It was an agora for
the Greeks, a forum for the Romans. The people gathered there to chat,
and learn the news, and there the old men acted as arbitrators in case
of quarrels. In the same way it was at the palace-gates, which were
always constructed on the model of the city-gates, that the court
attendants assembled, and that petitioners stood in waiting.
The Phoenician cities also were surrounded by fortified walls, and
dwellings were burrowed into the very body of the ramparts. In order not
to extend the limits of the city too much, the houses in the central
portions were built very high. In the chief quarters of Carthage some of
them had as many as six stories; they were covered with flat roofs, and,
as is the case of all warm countries, the streets were narrow. The
residences of the rich merchants were of a marked character and were
easily distinguished; they were all provided with cisterns; they had
inner courts adorned with porches, and with open galleries along the
upper stories. The streets, squares and courts were paved with broad
flags, probably for the purpose of saving every drop of water that fell.
There were also public cisterns, and ports for shipping. As their
country abounded in stone that could be easily cut, the Phoenicians used
no artificial building material: they are not known to have built of
brick before the Roman period.
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