Beautiful cape

Talking about the circumstances of the beginning of the Second Punic War , Polybius makes an excursion into the history of Roman-Carthaginian relations of the VI — IV centuries BC. e. The first treaty between the powers (510/509 ^[1] or 508 ^[2] BC) included, among other things, a ban on the Romans and their allies from sailing “beyond the Cape of Fine, unless they would be forced by a storm or enemies” ^{[ 3]} . If the Roman seafarers “against desire” nevertheless found themselves in this area, they were severely limited in trading opportunities and were obliged to retire within five days.

Polybius further clarifies that “The beautiful cape is that stretches right in front of Carthage towards the north” and expresses the idea that the ban was connected with the desire of the Carthaginians “to prevent the Romans from familiarizing themselves with the localities of Bissatida and Maly Sirtis , which are called by themEmporia and are distinguished by high merits ” ^[4] .

In the following Roman-Carthaginian treaty (348 BC), the Beautiful Cape was again mentioned with the addition of two other points: “The Romans are forbidden to walk on the other side of the Beautiful Cape, Mastia and Tarsius, both for booty and for trade and for the foundation of the city ” ^[5] .

Already in antiquity, the location of the Cape Verde was unclear ^[6] ; in addition, difficulty is caused by the interpretation of the expression “on the other side” ( dr. ἐπέκεινα ) ^[7] . Under the description of Polybius are several capes on the North African coast . Some researchers, including the famous commentator Polybius F.W. Walbank ^[8] , believe that the Cape of Fine is Cape Farina (also known as Sidi Ali al-Mecca), the extreme western point of the Gulf of Tunisia . Other localizations were proposed in the scientific literature: Cape Ben Secka (the extreme northern point of Africa ; also known as El Abyad, Ras Engela and Blanco) and Cape Et Thib (also known as Ras al Tib, Bon, Cap- Bon) ^[6] .

However, L. Wickert presented convincing evidence ^[6] that the Cape of Fine, contrary to the direct instructions of the ancient Greek historian, should be identified with Cape Palos or Nao on the Iberian Peninsula :

1. in case of African localization of the cape, the prohibition to swim for it becomes unclear, since it was possible to mean both the western and southern directions, and the Carthaginians could not allow for ambiguity; in identifying the Cape of Fine with Cape Nao in Spain, there is no ambiguity, for in this case only the southern direction could be assumed;
2. in the text of the agreement, when it is forbidden to trade over the cape, it is still allowed to trade in Libya , that is, in Africa itself;
3. in the second treaty, the Charming Cape and Mastia with Tartesses (in southeastern Spain) are indicated as limiting points of Roman navigation, which implies that in reality all these points were nearby ^[7] .

I. Sh. Shifman also inclines to this hypothesis ^[9] .

Yu. B. Tsirkin , like most modern scholars, rejects the localization of L. Wickert ^[10] , citing the following arguments. Firstly, in the commentary of Polybius on the treaty ^[4] it is clearly indicated that the prohibition applies to areas to the east (more precisely, to the southeast) of the Cape of Fine. But, if you do not pay attention to the Polybius commentary, you need to keep in mind that at the conclusion of the contract there were hardly any ambiguities, because the cape clearly indicates the limits of power or influence of Carthage, and they were well known to both contracting parties. Secondly, Libya clearly did not mean all of Africa, but only that part of it that was subordinate to the Carthaginians. In the text of the agreement there is no opposition between Libya and the Cape of Fine: both on the other side of the Cape of Fine Arts, and in Libya (as in Sardinia ) you can trade, but only through the mediation of the Carthaginian officials. Thirdly, the fact that in the second treaty the Restrictive Cape and the Mastia are referred to as restrictive clauses indicates more likely that the space between them was closed. One more important circumstance should be noted: we do not know the Latin or Punic original, but the Greek translation, and therefore we do not know how exactly the cape was called in the contract; in Africa, there are capes with similar Latin names: Promunturium Candidum (“Brilliant”) ^[11] and Promunturium Pulchri (“Beautiful”) ^[12] , while in Spain no similar name is mentioned in the sources .

F.W. Walbank notes that if we follow Polybius’s version of preventing the Romans from accessing Lesser Sirt, then ἐπέκεινα should be understood as “south and east of”. Then only Et-Teeb fits the description of the Beautiful Cape, because when choosing Farina, the capital of the Carthaginian state, lying between these two capes, is excluded from the access zone, while the second Roman-Carthaginian treaty explicitly states the opposite: “in Carthage the Roman, along with the citizen, is allowed to make a sale and all kinds of transactions ” ^[13] . The identification of the Cape Verde with At-Teeb is the oldest hypothesis in historical science on this issue. At the same time, a comparison of the very similar names оченьαλός ἀκρωτηρία and Promunturium Pulchri, as the Romans called Cape Farina, suggests itself. Therefore, some researchers, to whom Walbank himself joins, believe that Polybius misinterpreted the meaning of the treaties, and ἐπέκεινα should be understood as “west of Cape Farin”, that is, the Carthaginians thus defended their settlements scattered along the North African coast between the capital and Gibraltar the strait . Walbank considers the localization of Wickert unlikely, since there is no evidence that Rome's trade ties were in the 4th century BC. e. stretched so far west ^[8] .

• Mosolkin A. V. “Beautiful Cape” and dating of the first Roman-Carthaginian treaty // Politics, Ideology, Historiography in the Roman-Hellenistic world. Materials of the scientific conference dedicated to the 100th birthday of Professor Frank William Woolbank (Kazan, December 9–11, 2009). - Kazan: Fatherland, 2009. - S. 30-38 . - ISBN 9785922203135 . - ISSN 2310-7553 .
• Tsirkin Yu. B. Carthage and its culture . - M .: Nauka, 1986 .-- 287 p. - (Culture of the peoples of the East). - 5,000 copies. - ISBN 978-5-9989-0882-8 .
• Shifman I. Sh . Carthage . - SPb. : Publishing House of St. Petersburg University, 2006. - 518 p. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 5-288-03714-0 .