Carthage

Carthage overlooks Tunisia’s Gulf of Tunis as a palimpsest of Mediterranean power. Founded in the 9th c. BCE by Phoenician settlers, it became the Punic world’s great maritime rival to Rome until the Third Punic War ended with its destruction in 146 BCE. Rebuilt as Roman Colonia Julia Carthago, it flourished again, leaving theatres, roads, cisterns, mosaics, and the vast Antonine Baths below Byrsa Hill. Modern Carthage, crowned by the Malek Ibn Anas Mosque, is read locally and globally as proof that empires fall, but places endure.