Utica () was an ancient Phoenician and Carthaginian city located near the outflow of the Medjerda River into the Mediterranean, between Carthage in the south and Hippo Diarrhytus (present-day Bizerte) in the north. It is traditionally considered to be the first colony to have been founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa. After Carthage's loss to Rome in the Punic Wars, Utica was an important Roman colony for seven centuries. Utica no longer exists, and its remains are located in Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia – not on the coast where it once lay, but further inland because deforestation and agriculture upriver led to massive erosion and the Medjerda River silted over its original mouth. Name Utica () is an unusual latinization of the Punic name () or (). These derived from Phoenician ˁAtiq (), cognate with Arabic ˁatiqah () and Hebrew ˁatiq (, seen in the title of God, "Ancient of Days"). These all mean "Old" and contrast the settlement with the later colony Carthage, whose own name literally meant "New Town". The latinization is a little unusual in that the Latin U more often transcribed the letter W (i.e., waw) in Punic names. The Greeks called it Ἰτύκη. History Phoenician colony Utica was founded as a port located on the trade route leading from Phoenicia to the Straits of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean, facilitating trade in commodities like tin. The exact founding date of Utica is a matter of controversy. Several classical authors date its foundation to around 1100BC. The archaeological evidence, however, suggests a foundation no earlier than the eighth centuryBC. The inland settlement used Rusucmona ("Cape Eshmun") on Cape Farina to the northeast as its chief port, although continued silting has rendered the present-day settlement at Ghar el-Melh a small farming community. Although Carthage was later founded about 40 km from Utica, records suggest "that until 540BC Utica was still maintaining political and economic autonomy in relation to its powerful Carthaginian neighbor". Carthaginian rule By the fourth century BC, Utica came under Punic control, but continued to exist as a privileged ally of Carthage. Soon, commercial rivalry created problems between Carthage and Utica. This relationship between Carthage and Utica began to disintegrate after the First Punic War, with the outbreak of rebellion among mercenaries who had not received compensation for their service to Carthage. Originally, Utica refused to participate in this rebellion, so that the Libu