<P> The legend that the city was sown with salt remains widely accepted despite lacking evidence among ancient historical accounts; R.T. Ridley found that the earliest such claim is attributed to B.L. Hallward's chapter in Cambridge Ancient History, published in 1930 . Ridley contended that Hallward's claim may have gained traction due to historical evidence of other salted - earth instances such as Abimelech's salting of Shechem in Judges 9: 45 . Many historians have since issued retractions acknowledging Ridley . B.H. Warmington similarly admitted fault in repeating Hallward's error, but posited that the legend precedes 1930 and inspired repetitions of the practice . For this reason, Warmington suggested that the symbolic value of the legend is so great and enduring that it mitigates the deficiency of concrete evidence that it happened and is useful to understand how subsequent historical narratives have been framed . </P> <P> Starting in the 19th century, various texts claim that the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus Africanus plowed over and sowed the city of Carthage with salt after defeating it in the Third Punic War (146 BC), sacking it, and forcing the survivors into slavery . However, no ancient sources exist documenting the salting itself . The Carthage story is a later invention, probably modeled on the story of Shechem . The ritual of symbolically drawing a plow over the site of a city is, however, mentioned in ancient sources, though not in reference to Carthage specifically . When Pope Boniface VIII destroyed Palestrina in 1299, he issued a papal bull that it be plowed "following the old example of Carthage in Africa", and also salted . "I have run the plough over it, like the ancient Carthage of Africa, and I have had salt sown upon it ..." </P> <P> When Carthage fell, its nearby rival Utica, a Roman ally, was made capital of the region and replaced Carthage as the leading center of Punic trade and leadership . It had the advantageous position of being situated on the outlet of the Medjerda River, Tunisia's only river that flowed all year long . However, grain cultivation in the Tunisian mountains caused large amounts of silt to erode into the river . This silt accumulated in the harbor until it became useless, and Rome was forced to rebuild Carthage . </P> <P> By 122 BC, Gaius Gracchus founded a short - lived colony, called Colonia Iunonia, after the Latin name for the Punic goddess Tanit, Iuno Caelestis . The purpose was to obtain arable lands for impoverished farmers . The Senate abolished the colony some time later, to undermine Gracchus' power . </P>

Where was the carthage located and why did it compete with rome