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Carthage

Phoenician city on the coast of Tunisia, target of a planned Persian sea attack, about 525 BCE

In the game: Level 2: The Spear-bearer

Carthage was a Phoenician city on the North African coast. Persian records do not mention it. Herodotus says Cambyses planned to send the fleet against it after the conquest of Egypt, but the Phoenicians refused to sail against their own colony and the plan was dropped.

In the game: The game names Carthage in Chronicle entries and in event articles such as the abandoned expedition. It has no level, building or mechanic of its own.

A Phoenician city

Ancient account

Herodotus speaks of the Carthaginians as descendants of Phoenicians, a point on which his story of the refusal depends. Later writers trace the founding to settlers from Tyre, which is probably right but rests on late tradition. No Persian royal inscription names the city, so the Persian view of it is unknown.

Herodotus 3.19

Cambyses' plan

Ancient account

Herodotus says that after Egypt fell, Cambyses planned three campaigns: one against Carthage by sea, one against the Ammonians, and one against the Ethiopians. He intended to use the Phoenician fleet for the first and to send part of his land army against the others.

Herodotus 3.17

The Phoenician refusal

Ancient account

According to Herodotus, the Phoenicians would not sail against Carthage, because they were bound by oaths and did not wish to attack their own children. Cambyses did not force them, since they had joined him willingly and the fleet depended on them. Herodotus adds that the Carthaginians thus escaped Persian rule.

Herodotus 3.19

How far to trust the story

Disputed

No Persian document confirms the plan, and Herodotus is the only source for it. Historians differ on whether it was a serious design that failed or a later explanation for why Persian power never reached Carthage. Herodotus does record Persian reach in Libya: Cyrene submitted to Cambyses, and Barca was later besieged under Darius.

Herodotus 3.13

Carthage and the invasion of Greece

Disputed

Diodorus, writing centuries later, says the Carthaginian attack on Sicily was timed with Xerxes' invasion. Herodotus reports the Carthaginian defeat in Sicily but does not describe any agreement with Xerxes. Whether the two were coordinated is uncertain, and the Greek wish to pair victories in east and west may have shaped the tale.

Diodorus Siculus 11.1