Carthage (meaning New City implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban center that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BCE.

It is currently a suburb of Tunis, Tunisia, with a population of 20,715 (2004 Census).The first civilization that develops within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic (a form of the word "Phoenician") or Carthaginian.

The city of Carthage is located on the eastern side of Lake Tunis across from the center of Tunis.

According to Greek historians it was founded by Phoenician colonists from Tyre under the leadership of Elissa who was renamed (Queen Dido) in Virgil's Aeneid.

It becomes a large and rich city and thus a major power in the Mediterranean.

The resulting rivalry with Syracuse, Numidia, and Rome is accompanied by several wars with respective invasions of each other's homeland.Hannibal's invasion of Italy in the Second Punic War culminates in the Carthaginian victory at Cannae and leads to a serious threat to the continuation of Roman rule over Italy; however, Carthage emerges from the conflict weaker after Hannibal's defeat at the Battle of Zama in 202 BCE.

After the Third Punic War, the city is destroyed by the Romans in 146 BCE.

However, the Romans refound Carthage, which becomes the Empire's fourth most important city and the capital of the short-lived Vandal kingdom.

It remains one of the most important Roman cities until the Muslim conquest when it is destroyed a second time in CE 698.