Carthage — The Great Rival of Rome

Carthage must be destroyed. The Roman senator Cato ended every speech — regardless of subject — with this phrase. That is how serious a threat Carthage was to Rome. Founded by Phoenician colonists from Tyre in 814 BCE, Carthage grew to control the western Mediterranean, North Africa, Sardinia, Corsica, and much of Spain. Under Hannibal Barca, Carthaginian forces crossed the Alps with war elephants and spent fifteen years in Italy, defeating Rome's armies in battle after battle, including Cannae — the most tactically studied defeat in military history. Rome eventually won. They razed Carthage to the ground and salted the earth. Then they borrowed everything Carthage had built.

These signs carry Hannibal's war elephant, the tophet sacred precinct, the Carthaginian naval ram, and the city that made Rome prove itself worthy of survival.