Carthage Must Be Destroyed

The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization

By: Richard Miles

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

An epic history of a doomed civilization and a lost empire. The devastating struggle to the death between the Carthaginians and the Romans was one of the defining dramas of the ancient world. In an epic series of land and sea battles, both sides came close to victory before the Carthaginians finally succumbed and their capital city, history, and culture were almost utterly erased.

Drawing on a wealth of new archaeological research, Richard Miles vividly brings to life this lost empire-from its origins among the Phoenician settlements of Lebanon to its apotheosis as the greatest seapower in the Mediterranean. And at the heart of the history of Carthage lies the extraordinary figure of Hannibal-the scourge of Rome and one of the greatest military leaders, but a man who also unwittingly led his people to catastrophe. The first full-scale history of Carthage in decades, Carthage Must Be Destroyed reintroduces modern listeners to the larger-than-life historical players and the ancient glory of this almost forgotten civilization.

©2011 Richard Miles (P)2011 Gildan Media Corp

Great account of the Mediterranean's "Other" City

As much as I have read about Roman history, I have only learned about Carthage while studying about Rome. Everything has been derived. Thus, Carthage was typically presented in almost a stereotypical manner, juxtaposed as the proverbial villain against Rome. Miles did a good job in distilling Carthaginian history, much of which was passed to us through Roman bias.

It is amazing to consider what Phoenicia and Carthage did through their exploration and establishing trade routes. Reading that they made it to the West coast of Africa, and probably up the French coast is not surprising. But to accomplish what they did given their technology and tools is remarkable.

Its tragic end was somewhat anti-climatic, although everything we have of it is through a Roman lens. And I don't think Miles fully grasped Scipio Corculum's opposition to the war. He presented this as a possible addition by later generations who had experienced the Roman Civil Wars that broke out after the fall of Carthage. But many Roman's understood their history and had seen what had happened previously when an up-and-coming civilization had supplanted its rival and arrived on the pinnacle with no rivals. Athens (Persian Empire) and Sparta (Athens) both suffered in a breakdown of their society's and then of their country after having bested their nemesis. The parallel with the US and the USSR is unmistakable.

Great read and a great companion to Cline's 1177 B.C., both of which I recommend highly. - Hamilton of the Smokies

Excellent but…

Wonderful effort in bringing to light the history of Carthage, as could be expected, sources are mainly from the victors…

The anglification of Latin names, using English long vowels where short ones are in order does feel awkward.

Just what I was looking for

I was always curious about Carthage. Couldn't fathom why a city state was obliterated. Maybe this book gave me a bit more than I wished for, but it was great. Thorough. Narrator was very good too.

Interesting, missing important things

Overall gives an interesting overview with more attention to Carthage than other books. Biggest concern - all other scholarly material says the Roman Corvus worked ONLY ONCE, this book has it a key weapon for all of the 2nd Punic war. Misunderstood reference to boarding actions in general?

Everything you ever wanted to know about Carthage

I love ancient history, so to me this was a great book to listen to.

Long Build up to a Sudden Conclusion

The compelling introduction is followed by long winded chapters covering the history of 2 compeltely different nations (Tyre and Assyria) and a long long (yet admittedly inclomplete) list of religious and social customs. While this does end up feeling necissary to the narrative of Carthage's history, it doesn't do an excelent job of explaining why it is necissary in the moment. By the middle the more mundane facts do indeed begin to play their part, and seem to have built up to something truely fantastic, only to have it feel cut short as Rome's victory in the Second Punic War puts Carthage on the path to what seems to be innevitable destruction. I suppose i should have expected that when I started a book covering the utter destruction of a city, a culture, and the people who belonged to it.

Nonetheless, the entirity of the book is a powerful reversal of over 2000 years of false history, propagated by the victors who attempted to completely erase the perspective the of the fallen North African Empire. I learned a lot, not just about the history of a civilization that was extictified millenia ago, but also about deeply investigating the stories we've long told ourselves were historical facts.

The well researched material

Great overall, smart and entertaining. You can tell the depth of research that went into writing this book. The writer makes it entertaining and easy to follow.

Fascinating Part of the Story!

Having studied several ancient civilizations, this treatment of the Carthage goes beyond the traditional Greco-Roman accounts and was exactly what I was looking for on the subject. A must-read for anyone interested in the history of western civilization.

Tenacious Carthage

This is a great story that she be told and heard again. Once in each season if a person had such a luxury.
Here the author and performer both do a great job. One thing that could be gleaned from this history is that Hannibal, as a General or Commander, comes out not quite so fantastic as his fame suggested, while Scipio Africanus it would seem was left somewhat underated.

Very enjoyable and unique

I've gone through the story of the punic wars over and over again but this is the first I've heard the story from the carthaginian pov. Beyond that, the book gets into history you probably haven't heard about the carthaginians such as their Sicilian campaigns.