Legend says Queen Elissa, also called Dido, founded Carthage in 814 BCE. The city grew into a naval power, with a circular military harbour that could shelter more than a hundred warships.
In the Second Punic War Hannibal marched an army, with elephants, over the Alps into Italy and defeated Rome at Cannae in 216 BCE. Rome won in the end, and in 146 BCE destroyed Carthage completely.
Julius Caesar and Augustus refounded it as a Roman city, which became one of the largest in the empire. It was taken by the Vandals in 439 and by the Umayyads in 698.
