Richard Miles (1) (1969–)

This is from my Amazon review of 'Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization (Penguin paperback)
'Carthago delenda est'~ When the Romans devastated Carthage at the end of the Third Punic War they also obliterated much of the city's history. Dr Miles has addressed many of the lacunae in the record - including a reconstruction of the history of Carthage without filtering it through the Roman lens nor over-emphasising the more sensational aspects of Carthaginian practices (cf., Flaubert's febrile 1862 novel, 'Salammbo'). I found 'Carthage Must Be Destroyed' a fairly dense narrative but this does not detract from the angle of its perspective on an ancient civilisation. Recent archaeological evidence is well-documented, and Miles' referencing and notes on sources is impeccable (vital for Classical studies students, who pore over academic bibliographies!) His documentation of the Carthaginians' interests and conflicts in Sicily is clear, especially regarding Agathocles (pp 145-156) and Pyrrhus (162-3ff) - the threads of Sicily's history vis-à-vis various invaders and colonial powers can be difficult to untangle.
Rome's 'natural foreign policy' and expansion is inextricable from any history of Carthage, and is painted from a wide perspective. At the time the Mediterranean was a melting-pot of different nationalities, maritime powers and political realities. It appears treaties and alliances were made and broken with regularity in the ancient world, but Miles pin-points a decline in Carthaginian-Roman relations following the defeat of Pyrrhus as being tied-in with conflicts with the Greeks, who also had vital concerns in Sicily and Magna Graecia. As Miles remarks, the ancient Sicilians had a long history of playing both sides against the middle (p.166). He also highlights Rome's desire to place itself and its history on the Western side of an increasingly ethno-cultural divide, where Carthage was cast as 'foreign' and 'other', much as the Greeks cast Persia in the Fifth century and later. It was Carthage's misfortune, but it's the oldest trick in the political demagogue's manual to identify an 'enemy' in the cause of promoting nationalism at home, plus Cato's visit to Carthage was pivotal in the subsequent Roman attitude to, and fear of, the North African city: its power rivalled that of Rome.
Roman comedy pilloried Carthage, but Plautus' 'Poenulus' (The Little Carthaginian) also emphasised the stereotypical protagonist's Roman-style 'pietas' - duty to gods and family - which was a neat twist: Roman virtues, even in Carthaginians, were superior to 'Punic faithlessness' (fides Punica). Miles also describes the Roman genius for absorbing religious aspects of others' cultures (evocatio), 'enticing' an enemy patron deity 'from its native land to Rome (where it could expect due and [...] greater reverence)' (p.159) - a well-documented exercise in syncretism, adopting and adapting or simply importing, as was the case with the Greek Apollo. Rome was prepared to accommodate foreign gods, but only on Roman terms.

As a reference volume as well as a fascinating history the book is worth a place on any Classicist's or historian's shelves. Miles' indexes Magonids and Barcids, all the Hamilcars, Hannibals and Hasdrubals (of whom there was more than one) and the history of the Scipios as well. Hannibal's trans-Alpine trek is discussed (if it happened: Polybius was talking to the wrong people) and the horrors of Cannae but, as Miles sums up in his final paragraph: 'As long as the Romans needed proof of their greatness, the memory of Carthage would never die'.… (altro)