Carthage

VIDEO: John Julius Norwich on the Great Cities in History

Carthage is a legendary ancient city. As a trading centre it was dominant in the Mediterranean, and its people were famous for the immense artistic and intellectual contributions to civilization. Sadly, it was later laid to waste by the attacking Romans in the Punic wars, who then refounded it, before suffering expulsion themselves at the hands of the Muslims in the 7th century AD.

Carthage today comprises a suburb of the modern Tunisian city of Tunis. Evidence its tumultuous past can still be witnessed in the few surviving traces of the ancient city, such as the rectangular and circular harbours of the Punic ports and remnants of the great sea wall. Excavations of Byrsa Hill, the centre of ancient Carthage, have uncovered the foundations of Punic buildings and houses that may have once stood as tall as six stories high in narrow, densely packed streets.