Archaeological Sites
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Legend has it that Carthage (north of Tunis) was founded by the Phoenician Queen Elissa, also known as Dido, in 814 BC. Longstanding rivals of the Greeks, the Carthaginians – also known as the Punics – were in control of a network of trading posts in the Mediterranean, from Spain to Sicily. The Romans destroyed the city in 146 BC, then rebuilt it and made it the capital of the rich province of Africa. Some fragile remains of Punic Carthage can still be seen today: the areas where Mago and Hannibal lived and the Punic ports. The Roman ruins show the city’s opulence: the Baths of Antoninus, whose main room was 30 metres tall and whose cisterns had a capacity of 60,000m3, and the Basilica of Damous El Karita which was the largest in Africa, as well as many more.
Kerkouane
Punic civilisation has held on to many of its secrets. Carthage itself has only held on to a few rare vestiges of this time. Which is why Kerkouane (in Cap Bon) is so important. It has never been rebuilt since it was abandoned in the 3rd century BC. Kerkouane is a Punic Pompeii: you can see the typical urban layout of a small Carthaginian town. The wide, regular streets lead into squares and courtyards; the great gods of the Punic pantheon – Baal, Tanit, Ashtart, Eshmun and Melqart – were worshiped in an open-air sanctuary.
Dougga
The archaeological site of Dougga is one of the most spectacular in Tunisia. Its ruins are surrounded by olive trees and nestled into a cliff facing a slightly inclined plateau; over 70 hectares, they trace out the contours of an almost completely preserved Roman town. Once a royal Numidian town, in Roman times, Dougga, or Thugga, was adorned with decadent monuments: the Capitol, whose pediment bears a depiction of Emperor Antoninus’s elevation to godhood, the 3,500 seat theatre, the Temple of Juno Caelestis encircled by a semi-circular portico, where the Carthaginian goddess, Tanit, continued to be worshipped in secret. These monuments date back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries, a time of great prosperity for Roman Africa, and they are some of the best preserved of the whole Roman world.
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