Carthage · Institutions

Politics and society in Carthage

Neither king nor tyrant: a merchant republic, admired by Aristotle, where two elected magistrates, a Senate and a popular assembly shared power.

Remains of the Punic quarter on Byrsa Hill, Carthage — Punic quarter on Byrsa, built in the early 2nd century BC

suffetes elected for one year — the “kings” of Greek and Latin authors

104

judges on the court of oversight according to Aristotle (“the Hundred” in Justin)

1 year

term for those judges after Hannibal’s reform of 196 — previously for life (Livy)

tyrants and no serious civil strife in the city’s history, according to Aristotle

Who governed Carthage?

A regime the ancients called “mixed”: a little monarchy, a lot of aristocracy, a share of democracy.

Popular Assemblyelection? (debated) 2 suffetes
Popular Assemblyelects Generals
Senaterefers disputes Popular Assembly
2 suffetespreside Senate
Generalsreport to Senate
Senatesupplies judges Hundred and Four
Generalstried on return Hundred and Four
Pentarchiesappoint Hundred and Four

Dotted line: uncertain relationship. The diagram reconstructs a late state (4th–3rd c.) from scarce, mostly Greek sources.

Executive and justice

The suffetes

From Phoenician shofet, “judge”. Two magistrates elected every year, whom Greeks and Romans called “kings” for lack of a better word. They presided over the Senate, administered justice and ran the city, but did not command armies. Who elected them — the notables or the people — is unknown.

Sznycer; Seneca, On Tranquillity, IV, 5

Oligarchic core

The Senate

The texts speak of the “Elders of Carthage” (gerontes, seniores). Drawn from the great families, it probably had several hundred members. War, peace, diplomacy: it decided the major questions, and generals had to report to it.

Sznycer; Livy

Oversight

The Hundred and Four

A smaller council that only Aristotle names this way (“the Hundred and Four” or “the Hundred”). According to Justin, a hundred judges chosen from the Senate reviewed the conduct of generals on their return. Appointed for life until Hannibal’s reform.

Aristotle, Politics, II, 11; Justin, XIX, 2

Little known

The pentarchies

Boards of five members, mentioned by Aristotle alone. They filled their own ranks, dealt with important business and chose the members of the Hundred and Four. How they worked remains obscure.

Aristotle, Politics, II, 11

Democratic element

The popular assembly

Free men meeting in the agora, according to Diodorus. When suffetes and Senate disagreed, the matter went to the assembly, where anyone could speak against the proposals (Aristotle). Polybius thought it had gained the upper hand by the time of the Punic Wars.

Aristotle; Diodorus, XX, 9; Polybius, VI, 51

Outside the suffeteship

The generals

Military command was kept apart from civil office. Army commanders, drawn from the great families, were elected separately, probably by the assembly. Answerable to the Senate, they could be tried by the Hundred and Four after a campaign.

Sznycer; Justin, XIX, 2

Aristotle, Politics, II, 11

A constitution held up as a model

“Carthage is thought to be well governed […]. A sign of a well-ordered constitution: the people remain loyal to it, and there has been neither civil strife worth the name nor a tyrant.”
Aristotle, Politics, II, 11 (c. 330 BC) — free translation

Aristotle places Carthage, the only non-Greek city in his survey, alongside Sparta and Crete among the most successful constitutions: a “mixed” regime combining monarchy (the suffetes), aristocracy (the Senate) and democracy (the assembly). Polybius would also mention the excellent reputation of these institutions (VI, 43).

A snapshot, not a fixed model: the value of the text has been debated since Stéphane Gsell, and historians now accept that these institutions changed over the centuries (Sznycer).

The philosopher’s reservations

Too much weight on wealth

Magistrates are chosen for their fortune as much as their merit: a slide towards oligarchy.
The highest offices can be bought — and whoever has paid then seeks to get rich.
One man can hold several offices at once.
Civil peace depends on prosperity: Carthage regularly sends part of its people to make their fortune in the cities it controls.

Two centuries later, Polybius saw the Carthaginian constitution in decline: by Hannibal’s time the people had the upper hand, while in Rome the Senate still governed (VI, 51). He also notes that in Carthage offices were bought openly, whereas in Rome electoral bribery was a capital crime (VI, 56).

