The Only Use of
Carthage
in
Moby Dick
Uses with a meaning too rare to warrant foucs:
- Besides though New Bedford has of late been gradually monopolising the business of whaling, and though in this matter poor old Nantucket is now much behind her, yet Nantucket was her great original—the Tyre of this Carthage;—the place where the first dead American whale was stranded.†
Chpt 1-3
Definitions:
-
(1)
(Carthage as in: the ancient city-state) an ancient city-state on the north African coast near modern Tunis; founded by Phoenicians; destroyed and rebuilt by Romans; razed by Arabs in 698 so Crusaders could not use it as a base of operations
-
(2)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Less commonly, Carthage can refer to any city with that name including the modern city in Tunisia that includes the site of the ancient city.