Editing Carthage (section)

===Society and local economy===
[[File:Archaeological Site of Carthage-130238.jpg|thumb|Archaeological Site of Carthage]]
[[File:Archaeological Site of Carthage-130239.jpg|thumb|View of two columns at Carthage]]
Punic culture and agricultural sciences, after arriving at Carthage from the eastern Mediterranean, gradually adapted to the local conditions. The merchant harbor at Carthage was developed after settlement of the nearby Punic town of [[Utica, Tunisia|Utica]], and eventually the surrounding African countryside was brought into the orbit of the Punic urban centers, first commercially, then politically. Direct management over cultivation of neighbouring lands by Punic owners followed.<ref>Stéphanie Gsell, ''Histoire ancienne de l'Afrique du Nord'', volume four (Paris 1920).</ref> A 28-volume work on agriculture written in Punic by [[Mago (agricultural writer)|Mago]], a retired army general ({{circa|300}}), was translated into Latin and later into Greek. The original and both translations have been lost; however, some of Mago's text has survived in other Latin works.<ref>Serge Lancel, ''Carthage. A History'' (Paris: Arthème Fayard 1992; Oxford: Blackwell 1995) at 273–274 (Mago quoted by Columella), 278–279 (Mago and [[Cato the Elder|Cato]]'s book), 358 (translations).</ref> Olive trees (e.g., [[grafting]]), fruit trees (pomegranate, almond, fig, date palm), [[viniculture]], bees, cattle, sheep, poultry, implements, and [[farm management]] were among the ancient topics which Mago discussed. As well, Mago addresses the wine-maker's art (here a type of [[sherry]]).<ref>[[Gilbert Charles-Picard|Gilbert]] and [[Colette Picard]], ''La vie quotidienne à Carthage au temps d'Hannibal'' (Paris: Librairie Hachette 1958), translated as ''Daily Life in Carthage'' (London: George Allen & Unwin 1961; reprint Macmillan, New York 1968) at 83–93: 88 (Mago as retired general), 89–91 (fruit trees), 90 (grafting), 89–90 (vineyards), 91–93 (livestock and bees), 148–149 (wine making). Elephants also, of course, were captured and reared for war (at 92).</ref><ref>Sabatino Moscati, ''Il mondo dei Fenici'' (1966), translated as ''The World of the Phoenicians'' (London: Cardinal 1973) at 219–223. Hamilcar is named as another Carthaginian writing on agriculture (at 219).</ref><ref>Serge Lancel, ''Carthage'' (Paris: Arthème Fayard 1992; Oxford: Blackwell 1995), discussion of wine making and its 'marketing' at 273–276. Lancel says (at 274) that about wine making, Mago was silent. Punic agriculture and rural life are addressed at 269–302.</ref>

In Punic farming society, according to Mago, the small estate owners were the chief producers. They were, two modern historians write, not absent landlords. Rather, the likely reader of Mago was "the master of a relatively modest estate, from which, by great personal exertion, he extracted the maximum yield." Mago counselled the rural landowner, for the sake of their own 'utilitarian' interests, to treat carefully and well their managers and farm workers, or their overseers and slaves.<ref>G. and C. Charles-Picard, ''La vie quotidienne à Carthage au temps d'Hannibal'' (Paris: Librairie Hachette 1958) translated as ''Daily Life in Carthage'' (London: George Allen and Unwin 1961; reprint Macmillan 1968) at 83–93: 86 (quote); 86–87, 88, 93 (management); 88 (overseers).</ref> Yet elsewhere these writers suggest that rural land ownership provided also a new power base among the city's nobility, for those resident in their country villas.<ref>G. C. and C. Picard, ''Vie et mort de Carthage'' (Paris: Librairie Hachette 1970) translated (and first published) as ''The Life and Death of Carthage'' (New York: Taplinger 1968) at 86 and 129.</ref><ref>Charles-Picard, ''Daily Life in Carthage'' (1958; 1968) at 83–84: the development of a "landed nobility".</ref> By many, farming was viewed as an alternative endeavour to an urban business. Another modern historian opines that more often it was the urban merchant of Carthage who owned rural farming land to some profit, and also to retire there during the heat of summer.<ref>B. H. Warmington, in his ''Carthage'' (London: Robert Hale 1960; reprint Penguin 1964) at 155.</ref> It may seem that Mago anticipated such an opinion, and instead issued this contrary advice (as quoted by the Roman writer Columella):

