Sufetes, tophet, Cothon, shekel or diekplous: the words of the Carthaginian world used on this site, defined in a few lines, with their Phoenician spelling and the pages where they appear.
68 terms
8 categories
3 languages
68 terms shown
FR Saturne africainAR ساتورن الإفريقي
The Roman name of Baal Hammon after 146 BC. His Neo-Punic sanctuaries (Thinissut, Bou Kornine, El Hofra near Cirta, the Ghorfa stelae) remained in use until the early 4th century AD (Lancel, Le Glay).
FR AstartéAR عشتارت
𐤏𐤔𐤕𐤓𐤕Phoenician spelling
Phoenician goddess of fertility and war, still worshipped at Carthage. At Pyrgi, the port of Caere in Etruria, bilingual gold tablets (c. 500 BC) link her with the Etruscan Uni.
FR Baal HammonAR بعل حمون
𐤁𐤏𐤋 𐤇𐤌𐤍Phoenician spelling
The supreme god of Carthage, lord of the sky and of fertility, to whom the tophet stelae are dedicated together with Tanit. Likened to the ram-headed Libyan Ammon, then to Kronos and Jupiter, he survived under Rome as the African Saturn.
FR Baal ShamimAR بعل شميم
𐤁𐤏𐤋 𐤔𐤌𐤌Phoenician spelling
“Lord of the heavens”, a great sky god worshipped throughout the Phoenician and Aramaean world, and also found in Carthaginian dedications.
FR Frondeurs baléaresAR رماة المقلاع البليار
Mercenaries from the Balearic Islands, trained from childhood; they carried three slings to shoot at different ranges (Strabo, III, 5, 1) and hurled stones and lead bullets.
FR BarcidesAR البرقيون
𐤁𐤓𐤒Phoenician spelling
The family of Hamilcar Barca — from Punic brq, “lightning” — and of his sons Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago, with his son-in-law Hasdrubal the Fair. After 237 BC they built an almost autonomous power in Spain, the base for the Second Punic War.
FR ByrsaAR بيرصا
The citadel hill of Carthage, crowned by the temple of Eshmun. The Greeks linked its name with byrsa, “oxhide”, hence the legend of Elissa cutting a hide into strips to measure out the land (Justin, XVIII, 5); the word's real origin, probably Semitic, is still debated.
FR CaelestisAR كايليستيس
“The Heavenly One”: the name under which Tanit went on being worshipped in Roman Africa, above all at Carthage, in the same sanctuaries and with stelae inherited from Punic models.
FR CarthagèneAR قرطاجنة
The Romans' Carthago Nova, founded around 227 BC by Hasdrubal the Fair under the name Qart-Hadasht: the Barcid capital in Hispania, near rich silver mines. Hannibal set out from it in spring 218; Scipio took it in 209.
FR Carthago delenda estAR «يجب تدمير قرطاج»
“Carthage must be destroyed”: Cato the Elder is said to have closed every speech in the Senate with this opinion in the 150s BC (Plutarch, Cato the Elder, 27; Pliny, XV, 74). The sources report the idea; the exact Latin wording is a later phrasing.
FR ChôraAR الخورا
A Greek word, “the countryside”, used by historians for the rural territory of Carthage. It covered a large part of modern Tunisia and fed the city.
FR Colonia Iulia Concordia CarthagoAR كولونيا يوليا كونكورديا قرطاج
The Roman colony decided by Caesar and founded under Augustus (44–29 BC) on the very site of the Punic city. It became the capital of Africa Proconsularis and one of the great cities of the Empire.
FR Corvus (« corbeau »)AR «الغراب» (كورفوس)
A boarding bridge fitted with a spike, invented by the Romans to cancel out Carthaginian seamanship: it turned a sea battle into an infantry fight. It won them their first naval victory, at Mylae in 260 BC (Polybius, I, 22–23).
FR CothonAR الكوثون
Carthage's circular naval harbour, hidden behind the rectangular merchant port. According to Appian (Libyca, 96), it had 220 berths for warships, with the admiral's pavilion on an island in the centre. Two lagoons at Salammbô still keep its shape.
FR Déméter et KorèAR ديميتر وكوري
Greek goddesses officially adopted by Carthage in 396 BC: Himilco's army had plundered their sanctuary near Syracuse before being ravaged by plague. To appease them, the city gave them a cult served by Greeks (Diodorus, XIV, 77).
FR DiekplousAR الديكبلوس
A Greek naval manoeuvre: a ship slips through a gap in the enemy line, crosses it, then turns to ram an opponent in the side or stern. It demands highly trained crews, the very thing Carthage's navy was famed for.
FR EmporiaAR الإمبوريا
The rich trading posts and lands along the Lesser Syrtis (Gulf of Gabès), a source of revenue for Carthage. Masinissa seized part of them from 193 BC, and Rome declined to arbitrate (Livy, XXXIV, 62).
