Republic of Carthage

**Republic**
((Flag))	((Coat of Arms))
	(Map)
Continent / Island	East Continent
Capital	Sir Temple
Largest City	Parm
Government System Suffete; Boetarch; Grand Legislator; Rab;	Republic; (Ruler); (General); (Judge); (Banker);

Inspired by the ancient Carthaginian Empire which ruled the western Mediterranean. Founded in 814 BC by the Phoenicians. The fall of Carthage came at the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BC. An civilization that had their influence on the Mediterranean for 668 years. Great warriors, but even better merchants. A nation deserving of acknowledgement in Battlemaster.

Possible names:

Phoenicia - In honour of the founders of Carthage, the Phoenicians.
Barca - In honour of the great Carthaginian general, Hannibal Barca.

Choice of Government: Republic

Although the foundation myth of the city-state of Carthage features the royal princess Dido, by c. 500 the city was clearly governed as a republic. Punic epigraphic sources always mention republic-type magistracies. Carthage had stable institutions with many Greek-like features; elected magistrates, a senate and a citizen assembly. At the head of the Carthaginian republic were two annually elected magistrates, the “suffete” (Punic: sptm or shouphetim, suffete in the Latin, a kin-word to the Hebrew shopet, meaning ‘Judge’), who convoked and presided over the Carthaginian senate. The magistracy of suffete is often named as basileus by the Greek sources; they are equated with Roman consuls by Livy (Livy, 30.7.5).
Unusually, however, the suffetes were not entrusted with military responsibilities, this responsibility instead being delegated to influential public figures who were elected as generals. Certainly by the third century BC we do not hear of suffete’s also being elected as generals. These generals were elected by the citizens for particular theatres of campaigning or a specific military task, and their tenure was not annual , but rather for the duration of the campaign. It appears that Punic generals had ‘kingly’ (i.e. absolute) authority while they were on campaign; the record shows that generals could make pacts with foreign states (although these were required to be ratified at Carthage). These extensive powers were matched by the risk they ran if they failed. Unusually in a republic, a defeated general was liable to be recalled and executed: this was the fate of Hanno who lost the decisive sea battle of the Aegates Islands in 241 BC.
There were various minor magistracies and officials attested within the republic, such as rab (a title much attested on Punic inscriptions, perhaps responsible for finances, though its functions are not clear), public scribe (sprm) and market inspector.
→ You will find out that we do not do anything the easy way. That will hopefully be fun, but to keep our government and her ideals alive, we will have to rely on the enthusiasm and interaction of our nobles. And I have chosen for a Republic because of the history of Cartage, and I hoped to make it so accurate as possible.

Suffete - The Ruler of the Republic, Head of the Senate. A man chosen by the Citizen Assembly for his merits. A man of the people, chosen by the people to lead the people. He is the face of the Republic, a representative of the Senate. He convokes and presides over the Senate and concedes their will. But even though he is the head of the Senate, and an elected magistrate, his vote is still equal to all other senators.
Boetarch - The General of the Republic. Chosen by his army, to lead them on their campaign. But the generals of ancient Carthage can better be compared with the marshals in battlemaster, as the senate assigned the armies with a campaign, and they choose their general. But that would make things to difficult, so one general, the Boetach. And when at war, the Boetarch has indeed absolute authority over the army. At his command we charge, hunt, raid and conquer. But, "These extensive powers were matched by the risk they ran if they failed." And a Boetarch unable to bring victory and glory to the name of the Republic will be disciplined. And in times of war, the Boetrach can not resign from office, that is treason. The army choose you to lead them, and you answer that by turning your back on them? Only through disease, death (pausing/deleting) or execution the office of Boetarch can be passed on in times of war.
Grand Legislator - The Judge of the Republic. Normally, the Suffetes has judicial duties, but now the Grand Legislator is the ultimate symbol of justice (or injustice). He is entitled with maintaining the civil order and persecuting the Republican Constitution and Law. The laws are established together with the Senate, but within the dungeons of the Republic, you are at the mercy of the Grand Legislator. The Grand legislator is chosen by the aristocrats of the Republic.
Rab - The Banker of the Republic. Assigned by the Suffete to control the food transactions within the realm. To ensure a safe harvest or to purchase food to feed the people of the Republic.

Senate

‘The Mighty Ones’ (Punic: h’drm or hadirim)

The senate’s formal name was ‘The Mighty Ones’ (Punic: h’drm or hadirim), and it was comprised of representatives of Carthage’s noble families. The senate was the centre of Carthage’s government, and served as its legislature. The senate promulgated laws, established foreign policy, waged war and made peace, received foreign delegations and kept watch over the conduct of the city’s generals.
→ The most powerful body of the realm. Their majority votes decide the faith of our Republic. And no one, not even the Suffete can overrule a majority vote of the Senate, and all votes are equal in the senate. In fact, the Senate is all we need, as the senate and their oligarchic sub-institutions make the magistracies of Judge, General and Banker superfluous. But to simplify things, and since we don't have more than 100 nobles in our realm to fill all the sub-institutions I decided that the Senate should exists of the regions lords, the senators, and the governmental magistracies. In ancient Carthage, the senators were chosen for their wealth. It was an oligarchic institution. Those with the most wealth, had leisure, and those with leisure had the time to rule.

