PaleoJudaica has kept track of the festival for many years. It commemorates the founding of the city of Qart-Hadasht as a Carthaginian colony on the southern Spanish coast around 228 BCE, Hannibal Barca's setting off for the Alps from that city in 218 BCE, and the fall of the city to Roman forces led by Publius Cornelius Scipio (later Scipio Africanus) in 210. From then on it was the Roman city called Carthago Nova (New Carthage). The name Cartagena derives from the latter.
All this was in the context of the Second Punic War, which commenced with Hannibal's invasion of Italy from the Alps, led nearly to a Carthaginian victory at the disastrous (for the Romans) Battle of Cannae in Italy, reversed significantly with the fall of New Carthage to the Romans, and ended with the Roman victory at the disastrous (for the Carthaginians) Battle of Zama in North Africa in 202 BCE.
The Second Punic War came between the First and the Third, about which I will not go into detail here. For some posts on the First, see here and links. For one on the Third, see here. For a brief overview, see the link here. And here is a reminder of why PaleoJudaica is interested in this Phoenician, Carthaginian, and Punic stuff.
I brought Livy's History of The War with Hannibal with me to Spain as an invaluable reference.
I will post some accounts of the events of the festival and the archaeology and history of Cartagena next week.
Click on the photos for a larger image.
Carthaginians and Romans: Seeing Hannibal off to the Alps
Carthaginians and Romans: The capture of Carthago Nova
Cartagena: Phoenician and Punic archaeology and epigraphy
Cartagena: Roman-era archaeology
Carthaginians and Romans: Final Events
Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.
