DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0047
19
CHAPTER II
africa under the CjESARS
B.C. 46-A.D. 96
The long interval between the destruction of the capital of the
Carthaginians and the building of Roman Carthage is frequently
lost sight of. After the fall of Punic Carthage a century elapsed
before Julius Caesar landed on the shores of Africa, and another
century and a half passed before the reconstructed city became
of sufficient importance to be recognised as the metropolis of the
new colony. It is during the latter part of this interval that
the old Tyrian settlement at Utica, founded about b.C. 1200,
played a prominent part in political and commercial life. At
first an emporium on the coast, then a walled town with a large
mercantile population, governed by a Senate and suffetes, it
became the chief Phoenician colony in Africa long before the
foundation of Carthage. Utica retained its independence as a
free republic for many centuries, but at last, being dragged un-
unwillingly into the Sicilian wars which preceded the first en-
counter between Rome and Carthage, it closed an independent
career by acknowledging the supremacy of its more powerful
countrymen. Such was the strength of its walls and magnifi-
cent fortifications at the outbreak of the second Punic war that
not even the genius of Scipio nor the gallantry of his soldiers
could effect an entry into the city till after four years' protracted
siege. In the troublous times that preceded the last Car-
thaginian war, Utica, forecasting the result of further opposition
to the Romans, threw open its gates to the invading army.
This step was the commencement of nearly 200 years' re-
vived prosperity. Utica became the residence of the Roman
proconsul and the metropolis of Africa Provincia. Under
Augustus it obtained the rank of a municipium, and had a
population of 40,000 within the walls. The ruined monuments
c 2
CHAPTER II
africa under the CjESARS
B.C. 46-A.D. 96
The long interval between the destruction of the capital of the
Carthaginians and the building of Roman Carthage is frequently
lost sight of. After the fall of Punic Carthage a century elapsed
before Julius Caesar landed on the shores of Africa, and another
century and a half passed before the reconstructed city became
of sufficient importance to be recognised as the metropolis of the
new colony. It is during the latter part of this interval that
the old Tyrian settlement at Utica, founded about b.C. 1200,
played a prominent part in political and commercial life. At
first an emporium on the coast, then a walled town with a large
mercantile population, governed by a Senate and suffetes, it
became the chief Phoenician colony in Africa long before the
foundation of Carthage. Utica retained its independence as a
free republic for many centuries, but at last, being dragged un-
unwillingly into the Sicilian wars which preceded the first en-
counter between Rome and Carthage, it closed an independent
career by acknowledging the supremacy of its more powerful
countrymen. Such was the strength of its walls and magnifi-
cent fortifications at the outbreak of the second Punic war that
not even the genius of Scipio nor the gallantry of his soldiers
could effect an entry into the city till after four years' protracted
siege. In the troublous times that preceded the last Car-
thaginian war, Utica, forecasting the result of further opposition
to the Romans, threw open its gates to the invading army.
This step was the commencement of nearly 200 years' re-
vived prosperity. Utica became the residence of the Roman
proconsul and the metropolis of Africa Provincia. Under
Augustus it obtained the rank of a municipium, and had a
population of 40,000 within the walls. The ruined monuments
c 2