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The Punic people, usually known as the CarthaginiansSalimbeti, Andrea; d'Amato, Raffaele (2014). The Carthaginians 6th-2nd Century BC. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781782007777. (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians),
were a Semitic people people who migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term Punic, the Latin equivalent of the Greek-derived term Phoenician, is exclusively used to refer to Phoenicians in the western Mediterranean, following the line of the Greek East and Latin West. The largest Punic settlement was Ancient Carthage, but there were 300 other settlements along the coast from Leptis Magna in modern Libya to Mogador in southern Morocco, Itineraria Phoenicia Edward Lipiński p 466 as well as western Sicily, southern Sardinia, the southern and eastern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, Malta, and Ibiza. Their language, Punic language, was a variety of Phoenician, one of the Northwest Semitic languages originating in the Levant.Literary sources report two moments of Tyrian settlements in the west, the first in the 12th century BC (the cities Utica, Lixus, and Gadir) that hasn't been confirmed by archaeology, and a second at the end of the 9th century BC, documented in written references in both east and west, which culminated in the foundation of colonies in northwest Africa (the cities Auza, Carthage, and Kition on the southern coast of Cyprus)
and formed part of trading networks linked to Tyre, Arvad, Byblos, Berytus, Ekron, and Sidon in the homeland. Although links with Phoenicia were retained throughout their history, they also developed close trading relations with other peoples of the western Mediterranean, such as Sicilians, Sardinians, Berbers, Greeks, and Iberians, and developed some cultural traits distinct from those of their Phoenician homeland. Some of these were shared by all western Phoenicians, while others were restricted to individual regions within the Punic sphere.The western Phoenicians were arranged into a multitude of self-governing city-states. Carthage had grown to be the largest and most powerful of these city-states by the 5th century BC and gained increasingly close control over Punic Sicily and Sardinia in the 4th century BC, but communities in Iberia remained outside their control until the second half of the 3rd century BC. In the course of the Punic wars (264–146 BC), the Romans challenged Carthaginian hegemony in the western Mediterranean, culminating in the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC, but the Punic language and Punic culture endured under Roman rule, surviving in some places until late antiquity.
Numismatic evidence from Sicily shows that some western Phoenicians made use of the term "Phoinix", but it is not clear what term (if any) they used for themselves; they may have called themselves 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍𐤌 (knʿnm, "Canaanites").
A passage from Augustine has often been interpreted as indicating that they called themselves Canaanites (Chanani in Latin), (see in the Latin source: Unde interrogati rustici nostri, quid sint, punice respondentes: chanani, corrupta scilicet sicut in talibus solet una littera, quid aliud respondent quam: chananaei?) Augustine writes:It has been argued by J.C. Quinn that this is a misreading,
since although this term is "applied to Levantine people" in the Hebrew Bible, "there is no other evidence for self-identification as Canaanite, and so we might suspect him of learned optimism." However, this opinion is not shared by all scholars.In modern academic writing, the term Punic exclusively refers to Phoenicians in the western Mediterranean. Specific Punic groups are often referred to with hyphenated names, like Siculo-Punic or Sardo-Punic. (This practice has ancient roots: Hellenistic Greek authors sometimes referred to the Punic inhabitants of central northern Africa ( Libya) as Liby-Phoenicians.)
Technical achievements of the Punic people of Carthage include the development of uncolored glass and the use of limestone from lakeside deposits to improve the purity of smelting.
The Carthaginians appear to have had both part-time and full-time priests, the latter called khnm (singular khn, cognate with the Hebrew language term kohen), led by high priests called rb khnm, as well as lower-ranking religious officials, called "servants" or "slaves" of the sanctuary (male: ˤbd, female: ˤbdt or mt), and functionaries like cooks, butchers, singers, and barbers. Sanctuaries had associations, referred to as mrzḥ in Punic language and Neo-Punic inscriptions, who held ritual banquets. Some Phoenician communities practiced sacred prostitution; in the Punic sphere this is archeologically attested at Sicca Veneria (El Kef) in western Tunisia and the sanctuary of Venus Erycina at Eryx in western Sicily. Punic sacred prostitution is mentioned by Latin author Valerius Maximus, who describes how Carthaginian women gained gifts by engaging in prostitution with visitors at Sicca Veneria.