From the 8th century to Roman times

Institutions that changed

Origins

No attested king. Dido was of royal blood, but the legend never calls her queen. The “kings” of Greek and Latin texts were in all likelihood the suffetes. The theory of a Carthaginian monarchy, argued by K. J. Beloch and then G. Charles-Picard, is now rejected by most historians; even in Tyre, kings did not hold absolute power (Sznycer).

6th–5th c.

The age of the Magonids. For several generations the descendants of one Mago supplied the city with its war leaders (Justin, XVIII–XIX). A family ascendancy rather than a kingship; one of them, Hamilcar, was defeated at Himera in 480.

5th c.

A counterweight. So that a family of generals could no longer threaten liberty, a court of a hundred judges chosen from the senators was set up, to which generals had to account on their return (Justin, XIX, 2). It is probably the ancestor of Aristotle’s Hundred and Four.

4th c.

The “mixed” constitution. This is the state Aristotle describes. Attempts at personal rule failed: in 308, during Agathocles’ invasion, the general Bomilcar attempted a coup inside the city; he was defeated and put to death (Diodorus, XX, 44).

3rd c.

Hanno the Great versus the Barcids. Two policies clashed: Hanno, spokesman of the great landowners, favoured the African hinterland and fought the Barcids’ wars; the Barcids relied on Spain and on popular support (Polybius). The notion of Barcids aiming at a Hellenistic-style monarchy is rejected by M. Sznycer.

196

Hannibal as suffete. After Zama, Hannibal was elected suffete. He brought to heel a finance magistrate who defied him, had a law passed making the judges of the Hundred and Four, until then appointed for life, elected for one year and barred from serving two years running, then hunted down embezzlement: the indemnity owed to Rome could be paid without new taxes (Livy, XXXIII, 46-47). Denounced to Rome by his opponents, he went into exile in 195.

After 146

Suffetes under Rome. Carthage vanished, its institutions did not: cities of Roman Africa still elected suffetes until the 2nd century AD, sometimes three instead of two — a Berber contribution according to some scholars (Lipinski).

Hannibal, from the battlefield to the suffeteship →

A highly stratified society

At the top, an aristocracy of Tyrian origin; below it, a population the sources almost always leave in the shadows.

At the top

The aristocracy

Descended from the settlers of Tyre, these great families held the economy, politics and cults. First shipowners, they became great landowners, monopolised the magistracies and lived in rich houses on Cape Bon or in the Megara suburb (Bessis).

The temples

The priests

Drawn from the aristocracy, they formed a highly organised body. The temples, centres of intellectual life, kept Phoenician language and culture alive for centuries, even under Roman rule. A tophet stele (3rd c., Bardo Museum) shows a priest in a linen robe, his shaven head under a cap.

The majority

The townspeople

Craftsmen and traders in unknown numbers; free men and slaves, the latter owned by individuals or by the state; and foreigners from all over the Mediterranean (Dridi). Ancient texts almost never let them speak.

Punic stele bearing the sign of Tanit — Stele with the sign of Tanit — Louvre Museum

What the stelae tell us

Women, between autonomy and alliances

Dido, Sophonisba, the wife of Hasdrubal who chose death in 146: a few striking figures, but few sources. Society was patriarchal, yet left women real autonomy: tophet stelae were dedicated by women in their own name, several trades seem to have been open to them, and the priesthood was not closed to them (Dridi).

Marriage remained a political tool. Sophonisba, daughter of the general Hasdrubal son of Gisco, married the Numidian king Syphax to seal an alliance, then Masinissa. Whether polygamy was practised is unknown.

Sophonisba

The African territory

The Libyans: dominated, but indispensable

Native populations are the least known. Early trade turned into domination: during the First Punic War, Carthage took half of the harvest of the countryside (Polybius, I, 72), and revolts followed one another — in 240 the Libyans joined the Mercenary War in large numbers.

Yet the ties were close: Punic nobles married Libyan princesses (Bessis), some tombs combine Phoenician and African rites, and Punic communities were cosmopolitan from the start. In the 2nd century, Masinissa’s Numidian encroachments helped bring about the city’s fall.

African Carthage →

Read also

Ancient sources: Aristotle, Polybius, Diodorus, Justin, Livy. Scholarship: M. Sznycer, S. Bessis, H. Dridi, E. Lipinski.