UTICA ('Ι τύκη ), an ancient Phoenician colony in Africa near the mouth of the Bagradas (Majerda), about 20 miles north-west of Carthage. The site, which is still covered with ruins, including those of a vast amphitheatre, lies on a hill which is now 8 or 10 miles from the coast, but in ancient times a bay ran close up to the city, and the remains of quays can still be traced. Founded 1101 B.C. (see vol. xviii. p. 806), Utica was nearly three centuries older than Carthage. The two cities were generally allies; but Utica, jealous of its neighbour, sometimes acted independently, and in the Third Punic War it made a separate peace with Rome, and reaped the fruits of the destruction of the greater Punic city, becoming the emporium of Roman trade and the capital of the province, till Carthage was rebuilt by Caesar in 44 b.c. It was here that the younger Cato killed himself. Utica received the Roman civitas from Augustus, was made a colony by Hadrian, and received the jus Italicum from Septimius Severus. The city was finally destroyed by the Arabs.

The name of Utica is probably Phoenician, and is generally taken to stand for עת׳קה, the “old” city, perhaps as distinguished from Carthage, the “new city.” Olshausen, however, suggests the form צתוק (“colony”). The ruins at Bú Shátir were identified with Utica by Shaw. For plans and a reconstruction, see Daux, Emporia Phéniciens, and atlas to Tissot, Géog. Prov. Rom. d'Afrique (1888)....