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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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Carthage

Queen Dido, founder of Carthage and the Punic pantheon. Source: Eloquence / Public Domain.

Gods of Carthage and The Punic Power House of Baal Hammon and Tanit

According to tradition, the city of Carthage was founded in 814 BC by the legendary Queen Dido . The founder of this city was originally a princess from the Phoenician city of Tyre. She was, however...
Phoenician stone sculpture (disq / Adobe Stock)

The Phoenicians: Mysterious Merchant Mariners Whose Inventions Impacted the World Forever

The Phoenicians were an ancient people who once ruled the Mediterranean. Despite little being known about them as very few of their inscriptions have survived, their legacy has had an enormous impact...
Peace between Hamilcar and Rome by Jacopo Ripanda. Musei Capitolini - Rome (José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Hunting Hamilcar: The Battle of the Saw Uncovered

Hamilcar Barca , the father of the battlefield genius, Hannibal , is considered even today as one of the greatest military commanders of all time, yet so little is known about the man and his battles...
African queen

Dido of Carthage, Mediterranean Princess Turned African Queen

Dido, known also as Elissa in some sources, is a legendary queen who is credited with the founding of Carthage. The legend of Queen Dido is found in Greek and Roman sources, the best-known of which...
Statue of the god Moloch, Turin Cinema Museum.

Was Moloch really Ba’al, the Ancient God Who Demanded Child Sacrifice?

Moloch, or Molech, is well known in the Bible for being the god to whom child sacrifices appear to have been made in a shrine outside the city of Jerusalem. Although Moloch is well known in the Bible...
Hannibal crossing the Alps on elephants by Nicolas Poussin

Military Historian Discovers Hannibal’s Long-Lost Battlefield

The history of Hannibal Barca , one of the greatest military commanders of the ancient world, is one which has fascinated historians and generals throughout the last two millennia, and yet his final...
Hannibal crossing the Alps on elephants by Nicolas Poussin

2,200-Year-Old Moat with Artifacts Linked to Hannibal Unearthed in Spain

Spanish university students trying to retrace Hannibal’s war march through northeastern Spain found a huge buried moat with ancient objects in it. The moat may have been meant to protect the ancient...
The Battle of Cannae was a major battle of the Second Punic War that took place on 2 August 216 BC in Apulia, in southeast Italy. The army of Carthage, under Hannibal, surrounded and decisively defeated a larger army of the Roman Republic

Analysis of Roman Coins Proves Roman Empire Got Rich on Iberian Silver

An analysis of Roman coins has revealed information about the defeat of the Carthaginian General Hannibal and the rise of the Roman Empire . The scientists who examined them suggest that the defeat...
Valuable Enough to Kill For: 4,000-Year-Old Mine Which Was Hijacked by Foreign Forces Uncovered in Spain

Valuable Enough to Kill For: 4,000-Year-Old Mine Which Was Hijacked by Foreign Forces Uncovered in Spain

Archaeologists in Spain have uncovered sophisticated mining operations in Munigua, which were in operation as long ago as 4,000 years, but first Carthage and then Romans hijacked them for the vitally...
 Drawing of Balearic Slinger and Castelo Branco - Jardim do Paco

A History of Hamilcar: Akre Leuca, Dream City of Hamilcar Barca– Part II

Like ancient Carthage, Akre Leuca was not only a military center but also a culturally-advanced city in its time. There was no other city like it. If evidence in the urban structure of Castelo Branco...
Drawing of Balearic Slinger (Public Domain) and stonework at Castelo Branco (CC BY-SA 2.0);Deriv.

A History of Hamilcar: The Legend of Cardosa and a Lost Carthaginian City – Part I

Deep in the heart of the Portuguese arid interior lies a city. It is the regional capital of the lands known as Beira Baixa and is strategically well-placed near the grand Tejo river, the...
Remains of Ancient Maltese Islanders Discovered in Catacombs Beneath a School

Remains of Ancient Maltese Islanders Discovered in Catacombs Beneath a School

The discovery of some 2,000-year-old tombs from the Roman era in Malta have archaeologists buzzing. They say the bones are so old they can’t be called by the name “Maltese,” but the deceased were...
Herodotus, by Jean-Guillaume Moitte, relief 1806.

Herodotus, Cato the Censor and Josephus: Understanding the Life and Times of Historians of the Ancient World

For thousands of years, we turned to history to explain the what, why and how an event happened. Although “historian” did not become a professional occupation until the late nineteenth century, the...
Cippus at the Louvre Museum

The Rosetta Stone of Malta: Cippi of Malta Offers Key to Decoding the Phoenician Language

Malqart was considered lord over life and death; he was the chief deity of Tyre. His temple was the site of two major festivals and believed to have been the inspiration for the renowned Temple of...
2,000-Year-Old Cooling System for Chariot Horses Unearthed at Ancient Carthage Site

2,000-Year-Old Cooling System for Chariot Horses Unearthed at Ancient Carthage Site

In the Classical world, chariot races were the equivalent of today’s highest-profile sports and had the highest-paid athletes in history. But how did the chariot horses of North Africa cope with the...
The interior of what researchers call Temple E in Selinunte

Archaeologists in Sicily excavate an ancient Greek city remarkably preserved beneath earth and sand

In 409 BC, Carthaginian troops from North Africa slaughtered and enslaved the 16,000 soldiers and residents of Selinunte, a Greek metropolis whose ruins were preserved in ancient times by blowing...
Section of the ruins of the city of Thuburbo Maius, Tunisia.

The History and Photogenic Ruins of the Forgotten City of Thuburbo Maius

Carthage was at one point of time Rome’s greatest rival in the Mediterranean. This great civilization was first founded as a Phoenician colony in modern day Tunisia and extended its influence in time...
Carthaginian infanticide

Carthaginian infanticide not just Roman propaganda

Recent research revealed that the Carthaginians really did kill their own infant children , a practice once dismissed as just ancient Greek and Roman propaganda. Ancient Carthage was a Semitic...

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