Die Karthager, 2d ed.

• Author: Niemeyer, Hans Georg

When in 1985 Werner Huss published for the first time his History of the Carthaginians in the long-established Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft, it was immediately acclaimed for its competent scholarly judgment and for its abundant bibliographic documentation. To report and discuss the contents of this now classic book to the scholarly community seems superfluous. See, for example, the reviews of J. Beranger, Museum Helveticum 44 (1987): 295; M. Koch, Gottingische Gelehrte Anzeigen 239 (1987): 284-96; and K. W. Welwei, Historische Zeitschrift 245 (1987): 414-17. Because of its reliability it is today an indispensable reference book for any serious investigation in the field of Carthaginian or, more broadly, Phoenician studies. One reviewer compared Huss's book to St. Gsell's almost legendary Histoire ancienne de l'Afrique du Nord (J. Debergh, L'Antiquite classique 61 [1992]: 625). Note, though, that major stress was placed on the history of the three Punic wars: 242 pages out of 457 (a balance perpetuated in this "edition minor": 180 pages out of 390!).

It is thus understandable that such a valuable book was chosen in 1990 to be incorporated into the well-known series, Beck'sche Sonderausgaben (see L.-M. Gunther, Historisches Jahrbuch der Gorresgesellschaft 113 [1993]: 182). The second edition here under review forms part of a new Beck'sche Historische Bibliothek, designed on the model of the Sonderausgaben. In the series format, the text of a given book within the publisher's scholarly program is printed more or less unchanged but for a little smoothing and a more convenient typography. Entirely omitted are the footnotes. In their place, an extensive and systematic bibliography is added. Smoother reading results. Besides minor corrections and additions there is one major change: the great Mago, powerful Carthaginian general of the late sixth century B.C., according to Justin (XIX 1, 1) and others, and the first known of the Magonids, is being eliminated from history. He is simply replaced by...