The novel was enormously popular when first published and jumpstarted a renewed interest in the history of the Roman Republic's conflict with the North African Phoenician outpost of Carthage.

After the legal troubles that followed the publication of Madame Bovary, when he was tried and acquitted on charges of "immorality",[1] Flaubert sought a less controversial subject for his next novel.

Its descriptions of Carthaginian costume influenced contemporary fashions and the attention it paid to Roman North Africa inspired new interest in archeological exploration there.

The fictional title character, a priestess and the daughter of Hamilcar Barca, the foremost Carthaginian general, is the object of the obsessive lust of Matho, a leader of the mercenaries.

The opening passage: It was at Megara, a suburb of Carthage, in the gardens of Hamilcar, that the soldiers whom he had commanded in Sicily were holding a great feast to celebrate the anniversary of the Battle of Eryx.

The master was absent, their numbers were large, and accordingly they ate and drank in perfect freedom.The description of child sacrifice in chapter 13: The brazen arms were working more quickly.