Carthage was the capital of one of the greatest maritime empires to have ever existed in antiquity. At its height of power, it controlled 300 other prosperous cities and its sphere of influence and military dominion extended across northern Africa and far into Iberia. Hannibal Barca, renown and revered for his struggle against Roman power, battled across Italy, with the war's climax at the Battle of Cannae, in which nearly 100,000 Romans died fighting. In Carthage's vast conflicts with the Roman Republic, over one million men were involved in both the First and Second Punic wars, a staggering scale which would not be witnessed for over a millenia. Even after Carthage was subdued and ceased to exist as an independant state, it was revived as an extraordinarily prosperous and populous city with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants during the pax Romana.

Carthage existed as a republic for much of its time, and its government was primarily oligarchic in nature. Preceding the oligarchy, Carthage was ruled by kings, whose power was also limited by the aristocracy. Hanno II, king of Carthage around 500 BC, launching an exploration effort across the African coast, eventually reaching Mt. Cameroon, discovering wild and exotic animals along the way. As a result of Carthaginian mining in the Iberian peninsula, the sudden influx of massive amounts of silver and gold caused an economic crisis in the east. The exploits and accomplishments of the Carthaginian empire are far too many simply list here.

You can see Carthage and many other cities on our server, Roma Oritur.
www.planetminecraft.com/server/roma-oritur/