Military Council

Council of Ba'al

While in theory Carthaginian generals were elected by the citizen assembly, in practice it seems that the assembly merely ratified the army’s own choice. This may have always been the case but the Xanthippus incident in the First Punic War may have marked the beginning of a change:
“But the troops, eager as they were for battle, collecting in groups and calling on Xanthippus by name, clearly indicated their opinion that he should lead them forward at once. The generals when they saw the enthusiasm and keenness of the soldiers, Xanthippus at the same time imploring them not to let the opportunity slip, ordered the troops to get ready and gave Xanthippus authority to conduct operations as he himself thought most advantageous” ( Polybius, 1.33.4-5.)
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Citizen Assembly

Although the government of Carthage was dominated by these oligarchic institutions, it is also reported that there was an assembly of Carthaginian citizens too. If the suffetes and the senate agreed on referring a matter to the people, this was done. Likewise, if the suffetes and the senate could not agree on a matter, it would be resolved by the citizen assembly. In this way, the oligarchic institutions of the republic were under pressure to reach agreement or else the matter would be settled by the assembly. It is unclear which Carthaginians were regarded as citizens; clearly women and slaves were excluded, and so too perhaps were Punic men of low economic status. Inhabitants of other Phoenician cities like Utica were not citizens; nor were the subject Libyans. It was the citizen assembly that elected suffetes, generals, and even on occasion passed laws.
→ Never heard of that before in battlemaster, did you? That is very possible, as there are no game mechanisms supporting an assembly of citizens. This is 100% role-play and something I hope to use often. I thought about it how we could imply such an assembly in battlemaster, as I wanted to re-create Carthage as realistic as possible, then the citizen assembly couldn't be forgotten. Besides that, I hope this will make up for some nice role-plays and fun.

Electing the Suffete - It is very much the same as electing any King. The voting is always anonymous. So we Role-play that the assembly elected the new Suffete in stead of the aristocratic nobles. That would also mean that we can not ask our noble friend for their support on the election, and we need to address the Citizen Assembly when we candidate ourselves for the position and make a plea.
Electing the Boetarch - See military council.
Decision making - When the assembly requires to make a decision, then we will contact players OoC. It is much like the "Vulgarity-system" of battlemaster. When the Senate and the Suffete can not agree on a matter or decide to refer a matter to the citizen assembly, then they will number their 'choices'. Then the player of the Suffete contacts 5 other players (whom do not have any chars within the Senate) and ask them to pick a number, depending on the choices we have. The players in question do not know what the numbers represent, so that makes this a game of luck. And with a simple majority the chosen option passes, whether we like it or not. A decision of the Citizen Assembly is binding. :P

Culture

The ‘traditional’ picture of the Carthaginians being fundamentally peaceful seafarers and merchants, keenly interested in exchange and political stability, rather than war and conquest, is a dramatic oversimplification of the truth. While it is true that Carthaginian citizens appear to have been exemptfrom military service, and Carthage relied upon mercenary, allied an d levy troops throughout the First and Second Punic Wars, this is not to say that the Carthaginian aristocracy were not as militaristic as other Mediterranean states. There was clearly a tradition of military command among many Carthaginian aristocrats, such as the Mago family in the fifth century BC and the Barcid family in the third century BC. In the fifth century we hear of formations of heavy infantry such as the Sacred Band that were reputedly recruited from among Carthaginian noblemen. Aristotle observed that “In some places there are also laws designed to foster military virtue, as at Carthage, where men reputedly receive decorations in the form of armlets to the number of campaigns in which they have served” (Aristotle, Pol. 7.2, 1324b5). Further, it should be remembered that the oarsmen, sailors, marines and officers that crewed the Carthaginian fleet were mostly recruited from among the Carthaginian citizens themselves, and in a fleet of 120 quinqueremes this would have totalled more than 50,000 men. Given that Carthage had a total population that likely did not exceed 400,000 men, women and children, to launch such a fleet was a very great commitment of manpower indeed! Hence, the notion that the Carthaginians were largely peaceful traders and merchants that hired others to fight their wars should not be exaggerated.
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Religion

Carthaginian religion was based on Phoenician religion (derived from the faiths of the Levant), a form of polytheism. Many of the gods the Carthaginians worshiped were localized and are now known only under their local names.
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Pantheon

The supreme divine couple was that of Tanit and Ba'al Hammon. The goddess Astarte seems to have been popular in early times. At the height of its cosmopolitan era, Carthage seems to have hosted a large array of divinities from the neighbouring civilizations of Greece, Egypt and the Etruscan city-states. A pantheon was presided over by the father of the gods, but a goddess was the principal figure in the Phoenician pantheon.
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Ba'al - The Ruler of the Universe an Rider of the Clouds. He is the scource of life, and a powerful God of War. He is the god on which all others depend, and a wielder of thunderbolts. Worship also included child sacrifice and holy prostitution among its other observances.
Tanit - The Queen of Heaven and Mother Goddess. Prayers are offered to her to ensure children, good harvest and tranquillity in people's homes. (She was Astarte to the Phoenicians)
Melqart - The son of Ba'al and the Ruler of the Underworld.

Constitution

Sources

RTR: Fate of Empires - Preview Six - http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=226450
Carthage - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carthage