ABSTRACT
Rome ruled North Africa effectively from 146 BCE following the end of the Third Punic War and the destruction of Carthage. Roman Africa was created as a province under a proconsul as early as 40/39 BCE. By 36 BCE Octavian had become undisputed master of Africa and a process of Romanisation proper had begun. This chapter discusses the history of Roman Carthage from that time until towards the close of the second century CE, part from reports of riots, possibly over grain shortages, in the late 180s during the proconsulate of P. Helvius Pertinax, the future emperor. Jews only appeared in Carthage in the Roman period but by the late second century they were a significant community within the city. There are traces of a Jewish cemetery with some 200 tombs and evidence for at least one synagogue. Since the Jewish presence in Carthage began only at this time, there developed in Carthage a Rabbinic form of Judaism.
