Carthage

by Peter Huby

A chilling novel that explores a genocide of the ancient world. In 146 B.C., after three years of siege, the Roman army took Carthage by storm in a frenzy of total destruction. The people of the city were massacred or enslaved and every single building was razed to the ground. The novel tells of seven very different lives—lives that become inescapably caught up in the destruction, treachery and cruelty that reigned.

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

Reviews

[Keith [on semi hiatus] · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Huby's take on the story of Carthage is, like his Pasiphae novel prior to this, a very will researched and interpreted piece of poetical fictional literary art.

Although self-confessed as a slight side-step away from the works written in Appian's 'Roman History' and the source texts of Polybius' 'The Histories', I feel for the purpose of creating a beautiful piece of fictional art that the spirit of these works may be here, although not having read them myself I can't say for certain. Alongside these, Flavius Josephus' 'The Fall of Jerusalem' for the accounts that took place in Carthage in this period of its notable history is used as an additional source for what became Huby's novel.

It follows a beautifully-woven set of connected stories between a number of characters. I'm not up to scratch with my history on Carthage to say which are fictional and not but this list I aggregated as follows:

- A playwright;
- Scipio Aemilianus;
- Clodia;
- Cornelia, Clodia's grandmother;
- Cornelia, Clodia's baby, named after Clodia's grandmother;
- Terentius Afer;
- Harpax;
- Cato;
- Hanno;
- A librarian;
- Spendios;
- Spendios' mother;
- Mara;
- Hasdrubal;
- Hasdrubal's wife;
- Yassib;
- Mattho;
- Antoninus Pius;
- Marcus Manilius;
- Censorinus;
- A barber;
- A butcher;
- A cobbler;
- Two priests;
- Appianus;
- Statius;
- An African;
- Mancinus;
- Quintus Fulvius Nobilior;
- Sophonisba;
- Velius;
- Hannibal;
- Tutilina;
- Lucius Ambivus Turpio;
- Queen Dido;
- Dorus;
- Qart;
- Phameas;
- Masinissa;
- Aris;
- Arrad;

A few of pieces of literature are mentioned throughout, some may be a fictional sub-culture but some be real, I gathered them as: 'Twelve Tables', Terentius' 'The Eunuch', Caecilius' 'The Brothers', Playwright's 'The General', 'A Compendium of Horticulture'.

I love Peter Huby's writing and story-telling style and could read anything he releases, although I see he has released some novels that aren't of a historial nature, I refrain for now from reading them as I love what he has done with the historial subject-matter he has chosen to delve into and I don't want to disrupt the image I have of his work if were I to read those non-historial pieces and not enjoy them.

I've chosen now to read more about Carthage by diving into Gustave Flaubert's Salammbô, here's to thoroughly enjoying it as much as I loved Peter Huby's take on it.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetic, tragic, unsettling, cruel, moving, horrifying........all words that describe this book. It takes a long time to get to the final destruction of the city and the dread builds through each chapter. Just as it must have been for the citizens of Carthage, the destructive, violent end is a relief when it finally arrives. Huby's style of writing is very spare, but poetic and beautiful at times, even when writing the most horrific scenes of death and violence. I'd say this is a must read for anyone who likes to read about ancient Rome or any other period in the ancient world.

[Sheila Callahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met Peter Huby, who hosted us for a night in the Peloponnese, in late December 2011. He mentioned casually that he had published two books and I begged to borrow one. Let me just say that until I picked this one up I had never thought once about the city of Carthage. By the time I put this riveting read down, I was hooked. This is a wonderful story that made me think of the destruction of Jewish life in Europe during World War II-- a tale of slavery, starvation and destruction. The quality of the writing is impressive and it's an enjoyable and easy read to boot.