By the middle of the third century B.C. the Carthaginians
had formed an imposing commercial empire. Their African dominions included the
strip of coast from Cyrene westward to the strait of Gibraltar. Their colonies
covered the shores of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and southern Spain. The
western half of the Mediterranean had become a Carthaginian lake.
CARTHAGINIAN CIVILIZATION
Before the opening of the Punic wars Carthage had been
much enlarged by emigrants from Tyre, after the capture of that city by
Alexander. The Phoenician colonists kept their own language, customs, and
beliefs and did not mingle with the native African peoples. Carthage in form
was a republic, but the real power lay in the hands of one hundred men,
selected from the great merchant families. It was a government by capitalists
who cared very little for the welfare of the poor freemen and slaves over whom
they ruled. The wealth of Carthage enabled her to raise huge armies of
mercenary soldiers and to build warships which in size, number, and equipment
surpassed those of any other Mediterranean state. Mistress of a wide realm,
strong both by land and sea, Carthage was now to prove herself Rome's most
dangerous foe.
