Fai clic su di un'immagine per andare a Google Ricerca Libri.
Sto caricando le informazioni... Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilizationdi Richard Miles
THE WAR ROOM (385) Sto caricando le informazioni...
Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro.
"An ambitious scholarly work spanning eight centuries, from 150 years before the founding of Carthage by Phoenicians to its obliteration by the Romans in 146 BCE." "Drawing deeply upon fresh archeological evidence, Miles dynamically recreates daily life in ancient Carthage by examining the numerous inscriptions and monuments that bring to life the religious and public rituals of the city's inhabitants." Bertolt Brecht found in Carthage a metaphor for German hubris: "Great Carthage drove three wars. After the first one it was still powerful. After the second one it was still inhabitable. After the third one it was no longer possible to find her." Luckily, Miles has found more than enough of her in this fascinating read. This fine book is an extended study of Rome’s Other, the north African Phoenician colony of Carthage ( kart hadasht , “new town”), by a young Cambridge scholar who has been excavating the site for some years now and has taken the opportunity to produce a general historical and cultural study of the city-state which gave Rome such a run for its money.
The 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 sea power 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.--From publisher description. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
Discussioni correntiNessunoCopertine popolari
Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)939.73History and Geography Ancient World Ancient history in other areas Minor African Countries Africa Propria, CarthageClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
Sei tu?Diventa un autore di LibraryThing. |
'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'. ( )