<blockquote>The man who acquires an estate must sell his house, lest he prefer to live in the town rather than in the country. Anyone who prefers to live in a town has no need of an estate in the country."<ref>[[Mago (agricultural writer)|Mago]], quoted by [[Columella]] at I, i, 18; in Charles-Picard, ''Daily Life in Carthage'' (1958; 1968) at 87, 101, n37.</ref> "One who has bought land should sell his town house, so that he will have no desire to worship the household gods of the city rather than those of the country; the man who takes greater delight in his city residence will have no need of a country estate.<ref>Mago, quoted by Columella at I, i, 18; in Moscati, ''The World of the Phoenicians'' (1966; 1973) at 220, 230, n5.</ref></blockquote>

The issues involved in rural land management also reveal underlying features of Punic society, its structure and [[Social stratification|stratification]]. The hired workers might be considered 'rural proletariat', drawn from the local Berbers. Whether there remained Berber landowners next to Punic-run farms is unclear. Some Berbers became sharecroppers. Slaves acquired for farm work were often prisoners of war. In lands outside Punic political control, independent Berbers cultivated grain and raised horses on their lands. Yet within the Punic domain that surrounded the city-state of Carthage, there were ethnic divisions in addition to the usual quasi [[feudal]] distinctions between lord and peasant, or master and serf. This inherent instability in the countryside drew the unwanted attention of potential invaders.<ref>Gilbert and Colette Charles-Picard, ''Daily Life in Carthage'' (1958; 1968) at 83–85 (invaders), 86–88 (rural proletariat).</ref> Yet for long periods Carthage was able to manage these social difficulties.<ref>E.g., Gilbert Charles Picard and Colette Picard, ''The Life and Death of Carthage'' (Paris 1970; New York 1968) at 168–171, 172–173 (invasion of Agathocles in 310 BC). The ''mercenary revolt'' (240–237) following the First Punic War was also largely and actively, though unsuccessfully, supported by rural Berbers. Picard (1970; 1968) at 203–209.</ref>

The many [[amphora]]e with Punic markings subsequently found about ancient Mediterranean coastal settlements testify to Carthaginian trade in locally made olive oil and wine.<ref>[[Plato]] (c. 427 – c. 347) in his ''[[Laws (dialogue)|Laws]]'' at 674, a-b, mentions regulations at Carthage restricting the consumption of wine in specified circumstances. Cf., Lancel, ''Carthage'' (1997) at 276.</ref> Carthage's agricultural production was held in high regard by the ancients, and rivaled that of Rome{{snd}}they were once competitors, e.g., over their olive harvests. Under Roman rule, however, grain production (wheat and barley) for export increased dramatically in 'Africa'; yet these later fell with the rise in [[History of Roman Egypt|Roman Egypt]]'s grain exports. Thereafter olive groves and vineyards were re-established around Carthage. Visitors to the several growing regions that surrounded the city wrote admiringly of the lush green gardens, orchards, fields, [[irrigation]] channels, hedgerows (as boundaries), as well as the many prosperous farming towns located across the rural landscape.<ref>Warmington, ''Carthage'' (London: Robert Hale 1960, 2d ed. 1969) at 136–137.</ref><ref>Serge Lancel, ''Carthage'' (Paris: Arthème Fayard 1992) translated by Antonia Nevill (Oxford: Blackwell 1997) at 269–279: 274–277 (produce), 275–276 (amphora), 269–270 & 405 (Rome), 269–270 (yields), 270 & 277 (lands), 271–272 (towns).</ref>

Accordingly, the Greek author and compiler [[Diodorus Siculus]] (fl. 1st century BC), who enjoyed access to ancient writings later lost, and on which he based most of his writings, described agricultural land near the city of Carthage c. 310 BC:

<blockquote>It was divided into market gardens and orchards of all sorts of fruit trees, with many streams of water flowing in channels irrigating every part. There were country homes everywhere, lavishly built and covered with stucco. ... Part of the land was planted with vines, part with olives and other productive trees. Beyond these, cattle and sheep were pastured on the plains, and there were meadows with grazing horses.<ref>[[Diodorus Siculus]], ''Bibleoteca'', at XX, 8, 1–4, transl. as ''Library of History'' (Harvard University 1962), vol.10 [Loeb Classics, no.390); per Soren, Khader, Slim, ''Carthage'' (1990) at 88.</ref><ref>Lancel, ''Carthage'' (Paris 1992; Oxford 1997) at 277.</ref></blockquote>