Carthage’s Salty Defeat -Debunking Myth #67

Fact:

The salting of a city’s crops, though a practice of many ancient cities at war was never mentioned in any historical texts or references for the city of Carthage. It is however known that in the Third Punic War, the Romans captured and killed a great number of Carthage residents, took slaves, and burned down the city (the main reason why so little remains of it today). To this day, even though it is commonly spoken of and despite Vladimir Putin’s recent and detailed account of it, no historical documents have been found that speak of the salting of Carthage.

Tackling the lack of resources on this alleged salting, R. T. Ridley, in his 1986 article “To be Taken with a Pinch of Salt: The Destruction of Carthage” reveals through extensive research that the earliest mention of this salting was actually during the twentieth century (1930 to be precise) in the Cambridge Ancient History VIII encyclopedia where the author B.L. Hallward adds in the salting element with no reference. It is hard to decipher what may have triggered this, but the author could have been influenced by other ancient imageries of salted cities.

In refuting this myth, it is interesting to note that at the time, salt was worth much more than it is now and was used for the storage of food. Since obtaining it was also more difficult, it became a very valuable commodity. Would the Romans then, after having spent so much on their wars, squander ridiculous amounts of salt (which is what would have been required to cover the farms of Carthage) merely to hinder crops?

The value of salt to the Romans is also exemplified by the fact that they used to pay their soldiers’ wages in salt, for its high value and its ability to preserve food. It is no surprise then, that the word salary used today is derived from the Latin word sal, meaning salt. The word then developed to indicate any type of stipend, salty or otherwise. It is unlikely then that the city of Carthage was taken “with a pinch of salt”.

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