Key Facts
- Founded
- c. 814 BC by Tyrian Phoenician merchants
- Destroyed
- 146 BC after the Third Punic War
- Peak population (city)
- ~400,000
- Punic Wars duration
- 264–146 BC (three wars)
- Territories at peak
- NW Africa, southern Iberia, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, Balearic Islands
Imperial Zenith Metrics
Historical Trajectory
Phase I: Rise
Carthage was founded around 814 BC by merchants from Tyre, a Phoenician city-state in present-day Lebanon. Following Phoenicia's conquest by the Neo-Assyrian Empire in the 7th century BC, Carthage broke free of Levantine oversight and expanded independently, building a network of colonies, tributary states, and commercial outposts that gradually extended its economic and political influence across the western Mediterranean coast, Iberia, and major islands.
Phase II: Zenith
By 300 BC Carthage controlled the largest territory in the western Mediterranean, encompassing northwestern Africa, southern and eastern Iberia, and the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, and the Balearics. Its power rested on one of antiquity's most formidable navies and a professional mercenary army. Strategically placed trade routes connected it to West Asia and Northern Europe, making Carthage among the wealthiest cities of the ancient world.
Phase III: Decline
Centuries of conflict with Sicilian Greeks gave way to three devastating Punic Wars against Rome (264–146 BC). Although Hannibal Barca's campaigns brought Rome to the brink during the Second Punic War, Carthage ultimately lost. Stripped of territory and influence after each defeat, it was razed by Roman forces in 146 BC following the Third Punic War. Remaining Carthaginian populations came under Roman rule, and Rome subsequently absorbed the entire western Mediterranean.
Notable Imperial Reigns
Selected rulers mapping the empire’s trajectory