traditionally the oldest Phoenician settlement on the coast of North Africa. It is located near the mouth of the Majardah (French Medjerda, ancient Bagradas) River 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Tunis in modern Tunisia. After its founding in the 8th or 7th century &BC;, Utica grew rapidly and was second only to Carthage among Phoenician settlements in Africa. In the Third Punic War (149–146 &BC;), Utica sided with Rome against Carthage; after the destruction of Carthage it was made a free city and the administrative centre of the Roman province of Africa.
Utica supported Pompey against Julius Caesar in the Civil Wars and was the city where Marcius Porcius Cato the Younger committed suicide rather than surrender to Caesar. After Caesar's victory Utica was heavily fined, and Carthage (refounded by Caesar in 44 &BC;) became the new capital of Roman Africa. Utica became a municipium (a community that exercised partial rights of Roman citizenship) under Octavian (later the emperor Augustus) in 36 &BC; and a colonia (a Roman settlement with full rights) under the emperor Hadrian (ruled &AD; 117–138). Little is known of its later history. Excavations have uncovered a number of Phoenician graves dating from the 8th century &BC; onward and a substantial residential section of the Roman city.
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