FR EshmounAR أشمون
𐤀𐤔𐤌𐤍Phoenician spelling
The healing god, likened to the Greek Asclepius. According to Appian (Libyca, 130), his temple, the largest in Carthage, crowned Byrsa: the last defenders shut themselves in it and set it on fire in 146 BC.
FR FalcataAR فالكاتا
A short Iberian sword with a curved blade, formidable for slashing blows. Together with the shield, it was the weapon of the Iberian contingents in the Carthaginian army.
FR Fossa regiaAR الخندق الملكي
The “royal ditch” traced by Rome after 146 BC to divide the new province of Africa, Carthage's former territory, from the Numidian kingdom.
FR GadèsAR قادس
𐤂𐤃𐤓Phoenician spelling
Gadir, “the enclosure”, today's Cádiz: a colony of Tyre beyond the Strait of Gibraltar, allied with Carthage. Its temple of Melqart remained famous into Roman times, and it was from there that Himilco sailed north on the tin route.
FR GarumAR الغاروم
A sauce of fermented oily fish, used in cooking and as a remedy. The Phoenicians and Carthaginians spread its use across the Mediterranean; Rome took over this salting industry on a large scale, as at Baelo Claudia near Cádiz.
FR Masques grimaçantsAR الأقنعة المتجهّمة
Terracotta masks with deep wrinkles and twisted mouths, sometimes decorated with geometric patterns. Probably of eastern origin, they were hung up or laid in tombs to ward off demons (late 7th–6th century BC).
FR Cent-QuatreAR المئة والأربعة
A select council named thus by Aristotle. According to Justin (XIX, 2), a hundred judges taken from the Senate reviewed the conduct of generals on their return, to curb the grip of the Magonids. Appointed for life, their term was cut to one year by Hannibal as sufete in 196 BC.
FR IfriqiyaAR إفريقية
The Arabic rendering of Latin Africa, used in the Middle Ages for Tunisia and its borderlands, with Kairouan as capital. The name carries on that of the Roman province born from Carthage's territory.
FR KerkouaneAR كركوان
A Punic town on Cape Bon, abandoned around the mid-3rd century BC and never rebuilt: it keeps intact the layout of a Punic town, with houses fitted with bathrooms and floors marked with the sign of Tanit. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985.
FR LibyqueAR الليبية
The language and script of the native peoples of North Africa, ancestors of the Amazigh. The Punic–Libyan bilingual inscription of the Dougga mausoleum (2nd century BC) served as a key to deciphering its letters.
FR LibyphéniciensAR الليبيون الفينيقيون
The Greek name for a population born of the mingling of Phoenician settlers and the Libyans of Africa. Their status and territory, probably south of Carthage, are still debated; Hanno's Periplus says he set out to found “cities of Libyphoenicians”.
FR Traité de MagonAR كتاب ماغون
𐤌𐤂𐤍Phoenician spelling
An agricultural encyclopedia in 28 books, written in Punic by Mago. After 146 BC, the Roman Senate had it translated into Latin (Pliny, XVIII, 22); Varro and Columella cite it as an authority.
FR MagonidesAR الماغونيون
𐤌𐤂𐤍Phoenician spelling
A dynasty of generals descended from Mago that dominated Carthage in the 6th–5th centuries BC (Justin, XIX). It organised the mercenary army, subdued the African hinterland and led the Sicilian wars, down to the disaster of Himera in 480; the Hundred and Four were created to curb this family power.
FR Tarif de MarseilleAR تعرفة مرسيليا
A Punic inscription found in the port of Marseille in 1845, of Carthaginian origin. It sets out, animal by animal, the share of each offering due to the priest and the share left to the worshipper. It is kept in the Museum of Mediterranean Archaeology at the Vieille Charité.
FR MégaraAR ميغارا
A large suburb north of the city, towards modern La Marsa, made up of gardens and fine houses and more loosely built. The aristocracy had its residences there; Scipio Aemilianus forced his way in during the siege, in 147 BC (Appian, Libyca, 117).
FR MelqartAR ملقرت
𐤌𐤋𐤒𐤓𐤕Phoenician spelling
“King of the city”, god of Tyre, the mother city. Carthage sent a yearly offering to his temple at Tyre (Diodorus, XX, 14); the Greeks equated him with Heracles, and the Barcids put him on their coins. His temple at Gades remained famous into Roman times.
FR Guerre des MercenairesAR حرب المرتزقة
The revolt of unpaid mercenaries back from Sicily, joined by Libyan towns (241–238 BC). Hamilcar Barca crushed it after a merciless war told by Polybius (I, 65–88); Rome took the chance to seize Sardinia.
