Chapter 520: Carthage

Chapter 520: Carthage

“Your majesty, you might not know it, but Hielos has been pushing us to hurry up for the past two days to save more time that we didn’t even have much time to rest. Still, we didn’t expect that we would catch up.” Henipolis interjected.

“Opportunity comes to the prepared.” Davos said quietly while looking at Henipolis, “Come with me to my tent and have a good discussion about what you said…”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Early the following morning, when Davos led the troops gathered from the former Syracusan camp and the city of Aprustum to march towards Scylletium, the transport ship of Ansitanos had already passed through the southwest corner of Sicily. Luckily, the powerful southern wind blew the sail and quickly made the transport ship sail towards the African continent.

A few days after setting out with Seclian’s fleet, Ansitanos separated from them before crossing the Strait of Messina.

With Syracusan ships not patrolling the southern coast of Sicily, the transport ships sailed all the way smoothly. However, due to countless merchant ships on this route, the helmsman of the transport ship has to be highly focused on controlling the rudder to avoid collisions.

Once it was almost noon, the outline of land appeared in front with thousands of ships converging towards it – it was Carthage, the powerful city-state established by the Phoenicians on the African continent.

The city of Carthage was built on a peninsula made up of a series of sandstone hills. On the northeast and southeast borders of the city were two narrow, wing-like pieces of land that extended outwards. The latter land almost bisected the sea and thus enclosing a vast lake (today’s Lake Tunis). Then continuous and steep sandstone cliffs flank the northern part of the peninsula, while a series of fortified walls, trenches and ramparts protect the enormous coastal plain to the south.

On the seaward side of the lake were two magnificent ports. Long and tall walls surround the outer sides of the port, which also acts as a breakwater, and the two ports are connected to each other with a common entrance that is 21-metres wide and can be closed with iron chains.

The first port was for the merchant ships to dock, so the dock area was built with massive sandstone as the material, making it strong and durable. Behind the dock were rows of tall and wide warehouses, with countless labourers transporting all kinds of goods to and from the port and warehouses…

The merchant ship would then stop at the dock one after another after entering the merchant port. But they were not allowed to occupy the middle passage for long because it was reserved for the Carthaginian warships to enter and exit as the military port was inside the merchant port. The military port was only separated by a very tall double wall, with only one water gate connected to it, and its width was only for two triremes to enter side by side…

Ansitanos, who was on the bow, stared at the military port while they docked. Unfortunately, the tall and thick double walls blocked his sight from seeing inside the military port.

However, Ansitanos already learned some information about the military port from the locals when he came last time. They said that a genius Carthaginian architect designed the circular military port by making the most flexible use of the available space according to the topography of the port. Moreover, small islands surrounded the military port with docks between the port and the island. On the banks were numerous docks that could easily accommodate more than 300 triremes.

After Ansitanos went ashore, he led his entourage and walked with the bustling crowd towards the city.

In the noisy flow of people in the port area, you could see all races in the Mediterranean, which also includes some races outside: Such as the extremely tall, fair-skinned Germanic people, the Briton with bodypaints on their bodies, and tribes that have skin as dark as the night that was said to come from the African desert south of Carthage, near the steep mountain the Chartaginian adventurers called the “Chariots of the gods”(which is present-day Mount Cameroon)…these are the “outside world” that the historian Ansitanos could never have imagined but was full of yearning.

‘In the Mediterranean, only the Carthaginians are capable of doing this!’ As he sighed, Ansitanos also ignored the strange glances from the pedestrians…

Many Greeks had come to trade in Carthage, with some even settling here. However, the several wars between Carthage and Syracuse that caused heavy casualties to the Carthaginians resulted in their attitude towards the Greeks changing to the point that those Greeks who settled in Carthage were expelled, their property confiscated, and some even killed on the spot. And only recently did their situation improves.

The centre of the city of Carthage is situated on a hill – Byrsa, and at the top is Carthage’s Acropolis.

