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.