For a long time, historians struggled to explain Carthago’s collapse. A thriving civilization, maintaining a complex network of political and cultural ties with neighboring empires, disappeared from the historical records seemingly overnight. Documents from Babylon or Persia simply don’t mention Carthago after a certain date, Material evidence no longer appears in archeological digs. 18th century writers suggested the cause was simply “decadence”. Modern historians sought a material explanation, offering theories about changing climate, invaders from the sea, or depletion of the sea snail colonies that were apparently crucial to the economy.
Recently, however, an old manuscript discovered in an Italian monastery and purporting to be a copy of the writings of an ancient chronicler (whose name was anachronistically given as Thomas) have offered a new explanation. At first it seemed absurd, perhaps written as cautionary tale by a medieval monk. As the chronicle was studied further, historians had come to reluctantly accept its veracity, and its account of Carthago’s glorious last days.
We now know Carthago never collapsed at all. They were just partied out.