Phoenician and Carthaginian

Qart Hadasht

Today: Cartagena, Spain

Years: 227 BCE–209 BCE
Role: Capital of the Barcids in Iberia

The new city, qart hadasht in Punic, which the general Hasdrubal the Fair founded in 227 BCE, probably over an earlier Iberian settlement called Mastia. It held a peninsula in the middle of a bay, with five hills, two of them closing the isthmus: a position hard to take. From here Hannibal set out for Italy in 218 BCE with his elephants, and here Carthaginian rule ended when Scipio took the place by land and sea in 209 BCE.

What to see today

Muralla púnica de Cartagena (Muralla de Qart Hadasht): Walls, c. 227 to 209 BCE

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