In order to offer something, I thought I'd re-post this recommendation from a while back for reading material-
Carthage Must Be Destroyed, by Richard Miles. I wanted to love this book. I've always been fascinated by Carthage, and, um...
spoiler, I guess....??? Really, who knows any more!
Yeah, Rome kind of kicked their posterior, burned the city to the ground, and salted the earth- so there's not a whole lot of history we have from their side.
Any way, this book supposedly told the story of Carthage from the Carthaginian p.o.v. by combining modern archaeological evidence and combing through the ancient histories (which were distorted) to present a more balanced and comprehensive look.
I guess it did the best job possible? The thing is, I didn't learn a whole lot that was brand new to me. It just made me sad ... because it re-emphasized that so much was lost and will never be fully known.
There was also something about the writing style that didn't quite work for me. The best example is how Miles kept teasing child sacrifice by the Carthaginians, usually in the context of "Oh, the Romans and Greeks always make up slurs against their enemies," and then moved on to something else, and then in what was an aside was like, "Oh yeah, they were totally doing the child sacrifice, even after the Eastern Phoenicians had abandoned it."
It was a very weird stylistic choice.
So if you're really into Carthage (um... that's not a euphemism) you should read it. I don't regret reading it. But I wish it was more. Or, more correctly, I wish that we knew more.
Don't get me wrong- I don't regret reading the book, which is why I said that if you're interested in Carthage (or just like reading about ancient history- and enjoy the slightly more academic "popular works" that assume you know what a stele is or the names of various famous ancient Greeks and Romans without having to spoon-feed it to you), you should definitely pick it up!
My ambivalence with book is born out of an essential sadness. So much of the book concentrates on "Greater Carthage" (the Western Mediterranean) and the actions and words of others. I know that the author is trying to rescue Carthage, but in the end, it's still absent- Carthage is almost all negative space. Rome was, for the most part, successful. As much as we try to reconstruct what Carthage was, it will always be defined by trying to understand it through what the destroyers of Carthage told us.
The Romans, they were thorough.