Carthage was as we all know an enemy of the Roman Republic. The Romans won, the Carthaginians ceased to exist as an independent culture and is only left in the history books as well as a few ruins in Tunisia. Its influence on the modern world in negligible. The Romans on the other hand left a lasting influence, but that's just because they were the victors. The Carthaginians were different from the Romans in many respects.
From what I understand, the Carthaginians didn't assimilate the peoples they subdued into their culture, but rather left their cultures more or less intact, being content with having a Phoenician enclave and bringing in Libyans and Liby-Phoenicians to maintain their authority. The Romans by contrast seem to have tried to Romanize the peoples they conquered.
The Carthaginians also doesn't seem to have had as much an army of their own as did the Romans, but used their wealth to hire mercenaries to do the fighting for them.
Another difference is that Carthage seems to have been much of a trade empire, while the classical Roman Republic was largely agricultural.
So if the Carthaginians had defeated the Romans, how far north (and east) is it likely that they would have expanded? Carthaginian politics from what I understand had two political factions, the Barcids and the anti-Barcids. The latter consisting of the landed aristocracy preferred to consolidate the holdings in Africa rather than expanding north. The latter by contrast preferred northern expansion, and would support democratic influences in the form of government in order to weaken the power of the aristocracy. Though Carthage seems to have been very a plutocracy, it also seems to have been relitevly democratic, as a Greek writer who wrote on the Carthaginian form of government cited the democratic influence as a sign of decline.
How do you think the Carthaginian Empire would have evolved had they defeated the Romans?
From what I understand, the Carthaginians didn't assimilate the peoples they subdued into their culture, but rather left their cultures more or less intact, being content with having a Phoenician enclave and bringing in Libyans and Liby-Phoenicians to maintain their authority. The Romans by contrast seem to have tried to Romanize the peoples they conquered.
The Carthaginians also doesn't seem to have had as much an army of their own as did the Romans, but used their wealth to hire mercenaries to do the fighting for them.
Another difference is that Carthage seems to have been much of a trade empire, while the classical Roman Republic was largely agricultural.
So if the Carthaginians had defeated the Romans, how far north (and east) is it likely that they would have expanded? Carthaginian politics from what I understand had two political factions, the Barcids and the anti-Barcids. The latter consisting of the landed aristocracy preferred to consolidate the holdings in Africa rather than expanding north. The latter by contrast preferred northern expansion, and would support democratic influences in the form of government in order to weaken the power of the aristocracy. Though Carthage seems to have been very a plutocracy, it also seems to have been relitevly democratic, as a Greek writer who wrote on the Carthaginian form of government cited the democratic influence as a sign of decline.
How do you think the Carthaginian Empire would have evolved had they defeated the Romans?
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