FR MotyéAR موتيا
A Phoenician island town in western Sicily, allied with Carthage, captured and destroyed by Dionysius of Syracuse in 397 BC (Diodorus, XIV, 47–53). The “Motya youth”, a 5th-century marble statue, was found there in 1979.
FR NéopuniqueAR البونيقية الجديدة
The late, cursive form of Punic script, used in North Africa after 146 BC and into the first centuries AD. It sometimes marks vowels with certain letters.
FR Opus africanumAR البناء الإفريقي
A Punic masonry technique: chains of large stones, alternately upright and laid flat, frame a rubble infill. Found at Kerkouane, it lived on in Roman Africa, as far as the Capitol of Dougga.
FR PassumAR الباسوم
A sweet wine made from sun-dried grapes, a renowned Carthaginian speciality. Columella (XII, 39) preserved Mago's recipe for it almost word for word.
FR Pavimentum punicumAR الرصيف البونيقي
A floor of stone and marble chips set in red mortar, sometimes decorated with the sign of Tanit (Kerkouane, southern slope of Byrsa). Dated to the 3rd century BC, these floors call into question the idea that mosaic was born in Greece.
FR PentarchieAR اللجان الخماسية
A board of five members known only from Aristotle (Politics, II, 11). The pentarchies filled their own ranks, handled important business and chose the members of the Hundred and Four; how they worked remains obscure.
FR PentécontèreAR السفينة الخمسينية
A long ship with fifty oars, fast and versatile, from the early days of Phoenician expansion. According to the Periplus, Hanno led sixty of them along the Atlantic coast of Africa.
FR Assemblée du peupleAR جمعية الشعب
𐤏𐤌Phoenician spelling
The gathering of free citizens in the agora (Diodorus); the Punic word ʿm, “people”, refers to it in inscriptions. It decided when the sufetes and the Senate disagreed, and anyone could then speak against the proposals (Aristotle). Polybius (VI, 51) held that it had gained the upper hand by the time of the Punic Wars.
FR PériplousAR البيريبلوس (مناورة)
An outflanking manoeuvre: ships go round the enemy wing to take it from the side, hence the value of a line longer than the opponent's. Not to be confused with a periplus, the account of a voyage.
FR Périple d'HannonAR رحلة حنون
An account, preserved in Greek, of Hanno's voyage along the Atlantic coast of Africa around 500 BC, with sixty penteconters. It is said to translate a Punic inscription displayed in a Carthaginian temple; it is the oldest record of the exploration of West Africa.
FR Alphabet phénicienAR الأبجدية الفينيقية
𐤀𐤁𐤂𐤃Phoenician spelling
A script of 22 letters, all consonants, written from right to left. Passed on to the Greeks, it is the ancestor of the Greek and Latin alphabets and, through Aramaic, of the Hebrew and Arabic scripts.
FR Colonnes d'HerculeAR أعمدة هرقل
The ancient name of the Strait of Gibraltar, the edge of the world known to the Greeks. Carthage watched over the passage and launched its Atlantic expeditions through it: Hanno's to the south, Himilco's to the north.
FR PuniqueAR البونيقية
From Latin Punicus, from Poenus, the Latin form of Greek Phoinix, “Phoenician”. The word refers to the civilisation and language of Carthage: a western Phoenician, a Semitic language written from right to left, still spoken in the African countryside in Saint Augustine's time, around AD 400.
FR Rasoirs puniquesAR الأمواس البونيقية
Small hatchet-shaped bronze blades, common in tombs after the 7th century BC, linked to the purification of the dead and credited with talismanic value (Lancel). From the 5th century they were engraved with Egyptian or Aegean motifs.
FR Guerres puniquesAR الحروب البونيقية
The three wars between Rome and Carthage: 264–241 (Sicily), 218–201 (Hannibal in Italy, ending at Zama) and 149–146 BC, which ended with the destruction of the city.
FR Punica fidesAR «الوفاء البونيقي»
“Punic faith”: a Latin phrase that became a byword for treachery. Livy (XXI, 4) credits Hannibal with “more than Punic perfidy”. A cliché of Roman propaganda, which the facts hardly set apart from Rome's own conduct.
FR Pourpre (murex)AR الأرجوان (الموريكس)
The costliest dye of antiquity, extracted from a sea snail, the murex: thousands were needed for a few grams of colour. A Phoenician speciality, it left heaps of crushed shells near the workshops at Kerkouane; Djerba remained famous for it in Roman times.
FR Qart-ḤadashtAR قرت حدشت
𐤒𐤓𐤕𐤇𐤃𐤔𐤕Phoenician spelling
The Phoenician name of Carthage: “New City”. The Greeks turned it into Karchedon, the Romans into Carthago. The same name was given to Cartagena, founded in Spain by Hasdrubal.
