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The Carthaginian language (Punic) was eliminated in Africa by eliminating its speakers through genocide (and a well-deserved genocide it was), ......

And pray tell, why was it a well deserved genocide? The Phoenicians were respected by the GReeks and Romans as great traders, maritime adventurers and the only one of the ancients who traversed beyond hte pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar and Jabl al whatever on the other side inMorocco). ... The phoenician alphabet is the first phonetic alphabet in the world and the Greek alphabet is derived from the phoneician. How was it good to have slaughtered these wise ancients?

The Phoenician mother land was removed from Carthage by a few centuries just as America is removed from Britain.

The Phoenicians excelled at trade. The Carthagenians excelled at war.

Is was by sheer determination that Rome was not destroyed as a civilization during the Second Punic War. When you come that close to being destroyed yourself, you get a little less squeamish about listening to Cato the Elder when he would again repeat, "Cartago delenda est."

The Phoenicians excelled at trade. The Carthagenians excelled at war.

on what basis do you say that? The Carthaginian wars were primarily against Roman and Greek intrusion on Carthaginian colonies and trading posts.

Is was by sheer determination that Rome was not destroyed as a civilization during the Second Punic War. When you come that close to being destroyed yourself, you get a little less squeamish about listening to Cato the Elder when he would again repeat, "Cartago delenda est."

True, the Romans were gritty, but they were also helped by the fact that Hannibal's Celtic allies were really treacherous and the Romans' allies -- the Latins were not (after this and the Latin war the Romans gave citizenship to all the cities in the Latinum plain). Rome faced a true military genius in Hannibal and he was revered as such by the Romans for centuries after that.

Also, the Carthaginains were originally a colony of Tyre. But Tyre was destroyed by Alexander and the rest of the Phoenician towns came under GReek occupation. The phoenician trading links then passed to Carthage. The Carthaginians were traders who were attacked by outsiders -- they had to give up trading in the eastern Mediterranean to the GReeks and were left with the western Mediterranean and Britain. But the Romans wanted that as well, so war was inevitable. After the Punic wars the Romans went on to Epirus and defeated teh GReeks to become undisputed master of the Mediterranean, or as the Romans called it, 'Mare Nostrum' or Our Sea.

The Phoenicians excelled at trade. The Carthagenians excelled at war.

Not really, one Hannibal does not a war machine make. The Carthaginians were traders in the western mediterranean, just as it's mother country, the city of Tyre were traders in the eastern mediterranean. They made pacts with the Berbers inland of them and with the Ibero-Celts in Hispania, but they were not known for their warring capabilities. When Rome attacked, the Carthaginians relied on their allies for fighting on land. On the sea, well, the main fighting was ramming ships. Then Hannibal came along.....