Carthage
A new history of an ancient empire
Published on 7. August 2025
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-1-5299-1167-1 (ISBN)
Description
'This is not only history reclaimed, this is history at its best!' Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, author of Persians: the Age of the Great Kings
'A bravura re-telling' Daily Mail
Carthage was a power that dominated the western Mediterranean for almost six centuries before its fall to Rome. The history of the realm and its Carthaginians was subsumed by their conquerors and, along the way, the story of the real Carthage was lost. An ancient North African kingdom, Carthage was the home of Hannibal and of Dido, of war elephants and enormous power and wealth, of great beauty and total destruction.
In this landmark new history, Eve MacDonald tells the essential story of the lost culture of Carthage and of its forgotten people, using brand new archaeological analysis to uncover the history behind the legend. A journey that takes us the Phoenician Levant of the early Iron Age to the Atlantic and all along the coast of Africa, Carthage puts the city and the story of North Africa once again at the centre of Mediterranean history. Reclaimed from the Romans, this is the Carthaginian version of the tale, revealing to us that, without Carthage, there would be no Rome.
'A bravura re-telling' Daily Mail
Carthage was a power that dominated the western Mediterranean for almost six centuries before its fall to Rome. The history of the realm and its Carthaginians was subsumed by their conquerors and, along the way, the story of the real Carthage was lost. An ancient North African kingdom, Carthage was the home of Hannibal and of Dido, of war elephants and enormous power and wealth, of great beauty and total destruction.
In this landmark new history, Eve MacDonald tells the essential story of the lost culture of Carthage and of its forgotten people, using brand new archaeological analysis to uncover the history behind the legend. A journey that takes us the Phoenician Levant of the early Iron Age to the Atlantic and all along the coast of Africa, Carthage puts the city and the story of North Africa once again at the centre of Mediterranean history. Reclaimed from the Romans, this is the Carthaginian version of the tale, revealing to us that, without Carthage, there would be no Rome.
Reviews / Votes
Deploying the latest archaeological discoveries with deep and revealing research, Eve MacDonald's Carthage shines welcome new light on the ancient origins and trajectory of the mysterious North African empire that challenged Rome's power in the Mediterranean * Professor Adrienne Mayor * This is a book full of memorable insights. It is an important and much-needed reorientation of the 'familiar' ancient historical narrative. Eve MacDonald persuasively demonstrates how North Africa was once a central node of civilization, that the city of Carthage was a sophisticated political power-house , and that there was nothing inevitable about the supremacy of Rome while the Carthaginians were around. This is not only history reclaimed, this is history at its best! * Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones * The raving Dido, Hannibal's elephants, and Sophonisba drinking the poisoned cup which is her wedding gift: these episodes are just the start of Eve Macdonald's epic history of Carthage. In between, she gives us stories of derring-do on the oceans, vast sea battles with fleets of more than three-hundred ships, war trumpets, flaming javelins, whole populations enslaved, and the most thorough examination possible of Carthaginian society, politics, and government. More than two millennia after its destruction, Carthage now has its Iliad. * Professor Martyn Rady * Fascinating...MacDonald writes clearly and frankly, and has produced an enjoyable and readily digestible introduction to Carthage -- Daisy Dunn * Telegraph * Illuminating and enjoyable... full of delicious snippets * Country Life * It is often said, for good reason, that the winners write history - and for too long, the story of Carthage has been told by its conquerors. The Romans who burned the city of Carthage to the ground in 146 BCE have been the guardians of its story for centuries: but Eve MacDonald's important new book puts Carthage, at last, at the centre of its own tale. The narrative that emerges is both deeply-researched history, eking details out of archaeology, linguistics and DNA alongside ancient historiography, and, at the same time, epic in its sweep - and a long-awaited riposte to Rome's monopoly on the history of its conquests. * Emily Hauser, Sunday Times bestselling author of Mythica *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Ebury Publishing
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 159 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
594 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5299-1167-1 (9781529911671)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Person
Dr Eve MacDonald is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Cardiff University; she is an archaeologist and ancient historian who has worked and published extensively on the history and material culture of Carthage, North Africa and the Middle East. She is one of the world's foremost experts on the region and is the author of Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life that was published in 2015 by Yale University Press. She has also appeared in podcasts (History Hit: The Ancients, Hannibal's Winter War) and documentary films for Channel 4 and PBS' Secrets of the Dead. Carthage is her first book for the trade.