PART I

THE NECROPOLIS OF DOUÏMES

CHAPTER I

CATO, IN PRONOUNCING THE DREAD fiat, could scarcely have contemplated in anticipation a more complete fulfilment of his words “Delenda est Carthago” than that which actually took place.

The Roman battle-axe was laid to the fair and flourishing tree and the mingled fires of Roman envy and material flame combined to wipe out Carthage from the face of the earth.

But the strong tree laid low, was not uprooted, and subsequent stems of Roman, Christian and Byzantine growth shot up once more from the hidden roots, only to succumb in their turn to Vandal and Saracen destruction, followed by complete and utter oblivion.

Only a hundred years ago the true site of Carthage was unknown, and Chateaubriand appears to have been the first to give to the world the results of certain investigations attempted by one Major Humbert, a Dutchman, which enabled him to indicate the spot occupied by the Acropolis or Byrsa and the combined ports of the fleet and commerce of Carthage.

But it was not until a considerably later period that it became possible even so much as to suggest a name for the fragmentary ruins fast disappearing stone by stone from this august though well-nigh naked site.

As one watches the Arab following his plough over the ashy soil, turning up fragments of the richest stones the earth can produce, or reaping his corn from fields where once stood marble palaces and porphyry pillars; and when one recollects his insatiable greed for building stone of any description, especially in this land which of itself yields only the non-enduring tufa; and lastly, when one recalls the fact that the Arab looks upon every ruined city as a useful and ready-worked quarry, then the only surprise one may indulge in is, that there remains so much still to be told of Carthage in the light of modern excavation. For curiously, in spite of Cato, and subsequent to the writings of Mons. Perrot, it is Punic Carthage which to-day has yielded the richest fund of interest.

The roots of the old tree have lain covered by generations upon generations of forgetfulness, and, consequently, are preserved until this present most fitting age in which has been witnessed a wondrous resurrection of the lost cities of the ancient world, and in which the wise men of the earth go down into the valleys and seem to make the dry bones live.

It was due to the efforts of the late gifted Cardinal Lavigerie that the systematic excavation of Carthage was taken in hand upwards of twenty years ago, and continued with so much zeal and success by the White Fathers of Carthage under the able guidance of their learned Chaplain, the Reverend Père Delattre.

Those sites which have yielded all that is of the greatest interest, as throwing light upon the Punic origins of Carthage, are the three most ancient necropoleis, known to-day only by their modern appellations of Douïmes, St. Louis, and Bord-el-Djedid.

In excavating the soil of Douïmes to find those remains of Punic sepulture which are conclusively proved to be the oldest of the three groups, the objects and remains of all ages yielded themselves in such perfect successive order as to resemble the arrangement of geological strata. Monuments there were of the lower Carthaginian, Roman and Byzantine periods, Pagan and Christian remains, souvenirs of the Crusade of St. Louis, as well as subsequent Arab art and craft. Above all, it is Christian Carthage which has disappeared, while the oldest epoch of all can show the best preservation of its sepulchral remains in these cities of the dead.

But before detailing the discoveries, it may perhaps be well to sum up first as much as can be gathered concerning this lost and little-known people, their characteristics, their customs, and, above all, their religion, in order to approach with some degree of comprehension the objects yielded by excavation, and to interpret as far as possible the story which they help to tell.

Mesopotamia, the traditional site of the Garden of Eden, would seem to show a strong claim to be regarded as the birthplace of that Semitic race which survives in the present form of Jew, Turk and Arab, but which anciently appeared on earth under the diverse types of Assyrian, Jew, Canaanite or Phœnician, and possibly also Etruscan. And it is to an Assyrian origin that we are able to trace back so frequently the art and symbolism of much that comes to light in the course of excavating the Punic tombs of Carthage.

