Carthage in the 3rd c. BC was one of the largest cities in the world, with a population estimated between 100,000 and a quarter million. Although mostly mercantile, it was capable of launching 200 warships and 70,000 men, comprised of citizens, Phoenician allies, and Libyan and Numidian mercenaries.
Phoenicia, like Greece, was a nation where the cities held a position of extreme importance. It was not centralized with a single recognized capital. Instead, it was a congeries of homogeneous tribes who were never a single political entity, and who clung fondly to the idea of separate independence.
In Antiquity, lower Spain had a seemingly limitless supply of many metals like silver and iron. Tyre had been quickest to recognize the huge possibilities presented by these mines, although other Phoenicians from Sidon, Arvad and Byblos are also recorded as taking part in Tyrian mercantile ventures.
