Eve MacDonald in conversation with Mai Musie - Gower St

An ancient North African city of enormous power, wealth and great beauty, Carthage dominated the western Mediterranean for almost six centuries. Yet its history was fragmented, distorted and deliberately erased by Rome – turned into a cautionary tale and its people projected as ‘the other’ in narratives of empire. The history of the realm and its Carthaginians was subsumed by their conquerors, and, along the way, the story of the real Carthage was lost.

In this landmark new history, Eve MacDonald tells the essential story of the lost culture of Carthage and of its forgotten people, using brand new archaeological analysis to uncover the history behind the legend. A journey that takes us the Phoenician Levant of the early Iron Age to the Atlantic and all along the coast of Africa, Carthage puts the city and the story of North Africa once again at the centre of Mediterranean history. Reclaimed from the Romans, this is the Carthaginian version of the tale, revealing to us that, without Carthage, there would be no Rome.

Dr Eve MacDonald is Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Cardiff University; she is an archaeologist and ancient historian who has worked and published extensively on the history and material culture of Carthage, North Africa and the Middle East. She is one of the world’s foremost experts on the region and is author of Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life that was published in 2015 by Yale University Press. She has also appeared in documentary films for Channel 4 and PBS’ Secrets of the Dead.

Dr Mai Musié is an ancient historian and a public engagement professional. Mai’s research explores race and ethnicity in the ancient world, investigating how the ‘other’ is represented in ancient Greek and Roman literary sources. She is passionate about exploring the interconnectivity between the ancient Mediterranean world and northeast Africa. She has organised and consulted on history and heritage projects that foster co-curation, co-production, and building equitable relationships between communities and researchers.

Mai is well known for her public engagement and outreach work and was awarded the 2019 Classical Association Prize, given each year to the individual who has done the most to raise the profile of Classics in the public eye. She enjoys communicating the stories of the ancient world for modern audiences through tv, radio, podcasts, and interviewing writers and actors. Mai is a trustee of: Classics for All , the Roman Society, and Actors of Dionysus. Visit her website here.

Tickets include a complimentary glass of wine or soft drink.