At the end of the Third Punic War (149-146 BC), the Phoenician city of Carthage in what is now the modern country of Tunisia was utterly destroyed by the Romans. Carthage was located on a narrow peninsula in Tunisia that extends into the Gulf of Tunis of the Mediterranean Sea, 150 kilometers southwest of Sicily; it is near where Tunis is now. A three day sail from Rome, Carthage was considered by members of the Roman Senate an enormous threat to the Roman state.
After two punishing wars in the 3rd century BC, Rome decided it was time to lay waste to Carthage once and for all. By 146 BC, Carthage's population was decimated, its port destroyed, its buildings razed, its fields in flames. Some legends report that the ground was salted to prevent Carthage from ever rising again. But 50 years later during the reign of Augustus, Carthage became the capital of the Roman African Proconsularis. Important as a port and an invaluable source of grain and trade goods, in its day Carthage was the home for very wealthy Roman citizens, including a large population of wealthy Roman Jews.
In the early twentieth century in a tiny village outside of Carthage called Hamman-Lif, a Jewish synagogue dated to the Roman period, with beautiful mosaics of natural, personal, and religious themes inlaid in the floors, was discovered perfectly preserved beneath the yard of an inconstant gardener. This mosaic is one of several featured in a recent exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.
After two punishing wars in the 3rd century BC, Rome decided it was time to lay waste to Carthage once and for all. By 146 BC, Carthage's population was decimated, its port destroyed, its buildings razed, its fields in flames. Some legends report that the ground was salted to prevent Carthage from ever rising again. But 50 years later during the reign of Augustus, Carthage became the capital of the Roman African Proconsularis. Important as a port and an invaluable source of grain and trade goods, in its day Carthage was the home for very wealthy Roman citizens, including a large population of wealthy Roman Jews.
In the early twentieth century in a tiny village outside of Carthage called Hamman-Lif, a Jewish synagogue dated to the Roman period, with beautiful mosaics of natural, personal, and religious themes inlaid in the floors, was discovered perfectly preserved beneath the yard of an inconstant gardener. This mosaic is one of several featured in a recent exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.
- Tree of Paradise, more about Hamman Lif and the Mosaics
- Scenes from Paradise: Jewish Roman Mosaics from Tunisia, more images of these marvelous mosaics.
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