(3.) The female deity associated with him is the Phoenician Astarte, or Tanith, the goddess of the elements, whom the Romans commonly mention by the name of Coelestis. She was sometimes identified with Vesta, sometimes with Diana, on account of her symbol, the crescent moon, and sometimes with Venus, on account of her worship which was celebrated with the most lascivious abominations, as in Phoenicia, so also at Carthage and other places in the territory, especially Sicca Veneria. (Val. Max. ii. 6. § 16; Appul. Met. xi. p. 257, Bip.; Salvian, de Prov. viii. p. 95; Morcelli, Afr. Christ. s. aa. 399, 421; Augustin. Civ. Dei, ii. 4, iv. 10; Tertull. Apol. 12, et alib.) (4.) Esmun, the god of the celestial vault, whose temple occupied a conspicuous place in the city, is identified by the Greeks and Romans with Aesculapius. (5.) Apollo, whose temple and golden shrine stood near the form, is supposed to be Baal-Hamman. (Barth, p. 96.) (6.) Poseidon and Triton are mentioned by Herodotus as Libyan deities; but he does not give their native names. (Herod, ii. 50, iv. 179.) The latter deity had an oracle, with a sacred tripod, like that at Delphi. [Comp. Triton, Tritonis Palus.] (7.) Among Genii and Heroes, we find that the following were worshipped: a Genius of Death, to whom also hynms were sung at Gades (Philostr. Vit. Apoll. v. 4); Dido, as the foundress of the city (Justin, xviii. 6); Hamilcar, who fell at Himera, and whose worship was connected with the story of his supernatural disappearance on that day (Herod, vii. 167); the brothers Philaeni [Arae Philaenorum]; and Iolaüs, a hero of Sardinia (Polyb. vii. 9.) (8.) Foreign Deities. — The influence upon Carthage of intercourse with Greece is shown by her adoption, from Sicily, of the worship of Demeter and Persephone. (Diod. xiv. 77.) The motive to this step was the fearful pestilence which had destroyed their victorious army before Syracuse (B.C. 395), and which they attributed to the wrath of the goddesses for the pillage by Himilco of their temple in the suburb of Achradina. There seems to have been no sacerdotal caste at Carthage; but the offices of the priesthood were filled by the highest persons in the state; and in war we find the generals offering sacrifices, sometimes during the heat of battle. (Herod, vii. 167; Diod, xiv. 77; Justin. xvii. 7.) The armies were attended by prophets, whose voice controuled their movements. The enterprises of common and colonization were placed under the sanction of religion, monuments of them being dedicated in the temples, as in the cases of the voyage of Hanno, which has come down to us, and the memorials of the mysterious death of Hamilcar at Himera, which were dedicated in all the colonies, as well as at Carthage. (Herod, vii. 167.) Of the sanctuaries which they established in connection with their colonies, we have examples in that of Hercules at Carthago Nova, and that of Poseidon founded by Hanno on the W. coast of Africa. [Soloeis.] Such was the state of Carthage during the time fit her greatest prosperity; and such the system |
ii. Second Period of Carthaginian history, B.C. 410—264.— The wars with the Greeks of Sicily, which were renewed in B.C. 410, by the appeal of Egesta to Carthage for aid in her quarrel with Selinus, occupied nearly all the century and a half which intervenes till the commencement of those with Rome. The most marked epochs in them are the conflicts in Sicily with Dionysius I. (B.C. 410 — 368), and Timoleon (B.C. 345 — 340), and in Africa with Agathocles (B.C. 311 — 307), whose invasion, though ultimately defeated, pointed out where the power of Carthage was most vulnerable, and gave the precedent for the fatal enterprizes of the Scipios. Our chief ancient authority for this period is Diodorus, compared with Plutarch, Appian, and Justin. The chief details are related in this work, under Sicilia, Syracusae, Egesta, Selinus, Agrigentum, &c, in the several articles in the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography (Hannibal, Himilcon, Mago, Dionysius, Timoleon, Agathocles, &c.), and in the histories of Greece, especially Grote (vol. x. chaps. 81, 82), whose very full narrative, however, only extends as yet to the destruction of the victorious Carthaginian army before Syracuse by pestilence rather than by the arms of Dionysius, B.C. 394. The ultimate issue of these campaigns was in favour of the Carthaginians, whose conquest of the island seemed about to be completed, when the invasion of Pyrrhus effected a brief diversion (B.C. 277 — 275). His retreat seemed to leave the Carthaginians, at length, free to snatch the prize, which they had coveted as their first foreign conquest, and had so perseveringly pursued. But the Roman eagle was already watching the same rich prize from the other bank of the narrow straits; the affair of Messana and the Mamertines gave a pretext for interposition; and the landing of a Roman host in Sicily, B.C. 264, sealed the fate both of the island and of Carthage. The other principal events of this period were the second, third, and fourth treaties with Rome, the revolutionary attempts of Hanno (B.C. 340) and Bomilcar (B.C. 308), already mentioned, and a dangerous revolt of the subject Libyans after the great disaster before Syracuse in B.C. 394. To this period belongs also the reception at Carthage of the fugitives from the destruction of Tyre by Alexander, already noticed. The success of the Macedonian conqueror and his alliance with Cyrene, seem to have excited some alarm at Carthage; and the republic is said to have sent an embassy to Alexander, to congratulate him on his return from India. (Diod, xvii. 113; comp. Justin, xxi. 6; Oros. iv. 6.) iii. Third Period, — Wars with Rome, B.C. 264—146. 1. The First Punic War was a contest for the dominion of Sicily. Though virtually decided in its second and third years by Hiero's adhesion to the Romans (B.C. 263), and by the fall of Agrigentum (B.C. 262), the great resources of Carthage prolonged it for twenty-three years (B.C. 264 — 241), and it was only brought to a close by the exhaustion of her finances. Besides the loss of Sicily, it cost |
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