Carthage Must Be Destroyed

Posted on 14 August 2017 by Richard Miles

An epic history of a doomed civilization and a lost empire The devastating struggle to the death between the Carthaginians and the Romans was one of the defining dramas of the ancient world In an epic series of land and sea battles, both sides came close to victory before the Carthaginians finally succumbed and their capital city, history, and culture were almost utterly erased Drawing on a wealth of new archaeological research, Richard Miles vividly brings to life this lost empire from its origins among the Phoenician settlements of Lebanon to its apotheosis as the greatest seapower in the Mediterranean And at the heart of the history of Carthage lies the extraordinary figure of Hannibal the scourge of Rome and one of the greatest military leaders, but a man who also unwittingly led his people to catastrophe The first full scale history of Carthage in decades, Carthage Must Be Destroyed reintroduces modern readers to the larger than life historical players and the ancient glory of this almost forgotten civilization. Read Carthage Must Be Destroyed – kino-fada.fr A very interesting view of a civilization which has, until just recently, been sparsely represented in non Roman historical accounts.This book takes a long look, starting with the history of the early Phoenicians and ending with the beginnings of Rome s empire, well after the final Punic war Carthage s economic values, its religion with a surprising incidence of human sacrifice, which is not wholly Roman propaganda , and the fragile...Until the publication of this excellent book, the preeminent text about Carthage was the 1995 volume Carthage A History by the French historian Serge Lancel This, an outstanding contribution to the patchy knowledge we have of Carthage, has just been eclipsed One might think that part of the reason for this is that Carthage Must Be Destroyed did not need to be translated inevitably, there were some places where Lancel s text became unwieldy It s far from that this is a better written, easi Until the publication of this excellent book, the preeminent text about Carthage was the 1995 volume Carthage A History by the French h...Finished reading Carthage Must Be Destroyed by Richard MilesWhenever I read a history of a fallen empire, I am always sad at the end Read a history of the fall of the Roman Empire last year, and I kept rooting for the Romans to pull it together They didn t I felt very sad reading about the fall of Carthage So unnecessary.But I did learn a lot Carthage was a colony of Tyre, a Phoenician island city off the coast of Lebanon.The Phoenicians were tremendous mariners and to a certain extent seede Finished reading Carthage Must Be Destroyed by Richard MilesWhenever I read a history of a fallen empire, I am always sad at the end Read a history of the fall of the Roman Empire last year, and I kept rooting for the Romans to pull it together They didn t I felt very sad reading about the fall of Carthage So unnecessary.But I did learn a lot Carthage was a colony of Tyre, a Phoenician island city off the coast of Lebanon.The Phoenicians were tremendous mariners and to a certain extent seeded civilization around the Mediterranean They established colonies and trading posts in Egypt, Cyprus, Greece, North Africa, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, France, the Balearics and Spain They settled the Atlantic coasts of Spain, Portugal and Morrocco They circumnavigated Africa and sailed to Britain They traded with Indi...highly recommend Miles book for his reconstruction of Carthage s history while trying to minimize the Romans filter For one example of this filter, even our terminology for the civilization and culture, Punic, comes with its own baggage since Romans used the term in a pejorative and disparaging context Miles spends time on the background and history of Phoenicia, showing how the expansion to Carthage and other areas in th...There s usually a strict segmentation between an archaeologist writing about artifact digs, and a revisionist historian reviewing antique histories written by the winners The few writers who have tried to synthesize such styles Peter Wells Barbarians to Angels, for example often succeed only in part because they favor one method over another Miles gets the balance right, by being appropriately skeptical of the historical sources on Carthage, while still recognizing the value of preservin There s usually a strict segmentation between an archaeologist writing about artifact digs, and a revisionist historian reviewing antique histories written by the winners The few writers who have tried to synthesize such styles Peter Wells Barbarians to Angels, for example often...Reading this book hammered in that old chestnut over and over again History is always written by the victors Although in defense of Richard Miles, he does a fair job of trying his best to overcome it Miles is British archeologist and historian from Cambridge, but now plies his trade at the University of Sydney.Carthage Must Be Destroyed follows a fairly linear structure from the founding of the city by Tyrians from the Levant legend has it was founded in 814 BCE , to it s eventual destruct Reading this book hammered in that old chestnut over and over again History is always written by the victors Although in defense of Richard Miles, he does a fair job of trying his best to overcome it Miles is British archeologist and historian from Cambridge, but now plies his trade at the University of Sydney.Carthage Must Be Destroyed follows a fairly linear structure from the founding of the city by Tyrians from the Levant legend has it was founded in 814 BCE , to it s eventual destruction by the Romans in 146 BCE The sad bit is that all these records come from their enemies the Greeks mainly Sicilian Greek historians and later the Romans This fact is repeatedly stated by Miles, who does his best to disentangle vitriolic attacks and deep seated biases from these records to give us a coherent and readable history He s helped a lot thanks to the re...The author is a great scholar and very knowledgeable about his subject The book jacket indicates that he has even led archaeological digs in North Africa Perhaps that is part of the problem What I mean is that maybe those with a great love for archaeology should not write books like this one The title promises grand, sweeping scope, and the author gives us none of it He has an obvious love for the minute details He employs his considerable talents in mining though religious inscriptions, d The author is a great scholar and very knowledgeable about his subject The book jacket indicates that he has even led archaeological digs in North Africa Perhaps that is part of the problem What I mean is that maybe those with a great love for archaeology should not write books like this one The title promises grand, sweeping scope, and the author gives us none of it He has an obvious love for the minute details He employs his considerable t...With meticulous attention to detail, author Richard Miles has produced a fascinating account of the history of the Carthaginian people, their rise to power and prominence throughout the Mediterranean, and their eventual downfall at the hands of neighboring Rome The Roman political machine insisted that Carthage be pillaged and destroyed To that end, Roman legions systematically destroyed the cities, farms, and homes They went so far as to salt the land Y...After Hannibal s devastating victory over the Romans at Cannae, the Roman Senator Cato the Elder took to ending every speech with the demand that Carthage must be destroyed Carthage was one of the great civilizations of the ancient world, yet is known today primarily for its defeat and obliteration in the Punic Wars with Rome This book provides a wealth of information about the founding of Carthage, its early history, and, of course, its end in the Punic wars On the flip side, the author do After Hannibal s devastating victory over the Romans at Cannae, the Roman Senator Cato the Elder took to ending every speech with the demand that Carthage must be destroyed Carthage was one of the great civilizations of the ancient world, yet is known today primarily for its defeat and oblitera...In my high school Latin class, we read some of the Catalinian speeches, in which a Roman Senator excoriated Carthage ending many of his speeches with the phrase Carthage must be destroyed This book examines the conflicts between Rome and Carthage over the years One thing that surprised me was the relative dearth of concrete information about Carthage The author does a nice job of creating a credible account of Carthaginian history and life The use of literature such as the story of Hercu In my high school Latin class, we read some of the Catalinian speeches, in which a Roman Senator excoriated Carthage ending many of his speeches with the phrase Carthage must be destroyed This book examines the conflicts between Rome and Carthage over the years One thing that surprised me was the relative dearth of concrete information about Carthage The author does a nice job of creating a credible account of Carthaginian history and life The use of literature such as the story of Hercules to get a sense of the culture appears to me to be pretty well done.The heart of the work, though, is the struggle between Rome and Carthage The book does a ...

English
14 August 2017

Richard Miles