Posted on 04/11/2007 10:14:56 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
From the parapets of Le Kef, on a rocky spur in northwestern Tunisia, one can see deep into the mountains of Algeria, whose border is a short distance away. A fort of some kind has existed here since Carthaginian times, 2,500 years ago, and the ocher ruins of ancient cities are all around. Dominating the view to the southwest is Jugurtha's Table, a massive mesa atop which the Numidian King Jugurtha held out against a Roman army from 112 to 105 B.C... Since the days of ancient Carthage the area that makes up present-day Tunisia has been like this: an oasis of urbanity, relative prosperity, and stable government jutting out into the Mediterranean, close to Sicily, and yet squeezed between vast tracts of unruly tribal territory... The explanation for Tunisia's success begins with the fact that modern Tunisia corresponds roughly to the borders of ancient Carthage and of the Roman province that replaced it in 146 B.C., after a third and final war between the two powers. "Africa," originally a Roman term, meant Tunisia long before it meant anything else. Archaeologists have uncovered 200 Roman cities in the fertile farmlands of northern Tunisia, where the vast majority of the population lives. North Africa was the granary of the Roman Empire and produced more olive oil than Italy. The Romans built thousands of miles of roads there, and also bridges, dams, aqueducts, and irrigation systems; one aqueduct alone, still partially visible near the town of Zaghouan, carried 8.5 million gallons of water daily to Carthage, fifty-five miles to the north. Fifteen percent of Rome's senators came from Tunisia.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
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Carthage and Rome had a trade agreement like NAFTA long before the Punic Wars. The early history of Rome is mostly heroic myth.
What, in particular?
What what?
You stated that “The early history of Rome is mostly heroic myth.”
Vico. Fascinating and original theory of the state.
What were Vico’s thoughts on NAFTA? :’)
Tunisia spends 25 per cent of its national budget on education, but I’m sure that’s just a coincidence. :’)
Long after the Punic wars the Roman general and dictator Marius settled his legions in the area. The usual payoff at the end of service for Roman armies in those days was land.
A colonizing force of veteran soldiers in N. Africa made for a good quiet colony.
But then, it self-admittedly identifies with Europe, rather than the surrounding Maghreb nations. I'm surprised that more of finance and commerce located in Lebanon didn't flee to Tunisia.
The original Tunisians are descendents of the Phoenecians, who are the modern-day Lebanese.
Vico would see NAFTA as a natural evolution of the institution of commerce as civilization moved from the age of heroes to the age of man.
And it's the real thing, not those madrassas.
Well, they got Arafart and his entourage, but Jimbo Baker pulled him back.
Jimbo probably provided the air fare.
Okay, but where does Vico claim that the Romans and Carthaginians had adopted something like NAFTA? The only thing they did was bicker about trade, and the Roman conquest of the Etruscans was in part due to Etruscan piracy (or from the Etruscan POV, interdiction) in restraint of Roman trade, just as the First Punic War (also known as The Sicilian War, it sez here) grew out of struggles over trade. Earlier on the Carthaginians had squeezed out their Phoenician brethren, and had largely squeezed out the Greeks in the western Med after the Peloponnesian War.
Also, there’s a substantial Jewish community in Tunisia, and it has reputedly been there since the time of Ezra.
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ts.html
Rivalry between French and Italian interests in Tunisia culminated in a French invasion in 1881 and the creation of a protectorate. Agitation for independence in the decades following World War I was finally successful in getting the French to recognize Tunisia as an independent state in 1956. The country’s first president, Habib BOURGUIBA, established a strict one-party state. He dominated the country for 31 years, repressing Islamic fundamentalism and establishing rights for women unmatched by any other Arab nation. Tunisia has long taken a moderate, non-aligned stance in its foreign relations. Domestically, it has sought to defuse rising pressure for a more open political society...
Political parties and leaders:
Al-Tajdid Movement [Ali HALOUANI]; Constitutional Democratic Rally Party (Rassemblement Constitutionnel Democratique) or RCD [President Zine El Abidine BEN ALI (official ruling party)]; Green Party for Progress or PVP [Mongi KHAMASSI]; Liberal Social Party or PSL [Mounir BEJI]; Movement of Socialist Democrats or MDS [Ismail BOULAHYA]; Popular Unity Party or PUP [Mohamed BOUCHIHA]; Progressive Democratic Party [Nejib CHEBBI]; Unionist Democratic Union or UDU [Ahmed INOUBLI]...
Tunisia has a diverse economy, with important agricultural, mining, energy, tourism, and manufacturing sectors. Governmental control of economic affairs while still heavy has gradually lessened over the past decade with increasing privatization, simplification of the tax structure, and a prudent approach to debt. Progressive social policies also have helped raise living conditions in Tunisia relative to the region. Real growth slowed to a 15-year low of 1.9% in 2002 because of agricultural drought and lackluster tourism. Increased rain helped to push GDP growth to an average rate of 5% in 2003-06. However, a recession in agriculture, weak expansion in the tourism and textile sectors, and increasing import costs due to rising world energy prices cut growth to 4% in 2006. Tunisia is gradually removing barriers to trade with the EU. Broader privatization, further liberalization of the investment code to increase foreign investment, improvements in government efficiency, and reduction of the trade deficit are among the challenges ahead.
http://www.bib-arch.org/aoso99/aoso99dest.html
Destinations: Kerkouane, Tunisia
On an eroding stretch of Tunisia’s coastline, a Punic fishing community conjures up Africa’s great lost civilization... If you want to walk through the streets of a Punic city, you must go to Kerkouane instead. A sleepy little coastal city about 75 miles from Carthage, on Tunisia’s Cape Bon Peninsula, Kerkouane was founded around 550 B.C. and managed to survive as a Punic city for 300 years. The city was eventually sacked and partially destroyed by the Romans during the First Punic War (264-241 B.C.), but for some unknown reason the Romans never rebuilt or reoccupied Kerkouane. Its remains lay undisturbed, just below the surface of the earth, until they were accidentally discovered by vacationing archaeologists in 1952... Since 1976, the site has been excavated by one of Tunisia’s leading archaeologists, M’hamed Hassine Fantar. In his 22 years of digging, Fantar has unearthed close to 22 acres of the city’s residential area, including an intact sanctuary, several city streets, parts of walls, the town gates and a whole host of smaller artifacts and objects... Perhaps because of its remote and inhospitable location, Kerkouane never achieved the size or grandeur of other Phoenician capitols like Carthage or Tyre. Instead it remained a city on a human scale, in some ways simple and modest. At its height it was home to about 1,200 people.
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