Carthage must not be destroyed

Two thousand years ago the Roman Senate rang with Marcus Porcius Cato's fanatical cry " Delenda est Carthago " (Carthage must be destroyed). Not long thereafter the Roman legions sacked the Punic capital and razed it to the ground.

Today, on the shores of the Mediterranean, only a few miles from Tunis, the remains of ancient Carthage and the lovely Medina of Tunis itself are threatened by a new menace: submersion and destruction in a sea of urban concrete.

Unesco and the Tunisian Government are facing the challenge and have just embarked on an ambitious programme for the safeguard and development of the Carthage-Tunis region. It is to the story of Carthage's glorious past and the cultural legacy that the Medina represents that this issue of the Unesco Courier is devoted.

Read this issue. Download the PDF.