Tunisia - again

[Scipio Bristolus]

I remember there were some discussions about what to see there. I went back again last month, and went to see, and can recommend;

The Antonine Baths at Carthage - the scale is absolutely epic. Makes the baths at er, Bath look pathetic. The surrounding ruins of parts of Punic and Roman Carthage are also worth a look (don't take pics of the adjacent Presidential Palace though....).

The Port at Carthage - less obvious, but interesting in its layout and scale.

The Tophet at Carthage - ok, mainly resited gravestones, but interesting as one of the few parts of Punic Carthage still visible. Some of them are now sitting (for 'artistic' purposes!) in a 2nd Cent. AD cistern, but still interesting. I took a lot of photos of the most interesting and detailed stones, which invariably have representations of Baal or Tanit on them - maybe inspirations for Punic shield designs?

Bardo museum at Tunis - the mosaics are stunning - and you can take photos. In the UK we get excited about a bit of a floor here and there, but there must be 100's of huge full colour ones at the Bardo, and they have so many that you are walking on them too. There are some marble and bronze statues, nik-naks and furniture pieces recovered from a wreck, and annoyingly, one room that you could look into but not enter due to redecoration had a tomb(?) with what looked like a signifer and aquilifer in civvies on its side.

The aquaduct and cisterns outside of Tunis are impressive.

Also saw the El Jem ampitheatre again, but that really needs a fish-eye lens to capture the scale of the place. I bought the CD which covers the history of it, the mosaics at the Bardo and so on. Didn't get time to see the earlier ampitheatre.

The girlfriend was impressed, so we are going back, so Thurbubo Majus and Dougga again, with hopefully a trip to Sbeitla and Bulla Regia!

Also went to the great mosque at Karouian, which has masses of reused Roman columns (about 90% of the 280 in the main hall I think - ditto for the big mosque in Tunis) plus other inscriptions and pieces. In fact, most old buildings in Tunisia have Roman pieces in them.

[Narukami]

If you every post photos of your trip on line please favor us with a link so we too can take a look at these splendors.

It is unlikely I will ever make it there in person, but these sights do sound like something worth seeing.

Thanks for the report.

:wink:

Narukami

[L. Aufidius Pantera]

Simon, you are evil :evil: - I haven't been back in over a year and you just opened all the wounds that were just beginning to heal... especially by mentioning Thuburbo, Dougga and Bulla Regia! You picked just about the best time of year to go!

If you make it "out west", make sure not to miss Chemtou! The museum is actually good, and the quarry remains are amazing, and the town with theatre etc is impressive, too. Also, try and combine Mactar with Dougga - prob my fav site, as not that many people actually make it there! (Pic = Forum)

C.

[Paullus Scipio]

Tunisia is something of a well-kept secret in the English speaking world, though the coastal resorts are very popular with Germans.....
For us Roman-lovers, Tunisia is an absolute treasure house. Whereas most Roman sites in Europe have long since been robbed of their stone, and are little more than foundations, this is not the case in North Africa.

Dougga, with at least one major Temple (the temple of Saturn dominates the skyline) and several other buildings all but intact, rivals Pompeii as a Roman site to see ( albeit more weathered and dusty).Even the public latrines,though roofless are intact! Nearby, Makthar is great...not least for a triumphal arch of Trajan! It also has some good Punic remains.Bulla Regia is not so impressive, but still worth seeing. Thuburbo Majus has impressive Baths and a temple of Baal, and was a prosperous centre from Punic times on...though it sided with Carthage, Scipio did not destroy it, and later it was used by Octavian/Augustus to settle veterans, and survived until Byzantine times, when it was abandoned....
(sigh!)....Bad Simon! Now I am thinking of the place and when it might be possible to return........

[sulla felix]

and annoyingly, one room that you could look into but not enter due to redecoration had a tomb(?) with what looked like a signifer and aquilifer in civvies on its side.

You mean like this:

[sulla felix]

and this:

[sulla felix]

and this:

[sulla felix]

and finally...

[Duncan Head]

The Tophet at Carthage...
Bardo museum at Tunis...

Anywhere else you'd recommend for Punic, rather than Roman, stuff? I gather there's not all that much in the Bardo, except for the bronze Campanian triple-disc armour - is that correct?

[Scipio Bristolus]

Sulla,

Thats the ones. My camera battery died too, so I didn't get many pics in the Bardo, so had to 'direct' my friend.

If someone recommends a photo hosting site, I'll put them up on there, plus the pics I took last time.

Tunisia is indeed full of Germans, and more to the point, its a dead cheap place to go and to stay!

Next time we may hire a car and driver (to go to Tunis, doing this it cost less than the coach tour - 140TD for four of us) and do Dougga and the other places.

Duncan - to be honest, I don't think there is much else. There are other bits at Carthage but they are mainly Roman. There is a large Punic monument at Dougga, which apparently is the only survivor, though the inscription is in the British Museum in London.

There are some excavations going on on the hill (forgotten the name) that was the centre of Carthage. Apparently when the Romans levelled it a lot of stuff was buried under the stuff pushed over the edge of the hill.

Thuburbo is odd - it looks like it still needs to be excavated, and when I was there last, I noticed that the track to the coach park was made up of gravel, bits of pottery and loads and loads of tessarae - like they'd gathered anything small and bitty that came to hand and used it to make the path.

[LUCIUS ALFENUS AVITIANUS]

At the Bardo museum there are principally the best mosaic collection af the world.

For punic collections, you must to go to a museum placed at Byrsa (a hill of Carthage were a cartaginian houses are preserved).

[Duncan Head]

Simon: thanks. That's about what I expected. I'd forgotten the Dougga monument, though: it's the mausoleum of a Numidian prince, IIRC.

Cesar: thanks, also. The Byrsa museum's on my list.

[Paullus Scipio]

The mausoleum at Dougga is indeed believed to be that of a Numidian Prince of the second Century B.C. - its importance is that it is also believed to be designed and built by a punic architect, and hence is the only intact example of punic architecture.....

As to ancient Carthage, Scipio Aemilianus did a very thorough job of razing it, but on the Byrsa hill they started at the top, and in demolishing the close-packed houses, buried others lower down the slope in rubble and debris.This was increased by the builders of the later Roman colony, so that the area was buried under about 10 ft of fill which has preserved the house outlines etc.Even furniture etc survived beneath along, apparently, with many Rhodian wine vessels! The chapel/small temple at Salaambo is in this area. When I visited the Byrsa museum some 25 years ago, there was not a great deal on display, mostly grave stelae from the topheth/cemetary and since this continued in use in Roman times, dating of these was problematic. There was very little indeed of any military significance.........

[L. Aufidius Pantera]

Duncan,

For Punic Stuff... try Kerkouane - pretty well preserved and, well, pretty. Full stop! Also nice and by the sea, so you can go there even in summer without melting away. Particularly nice things are the Tanit symbols in the opus signinum floors and the funky Punic seat-baths in every house. