Many people are not aware of the Carthaginian Empire like they are the Roman Empire. However, Carthage was an adversary to the Romans that nearly bested them in the Second Punic War. The Carthaginian Empire was founded by the Phoenicians and included the North African coast, Southern Spain, and several islands in the Mediterranean, including Corsica, Sardinia, and parts of Sicily. The city of Carthage was founded in 814 BC along the Mediterranean in what is present day Tunisia (Roman-empire.net, n.d.). The city was built where it had access to the riches of the seas but also was easily protected.
The government of Carthage was similar to Rome 's. It has two chief magistrates that were akin to the Roman consuls, a council of elders that was comparable to Rome 's senate, and a people 's assembly that was like the Roman comitia (Morey, 1901). Despite these similarities, Carthage 's government was an aristocracy, something which Rome was fighting to rid itself of. Starting with the Magonid dynasty in 550 BC, Carthage 's government appeared to be ruled by a tyrant (Roman-empire.net, n.d.). The first ruler was Mago, followed by
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Despite their similarities, the biggest difference between Rome and Carthage was that Rome was in the process of trying to include all their citizens in matters of the state. While the Roman Republic began as an aristocracy, the Plebeians were slowly gaining the right to representation in their government. In addition, Rome made efforts to give outlying territories some of the same rights that were given to their naturalized citizens. This gave Rome the advantage of loyal citizens that Carthage did not have (Morey, 1901). Carthage, on the other hand, relied upon an army of mercenaries and the strength of a single leader, instead of the governmental organization that Rome used (Morey, 1901). While it was a strong military power, it needed its wealth from trade and commerce and top-down leadership to conquer new territories and manage its