This weekend the Wall Street Journal reviewed Carthage Must Be Destroyed by Richard Miles, a book that looks at the social milieu of this great Mediterranean empire rather than the minutiae of battles, which has too often been the focus of books about Carthage. Rome sought to wipe out its great rival in every way, physically reducing the city to rubble, rebuilding a Roman city on top, and presenting the victor’s view of Carthage to history. Miles’s book, with the advantage of some excellent archaeological finds and advances seeks to return historical memory to a fuller, more accurate understanding of this civilization, which, after all, predated Rome and culturally surpassed Rome in many ways. One tantalizing piece that has bubbled up from various archaeological finds is the confirmation that indeed Carthage engaged in child sacrifice, but it turns out to be a rite with a complicated history reflecting the ups and downs of Carthage’s fortunes. Here’s the WSJ review of this interesting book.