Of the Carthaginian character this much may be safely concluded: that in his complete mastery of the sea he was the antithesis of his cousin the Jew, who from his iron-bound coast might well look forward to the promise of a New Jerusalem where “there shall be no more sea”; though, by adopting opposite means of transit, they shared the faculty for penetrating into far countries and colonizing with persistence.

That his tastes were commercial and that, in accordance with the Semitic character, his energies instinctively turned to money-making and the advancement of his worldly interests, would seem obvious, and prosperity was no doubt in ancient Carthage, as in modern Jewry, the stamp and seal of aristocracy.

That while indulging in every kind of luxury and every form of lavish display, he was loath to spend money save on himself, would seem to be suggested by the entire absence of gold and almost entire absence of silver coins among the funeral offerings accompanying the dead, and the frequent presence among the bronze coins of money no longer in currency at the time when the corpse was buried. It is however possible that the persistent raid upon the tombs, made through all ages by the Arabs, may account for the first-mentioned fact, though it seems difficult to believe that every tomb opened now for the first time by the White Fathers has been previously visited by these rapacious Arab thieves.

As to his military skill and prowess the name of Hannibal alone would be sufficient answer to any question on that point. But it was from motives of patriotism and self-preservation that the Carthaginian fought. His natural instincts were not warlike, and fighting for its own sake never appealed to him. He was probably more reasoning than emotional, and commerce rather than fighting appealed to his reason. Brave no doubt he was, for though pushing his successes in times of prosperity, there is ample proof that he endured toughly his hardships in times of disaster. Most probably too he was cruel, with the sullen revengeful savagery of the true Oriental, and certainly the type of countenance depicted on some of the terra cottas would lead one to conclude him to have been an undesirable enemy.

But with regard to Punica fides it may be well to remember that hitherto we have been forced to regard the Carthaginian, for the most part, through the medium of Roman prejudice, and that it is wise to be guarded as to the extent of our acceptance of such bitter and unqualified criticism.

Of his architectural powers we have no means, unfortunately, of judging. Whether in the labyrinthan streets of Tunis, the contemporary city of Carthage, remains are still embedded among its masonry of Punic structures, is a question interesting to ask but hard to answer. We know the major part of all the artistic and manufactured articles found in the tombs are of imported foreign workmanship as well as design. The heavy massive tombs alone remain in Carthage as types of his building powers.

When the Romans destroyed the whole of the Carthaginian literature save one agricultural treatise, it was their own utilitarian taste which led them to choose this particular work, but it would be unwise and undiscerning to conclude therefore that all Punic literature was of a like utilitarian character—for though we know they raised the science of agriculture to an astonishing degree of skill, we also remember that the Semitic soul has evolved such diverse and lasting monuments of literature as the Psalms of David and the Arabian Nights.

Of their habits in food and dress we have certain definite though not extensive information. On one occasion an embassy was sent to Carthage by Darius, praying them not to eat the flesh of dogs, and Plautus makes passing mention of their pulse-eating propensity and their “long trailing foreign dresses”; while recent research confirms the fact dwelt upon by Pliny as to the simplicity of the Carthaginian costume, which consisted only of a tunic without either mantle or girdle. This to Roman eyes looked like nothing more than a bathing costume: “Numnam it a balneis?”

Seeing the slaves who followed Hanno wearing rings in their ears, Milphio adds, “Atque ut opinor digitos in manibus non habent. Quid jam? Quod incedunt cum anulatis auribus.” And Plautus makes this same Milphio invoke Hanno in these terms, “Tu qui zonam non habes!”

Finally, in one other respect did the custom of the Carthaginian differ from his contemporaries, the Greek and Roman, in that he practised inhumation in preference to cremation, and thus acted consistently with Semitic ideas. That he at a later date adopted the practice of cremation, is true, and for a very definite reason, as will be shown later, but he nevertheless clung to and never wholly abandoned his older and racial custom.

And so it comes about that while in the Necropolis of Douïmes, the oldest known Punic cemetery, instances of cremation are almost entirely absent, in that of Bord-el-Djedid they are frequently met with,...