Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: Who was the last ruler of Carthage?
In 480 BC, following Hamilcar I's death, the king lost most of his power to an aristocratic Council of Elders. In 308BC, Bomilcar attempted a coup to restore the monarch to full power, but failed, which led to Carthage becoming in name, as well as fact, a republic.[1]
In Christian traditions, some accounts give as the first bishop of Carthage Crescens, ordained by Saint Peter, or Speratus, one of the Scillitan Martyrs. Epenetus of Carthage is found in Pseudo-Dorotheus and Pseudo-Hippolytus lists of seventy disciples. The account of the martyrdom of Saint Perpetua and her companions in 203 mentions an Optatus who is generally taken to have been bishop of Carthage, but who may instead have been bishop of Thuburbo Minus. The first certain historically documented bishop of Carthage is Agrippinus around the 230s. Also historically certain is Donatus, the immediate predecessor of Cyprian (249–258).
The most notable nations of antiquity in western North Africa are Carthage and Numidia. The Phoenicians colonized much of North Africa including Carthage and parts of present-day Morocco (including Chellah, Essaouira and Volubilis). The Carthaginians were of Phoenician origin, with the Roman myth of their origin being that Dido, a Phoenician princess, was granted land by a local ruler based on how much land she could cover with a piece of cowhide. She ingeniously devised a method to extend the cowhide to a high proportion, thus gaining a large territory. She was also rejected by the Trojan prince Aeneas according to Virgil, thus creating a historical enmity between Carthage and Rome, as Aeneas would eventually lay the foundations for Rome. Ancient Carthage was a commercial power and had a strong navy, but relied on mercenaries for land soldiers. The Carthaginians developed an empire in the Iberian Peninsula and Sicily, the latter being the cause of First Punic War with the Romans.
Masinissa also cultivated a grand vision of uniting all the Berbero-Libyan peoples from the frontiers of Egypt to the Atlantic. His expansionist actions were directed mainly against the surviving city-state of Carthage. Eventually Masinissa's aggressive actions achieved several major acquisitions of lands previously held by Carthage, not only at the borders of Numidia and Carthage, but extending also well south of Punic territory, and including Mediterranean seaports in Tripolitania to the east of Carthage. Indeed, his last war against Carthage turned out to be a prelude to the Third Punic War (149–146). Here, Rome intervened and eventually besieged and destroyed Carthage.
Solomon was succeeded by his nephew Sergius, who proved completely inadequate in dealing with the situation. The Moors launched a general revolt and inflicted a severe defeat on the Byzantines in Thacia in 545. Sergius was recalled, while the army mutinied again, this time under Guntharis, who captured Carthage and installed himself there as an independent ruler. His usurpation did not last long as he was assassinated by Artabanes, but it was not until the arrival of John Troglita in late 546 and his subsequent campaigns that the province was to be pacified and brought again securely under Byzantine imperial control.
Carthage had previously invaded Sicily in 406 BC, in retaliation of Greek raids on Phoenician lands. This expedition was first commanded by Hannibal Mago who, after the Siege of Akragas by his kinsman Himilco, had managed to capture and sack the cities of Akragas, Gela and Camarina by the summer of 405 BC. These defeats had caused political turmoil in Syracuse, and had ultimately brought Dionysius to power as tyrant. Himilco and Dionysius signed a peace treaty in 405 BC, which left Carthage in direct or indirect control of 60% of Sicily. The cities of Messina and Leontini were left independent, and Dionysius was acknowledged as the ruler of Syracuse by Carthage.
Yet Carthage soon revived under the reforms initiated by Hannibal and, free of defence burdens, prospered as never before. In 191 Carthage offered to pay off early the indemnity due Rome, causing alarm in the anti-Punic faction there. Then the corrupt and rigid oligarchy in Carthage joined with this Roman faction to terminate Hannibal's reforms; eventually Hannibal was forced to flee the city. Many Romans continued to nurse a hot, across-the-board opposition to Carthage. The anti-Punic faction was led by the conservative, anti-Hellenic politician Cato (234–149, Consul 195, censor 184) who, before the last Punic war, at every occasion in the Senate at Rome had proclaimed, "Delenda est Carthago!" "Carthage must be blotted out!".
Yet some Punic books (Latin: "libri punici") from the libraries of Carthage reportedly did survive the fires. These works were apparently given by Roman authorities to the newly augmented Berber rulers. Over a century after the fall of Carthage, the Roman politician-turned-author Gaius Sallustius Crispus or Sallust (86–34) reported his having seen volumes written in Punic, which books were said to be once possessed by the Berber king, Hiempsal II (r. 88–81). By way of Berber informants and Punic translators, Sallust had used these surviving books to write his brief sketch of Berber affairs.
Carthage remained a residential see until the high medieval period, mentioned in
two letters of Pope Leo IX dated 1053, written in reply to consultations regarding a conflict between the bishops of Carthage and Gummi.
