Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/45

CARTHAGE 37 whose term expired served for a period as a pentarcliy, and could summon in times of per- plexity 100 men for a select council. The multiplication of offices was a part of the sys- tem at Carthage, and the suifetes a term identical with the Hebrew word which is ren- dered "judges" in the Scriptures as well as the other principal magistrates, bought their dignities, so that high office was inaccessible except to the rich. The power of the com- mons was exceedingly small ; they had neither originating powers nor judicial functions; yet, as ample provision was made for the poorer classes, and as the surplus population was always disposed of, profitably and advanta- geously to themselves, by a system of coloni- zation at the government expense, the lower orders remained for many centuries contented with the constitution of their country. Poly- bius says that during her wars with Rome the constitution of the city became more and more democratic. " The language of Phoeni- cia," says Dr. Arnold, " was a cognate tongue with the Hebrew, if it were not, as is held by Gesenius and others of the best authorities, identical with the earliest Hebrew of the Old Testament, and varying from it no more than does the dialect of the later Hebrew writers. It is evident, however, from the fact that the Carthaginian tongue seems to have been no- where studied by the inhabitants of the na- tions with whom they had treaties and con- stant commercial intercourse, even among the most learned men and the most distinguished scholars, that it could have contained little or nothing worthy of preservation." Of their architecture and their arts we have as yet few relics and records. The houses of Carthage are believed to have been several stories high, of which the lower story alone was built of massive material, and the others were moulded, as Pliny says, of earth. When such buildings are pulled down, or decay, they are nothing but a heap of rubbish. The Romans rebuilt the city on top of this, and in digging their foundations they often cut through rich mo- saic pavements and other ornaments of the lower stories of the original town. The mo- saics recently excavated and considered relics of Punic Carthage are of exquisite workman- ship. The city grew to be 23 m. in circuit, and had two harbors; an outer and an inner, the latter being surrounded by a lofty wall. Across the peninsula was a triple wall 3 m. long, and between the walls were stables for 300 elephants and 4,000 horses, and barracks for 2,000 infantry, with magazines and stores. Cothon, an island in the centre of the inner harbor, was lined with quays and docks for 220 ships. Above the city, on the western heights, was Byrsa, the citadel, as its Phoeni- cian name signified, which, however, the Greeks identified with their (ttpoa, hide, and thus formed their legend of the purchase of the spot on which the original town stood. (See DIDO.) When it surrendered to the Romans 50,000 people marched out of it. On its summit was the famous temple of ^Escu- lapius. At the N. W. angle of the city were 20 immense reservoirs, each 400 ft. by 28, Carthaginian Cistern. filled with water brought by an aqueduct from a distance of 52 m. The suburb Me- gara, beyond the city walls, but within those that defended the peninsula, was the site of magnificent gardens and villas, which were adorned with every kind of Grecian art ; for the Carthaginians were rich before the Ro- mans had even conquered Latium. The navy was the largest in the world, and in the sea fight with Regulus there were 350 ships, carry- ing 150,000 men. Modern excavations have led to the discovery of the groundwork of a temple, probably that of Cronos, or Baal Ham- man, and the quantities of fragments of pre- cious marbles found about it indicate that it must have been gorgeously decorated. Some of the Punic inscriptions that have come to light are wonderful for the proportion and exquisiteness of the characters. Of their re- ligion we know from Scripture and from more recent history that it was a cruel and bloody superstition. They worshipped on high places, and they had sacred groves, as well as idols. Their principal god was x Baal, Belsamen, or the bright one, considered by the Greeks as identical with Cronos or Saturn, and who in process of time became in some features as- similated to Apollo. He was evidently the fire god or sun god, and to him were offered the human sacrifices, of children more especially, who were placed on the extended palms of the metallic statue, whence they rolled into a fiery furnace. With the sun god was associated a female deity, Ashtoreth or Astarte, expressive probably of the productive power of nature under the generative power of the sun, and worshipped as the queen of heaven. The worship of Ammon was associated with that of Baal and of the sacred elephant; while that of Melkarth (Melk-karih, king of the city), the Phoenician Hercules, was celebrated by the lighting of yearly funeral pyres, and the release of an eagle, typical of the sun and of the legendary phoenix. The offering of human sacrifices extended as far westward aa