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6. Carthage
6．迦太基（Carthage）
Legend has it that Carthage was founded by Queen Dido of the Phoenicians. She fled the city of Tyre located in present-day Lebanon in order to escape the wrath of her brother Pygmalion, who was her contestant to the throne. Along with a group of settlers, she traveled a great distance by sea and landed in North Africa, where she met King Iarbas. He offered to give them land in order to build a settlement, but no bigger than the surface covered by the hide of an ox. They cleverly cut the hide into thin strips and were able to enclose a fairly large area of land. On this land, the mighty city of Carthage was built.
相傳，腓尼基的黛朵（Dido）女王建立了迦太基城。為了躲避一同競爭皇位的哥哥——庇格瑪里翁（Pygmalion）的迫害，她逃離了現在位于黎巴嫩的腓尼基城邦泰爾。經過長途跋涉，她們一行人登陸北非，在那里，他們遇到了柏柏人部落首領馬西塔尼求（King Larbas）。然而，他僅同意給他們一塊兒牛皮大小的土地。但是聰明的腓尼基人把牛皮切成了許多細條，然后把它們連在一起，圈出了一塊兒不小的地皮。后來，他們就這兒在建起了迦太基城。
These stories are most likely just that, but the fact that the Phoenicians built the city around 760 BC is true. Located in such a good position — in the middle of the Mediterranean, close to Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, and a pretty good distance from Egypt — helped make Carthage a leading trade center and military power. The population soon reached half a million citizens and, in order to house them all, buildings were all built five or six stories tall. Carthage was the first city in Antiquity to have a centralized sewage system, linking all buildings within the city walls. The most notable of structures among the ruins was the “Thophet,” which is believed to be an altar for child sacrifice.
相傳的故事大致就是這樣，但是腓尼基人在公元前706年建造了迦太基城這件事兒的確是事實。迦太基城位于地中海中部，緊鄰西西里島、撒丁島和科西嘉島，毗鄰古埃及，區位優勢造就了其在貿易和軍事上的強勢地位。城市建立后不久，其人口數量就激增至50萬。為了滿足住房需求，人們建起了五六層的高樓。迦太基是古代世界第一個擁有統一下水道系統的城市，這些管道把城市里所有建筑連接在一起。在遺址中，最引人注目的是一個名為Thophet的建筑，該建筑很可能是一個生祭兒童的祭壇。
The Carthaginians inevitably encountered the Romans, and soon after that a series of battles known as the Punic Wars took place. Following the loss of Sicily and other territories, Cartage itself came under attack and was ultimately destroyed in 146 BC. Even though the Romans vowed to never rebuild it, Julius Caesar founded the “Colonia Junonia” in 44 BC on the grounds of the old city. In only five years it was named the capital of the African province. Today this city is known as Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, and is home to over two million people.
迦太基人不可避免的受到了羅馬人的進攻。很快，他們之間爆發了一系列的戰爭，歷史上稱之為布匿戰爭（the Punic Wars）。在失去西西里島和其他領土后，迦太基背腹受敵，最終在公元前146年走向滅亡。盡管羅馬人通過公投決定不再重建迦太基城，但是尤利烏斯·愷撒還是于公元前44年在這座城的原址上建立了一塊凱撒王朝的殖民地。僅僅五年，它就成了非洲城邦的首都。它就是今天的突尼斯首都突尼斯市，一座有著超過兩百萬居民的城市。
