does anyone know any good reading material about carthage, phoenicians,

>>3348192

>Carthage

"Carthage Must Be Destroyed" by Richard Miles

>Phoenicians

Same thing as Carthage.

>>3348211
thx, is that about all of their history or just the punic wars?

>>3348338

It does naturally talk about the Punic Wars but it spends a LONG time talking about Carthage's early history before that.

>>3348453
oh nice, is it reliable? i just bought the book "salt" by mark kurlansky and its full of shit

>>3348338

I must warn you though......the early parts of the book are very dry and academic. If you go in expecting a thrilling narrative, you're going to get frustrated very quickly.

>>3348467
i dont mind that too much if it at least picks up later

>>3348481

If you want to get to the part of the book that reads like a narrative, then you basically have to skip directly to the Pyrrhic War. When it comes to Carthage, we unfortunately don't have many of their actual writings, so archaeological evidence is king. Almost everything of what is written about them comes from Greco-Roman sources. And not only that, these Greek and Roman historians were often writing about events that happened over 100 years before their time. So not only are they heavily biased sources, they're also written by people who weren't eyewitnesses. The author spends a lot of time dissecting various Roman accounts and trying to figure out what is true and what is bullshit. For example, he spends a great deal of time trying to answer the infamous question of whether or not Carthage actually practiced child sacrifice. The author ultimately concludes that there is enough archeological evidence to support claims of child sacrifice that the Roman claims cannot be dismissed as mere propaganda. Religion is also something that gets talked about a lot, which is good, because I thought those were the most interesting parts of the book.