Carthage

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 *