Carthage and Rome
Comparing Carthage and Rome
One of the greatest wars Rome ever fought was against Carthage -- and it was actually a war that happened three times. Called the Punic Wars (Punic another name for Phoenician -- the nationality of the men who founded Carthage), the contests revealed much about both nations, and created heroes and legends for all antiquity to marvel over. This paper will compare and contrast the two civilizations of Rome and Carthage from the standpoint of "persons within the community," showing just how such persons helped both powers came to be and how they went on to fare when they both began to war with one another.
Beginnings
Started near Tunis at around the end of the ninth century BC, Carthage took over the rule of "leader" amongst the colonies of Phoenicia nearly three hundred years later when in the sixth century BC Tyre fell. In Phoenician, Carthage meant, literally, "New City," (Lendering 2004). As the myth goes, King Pygmalion slew the husband of his sister Elissa, causing her to flew their home in Tyre for Carthage, where she took her own life to keep her brother's wrath from following and putting the natives there at risk. The myth, as Jona Lendering states, is so unusual for the time that there me both some truth to it. However, it is just as likely that Carthage was the product of the gathering of two types of individuals: those who worked the land and those who sold goods and services. One thing is certain: Carthage "controlled trade between the eastern and western parts of the Mediterranean" -- a fact which would eventually cause it to come head to head with the mightiest Empire of ancient times (Lendering).
The founding of Rome, likewise, has its own myth. Its story was recorded by Virgil in the early first century AD for the Roman Emperor Augustus and tells of the trials of Aeneas, Trojan survivor of the battle of Troy. Desiring to appeal to the Emperor, Virgil drew comparisons between the founding of Rome and its new Empire, declared under Caesar and now ruled by Augustus. It made references to Rome's past glories and its wars with Carthage and would even go on to influence the scholastics of the Middle Age, who polished their Latin by studying Virgil's text and its famous first line: "I sing of arms and a man."
According to legend, Aeneas established his new home in Italy after the fall of Troy. From his lineage came the twins Romulus and Remus (in the eighth century BC), who won back the kingdom from a wicked uncle and then fought bitterly amongst themselves over who would rule. Romulus finally took the life of Remus when the latter insulted him for building a city wall so low that it could be leapt over. And to increase the numbers of his city (now named after himself, Rome), he invited all the outcasts and exiles of other civilizations, who in turn snatched their wives from a neighboring tribe. Romulus, it is said, finally was taken up to sit with the gods, leaving Rome to build a tradition of forming the greatest warriors around, from Junius Brutus (ancestor of the Brutus who would betray Caesar) to Horatius to Mucius the Left-Handed to Coriolanus (memorialized forever by Shakespeare) and Cincinnatus (the golden-haired) -- and that is all before the heroes of the Punic Wars even arrive.
Persons in the Community
Some of the most admired men in Rome had certain qualities that have long since outlived them: selflessness, a passion for duty and honor, strength, courage, oratory skills, and love of the people. As John Haaren shows, persons in the Roman community were expected to contribute and be a part of Rome. One of the greatest demonstrations of this came from a man named Cincinnatus.
When the Aequians attacked Rome and drew them into a trap in the Alban Hills, Cincinnatus who worked on his small farm was unanimously elected by the people to lead a group of soldiers to save the Roman army pinned down by the Aequians. The Senate made Cincinnatus a dictator (which gave him more power than anyone in Rome). He assented, led an army into Alba, defeated the Aequians and made them "pass under the yoke" in punishment (Haaren 1903, p. 79). Hailed as a hero upon returning to Rome, he might have had anything he wanted: instead, he humbly returned his dictatorship to the Senate and quietly went back to his farm where he labored for the rest of his life. Here was an example...
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