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Video · 2023-06-18 · 3h 39m · 6 moments

17. Carthage - Empire of the Phoenicians

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GUEST Paul Cooper

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01
Mechanism

The Phoenicians were the first people to color clothes with a purple dye derived from the Murex sea snail, and this Tyrian Purple became synonymous with royalty and enormous wealth.

The Phoenicians pioneered a costly purple dye from Murex snails, which became known as Tyrian or Imperial Purple and was worn by emperors of Assyria, Rome, and Byzantium.

transcript

Paul Cooper: The Phoenicians of Tyre and other cities were the first people to color their clothes with a particular kind of dye derived from the bodies of predatory sea snails known as the Murex, or rock snail. These snails produce their dye as a defense mechanism against predators... It could take more than 50 kilograms of these snails to make a single gram of dye, and so, these fabrics were extremely expensive. The color purple would soon become associated with enormous wealth, and as a consequence, with royalty.

02
Data◆

The Phoenician alphabet, with only 22 letters, was so simple and effective that it was adopted by the Greeks and became the foundation of all Western alphabets used today.

The Phoenicians created a 22-letter alphabet that was simple enough for common traders to learn, and the Greeks adopted it, adding vowels to form the Greek alphabet, which underlies all Western writing systems.

transcript

Paul Cooper: The Phoenician alphabet was a master class in simplicity. It had only 22 letters, and could be used to spell out words phonetically, leaving out any vowels... This simplicity drastically reduced the amount of time it took to learn, and meant that common traders and merchants may have had some ability to read and write... The Phoenician alphabet was such a good idea that it was adopted almost wholesale by the Greeks... which means that the Phoenician writing system is the foundation of all Western alphabets used today.

03
Claim◆

The Carthaginians practiced child sacrifice, a ritual where children — sometimes bought from the poor — were burned as offerings to the gods in exchange for favors.

Ancient writers and modern archaeology indicate that Carthage practiced child sacrifice, especially during times of crisis. Wealthy citizens would sometimes buy poor children for the ritual, and archaeological sites known as tophets contain thousands of cremated infant remains.

transcript

Paul Cooper: Those who had no children would buy little ones from poor people, and cut their throats as if they were so many lambs or young birds. Meanwhile, the mother stood by without a tear or moan, but should she utter a single moan or let fall a single tear, she had to forfeit the money, and her child was sacrificed nevertheless. The whole area before the statue was filled with a loud noise of flutes and drums so that the cries of wailing should not reach the ears of the people.

04
Mechanism

Rome's refusal to ever sue for peace, rooted in its citizen democracy where politicians feared being branded cowards, allowed it to absorb devastating defeats and keep fighting until its enemies were ground down.

Rome's nature as a citizen democracy meant its leaders could not sign peace treaties without political ruin, so they repeatedly voted to continue wars even after catastrophic losses, grinding down enemies like Pyrrhus through sheer manpower and refusal to quit.

transcript

Paul Cooper: Some have argued that Rome's very nature as a citizen democracy actually contributed to their immense doggedness in warfare. Their leaders were politicians and existed in a state of constant competition with each other for the support of the voting public. Any politician who signed a damaging peace treaty could be eviscerated in the senate as a coward, a fool, or even a traitor. This meant that Roman senators would often overwhelmingly vote to continue a war rather than admit defeat.

05
Anecdote

Hannibal crossed the Alps with his army and war elephants, catching the Romans completely by surprise and launching one of the most daring military campaigns in ancient history.

During the Second Punic War, Hannibal led his army, including dozens of war elephants, over the Alps in a daring winter crossing that the Romans believed impossible, catching them off guard and marching into Italy.

transcript

Paul Cooper: Hannibal followed the river road north and found a tribe of Gauls who agreed to help him achieve his impossible plan; to cross the vast natural barrier of the Alps. These Gauls gave Hannibal and his men supplies and warm clothing for the mountain crossing, but the task ahead was still staggering. By this time, it was October. Winter was closing in, and the passes of the Alps were choked with ice and snow.

06
Context

After the Third Punic War, Rome systematically destroyed Carthage, burned its libraries, killed or enslaved its people, and erased its culture so thoroughly that almost no Carthaginian texts survive today.

Following the siege of Carthage in 146 BC, Rome razed the city, killed tens of thousands, sold 50,000 survivors into slavery, and destroyed its libraries — resulting in the near-total loss of Carthaginian literature, history, and written culture.

transcript

Paul Cooper: Some of the libraries and archives of Carthage survived the burning of the city. In these were kept the books of Carthaginian history, perhaps poetry and mythology, science and medicine, documents of the Phoenician voyages of discovery to the edges of the world, but all of these were taken by the Romans. Some were simply burned, while others were distributed among the Roman's African allies. As a result, not a single one of these works has survived. Today, scarcely a few documents written by a Carthaginian can be read, and no works of literature or history have come down to us.

Highlight slides
The Phoenician Alphabet: Simplicity by Design✦ from: The Phoenician alphabet, with only 22 letters, was so simple and effective that it was adopted by the Greeks and became the foundation of all Western alphabets used today.A Foundation That Lasted 3,000 Years✦ from: The Phoenician alphabet, with only 22 letters, was so simple and effective that it was adopted by the Greeks and became the foundation of all Western alphabets used today.Carthage's Child Sacrifice Ritual✦ from: The Carthaginians practiced child sacrifice, a ritual where children — sometimes bought from the poor — were burned as offerings to the gods in exchange for favors.Evidence from Ancient Sources and Archaeology✦ from: The Carthaginians practiced child sacrifice, a ritual where children — sometimes bought from the poor — were burned as offerings to the gods in exchange for favors.
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