Various Greek and Roman sources describe and criticize the Carthaginian practice of child sacrifice by burning. Many ancient Greek and Latin authors describe some version of child sacrifice to "Cronos" (Baal Hammon). These descriptions were compared to those found in the Hebrew Bible describing the sacrifice of children by burning to Baal and Moloch at a place called Tophet. The ancient descriptions were seemingly confirmed by the discovering of the so-called Tophet of Salammbô in Carthage in 1921, which contained the urns of cremated children. However, modern historians and archaeologists debate the reality and extent of this practice. Some scholars propose that all remains at the tophet were sacrificed, whereas others propose that only some were.
The foundation of Carthage on the site of modern Tunis is dated to the late 9th century BC by Greek literary sources and archaeological evidence. The literary sources attribute the foundation to a group of Tyrian refugees led by Dido and accompanied by Cyprus. Archaeologically, the new foundation is characterised by the focus of religious cult on the gods Tanit and Baal Hammon, by the development of a new religious structure, the tophet, and by a marked degree of cosmopolitanism.
Carthage gained direct control over the Cap Bon peninsula, operating a sandstone quarry at El Haouaria from the middle of the seventh city and establishing the city of Kerkouane in the early sixth century. The region was very fertile and allowed Carthage to be economically self-sufficient. The site of Kerkouane has been extensively excavated and provides the best-known example of a Punic city from North Africa.
Punic control also extended inland over the Ancient Libya. Punic influence on inland regions is seen from the early 6th century, notably at Althiburos, where Punic construction techniques and red-slip pottery appear at the time. Armed conflicts with the Libyans are first attested in the early 5th century, with several revolts attested in the fourth century (398, 370s, 310-307 BC). In the late 4th century, Aristotle reports that the Carthaginians dealt with local discontent by resettling poor citizens in cities in Libya. These settlements had to provide tribute and military manpower when required, but remained self-governing. There is some evidence for intermarriage between Punic people and Libyans.
The island came under Carthaginian dominance around 510 BC, after that a first attempt at conquest in 540 BC that ended in failure. They expanded their influence to the western and southern coast from Bosa to Caralis, consolidating the existing Phoenician settlements, administered by plenipotentiaries called Suffetes, and founding new ones such as Olbia, Cornus, and Neapolis; Tharros was probably the main centre. Carthage encouraged the cultivation of grain and cereals and prohibited fruit trees. Tharros, Nora, Bithia, Monte Sirai etc. are now important archaeological sites where Punic architecture and city planning can be studied.
In 238 BC, following the First Punic War the Romans took over the whole island, incorporating it into the province of Corsica et Sardinia, under a praetor. The existing power structures, infrastructure, and urbanized culture continued largely unchanged. In 216 BC, two Sardo-Punic notables from Cornus and Tharros, Hampsicora and Hanno, led a revolt against the Romans. Punic culture remained strong during the first centuries of the Roman domination, but over time the civic elites adopted Roman cultural practices and Latin became first the prestige language, and later the speech of the majority of the inhabitants.
As Ancient Carthage later grew in power, these settlements sometimes came into conflict with them, such as Motya, and in western Sicily were eventually fully integrated into Ancient Carthage by the 6th century BC.
The Phoenicians integrated with the local Elymians population as shown in archaeology as a distinctive "West Phoenician cultural identity".Nigro & Spagnoli Nigro, Landing on Motya: the Phoenician settlement in the excavations of Rome “La Sapienza” University, 2010–2016. Stratigraphy, architecture and finds (Quaderni di Archeologia fenicio-punica 4). Roma: Missione Archeologica a Mozia. 113
The Phoenician colonial system was motivated by economic opportunity, not expansionist ideology, and as such, the Phoenicians lacked the numbers or even the desire to establish an "empire" overseas. The colonies were therefore independent city-states, though most were relatively small, probably having a population of less than 1,000. Some colonies, such as Carthage, were able to grow much larger.
Effectively establishing a monopoly on the continent's natural resources, the colonies' wealth exploded, which was compounded by an influx of Phoenician traders fleeing from increasing tributary obligations to foreign powers and trade interference.Within a century, the population of Carthage rose to 30,000, meanwhile, the "mother city" of Tyre, once the economic and political capital of Phoenicia, began to lose its status in the seventh century BC. Phoenicia was eventually conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire,
by which point Carthage had become the wealthiest and most powerful of all the Phoenician colonies. Around this time, a distinct culture began to emerge from the admixture of local customs with Phoenician traditions, which also gave rise to a nascent sense of national identity. Tyre's status and power continued to diminish under Neo-Assyrian, and subsequently Neo-Babylonian, vassalage, and by the sixth century BC, its voluntary submission to the Achaemenid Empire had severely circumscribed what little power it retained. Its status as the pre-eminent Phoenician city was then usurped by its rival city-state, Sidon – but Sidon too was under Persian subjugation, leading the way for Carthage to fill the power vacuum as the leading Phoenician political power.
