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Key Facts |
| Location |
36° 51' N, 10° 19′ E |
| Original Name |
Carthage |
| Year Founded |
1323 BCE |
| Founders |
Queen Tharyelli and Phoenician exiles from Ugarit |
| Location Function |
New Ugarit |
| Etymology |
Latin: Carthago or Karthago, from the Phoenician Qart-hadašt meaning new town |
| Name Change |
Tanit, the Phoenician lunar goddess (equivalent to Cybele), partner of Baal Hammon from 5th Century BCE. |
| Year Changed |
10th Century CE |
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Tunis is situated on a large Mediterranean gulf, (the Gulf of Tunis), with the city extending along the coastal plain and the hills that surround it. Originally named Carthage, it is one of the most famous cities of history and considered sacred to the descendents of the Phoenicians who became known (amongst other titles) as the Sadducees. |
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The origin of Tunis (as Carthage) and why, including the growth and decline of the Punic Empire is of major historic importance to the unfolding events of the past few thousand years. As such, much of the true history of its foundation has been deliberately shrouded in mystery for centuries. |
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The exile of Ugarit High Priest-Kings |
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Ugarit on the coast in northern Syria was the ancient home of the High Priests and Kings that worshipped Ba'al Hammon (also known as Moloch, or Milqart) - the demon god of death, supreme sacrifice, suffering and fire. As the royal-priest lines of the Amorites (Amurru), descended from Mari they also carried proudly their heritage as the Akkadian Empire that once dominated the region. |
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By 1400 BCE they had also become known as the Phoenicians -- a powerful family network of priests and traders controlling trade and commerce across the Mediterranean from as far as Britain, Spain to trading posts in Greece, Nth Africa and the Levant. |
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In 1323 BCE, Pharaoh Akhenaten with his exiled Army and plague survivors (having the CCR5 defect) launched an attack of Ugarit, capturing the city from King Ammurapi III. In a decision that was to have fundamental consequences in shaping the course of history, Akhenaten chose not to execute King Ammurapi III and his Queen Tharyelli, nor the High Priests of Ba'al Hammon. Instead he forced them into exile. |
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King Ammurapi III and his Queen Tharyelli at first sought refuge from their sister city Tyre further south but were rejected, probably on the fear of the Egyptians. Similarly they were rejected from Knossos (Crete). The Phoenician legend then goes on to say that King Ammurapi III died during this seemingly endless journey in exile. |
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When Queen Tharyelli finally found safe harbour at the site of Carthage (now Tunis), she cremated his remains as Moloch and swore an eternal oath that for eternity she would exact revenge on the descendents and followers of Akhenaten, of the people of Tyre and those that refused her and her King safe passage. |
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From then on, the Phoenicians worshipped the dead king (Moloch) as an equal as Ba'al Hammon, including the solemn curse to destroy their enemies by any means. This changed the nature of Phoenician religion to a Cult of the Dead, in particular the importance of powerful demon spirits and the use of condemned souls as "spiritual slaves". |
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In contrast, the entire story concerning Elissa from Tyre, King Pygmalion and other characters is purely mythological Roman propaganda from the 1st Century BCE when the Romans entertained themselves with plays and parody of past history -- having destroyed the Punic Empire. |
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The "Shining City" |
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At its peak, Carthage came to be called the "shining city," ruling 300 other cities around the western Mediterranean and leading the Phoenician (or Punic) world. |
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The city's location made it master of the Mediterranean's maritime trade. All ships crossing the sea had to pass between Sicily and the coast of Tunisia, where Carthage was built, affording it great power and influence. |
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Two large, artificial harbors were built within the city, one for harboring the city's massive navy of 220 warships and the other for mercantile trade. A walled tower overlooked both harbors. |
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The city had massive walls, 23 miles (37 kilometers) in length, longer than the walls of comparable cities. Most of the walls were located on the shore and thus could be less impressive as Carthaginian control of the sea made attack from that direction difficult. Roughly in the middle of the city stood a high citadel called the Byrsa. |
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The 2½–3 miles (4–4.8 kilometers) of wall on the isthmus to the west were truly large and in fact were never penetrated. |
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Carthage as a city of the dead |
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The Carthage (Punic) obsession with the dead, spirits and ritual is amply demonstrated by the overwhelming size and importance of the Necropolis (city of the dead) in the ancient structure of the city. |
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Carthage is also famous as the 1st place where the concept of the Tophet (as described in the Bible) as used as a platform to sacrifice people by burning them alive to Moloch- the spirit of the dead King Ammurapi III later simple known as "Amen" -- a word similar to Amun-Ra and frequently misconstrued as the same. |
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Excavations have uncovered many hundreds of clay pots containing the charred bones of small children and young adults sacrificed this way-- although modern historians continue to dispute the overwhelming forensic evidence. |
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Roman Punic Wars |
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The resulting rivalry between Carthage with Syracuse and Rome was accompanied by several wars with respective invasions of each other's homeland. |
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One of them was Hannibal's invasion of Italy in the Second Punic War, culminating in the Carthaginian victory at Cannae and leading to a serious threat to the continuation of Roman rule over Italy. After the Third Punic War, the city was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC. |
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However, the Romans refounded Carthage which became one of the three most important cities of the Empire and the capital of the short-lived Vandal kingdom. |
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It remained one of the most important Roman cities until the Muslim conquest when it was destroyed a second time in AD 698. |
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