Travel Destination Rome

Carthage (Greek Karkhedon, Latin Carthago), ancient city of Africa, situated on a peninsula in the Gulf of Utica, about 20 km east of modern tunis. Founded from Tyre circa 700 BC, its real name was Kirjath-Hadeshath (New Town). By the mid-6th century BC Carthage was the center of a great Phoenician commercial empire whose numerous colonies were scattered throughout the Mediterranean area. At the height of its power, the city had a flourishing textile industry, while Sicily, Italy, and Greece alike welcomed its exports of Negro slaves, ivory, metals, precious stones and all the products of central Africa.

Carthage enters European history in 550 BC, when its soldiers conquered most of eastern Sicily. Fourteen years later the Carthaginians defeated the Phocaeans and Massaliotes on the coast of Corsica; c. 500 BC they subdued Sardinia and the Balearic islands. In 480 BC a Carthaginian army, intended for the final subjugation of all Sicily, was defeated before Himera by the combined forces of Himera and Acragas. The war, however, continued intermittently for 200 years

In 509 BC, Carthage had entered into a commercial treaty with Rome: but during the 220 years since that date Roman power had greatly increased, and conflict with the Carthaginian empire was inevitable. It proved to be one of the most remarkable and most decisive struggles of history (see punic wars), and ended with the defeat and destruction of Carthage in 146 BC, when all its territory became subject to Rome and was formed into the province of Africa.

The city remained virtually in ruins until rebuilt and made a colony (colonia Julia) by augustus. Carthage is described by Pomponius Mela, Strabo, and Herodian as one of the greatest and wealthiest cities of the Roman empire; it was also important in ecclesiastical history. The city was taken by the Vandals in 439, retaken by Belisarius in 533, and finally destroyed by the Arabs in 697.

Since the time of the Etruscans in the seventh century BC, Rome has been the most important city in Italy. Built on the seven hills of ancient times, it is divided by the Tiber River. During the Roman Empire it was the center of government and is now the capital of Italy. It is additionally important because it contains the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church and Rome is known as the ‘Holy City’ or the ‘eternal city’, both of which are appropriate names for the city which is a cultural, artistic and religious center for western civilization.

From the time of the Renaissance the city was intermittently under papal rule and when the troops of a uniting Italy made Rome the capital in 1871 the pope refused to give up his sovereignty. However, the pope gave up all claim except for the Vatican in 1929 when the Lateran Treaty created the latter as an independent state within the city of Rome. Papal rule had been responsible for many of the artistic monuments in Rome, particularly those created during the Renaissance. The Vatican city itself contains many of the world’s art treasures. Within its grounds is the Sistine Chapel, with its magnificent ceiling by Michelangelo and frescoes by Botticelli and other Renaissance artists. The Vatican library, founded in the fifteenth century, is the oldest known public library and contains many rare manuscripts and books.

Many people travel to Rome today as pilgrims to be blessed by the pope in St Peter’s Square and many attend Mass celebrated by the pope in the square.

Because Rome has been continually occupied since ancient times, it contains a history of European Man. The forum with the two stone arches of Titus and of Septimus Severus, and the huge Colosseum, capable of seating 45 000, are reminders of the glories of the Roman Empire. Churches such as St Peter’s, St Mary Major and St Lawrence without the Walls indicate the strength of the Christian Church and of papal influence.

Palaces and villas, many of which are filled with paintings, sculpture and magnificent furniture, illustrate the lifestyle of the nobility. The Palazzo Farnese, the French Embassy since 1871, is considered one of the finest palaces of Rome. The beautiful building of the Palazzo di Venezia, where Mussolini had his offices, is now a museum.

The city has been built around a series of piazzas or open places, such as the huge colonnaded circle before St Peter’s built by Bernini and the Piazza del Campidoglio with its intricate, star-patterned pavement designed by Michelangelo for Pope Paul III. Rome is a city of fountains and more than 300 adorn the city. Some of the most beautiful ones were designed by Bernini, including the magnificent Four Rivers Fountains on four street corners, but perhaps the most famous is the huge Trevi Fountain by Longhena. It has become a tradition for tourists to toss coins into this fountain to ensure that they will return to Rome. There are also tiny drinking fountains in some streets that are more than a thousand years old.

Together with food, Man’s greatest need is for water and, when communities were established far from a riverbank, spring or well, it was necessary for water to be directed or carried to the homes; this was achieved by building an artificial channel, an aqueduct, to allow the water to flow from one place to another.

Such aqueducts were certainly used by the Babylonians in ancient Mesopotamia from 3500 BC onwards. Similar forms of open channels were used in ancient Egypt and Greece but the most famous examples were those in Rome and other parts of the Roman Empire.

The earliest Roman aqueduct was built underground during the administration of Appius Claudius Caecus in about 310 BC. Named Aqua Appia, it carried water to Rome, 16 km away.

Possibly the best known of the Roman aqueducts were those built above ground, which needed huge bridged sections high enough to allow the water to flow across wide valleys. The first of these, the Aqua Marcian, carried water a distance of nearly 90 km. It was built in 144 BC and the bridged section was 16 km long. Eventually, nine aqueducts were built, providing the city of Rome with over 170,000,000 liters of water a day.

Parts of these remain and are in current use, supplying water to the fountains of Rome. As their empire expanded the Romans built aqueducts in many other parts of Europe. Those still in existence include one at Pont du Gard at Nimes, France; another at Segovia, Spain, built in AD 109; and one at Mamz, Germany.

After the fall of the Roman Empire, water supplies were neglected for 15 centuries.

Many aqueduct systems fell into disrepair or were destroyed. It was not until the sixteenth century that there was a revival of efforts to improve the supply of drinking water in Europe.

In 1613, a channel was constructed from Hertfordshire to Islington, north London. Named the New River, this aqueduct supplied 18,200,000 liters of water a day to London. Other aqueducts built since the 1840s include the Marseilles aqueduct, 96 km long; the second Kaiser Franz Joseph aqueduct in Vienna, 231 km; and the 154 km aqueduct that supplies Manchester, England. The world’s most extensive aqueduct system is in south California, which supplies, in particular, the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego.

One of the main sources for this system is the Colorado River, from which water is carried 390 km over the San Bernardino mountains; this aqueduct has a capacity of 4,550,000,000 liters a day. Another source for this system is the Sacramento River in northern California, from which water is brought 715 km by aqueduct to a reservoir south of Los Angeles; a further 409 km for this system is expected to be completed by 1981.

Overall, the Californian aqueduct system, involving canals, pipelines and tunnels, will be almost 1600 km long and provide over 8 billion liters of water a day to southern California.