Being trade rivals with Magna Graecia, the Carthaginians had several clashes with the Greeks over the island of Sicily in the Sicilian Wars from 600 to 265 BC. The Carthaginians eventually also fought Rome in three Punic Wars between 265 and 146 BC but they were defeated in each one. In the First Punic War, they lost control of Sicily. In the Second Punic War, an invasion of Italy by Hannibal was unsuccessful in forcing the Romans to surrender and the Carthaginians were subsequently defeated by Scipio Africanus in Spain and at the Battle of Zama in northern Africa in 202 BC, marking the end of Carthage's position as a major Mediterranean power. Finally, in the Third Punic War, Carthage was destroyed in 146 BC. Victory in the Punic Wars enabled Roman settlement of Africa and eventual domination of the entire Mediterranean Sea.
The cult to Baal Hammon, and the consequent sacrifice of children, though banned by Rome, continued openly under the guise of worshipping Saturn until at least the proconsulate of Tiberius Iulius Secundus in Africa (131–132). This is attested by Tertullian in his Apologeticus, where he reports that Tiberius crucified the priests of "Saturn" on the same trees they consecrated to the god. Tertullian also mentions the goddess Juno Caelestis as a romanization of Tanit.
Carthage was rebuilt about 46 BC by Julius Caesar, and settlements in the surrounding area were granted to soldiers who had retired from the Roman army. People of Punic origin prospered again as traders, merchants and even politicians of the Roman Empire. The emperor Septimius Severus had Punic ancestry.
As Christianity spread in the Roman Empire, it was especially successful in northwest Africa, and Carthage became a Christian city even before Christianity was legal. Saint Augustine, born in Souk Ahras (modern-day Algeria), considered himself Punic, and left some important reflections on Punic cultural history in his writing. One of his more well known passages reads:
Augustine is the last ancient writer to indicate that the Punic language was widely spoken.
The last remains of a distinct Punic culture probably disappeared somewhere in the chaos during the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The demographic and cultural characteristics of the region were thoroughly transformed by turbulent events such as the Vandals' wars with Byzantines and the population movements that followed, as well as the Muslim conquest of North Africa in the 7th century AD. After the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, the geographer al-Bakri described a people who spoke a language which was not Berber languages, Latin, or Coptic language, living in Sirte, where spoken Punic survived well past written use. Whether this refers to some remnant Punic population is uncertain; if it does, it represents the last known record of the people's existence.
Mitochondrial analysis of 10 Punic samples from the necropolis of Tharros in Sardinia (5th – 3rd century BC) shows affinities with North African and Iberian populations.
Zalloua, P., Collins, C.J., Gosling, A. et al. in 2018 showed that Eastern Mediterranean and North African influence in the Punic population of Ibiza was primarily male dominated.
According to Olalde et al. (2018):
According to Fernandes et al. (2020):
According to Marcus et al. (2020):
Two other studies published in 2021 in the journal Annals of Human Biology also show a strong genetic proximity with the populations of North Africa of several individuals from Sardinia and Italy. According to Sarno, Cillion, de Fanti, et al. (2021):
A genetic study published in April 2025 by an international team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Harvard University has offered new insight into the origins of the Carthaginians. By analyzing ancient DNA from about 200 individuals across 14 archaeological sites around the Mediterranean (including North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, Sardinia, and the Levant), the researchers found that Punic populations were genetically diverse, with little to no direct ancestry from the Levant—traditionally considered the homeland of the Phoenicians.
Instead, according to the authors "these inheritors of Levantine Phoenician culture derived most of their ancestry from a genetic profile similar to that of populations in Sicily and the Aegean. Much of the remaining ancestry originated from North Africa, reflecting the growing regional influence of Carthage". In Carthage itself, "in 14 out of the 17 sampled individuals, we inferred less than 15% North African ancesry, and the remaining three individuals were inferred to have 20%–50% North African ancestry. As in Kerkouane, the primary source of ancestry is Sicilian-Aegean".
These findings suggest that Phoenician expansion occurred primarily through cultural exchange, maritime networks, and local assimilation, rather than through large-scale migration. Carthage likely developed as a cosmopolitan center within a dynamic Mediterranean world, shaped by continuous interactions between indigenous populations and eastern influences.
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