An ancient city and state of northern Africa on the Bay of Tunis northeast of modern Tunis. It was founded by the Phoenicians in the ninth century BC and became the center of a maritime empire in the Mediterranean after the sixth century BC. The city was destroyed by the Romans at the end of the Third Punic War (146 BC) but was rebuilt by Julius Caesar and later (AD 439-533) served as capital of the Vandals before its virtual annihilation by the Arabs (698).