Salammbô is an 1862 historical novel written by Gustave Flaubert. The narrative is set in the ancient city of Carthage during the period immediately preceding and encompassing the Mercenary War.
Flaubert based his primary source material on Book I of the Histories, a work authored by the Greek historian Polybius. The novel gained significant popularity upon its initial publication and was later translated into English by Eleanor Marx in 1886, which introduced the work to the English-speaking world as a bestseller.
The publication of Salammbô is credited with sparking a renewed interest in the historical conflicts between the Roman Republic and the North African Phoenician outpost of Carthage.