Carthage

American  

[kahr-thij] / ˈkɑr θɪdʒ /

noun

1. an ancient city-state in N Africa, near modern Tunis: founded by the Phoenicians in the middle of the 9th century b.c.; destroyed in 146 b.c. in the last of the Punic Wars.

2. a town in central Missouri.

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Carthage British  

/ ˈkɑːθɪdʒ /

noun

1. an ancient city state, on the N African coast near present-day Tunis. Founded about 800 _bc by Phoenician traders, it grew into an empire dominating N Africa and the Mediterranean. Destroyed and then rebuilt by Rome, it was finally razed by the Arabs in 697 _ad See also Punic Wars

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Carthage Cultural  

1. An ancient city in north Africa, established by traders from Phoenicia. Carthage was a commercial and political rival of Rome for much of the third and second centuries b.c. The Carthaginian general Hannibal attempted to capture Rome by moving an army from Spain through the Alps, but he was prevented and finally defeated in his own country. At the end of the Punic Wars, the Romans destroyed Carthage, as the senator Cato had long urged. The character Dido, lover of Aeneas in the Aeneid, was a queen of Carthage.

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Other Word Forms

• Carthaginian
  adjective
• pseudo-Carthaginian
  adjective

Example Sentences

Often considered one of the most successful commanders of classical times, Hannibal led his army from the powerful imperial city Carthage, in modern day Tunisia, into Europe as he battled to control the Mediterranean.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2026

It is thought he took soldiers and animals from Carthage through Spain and France to invade Italy, crossing the Alps with 37 elephants in 218 BCE during the second of the so-called Punic Wars.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2026

Before the Punic Wars, Carthage alternately supported and clashed with the Sicilian city of Syracuse, ruled by the tyrant-king Agathocles from 317 B.C. to 289 B.C.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026

The Carthage Eagles then scored twice and came close to equalising.

From Barron's • Jan. 1, 2026

As it happened, the place they came ashore was quite near to Carthage and Juno began at once to consider how she could turn this arrival to their disadvantage and the advantage of the Carthaginians.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton