Carthage Tophets

Times of crisis in the Phoenician city of Carthage brought great loss to elite parents. Carthaginians would sacrifice their own children to please their gods, Baal and Tanit. Usually the children would be young males. Once burned, their bones and ashes were placed in urns, which were buried in walled enclosures called tophets. Sadly, the popularity of this sacrifice only grew with time.

For more information on tophets and Carthaginian burial, click here.

Nubian Gold Mines

 Painting of Nubians offering gold to Egypt

The discovery of gold highly impacted the Nubians. Not only did it help start their civilization, but it also led to their downfall. Nubia shared the Nile with another civilization called Egypt. Egypt's hunger for gold caused them to take over all of Nubia, including their mines of the abundant metal. They didn't just keep it all for themselves, though. Egypt spread their new resource to many places in the Mediterranean. With their secret now exposed, the Nubians fell under Egyptian influence for many years, forced to take on Egyptian culture and religion.

I would highly recommend reading this article by National Geographic for additional information, as well as current news on this topic.

Map of an ancient Nubian gold mine