Resurrecting Carthage: Mapping Memory and Identity in the Landscape of the Roman Colony, c. 146 BCE – 200 CE

Abstract

The ancient city of Carthage is best remembered for its infamous end. Following a century of struggle with Rome in the Punic Wars, the flourishing North African city was violently destroyed and abandoned in 146 BCE. For centuries, Roman authors wrote of the city as a cautionary tale of Rome’s destructive power. Even today, popular culture erroneously remembers Carthage as a ruined city sown with salt. This image of a desolate Carthage stands at odds with the reality of its resettlement as a Roman colony and subsequent growth into the leading metropolis of Roman North Africa. This dissertation investigates the intersection of memory and identity within the Roman city of Carthage from its Augustan colonization in the late 1st century BCE to its urban boom under the Antonine and Severan emperors in the late 2nd century CE. Examining limited textual references alongside spatial analysis of the archaeological record, I argue that residents of Roman Carthage consciously preserved, erased, or reframed sites of Punic memory in the urban landscape to express locally situated civic identities. The negotiation of memory at Carthage is indicative of larger processes of identity formation in provincial Roman cities. Faced with the realities of imperial rule, Rome’s subjects found creative ways to express both imperial unity and local difference. Provincial populations challenged a singular definition of “Roman-ness” through regional variation in material culture and the active maintenance of local traditions. Carthage’s infamous destruction makes it an extraordinary place to witness such pre-Roman survivals. By tracing the influence of the Punic city on its Roman successor, I rewrite expected narratives of Roman cultural identity and propose a framework for studying the role of memory in colonial urban landscapes.