![[Carthage_National_Museum_representation_of_city.jpg]] The new city (its name literally means New City) was located about fifteen miles from the older settlement at Utica. The Tunisian coast lies directly across the Mediterranean from Sicily, at a narrow spot that all ships traveling from east to west would have to pass. Two large harbors were built; one for the city's powerful navy and the other for commerce. Carthage rapidly became a very wealthy center of trade and culture, and the Carthaginian Republic was one of the largest and longest-lasting states of the ancient Mediterranean. The social structure of the city seems to have been built around commerce. An elite formed of nobles of Tyrian families was led by women (in the style of Queen Dido) and ruled over a merchant middle class and Libyan serfs. The people worshiped the Phoenician (or Punic) deities Tanit (a fertility goddess) and Baal (a sky god), although there were no large temples in the early city. ![[Monnaie_-_1-5_de_shekel,_or,_Carthage,_Zeugitane_-_btv1b11318859x_(2_of_2).jpg]] *Carthaginian coin representing either Dido or Tanit* ----- Next: [[5.7 - Baal]] Back: [[5.5 - Phoenicians]]