Carthage
A New History
by Eve MacDonald
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Pub Date Jan 13 2026 | Archive Date Dec 31 2025
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Description
A landmark new history of ancient Rome’s most famous rival—home of Hannibal, jewel of North Africa, and foundational power of the western Mediterranean.
For 600 years, the kingdom of Carthage dominated the western Mediterranean, rising from a small city founded in the ninth century BCE to the area’s largest, richest empire by the third. Inevitably, it clashed with Rome for supremacy over the region, in a conflict that spanned more than one century, three wars, and forty–three years of active fighting. When at last Carthage fell, the city was destroyed—and the history of the realm was subsumed by its conquerors.
In this groundbreaking new history—the first in more than a decade—rising–star ancient historian Eve MacDonald tells the essential story of the lost culture of Carthage and its forgotten people. Using brand–new archaeological analysis to uncover the facts behind the legend, MacDonald puts the story of North Africa once again at the center of Mediterranean history. Reclaimed from the Romans, this is the Carthaginian version of the dramatic tale—revealing to us that, without Carthage, there would be no Rome.
About the Author: Eve MacDonald is an ancient historian, archaeologist, and senior lecturer in ancient history at Cardiff University. One of the world’s foremost experts on the history of Carthage and North Africa, she is the author of Hannibal. She lives in Cardiff and London.
Advance Praise
"Deploying the latest archaeological discoveries with deep and revealing research, Eve MacDonald’s Carthage shines welcome new light on the ancient origins and trajectory of the mysterious North African empire that challenged Rome’s power in the Mediterranean." -Adrienne Mayor, research scholar in the Department of Classics, Stanford University, and author of The Amazons
"The raving Dido, Hannibal’s elephants, and Sophonisba drinking the poisoned cup which is her wedding gift: these episodes are just the start of Eve Macdonald’s epic history of Carthage. In between, she gives us stories of derring-do on the oceans, vast sea battles with fleets of more than three-hundred ships, war trumpets, flaming javelins, whole populations enslaved, and the most thorough examination possible of Carthaginian society, politics, and government. More than two millennia after its destruction, Carthage now has its Iliad." -Martyn Rady, author of The Habsburgs
"It is often said, for good reason, that the winners write history—and for too long, the story of Carthage has been told by its conquerors. The Romans who burned the city of Carthage to the ground in 146 BCE have been the guardians of its story for centuries: but Eve MacDonald’s important new book puts Carthage, at last, at the center of its own tale. The narrative that emerges is both deeply researched history, eking details out of archaeology, linguistics and DNA alongside ancient historiography, and, at the same time, epic in its sweep—and a long-awaited riposte to Rome’s monopoly on the history of its conquests." -Emily Hauser, senior lecturer in classics and ancient history, University of Exeter, and Sunday Times–best-selling author of Mythica
"This is a book full of memorable insights. It is an important and much-needed reorientation of the ‘familiar’ ancient historical narrative. Eve MacDonald persuasively demonstrates how North Africa was once a central node of civilization, that the city of Carthage was a sophisticated political powerhouse, and that there was nothing inevitable about the supremacy of Rome while the Carthaginians were around. This is not only history reclaimed; this is history at its best." -Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, professor of ancient history, Cardiff University, and author of The Persians
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9781324123279 |
| PRICE | $39.99 (USD) |
| PAGES | 368 |
