The Rise and Fall of Ancient Carthage: Richard Miles' Insightful Look at the Destruction of a Civilization

David Cairns: If you want a clear and gripping account of ancient history's greatest victim, look no further. Vilified by both the Greeks and the Romans, Carthage emerges here as their most potent challenger, a standard against which both other civilizations measured themselves. The perceptive reader will not miss the eerie parallels to modern global politics in this cautionary tale either. A timely masterpiece of excellent historical writing; I couldn't put it down.

United States on Nov 23, 2023

Jörg Z: Habe das Buch in 10 Tagen im Strandurlaub gelesen. Hochinteressant, da die Schulbildung ja immer nur von Rom lebt. Der zweite Punische Krieg und Hannibals 15 Jahre in Italien wird sehr kurz abgehandelt, darüber ist ja alles hinreichend bekannt. Dafür wird auf die Zeit der Anfänge Karthagos von der Gründung bis 200vC ausführlich eingegangen.
Miles schreibt so, daß selbst trockene Materie lesbar bleibt. Nur schade, dass es noch keine deutsche Ausgabe gibt, wobei die englische für mich kein Problem darstellte.

Germany on Jun 17, 2022

Wil H.: Author gave a great overview over the changing role of Carthage in the Mediterranean. The book got a little bogged down in academic discussion sometimes.

Canada on Sep 26, 2021

Andrew G.: This was a brilliant book on a topic that did not spring immediately to my mind when I was looking for a good history read. I have an MA in modern history, so I have a reasonably strong grounding in the classical period, but certainly not comprehensive knowledge. This work was incredibly informative, yet did not require plunging in to Wikipedia to gain background.

Despite rather obnoxiously dropping my own academic background, I do so only to assure any prospective reader that the research is incredibly rigourous. However, this is combined with an infinitely readable and compelling narrative. All too often obscure historical topics results in a thematic-based book that is torture to read, even for someone very used to academically-dense works. Whether you are an advanced reader of history, or are looking for a fascinating true-story, I think this book is a real triumph.

Canada on Jul 16, 2021

Hwk: Lecture très intéressante. On en apprends beaucoup sur la légendaire cité-état phénicienne, de ses débuts à sa rivalité avec Syracuse jusqu'à sa chute finale aux mains de Rome. Vous verrez défiler sur les pages des noms tels Scipion l'africain, Caton l'ancien ou encore Hannibal Barca.

France on Jun 30, 2017

Phillip Skaga: “Repeating History?”
This is truly an amazing book of ancient Mediteranean history. Reading Livy, Polybius, Gibbon, and J.D. Bury, among many others, seemed exciting but confusing. These earlier historians employed long lost city and cultural references making it difficult to get a solid focus on sequence of events. Not so Richard Miles. He makes all the social, political, cultural and mercenary issues in the two Punic Wars absolutely clear. Where clarity may have been less in the body of the narrative it is satisfactorily explained in almost a hundred pages of notes at end of the book. It was simply a pure pleasure reading “Carthage” as though a piece of entertaining fiction. It is, of course, an amply lucid recounting of history between ancient cities of Rome and Carthage. Any of my doubts or misunderstandings from reading earlier historians of this period are generally here put to rest. It is the smoothest retelling of history I have ever read, and as thorough.
The full story covers history from about 1000 BC to a couple decades before the present historical era. Prelude to the main events between Rome and Carthage is told of commercial and cultural activity in...

United States on Dec 20, 2015

Not Bob: When looking at world history, Carthage is perhaps best known as the enemy of Rome during the 200s and 100s BCE. In Carthage Must Be Destroyed, the entire history of the Carthage, not just how it relates to Rome, is looked at.

Carthage started out as a trading colony of the Phoenicians. As time moved on, Carthage became more independent and expanded its territory. This would come into conflict with the also expanding Rome. Through three large scale wars, the Punic Wars as they are called, Rome beat Carthage each time. In the First Punic War, Rome took possession of Sicily. In the aftermath, Carthage found itself with serious internal problems. A war was fought against mercenaries Carthage had hired to fight in war against Rome. During this period, Rome annexed Sardinia and Corsica, formerly Carthaginian possessions. The Second Punic War would be the most famous for the actions of Hannibal such as his trek through the Alps. The war would be another loss for Carthage seeing all of its Spanish territories lost to Rome. In the end, Carthage was left with only North African territory. Despite a growing economy, Rome would wipe Carthage off the map in the Third Punic...

United States on Dec 13, 2012

JPS: This book is certaily a masterpiece of scholarship but it also shows how history can be told in a fascinating way without being academic. As such, it is a rare gem that can satisfy both the "history buff" and the more general reader. The book has numerous other qualities. A number of other reviewers have touched upon some of them already, so I'll try to keep it short.

By telling so well the story of the "rise and fall of an ancient civilization", Richard Miles demonstrates and shows all through the book why Cato the Elder was so insistent and persistent in wanting it destroyed. This was far more than just an old ultra-conservative Romam senator that had become somewhat obsessive. Simply put, Carthage was Rome's most dangerous opponent around the Mediterranean. It was the only one to hold out so long against against Rome and to threaten it so much. This in itself explains why Rome was so unrelenting, elt obliged to raze Carthage to the ground and tried to blacken its name. It also explains, for instance, why Hannibal had to be hunted down across the eastern Mediterranean. Rome had almost lost and was facing a rival that was almost as resilient as itself. Rome, although no...

United Kingdom on Dec 06, 2011