They were the true good guys, why did they have to lose to Rome? Why did Rome get to survive...

They were the true good guys, why did they have to lose to Rome? Why did Rome get to survive? Why do people wank to Rome now instead of weep at the tragedy of the loss of Carthage and how great the empire could have been controlling old Rome?

>good guys
sage

You know it.

The third Punic war certainly was uncalled for. But what do you expect when you let the catonian brood live?

>They were the true good guys
Used to think this because I always root for the underdog for some reason but they were every bit as short sighted as the Romans with a few more glaring bits of societal incompetence stacked on top.

Regardless of whether or not the baby killing thing was true (which it very well could be considering the cult of Baal was pretty sanguinary), their leadership was stupid, stubborn and corrupt.

Their killing of children is a custom that was common throughout the Mediterranean and reflects a time of great desperation and fear among the Carthaginians who resorted to something they definitely would've abhorred doing, but felt compelled to do so as a last ditch effort to appease their gods. The Romans did the same following Cannae, (albeit it wasn't children, a pair of Gauls and a pair of Greeks were buried alive in the city of Rome as sacrifice), as well as following the Celtic invasions of Brennus. It's fascinating as it speaks to the piety of ancient people and how seriously they took religion.

But back on topic, Carthaginians definitely were not "good" in any sense relative to Rome. They almost certainly would not have filled the void in becoming the premier military power of the Mediterranean either assuming some alternate Punic War history went down.

*Human sacrifice was a custom not uncommon throughout the Mediterranean - not the killing of children. I correct myself.

Carthago delenda est

>be absolutely unmatched naval power in the mediterranean
>explore halfway down into Africa
>be filthy rich
>couldn't beat a greek colony
>manage to lose naval battles to Italian spear chuckers
>lose all your island settlements
>brilliant general takes half of Iberia and makes you rich again
>brilliant general runs off to do his thing alone because you fail to support him and lose war again
>get devastated, still manage to get rich again
>too lazy to keep the Africans happy so they rebel
>too prideful to tell Rome to help or at least pay them off despite your coffers
>Rome puts you out of your misery

whgats with all the baby killing

>non-whites ruling Europe

Yeah, we’d all love that idea.

>their leadership was stupid, stubborn and corrupt
Rome's leadership wasn't?

>too lazy to keep the Africans happy so they rebel
The numidians who provoked the third punic war were not under Carthage's rule, they were an independant kingdom allied with Rome (which explain why Rome wouldn't let Carthage defend herself)

>thinking the Carthaginians were black
No one on Veeky Forums knows history but you've set a new standard for retarded statements

>good guys
>human sacrifice

Yes clearly I meant the Romans were paragons of virtue.

I don’t think the Carthaginians were black(I HATE Afrocentrics), just the same as Tunisians today, not European.

They were the richest fuckers in the Western Mediterranean, but their art was stuck at archaic even though the Eastern Mediterranean had been Hellenistic for half a millennium.

Rome had manpower and could always field an army, even after bad defeats
But ya, Rome were mostly the bad guys, especially in the 3rd war

>good guys
>children sacrifice

>200 years is half the millennium

>Carthaginians
>Same as modern Tunisians

>be naval empire
>start war with country that doesn't have a navy
>the boats they scrap together sailed by men with no sailing experience completely outclass yours

The Carthaginians were descendants of Greek traders. They were, undeniably, white.

Carthaginians came from Greek and Phoenician traders, both who are undeniably white. Modern Tunisians are the result of the Muslim conquests and the Arabs spreading out across North Africa.

Before you take an opinion on something please do your research.

Actually, the Carthageans were Canaanites, they were mostly wiped out by the Berber natives of Tunisia after the 3rd Punic war, but ironically Canaanites are closely related to Arabs, who in turn mostly ARAB'D the Berbers, so modern Tunisians are indeed close relatives of the Carthageans, just cousins rather than descendants.

Modern north Africa is much darker due to the slave trade.

I don't get the love for Carthage. Even if you ignore Roman slanders and stick to the archeological evidence, they were nothing remarkable. Yes the Cothon looks cool, and yes thassalocracy is romantic, but aside from that they had a very typical middle eastern culture and society, and even their famous constitution was no more flawless than any other, as its paralysis during the 2nd Punic War shows, as does the rise of the Barcids in the first place.

Carthage during the Punic wars was pretty much like Rome during the Fall.

less "the good guy" and more "a sign of things to come"

You must hate Rome then.

RE: child sacrifice: in the classical world half of all children died before the age of 5 anyway, this kind of a sacrifice doesn;t carry the same weight in a classical context as it does in a modern one, where nearly all children reach adulthood. Secondly, even if we take is as a fact that the Carthageans sometimes sacrificed children-- in fact at least some of the remains in the Tophet are of stillborns-- it is tremendous faggotry for a Romeaboo to bring it up, given that the Romans literally sacrificed countless tens of thousands in gladiatorial games, for no greater purpose than entertainment.