Is Carthage in the bible?

[rhawk]

I have read the bible from cover to cover and found references to Greece, Egypt, Rome and more, but I have not found a single reference to Carthage. I suppose Carthage may have been referenced by another name.... Since it was powerful enough to take n Rome in the Punic wars and held a lot of land, was in north Africa and had part of modern Spain, I would have expected them to be in the Bible. Does anyone know why they do not seem to be?

 

[John Hyperspace]

I have read the bible from cover to cover and found references to Greece, Egypt, Rome and more, but I have not found a single reference to Carthage. I suppose Carthage may have been referenced by another name.... Since it was powerful enough to take n Rome in the Punic wars and held a lot of land, was in north Africa and had part of modern Spain, I would have expected them to be in the Bible. Does anyone know why they do not seem to be?

If it's not in the bible it isn't relevant to gospel. The bible isn't God recording history events for the sake of history; it's God recording His gospel for all future generations. Only historic events which are relevant to the gospel are included as analogue.

 

[Strathos]

The Caananites, who were the ancestors of the Carthaginians, are mentioned in the Bible.

 

[RC1970]

I have read the bible from cover to cover and found references to Greece, Egypt, Rome and more, but I have not found a single reference to Carthage. I suppose Carthage may have been referenced by another name.... Since it was powerful enough to take n Rome in the Punic wars and held a lot of land, was in north Africa and had part of modern Spain, I would have expected them to be in the Bible. Does anyone know why they do not seem to be?

The Carthaginians would have had to have gone through Egypt to have dealings with Israel.

They may be the Lubims (Libyans) mentioned in 2 Chronicles 12:3.

 

[Radrook]

Legends concerning queen of Tyre, Dido who is said to have founded Carthage connect her great aunt Jezebel to king Ahab of Israel via marriage. Both Ahab and Jezebel are mentioned in the Bible.

Legends alive in the city for centuries assigned its foundation in 814 BC to a queen of Tyre, Elissa, also called Dido ("beloved"). Dido's great aunt must have been Jezebel, who was also the daughter of a King of Tyre, in this case Ithobaal [the biblical Ethbaal] (r. 891-859); Jezebel became wife to King Ahab of Israel (r. 875-853), according to the Hebrew Books of Kings

History of Carthage -
The dates given here are according to the work of F. M. Cross[1] and other scholars[2][3] who take 825 BC as the date of Dido’s flight from her brother Pygmalion, after which she founded the city of Carthage in 814 BC. See the chronological justification for these dates in the Pygmalion article.

Ithobaal held close diplomatic contacts with king Ahab of Israel. First Kings 16:31 relates that his daughter Jezebel married Ahab (874 – 853 BC),[4] and Phoenician influence in Samaria and the other Israelite cities was extensive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithobaal_

 

[RC1970]

Other reasons Carthage is not mentioned in the Bible:

Carthage's main business was sea trade and Israel never developed a sea trade.

The glory days of the Carthaginians was during the intertestamental period (2nd,3rd and 4th centuries BC).

 

[roamer_1]

I have read the bible from cover to cover and found references to Greece, Egypt, Rome and more, but I have not found a single reference to Carthage. I suppose Carthage may have been referenced by another name.... Since it was powerful enough to take n Rome in the Punic wars and held a lot of land, was in north Africa and had part of modern Spain, I would have expected them to be in the Bible. Does anyone know why they do not seem to be?

Carthage was a Phoenician colony in origin - No, it is not mentioned in the Bible, unless it is the fabled Tarshish, as some have opined - The linkage is fair - The sea-going Phoenicians are a likely candidate... but I prefer the Britain/Tarshish linkage better, as there is no ready tin source in Carthage.

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

Carthage is never mentioned in the Bible, which is a real shame. We have a distinct paucity of unbiased sources on Carthage, so a neutral biblical account would have been invaluable.

Tarshish is more likely Sardinia or Spain (Tartessos), but we really don't know.

Dido may have been fictional or an euhemerisation of Tanit, the major Carthaginian goddess. This is supported by many elements in her legend being clearly Greek misunderstandings or embellushments like the oxhide being cut up to secure the bursa of the city. The name Bursa is likely of semitic origin, not from the greek for oxhide.
That being said, an argument for historicity can be made on surviving texts and some epigraphic evidence of Shalmaneser III, but really not sufficiently to tie her to Ahab and Jezebel.