Formation and characteristic of the empire

It is unknown what factors influenced the citizens of Carthage, unlike those of other Mediterranean
Phoenician colonies, to create an economic and political hegemony; the nearby city of Utica was far older
and enjoyed the same geographical and political advantages, but ultimately came under the latter's influence.
One theory is that Babylonian and Persian domination of the Phoenician homeland produced refugees that
swelled Carthage's population and transferred the culture, wealth, and traditions of Tyre to Carthage.[43] The
threat to the Phoenician trade monopoly—by Etruscan and Greek competition in the west, and through
foreign subjugation of its homeland in the east—also created the conditions for Carthage to solidify its
dominance of the region so as to preserve and further its commercial interests.

Another contributing factor may have been domestic politics: while little is known of Carthage's government
and leadership prior to the third century BCE, the reign of Mago (c. 550–530), and the subsequent political
dominance of the Magonid family in the ensuing decades, precipitated Carthage's rise as a hegemonic power.
Justin states that Mago, who was also general of the army, was the first Carthaginian leader to "[set] in order
the military system", which may have included the introduction of new military strategies and technologies.
[44] He is also credited with initiating, or at least expanding, the practice of recruiting subject peoples and
mercenaries, as Carthage's population was too small to secure and defend its scattered colonies. Libyans,
Iberians, Sardinians, and Corsicans were soon enlisted for the Magonid's expansionist campaigns across the
region.[45]

By the beginning of the fifth century BC, Carthage had become the commercial center of the western
Mediterranean, and would remain so for roughly the next three centuries.[46] Although they retained the
traditional Phoenician affinity for maritime trade and commerce, the Carthaginians departed significantly in
their imperial and military ambitions: whereas the Phoenician city states rarely engaged in territorial
conquest, Carthage became an expansionist power in an effort to access new sources of wealth and trade. It
took control of all nearby Phoenician colonies (including Hadrumetum, Utica, Hippo Diarrhytus and
Kerkouane), subjugated many neighboring Libyan tribes, and occupied coastal North Africa from Morocco to
western Libya.[47] Carthage expanded its influence into the Mediterranean, controlling Sardinia, Malta, the
Balearic Islands, and the western half of Sicily, where coastal fortresses such as Motya and Lilybaeum
secured their possessions.[48] The Iberian Peninsula, which was rich in precious metals, saw some of the
largest and most important Carthaginian settlements outside North Africa,[49] though the degree of political
influence before the conquest by Hamilcar Barca (237–228 BC) is disputed.[50][51] Its growing wealth and
power, commensurate with the continued foreign subjugation of the Phoenician homeland, led to Carthage
soon supplanting Sidon as the supreme Phoenician city state.[52]

Bust of the Punic goddess Tanit found in the Carthaginian necropolis of Puig des Molins, dated fourth
century BC. Museum of Puig des Molins in Ibiza, Spain.