ruled by seven kings, from Romulus to Tarquin, as it grew in size and power. Greek culture and civilization, which came to Rome via Greek colonies to the south, provided the early Romans with a model on which to build their own culture. From the Greeks they borrowed literacy and religion as well as the fundamentals of architecture.

The Etruscans, to the north, provided a model for trade and urban luxury. Etruria was also well situated for trade and the early Romans either learned the skills of trade from Etruscan example or were taught directly by the Etruscans who made incursions into the area around Rome sometime between 650 and 600 BCE (although their influence was felt much earlier). The extent of the role the Etruscan civilization played in the development of Roman culture and society is debated but there seems little doubt they had a significant impact at an early stage.

From the start, the Romans showed a talent for borrowing and improving upon the skills and concepts of other cultures. The Kingdom of Rome grew rapidly from a trading town to a prosperous city between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE. When the last of the seven kings of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, was deposed in 509 BCE, his rival for power, Lucius Junius Brutus, reformed the system of government and established the Roman Republic.

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it was war which would make Rome a powerful force in the ancient world.

War & Expansion

Though the city owed its prosperity to trade in the early years, it was the Roman warfare which would make it a powerful force in the ancient world. The wars with the North African city of Carthage (known as the Punic Wars, 264-146 BCE) consolidated Rome's power and helped the city grow in wealth and prestige. Rome and Carthage were rivals in trade in the Western Mediterranean and, with Carthage defeated, Rome held almost absolute dominance over the region; though there were still incursions by pirates which prevented complete Roman control of the sea.

As the Republic of Rome grew in power and prestige, the city of Rome began to suffer from the effects of corruption, greed and the over-reliance on foreign slave labor. Gangs of unemployed Romans, put out of work by the influx of slaves brought in through territorial conquests, hired themselves out as thugs to do the bidding of whatever wealthy senator would pay them. The wealthy elite of the city, the patricians, became ever richer at the expense of the working lower class, the plebeians.

In the 2nd century BCE, the Gracchi brothers, Tiberius and Gaius, two Roman tribunes, led a movement for land reform and political reform in general. Though the brothers were both killed in this cause, their efforts did spur legislative reforms and the rampant corruption of the Roman Senate was curtailed (or, at least, the senators became more discreet in their corrupt activities). By the time of the First Triumvirate, both the city and the Republic of Rome were in full flourish.

The Republic

Even so, Rome found itself divided across class lines. The ruling class called themselves optimates (the best men) while the lower classes, or those who sympathized with them, were known as the populares (the people). These names were applied simply to those who held a certain political ideology; they were not strict political parties nor were all of the ruling class optimates nor all of the lower classes populares.

In general, the optimates held with traditional political and social values which favored the power of the Senate of Rome and the prestige and superiority of the ruling class. The populares, again generally speaking, favored reform and democratization of the Roman Republic. These opposing ideologies would famously clash in the form of three men who would, unwittingly, bring about the end of the Roman Republic.

Marcus Licinius Crassus and his political rival, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus ( Pompey the Great) joined with another, younger, politician, Gaius Julius Caesar, to form what modern historians call the First Triumvirate of Rome (though the Romans of the time never used that term, nor did the three men who comprised the triumvirate). Crassus and Pompey both held the optimate political line while Caesar was a populare.

The three men were equally ambitious and, vying for power, were able to keep each other in check while helping to make Rome prosper. Crassus was the richest man in Rome and was corrupt to the point of forcing wealthy citizens to pay him 'safety' money. If the citizen paid, Crassus would not burn down that person's house but, if no money was forthcoming, the fire would be lighted and Crassus would then charge a fee to send men to put the fire out. Although the motive behind the origin of these fire brigades was far from noble, Crassus did effectively create the first fire department which would, later, prove of great value to the city.

Both Pompey and Caesar were great generals who, through their respective conquests, made Rome wealthy. Though the richest man in Rome (and, it has been argued, the richest in all of Roman history), Crassus longed for the same respect people accorded Pompey and Caesar for their military successes. In 53 BCE he led a sizeable force against Parthia and was defeated at the Battle of Carrhae, in modern-day Turkey, where he was killed when truce negotiations broke down.

With Crassus gone, the First Triumvirate disintegrated and Pompey and Caesar declared war on each other. Pompey tried to eliminate his rival through legal means and had the Senate order Caesar to Rome to stand trial on assorted charges. Instead of returning to the city in humility to face these charges, Caesar crossed the Rubicon River with his army in 49 BCE and entered Rome at the head of it.

He refused to answer the charges and directed his focus toward eliminating Pompey as a rival. Pompey and Caesar met in battle at Pharsalus in Greece in 48 BCE where Caesar's numerically inferior force defeated Pompey's greater one. Pompey himself fled to Egypt, expecting to find sanctuary there, but was assassinated upon his arrival. News of Caesar's great victory against overwhelming numbers at Pharsalus had spread quickly and many former friends and allies of Pompey swiftly sided with Caesar, believing he was favored by the gods.

Julius Caesar was now the most powerful man in Rome. He effectively ended the period of the Republic by having the Senate proclaim him dictator. His popularity among the people was enormous and his efforts to create a strong and stable central government meant increased prosperity for the city of Rome. He was assassinated by a group of Roman senators in 44 BCE, however, precisely because of these achievements.

The conspirators, Brutus and Cassius among them, seemed to fear that Caesar was becoming too powerful and that he might eventually abolish the Senate. Following his death, his right-hand man, and cousin, Marcus Antonius ( Mark Antony) joined forces with Caesar's nephew and heir, Gaius Octavius Thurinus ( Octavian) and Caesar's friend, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, to defeat the forces of Brutus and Cassius at the Battle of Phillippi in 42 BCE.

Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate of Rome but, as with the first, these men were also equally ambitious. Lepidus was effectively neutralized when Antony and Octavian agreed that he should have Hispania and Africa to rule over and thereby kept him from any power play in Rome. It was agreed that Octavian would rule Roman lands in the west and Antony in the east.

Antony's involvement with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII, however, upset the balance Octavian had hoped to maintain and the two went to war. Antony and Cleopatra's combined forces were defeated at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE and both later took their own lives. Octavian emerged as the sole power in Rome. In 27 BCE he was granted extraordinary powers by the Senate and took the name of Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome. Historians are in agreement that this is the point at which the history of Rome ends and the history of the Roman Empire begins.

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According to legend, Ancient Rome was founded by the two brothers, and demigods, Romulus and Remus, on 21 April 753 BCE. The legend claims that in an argument over who would rule the city (or, in another version, where the city would be located) Romulus killed Remus and named the city after himself.