Carthage was a Phoenician colony on the coast of Tunisia. Carthaginian culture came into contact with the Greeks through Punic colonies in Sicily and through their widespread Mediterranean trade network. While the Carthaginians retained their Punic culture and language, they did adopt some Hellenistic ways, one of the most prominent of which was their military practices. In 550 BCE, Mago I of Carthage began a series of military reforms which included copying the army of Timoleon, Tyrant of Syracuse. The core of Carthage's military was the Greek-style phalanx formed by citizen hoplite spearmen who had been conscripted into service, though their armies also included large numbers of mercenaries. After their defeat in the first Punic war, Carthage hired a Spartan mercenary captain, Xanthippus of Carthage to reform their military forces. Xanthippus reformed the Carthaginian military along Macedonian army lines.