In each of the two letters, Pope Leo declares that, after the Bishop of Rome, the first archbishop and chief metropolitan of the whole of Africa is the bishop of Carthage. 
Later, an archbishop of Carthage named Cyriacus was imprisoned by the Arab rulers because of an accusation by some Christians. Pope Gregory VII wrote him a letter of consolation, repeating the hopeful assurances of the primacy of the Church of Carthage, "whether the Church of Carthage should still lie desolate or rise again in glory". 
By 1076, Cyriacus was set free, but there was only one other bishop in the province. These are the last of whom there is mention in that period of the history of the see.
The Phoenicians encountered little resistance in developing their trade monopoly during 1100–900 BC. The emergence of the Etruscans as a sea power did little to dent the Phoenician trade. The power of the Etruscans was localized around Italy, and their trade with Corsica, Sardinia and Iberia had not hindered Phoenician activity. Trade had also developed between Punic and Etruscan cities, and Carthage had treaties with the Etruscan cities to regulate these activities, while mutual piracy had not led to full-blown war between the powers. Carthage's economic successes, and its dependence on shipping to conduct most of its trade, led to the creation of a powerful Carthaginian navy to discourage both pirates and rival nations. This, coupled with its success and growing hegemony, ultimately brought Carthage into increasing conflict with the Greeks, the other major power contending for control of the central Mediterranean. In conducting these conflicts, which spanned between 600–310 BC, the overseas empire of Carthage also came into being under the military leadership of the "kings". The Etruscans, also in conflict with the Greeks, became allies of Carthage in the ensuing struggle.
By the middle of the 6th century BC, Carthage had grown into a fully independent thalassocracy. Under Mago (r., c.550–530) and later his Magonid family, Carthage became pre-eminent among the Phoenician colonies in the western Mediterranean, which included nearby Utica. Mago, the 6th century ruler of Carthage, initiated the practice of recruiting the army from subject peoples and mercenaries, because "the population of Carthage was too small to provide defence for so widely scattered an empire." Hence, Libyans, Iberians, Sardinians, and Corsicans were soon enlisted.
The church at Carthage was to the Church of Africa what the church at Rome was to the Church of Italy. Carthage was at the heart of African Christianity in the Roman world. In Christian traditions, some accounts give as the first bishop of Carthage Crescens, ordained by Saint Peter, or Speratus, one of the Scillitan Martyrs. Epenetus of Carthage is found in Pseudo-Dorotheus and Pseudo-Hippolytus lists of seventy disciples. The account of the martyrdom of Saint Perpetua and her companions in 203 mentions an Optatus who is generally taken to have been bishop of Carthage, but who may instead have been bishop of Thuburbo Minus. The first certain historically documented bishop of Carthage is Agrippinus around the 230s. Also historically certain is Donatus, the immediate predecessor of Cyprian (249–258).
Carthage concentrated now on building a state in Mediterranean Spain, which ultimately collided with the Romans at Saguntum, the result being the Second Punic War, 218-201 BC. In it Carthage relied mainly on a land campaign beginning with an invasion of Italy over the Alps by Hannibal. Despite numerous defeats Rome was strong enough to endure and to bring forth the men who would destroy Carthage. From first to last Hannibal encountered Scipio Africanus, who, a 17-year old lad accompanying his father, Publius Cornelius Scipio as an observer at the Battle of Ticinus, used his bodyguard of 30 cavalrymen to rescue his father from capture. A generation later, commander of Roman forces in Africa, he won the Battle of Zama in 202 BC against Hannibal and forced Carthage to a peace it could not endure, stripped of its military and subject to the rule of Rome.
The occasionally violent controversy has been characterized as a struggle between opponents and supporters of the Roman system. The most articulate North African critic of the Donatist position, which came to be called a heresy, was Augustine, bishop of Hippo Regius. Augustine maintained that the unworthiness of a minister did not affect the validity of the sacraments because their true minister was Christ. In his sermons and books Augustine, who is considered a leading exponent of Christian dogma, evolved a theory of the right of Orthodox Christian rulers to use force against schismatics and heretics. Although the dispute was resolved by a decision of an imperial commission in the Council of Carthage (411), Donatist communities continued to exist as late as the 6th century.
The only known bishop of this diocese is Emilio, who took part in the synod assembled in Carthage in 484 by King Huneric the ruler of the Vandal Kingdom, after which Emilio was exiled to Vandal-controlled Sicily .
The Third Punic War (149 to 146 BC) was the third and last of the Punic Wars. The war was a much smaller engagement than the two previous Punic Wars and primarily consisted of a single main action, the Battle of Carthage, but resulted in the complete destruction of the city of Carthage, the annexation of all remaining Carthaginian territory by Rome, and the death or enslavement of thousands of Carthaginians. The Third Punic War ended Carthage's independent existence.
