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S'està carregant… Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization (edició 2011)de Richard Miles (Autor)
Informació de l'obraCarthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization de Richard Miles
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Apunta't a LibraryThing per saber si aquest llibre et pot agradar. No hi ha cap discussió a Converses sobre aquesta obra. Very decent book on Carthage – a state whose history we largely know in an amount that the victorious Romans considered enough for us to know. The author, Richard Miles, is an authoritative expert in the field of Ancient History, who looks at Carthage’s impressive history from various points of view, striving as much as possible to unrevel true, unblemished face of this Rome’s worthy adversary. Strongly recommend. It reads very ironically at times, and scary too. In particular, the moments about Rome’s attempts to disguise its purely aggressive politics with noble ideas and double standards. Story of the Third Punic War is a real tragedy… I find some nonfiction books difficult to break in to, but once I’m invested I’m usually hooked for the rest of the book. This history of Carthage presented almost the opposite problem for me. Opening the book with the final sack of the city by Roman forces is riveting history and also makes for a great hook in the introduction. I was enthralled from page one. After that however, the author lost me for a bit and didn’t really recapture my full attention until the Punic Wars (even the best non-fiction writers can only make ancient commerce and mercenary contracts just so interesting). That being said, the author does a difficult job (writing the history of ancient civilization based on archeology and almost exclusively hostile primary sources) well and history fans will find everything they’re looking for. I particularly enjoyed Miles’ willingness to tackle historical prejudices that have been passed along as fact; Hannibal crossing the Alps was not as crazy an idea as it may seem, the Romans and Carthaginians were not mortal enemies from their inception, etc. One final, quibbling point: you could make a party game out of this book by having your guests take a drink every time the author mentions the Heracles/Hercules myths, everyone would be on the floor by the end of the second chapter, but you could do it. I don’t disagree with Richard Miles’ case that the Herculean legends were important in Greek colonization and in Carthage in particular, but the extent to which he revisits this topic over and over again felt…labored. For Rome to be great, Carthage had to be a legendary villain. Excellent and engaging look at the Punic Wars with Miles paying special attention to the propaganda war constantly being waged by all parties. The cult of Heracles as well as the issuing and debasement of coinage are unique touchstones throughout that drive home the long game both empires played for material power as well as historiographical sympathy. Dr. Miles has produced a very readable book. It has a relatively new approach to the relationship between Rome, Syracuse and Carthage, the triumvirate of the Central Meditterranean. He also follows the idea that the emphasis that the ancients placed on the provision of temples to their gods has a political slant, that does illuminate some of the mental space that ancient peoples employed to organize their views of the world. Post Rennaissance minds have not found it easy to accommodate this facet of ancient life. There was more parallel and complementary involvement that the simple analysis of Greece and Rome being the best polities expressed in the past allows for. Therefore the title involves a pun, for one of the things to be destroyed is the heavily Hellenistic view of the role of Carthage, and thus a new interpretation of the evolution of the central Medditterranean powers is called for. Bravo!
"An ambitious scholarly work spanning eight centuries, from 150 years before the founding of Carthage by Phoenicians to its obliteration by the Romans in 146 BCE." "Drawing deeply upon fresh archeological evidence, Miles dynamically recreates daily life in ancient Carthage by examining the numerous inscriptions and monuments that bring to life the religious and public rituals of the city's inhabitants." Bertolt Brecht found in Carthage a metaphor for German hubris: "Great Carthage drove three wars. After the first one it was still powerful. After the second one it was still inhabitable. After the third one it was no longer possible to find her." Luckily, Miles has found more than enough of her in this fascinating read. This fine book is an extended study of Rome’s Other, the north African Phoenician colony of Carthage ( kart hadasht , “new town”), by a young Cambridge scholar who has been excavating the site for some years now and has taken the opportunity to produce a general historical and cultural study of the city-state which gave Rome such a run for its money.
The struggle to the death between the Carthaginians and the Romans was one of the defining dramas of the ancient world. In an epic series of land and sea battles, both sides came close to victory before the Carthaginians finally succumbed and their capital city, history, and culture were almost utterly erased. Drawing on a wealth of new archaeological research, Richard Miles vividly brings to life this lost empire--from its origins among the Phoenician settlements of Lebanon to its apotheosis as the greatest sea power in the Mediterranean. And at the heart of the history of Carthage lies the extraordinary figure of Hannibal--the scourge of Rome and one of the greatest military leaders, but a man who also unwittingly led his people to catastrophe.--From publisher description. No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
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Google Books — S'està carregant… GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)939.73History and Geography Ancient World Ancient history in other areas Minor African Countries Africa Propria, CarthageLCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana:
Ets tu?Fes-te Autor del LibraryThing. Penguin AustraliaUna edició d'aquest llibre ha estat publicada per Penguin Australia. |