The Acropolis has the Temple of Eshmun, famous throughout Africa. However, what is enshrined in the temple is not Melqart – the chief god of Phoenician city-states in the eastern Mediterranean, but Baal Hammon – another chief deity. In the minds of the Carthaginians, Baal Hammon was the king of the furnace, the lord of the new moon, and Carthage’s guardian. His colossal bronze statue, dressed in a long robe, wearing a cone-shaped headdress, with a long beard, holding a spear in one hand, and his other palm is open like giving blessings to others. The statue stood in the centre of the Acropolis, overlooking the city of Carthage. Another deity enshrined in the Temple of Eshmun was the wife of Baal Hammon and the female protector and guardian of the city – Tinit, and she wasn’t below her husband in the hearts of the Carthaginians.

With the Temple of Eshmun as the centre, the urban area of Carthage is arranged in a radial pattern down the hill.

When Ansitanos walked toward the city’s centre, he felt like he was climbing a mountain. The steep slopes and the narrow and crowded streets forced him to be careful not to fall.

But compared to the bad roads, the Carthaginians’ housing was almost all six-story tall buildings, standing in rows on both sides of the streets. Most of the housings are built using huge sandstone strips with walls painted with white gypsum, which can protect them from erosion of the environment and shine like a marble in the sunlight. While a few houses were made using marble, with gorgeous colours and peculiar patterns, which clearly shows the Carthaginians’ wealth.

After crossing the narrow street, Carthage’s square showed in front of Ansitanos. Located in the square were the Carthaginian Senate and Temple of Melqart. (The square is actually behind the military port and not far from the place Ansitanos landed. However, it took longer to reach here because they had to take detours around the military port.

But Ansitanos did not go straight to the Senate. Instead, he went through the square and reached another street, which was different from the others. Although it has wide roads, it has no tall houses. Instead, each of the houses has large courtyards.

Ansitanos then came to a gate of a luxurious mansion, according to his memory, where one of the two shophtim of Carthage lived, and now Carthage’s true ruler – “The Great” Hanno.

When Ansitanos came to Carthage the last time, he also came to visit Hanno first. Unfortunately, he couldn’t meet Hanno as he was at his manor outside the city. Therefore, Ansitanos really hopes he is lucky today.

But the truth is, Hanno had been staying in the city for some time already as the news of the Syracusan army’s victory in Magna Graecia made the members of Carthage’s Senate uneasy, so they had to keep watch on the progress of the war in Magna Graecia. When the servant came in to report, Hanno was on the balcony, lying naked on a comfortable Kline(sofa), basking in the warm sunshine while a young maid massaged him.

‘An envoy from Theonia ask for an audience!’ Hanno fell into deep thinking after he heard the servant. Currently, Theonia is the only force in Magna Graecia that is still fighting against Syracuse. Moreover, the news of Theonia’s fleet defeating Syracuse’s navy in the sea near Thurii had confirmed their strength, which resulted in the Carthaginians abandoning their contempt for this emerging Greek city-state that they did not know much about yet.

“Take him to the living and have him wait for me.” Hanno said.

After putting on his gorgeous robe and entering the living room, he saw Ansitanos standing in front of Baal Hammon’s statue and staring at it.

“Do the Greeks also worship our, Carthage’s, gods?” Hanno spoke while walking towards his seat.

“Esteemed Lord Hanno!” Ansitanos hurriedly greeted him, then he retreated to his seat and said, “I am just a bit curious about your god, Baal Hammon, because Sophocles mentioned that ‘Baal Hammon is very similar to Kronos’.” (Sophocles was a famous playwright in Athens.)

Hanno grunted as his face was covered with a layer of anger, “Stupid Greek, when we, the Phoenicians, created prosperity through trade in the Mediterranean hundreds of years ago, you Greeks were still cowering on your poor and barren land. And when we, Carthaginians, had sent our fleet across the Pillars of Heracles and sailed the oceans, you Greeks are just establishing your city-states in the western Mediterranean. If you had even a bit of brain, you would be able to tell that it is your gods and goddesses who are similar to our gods…”

“What you said might be right, and it would be even better if there were more evidence to prove it! So can you show me some information regarding it?” Ansitanos did not refute but earnestly requested.

Hanno was slightly surprised as he thought the Theonian envoy would become angry and argue with him. Hence when the other side showed such a serious attitude toward seeking the truth, it made him a little fond and curious about him.