365 



CARTHAGE. 



CARTMEL. 



Lake of Tunis to the sea. The alluvial deposits of the Bagradas 

 (now Mejerdah) have made great alterations in this part of the coast ; 

 so much so that the sea, which in ancient times washed the northern 

 shore of the peninsula, is now converted partly into firm land and 

 partly into a salt marsh : the consequence is that the isthmus is 

 greatly enlarged in breadth, and tho peninsular form of the site has 

 nearly disappeared. The Lake of Tunis itself from a deep open bay 

 ha^ become, in consequence of its receiving for so many ages the 

 filthy di'posits of the sewers from the city of Tunis (which stauds on 

 its western shore), a shallow lagoon. Southward from the peninsula 

 a Tsenia, or sandy spit of ground, ran between the Gulf of Carthage 

 and the lake and terminated at the north of the entrance to the 

 latter ; this strip of land is also enlarged since ancient times, so that 

 the once wide entrance to the bay is now a mere narrow passage, called 

 Hak-el-VVad, or Goletta(' throat'). It seems probable that the city did 

 not occupy the northern slope of Cape Ghamart nor the southern 

 slope of Cape Carthage, on the east of the peninsula ; and that it did 

 not quite extend to the isthmus on the western side ; but stretched 

 in the form of an irregular oblong, with its southern end resting oc 

 the lake before mentioned, the Taenia and the gulf ; its northern end 

 on the sea, and its greatest length extending nearly due north and 

 south. 



Towards the east the city, the whole circuit of which was 360 stadia, 

 or abouu 36 miles, was defended only by a single wall, as it was 

 naturally defended by the precipitous nature of the coast. But on 

 the land side it was defended by a triple line of walls, each 30 cubits 

 high, below the parapets, and strengthened with towers four stories 

 high and 200 feet apart. On the inside of each wall were two stories 

 of vaulted chambers, formed into stables below for 300 elephants, 

 and above for 4000 horses, with stores of forage for both. Between 

 the wall* were barracks, with magazines and stores, for 20,000 infantry 

 and 4000 cavalry. These landward fortifications seem to have been 

 strongest just behind the Byrsa, or citadel ; where they approached the 

 suburb of Megara on the north-west, and the Tscnia near the harbours 

 at their southern extremity, they seem to have been weak and low, 

 and accordingly .Scipio in hU assaults upon the city attacked these 

 parts, while Maruius from the sea attacked the single wall on the 

 eastern side. The walls of the Punic city cannot be traced with any 

 certainty ; but the remains of the walls of 1 Ionian Carthage, erected 

 in A.D. 424, are clearly visible. 



The port of Carthage was on the south side of the city, and was 

 formed of a part of the Lake of Tunis, while the lake itself was pro- 

 bably used as a roadstead. It consisted of an outer harbour for 

 merchantmen, there being a passage from the one to the other ; and 

 an inner harbour for ships of war. An island of considerable eleva- 

 tion, called Cothon (it is now a peninsula), situated within the entrance, 

 gave its name also to the inner harbour ; its height concealed the 

 harbour from view to seaward, and made it serviceable as a signal 

 station. On the land side the inner harbour was jealously screened 

 from observation by a double wall. Wide quays lined the shores of 

 the island and the inner port, an 1 around it were 220 docks, each 

 constructed for only one ship, with naval magazines and storehouses. 

 As each dock was entered between two Ionic columns, the circuit of 

 the island and the landward side of the harbour presented the appear- 

 ance of a magnificent culonnade. Persons frequenting the outer 

 harbour passed at once into the city through gates provided on 

 purpose, that they might not pass through the docks. When Scipio 

 had blocked up the entrance to the harbour by constructing a mole 

 across the eastern angle of the Lake of Tunis, from near the south 

 end of the lund-wall to the Taenia, the Carthaginians cut a new 

 channel from the inner harbour direct into tho Uulf of Carthage. 

 The two basin 1 !, which were most probably formed by excavation, 

 still remain, but thi-ir masonry has disappeared, having been pro- 

 bably used as a quarry by the natives that afterwards settled on the 

 site of the Phoenician city. Of a spacious basin formed for mer- 

 chantmen, on the sea-shore outside the walls, the substructions are 

 still risible. . 



Immediately to the east of the central and strongest part of the 

 landward fortifications was the Byrsa, or citadel of Carthage. It was 

 connected with the forum which lay between it and the harbours by 

 three narrow streets composed of houses six stories high. The Byrsa 

 is an eminence, supposed to be partly artificial, about two Roman 

 miles in circuit and 200 feet high, its upper surface forming a plateau 

 that slopes gently towards the sea. On the sides of the hill are traces 

 of its ain:i>-nt fortifications, which seem to have risen in terrace* one 

 above another. On it stood the rich temple of Esmun, or /E.scnlapius, 

 raised on a platform ascended by 60 steps : the senate held secret 

 meetings on important occasions in this temple. The Byrsa continued 

 to be the citadel of Carthage under the Romans also, who restored 

 the temple of ^Gsculapius. The Roman pro-consuls, the Vandal 

 kings, and the Byzantine governors of Africa recided upon it. It is 

 now called the Hill of St.-Louin, from a French chapel erected on its 

 summit in memory of that royal crusader, who died of the plague 

 whilst laying siege to Tunis in A.D. 1270. It is supposed that the hill 

 occupied by tho Byrsa was formed when the Carthaginians excavated 

 their harbour', and that the name of the original Phoenician settle- 

 ment (which most probably occupie I the height of Cape Carthage) 

 was transferred to this their new citadel. 