During the Roman Empire the town was the site of a Roman town called Voncaria. At the 411 Carthage conference, between Catholic and Donatist bishops, the town was represented by the Donatist Felix, declaring that he did not have a Catholic competitor in his diocese.
Then at the synod convened in Carthage in 484 by the Arian ruler Huneric of the Vandal Kingdom, the bishop Donatus Voncariensis represented the town. 
In 550 BC, Mago I of Carthage became king of Carthage and sought to establish Carthage as the dominant military power in the western Mediterranean. Though still economically dependent on its mother city of Tyre, Carthage was growing in stature. Under Mago, Carthage allied with the Etruscans of northern Italy against the Greek city-states in southern Italy, an alliance that would last until Rome expelled its Etruscan kings.
State protection was extended to its sea traders by the Phoenician city of Tyre and later likewise by the daughter city-state of Carthage. , the well-regarded French historian of ancient North Africa, summarized the major principles guiding the civic rulers of Carthage with regard to its policies for trade and commerce: 
On June 3, the St. Joseph Ponies (10-22) moved to Carthage, Missouri and became the Carthage Browns and an affiliate of the St. Louis Browns. They had a record of 30-74 in Carthage, and ended in last place.
The two teams with the worst records of the previous year, Carthage and Salina, folded. The league returned to a 1st-half vs. 2nd-half winners championship format.
Later, an archbishop of Carthage named Cyriacus was imprisoned by the Arab rulers because of an accusation by some Christians. Pope Gregory VII wrote him a letter of consolation, repeating the hopeful assurances of the primacy of the Church of Carthage, "whether the Church of Carthage should still lie desolate or rise again in glory". 
By 1076, Cyriacus was set free, but there was only one other bishop in the province. These are the last of whom there is mention in that period of the history of the see.
During these centuries, Berbers of the western regions actively traded and intermingled with Phoenicians, who founded Carthage and its many trading stations. The name 'Libyphoenician' was then coined for the cultural and ethnic mix surrounding Punic settlements, particularly Carthage. Political skills and civic arrangements encountered in Carthage, as well as material culture, such as farming techniques, were adopted by the Berbers for their own use. In the 4th century, Berber kingdoms are referenced, e.g., the ancient historian Diodorus Siculus evidently mentions the Libyo-Berber king Aelymas, a neighbor to the south of Carthage, who dealt with the invader Agathocles (361-289), a Greek ruler from Sicily. Berbers here operated independently of Carthage.
The government of Carthage changed dramatically after the total rout of the Carthaginian forces at the battle of Himera on Sicily in 483 BC. The Magonid clan was compelled to compromise and allow representative and even some democratic institutions. Carthage remained to a great extent an oligarchal republic, which relied on a system of checks and balances and ensured a form of public accountability. At the head of the Carthaginian state were now two annually elected, not hereditary, Suffets (thus rendered in Latin by Livy 30.7.5, attested in Punic inscriptions as SPΘM , meaning "judges" and obviously related to the Biblical Hebrew ruler title "Judge"),
similar to modern day executive presidents. Greek and Roman authors more commonly referred to them as "kings", as they were in effect, if not in name, the monarchs of Carthage. SPΘ might originally have been the title of the city's governor, installed by the mother city of Tyre.
Subsequent Indo-Scythian rulers, who replaced the Stratos in their territories, designed their coins in direct imitation of those of Strato II. This is the case of the Northern Satraps, who ruled in the territories from Sagala in Eastern Punjab to Mathura, such as Rajuvula, Bhadayasa. Just as the Yuezhi had copied the coins of the last Greco-Bactrian ruler Heliocles in Bactria, or the Indo-Scythians had copied the coins of the last western Indo-Greek ruler Hermaios in the area of Kabul, here again the Indo-Scythian Northern Satraps relied heavily on the numismatics of their predecessors. The fact that powerful new rulers such as Rajuvula extensively adopted these coin designs tends to suggest that Strato II had been quite a significant ruler in his eyes. Notes
Madauros was the see of a Christian diocese. There were three famous bishops of this diocese: Antigonus, who celebrated the Council of Carthage (349); Placentius, who celebrated the Council of Carthage (407) and Council of Carthage (411); and Pudentius who was forced into exile, alongside others present at the Christian conference of Council of Carthage (484), because of the Vandal king Huneric.
Following these losses, Carthage sued for peace, but Pyrrhus refused unless Carthage was willing to renounce its claims on Sicily entirely. According to Plutarch, Pyrrhus set his sights on conquering Carthage itself, and to this end, began outfitting an expedition. However, his ruthless treatment of the Sicilian cities in his preparations for this expedition, and his execution of two Sicilian rulers whom he claimed were plotting against him led to such a rise in animosity towards the Greeks, that Pyrrhus withdrew from Sicily and returned to deal with events occurring in southern Italy.