FR QuinquérèmeAR السفينة الخماسية
A warship that appeared at Syracuse around 399 BC under Dionysius the Elder (Diodorus, XIV, 41–42) and became the ship of the line of the Punic Wars: about 300 rowers and 120 soldiers. The name probably refers to groups of five rowers, not to five superimposed banks of oars.
FR RabAR رب
𐤓𐤁Phoenician spelling
A Punic word meaning “chief” or “master”, borne in inscriptions by holders of various offices. The title of general of the Carthaginian armies seems to match it (rb mḥnt, “chief of the camp”), but the military hierarchy is poorly known.
FR Bataillon sacréAR الكتيبة المقدسة
An elite corps of about 2,500 heavily armed Carthaginian citizens, according to Diodorus (XVI, 80), who describes it being wiped out by Timoleon at the Crimisus, in Sicily, around 340 BC.
FR SalammbôAR صلامبو
A district of present-day Carthage, near the Punic harbours, named after Flaubert's novel (1862). The Carthage tophet was discovered there in 1921.
FR ScarabéesAR الجعارين
Scarab-shaped amulets and seal-ring bezels engraved in intaglio, often imported from Egyptian or Phoenician workshops: a sign of Egypt's strong imprint on Punic art. After the mid-4th century, humbler glass-paste engravings took over.
FR SénatAR مجلس الشيوخ
The council of the “Elders” of Carthage (gerontes to the Greeks, seniores to the Romans), drawn from the great families and probably several hundred strong. It decided on war, peace and diplomacy, and generals had to report to it.
FR ShekelAR شيقل
𐤔𐤒𐤋Phoenician spelling
A Semitic unit of weight that became Carthage's currency. The first Punic coins were struck in Sicily to pay mercenaries; Carthage opened its own mints only in the mid-4th century BC. In Spain, the Barcids issued silver shekels of high quality.
FR Signe de TanitAR علامة تانيت
A symbol made of a triangle, a horizontal bar and a disc, suggesting a figure with raised arms. It spread on stelae, floors and objects from the 5th–4th centuries BC; long thought to be purely western, it is also found in the Levant.
FR Commerce silencieuxAR التجارة الصامتة
A contactless barter described by Herodotus (IV, 196): beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the Carthaginians laid their goods on the beach and withdrew; the locals set gold beside them, and the exchange went on until both sides agreed, without a word.
FR StèleAR نُصُب
𐤍𐤑𐤁Phoenician spelling
An upright stone bearing a dedication or an image (Punic nṣb). In the tophet, thousands of votive stelae carry the sign of Tanit, symbols and inscriptions; first cut from sandstone, then from limestone, they came to be covered with Greek-influenced motifs.
FR SuffèteAR شفط
𐤔𐤐𐤈Phoenician spelling
From Phoenician shofet, “judge”. Carthage elected two sufetes every year, whom Greeks and Romans called “kings”: they presided over the Senate and dispensed justice, but did not command the armies (Aristotle, Politics, II, 11). Towns of Roman Africa were still electing them in the 2nd century AD.
FR TalentAR تالنت
A Greek unit of weight and account, about 26 kg of silver. The indemnities imposed by Rome were reckoned in talents: 3,200 in 241, 1,200 more in 237, then 10,000 payable over fifty years in 201 BC.
FR TanitAR تانيت
𐤕𐤍𐤕Phoenician spelling
The great goddess of Carthage, called “Face of Baal” (pn bʿl) in dedications, where she is named before Baal Hammon from the 5th century BC. Protector of the city, she lived on in Roman times as Caelestis.
FR TophetAR التوفيت
A biblical name (Jeremiah 7:31) given by archaeologists to open-air sanctuaries filled with urns holding the remains of children and young animals, topped by stelae dedicated to Baal Hammon and Tanit. The Salammbô tophet in Carthage was used from the 8th century to 146 BC. Sacrifices or an infant cemetery: the debate remains open.
FR TrirèmeAR السفينة ثلاثية المجاديف
A warship with three superimposed levels of rowers and a bow ram, in use from the 6th century BC: about 200 men aboard, some 170 of them rowers. In 201 BC, Rome left Carthage just ten triremes.
FR UtiqueAR أوتيكا
A Tyrian colony north of Carthage, dated by Pliny (XVI, 216) to 1101 BC, well before its oldest known remains. Carthage's ally and then rival, it went over to Rome in 149 and became the capital of the province of Africa.
Phoenician wrote only consonants: the spellings above read from right to left, and the French, English or Arabic forms of the names are conventions inherited from Greek and Latin. The ancient sources cited are detailed in the bibliography.
The Phoenician alphabet, Punic inscriptions and your name in Phoenician.
Polybius, Livy, Appian and the modern works cited in the definitions.