South of the citadel, and between it and the harbours, lay the 

 forum, in which were the senate-house, the courts of justice, and the 

 temple of the Phoenician god corresponding to Apollo, whose golden 

 image stood in a shrine overlaid with lOuO talents weight of gold. 

 The three streets connecting the forum with the citadel were stormed 

 by Scipio house by house. The other streets seem to have been 

 straight, and to have crossed each other at right angles. 



On the lower terraces of the north side of the Byrsa are the ruins 

 of two temples, supposed to be those of Saturn and Astarte, whom 

 the Romans called Coolestis. On the west and south-west side of the 

 hill are the ruins of baths (famous in the Christian history of Car- 

 thage), a circus, and an amphitheatre. The city was supplied with 

 water by an aqueduct 50 miles long : it derived part of its supply 

 from the Jebel Zaghwan, which is above 30 miles ia a straight line 

 S. from Carthage, and the rest from Zung-gar, considerably farther 

 south. Both fountains were covered in by domed temples of the 

 Corinthian order : there are considerable remains of those at Zung*-gar. 

 The aqueduct may be traced all the way, and indeed in some places 

 it is in a good state of preservation as at the village of Arriana, two 

 leagues N". from Tunis, where is (says Shaw) " a long range of its arches, 

 all of them entire, 70 feet high, supported by columns (piers) 1 6 feet 

 square. The channel that conveyed the water lies upon these arches, 

 being high and broad enough for a person of ordinary size to walk 

 in. It is vaulted above, and plastered on the inside with a strong 

 cement, which by the stream running through it is discoloured to the 

 height of about three feet." The part of it that runs along the penin- 

 sula was elegantly built of hewn stone. Some suppose the aqueduct 

 to be a Carthaginian work ; others ascribe it to the Romans. The 

 great reservoir also remains almost entire near the line of the western 

 fortifications ; it consists of more than twenty contiguous cisterns, 

 each of them at least 100 feet long and 30 feet broad. Near the 

 Cothon also is a less reservoir, which was contrived also for col- 

 lecting the rain water from the Byrsa and adjacent pavements : 

 the small earthen pipes for conducting the water from the roof 

 still remain. Besides these there are numerous cisterns remaining 

 for the supply of private houses. In rowing along the sea-shore 

 Shaw observed the terminus of the sewers, " which, being well 

 built and cemented together, length of time has not been able to 

 impair." 



The broken foundation of two buildings one supposed to have 

 been a theatre, the other a temple of Astarte, and apparently the 

 largest structure in Carthage complete our enumeration of the 

 remains on this interesting site. 



The north-west side of the peninsula was occupied, as before stated, 

 by the suburb of Magalia (called also Magar and Megara) ; this was 

 surrounded by a wall and adorned with gardens irrigated by canals. 

 The wealthy citizens of Tunis still havo gardens here near the village 

 of El-Mursa, which is situated near a salt-marsh to the north of the 

 isthmus. Roman Carthage stood not as some assert on the site of 

 Magalia, but on that of the Punic city. The land to the west and 

 north-west is divided by roads into rectangular plots, each containing 

 100 hencdia. There are twenty-eight of these plots distinctly visible, 

 aud the gardens of El-Mersa cover an area sufficient for two more, 

 making altogether 3000 henedia (or farms of about two acres each) 

 for the 3000 colonists settled in Carthage by Augustus. Cape 

 Ghamart is supposed to have been the necropolis of Carthage : some 

 few graves have been discovered in its rocky soil. 



(Grote, ffiitory of Greece ; Falbe, Recherch.es ntr T Emplacement de 

 Carthage ; Barth, Wanderimgm durch die Kilstenlander des Mittel- 

 meeres ; Heeren, Ideen iiber die Politik, &c. ; Niebuhr, Lectures on 

 Ike Hillary of Rome ; Arnold, History of Rome ; Shaw, Travels in 

 Barbary ; Dictionary of Greek and Jtoman Geography; Manuert ; 

 Diodorus; Appian; Livy; Justin; Polybius, &c.) 



CARTMEL, Lancashire, a market town in the pariah of Cartmel 

 and hundred of Lousdale, north of the sands, is situated in 54 12' N. 

 lat., 2 56' W. long. ; distant 26 miles N.W. by N. from Lancaster by 

 road, or 14 miles across the sands at low water ; and 254 miles N.W. 

 by N. from London by road. The population of the entire parish of 

 Cartmel was 5213 m 1851. The living is a perpetual curacy in the 

 archdeaconry of Richmond and diocese of Chrster. 



Cartmel is situated in a vale surrounded by high and rugged 

 eminences. In 1188 a priory for canons regular of St. Augustine was 

 founded in Cartmel by William Mareschal, call of Pembroke. The 

 funds of the ancient parish church of Cartmel were incorporated with 

 the priory endowment, and the parishioners purchased the building 

 that they might still use it as their parish church. It is a cruciform 

 building with a central tower, a choir with richly ornamented stalls, 

 and a fine cast window. The nave is comparatively modern. The 

 length of the church is 157 feet, that of the transepts 110 feet, and 

 the height of the walls 57 feet. Cartmel Grammar school has an 

 endowment of 110/. per annum ; it was in existence in 1635, but the 

 exact date of its foundation is unknown. There were about 25 scholars 

 in 1851. 



The streets of Cartmel are narrow and irregular. Most of the 

 houses are built of stone. There is very little trade. There are 

 cotton-mills at upper Holker. The market day is Tneiday ; fairs are 

 held on Whit-Monday, Monday afier October 23rd, Wednesday before 

 Easter, and November 5th. 



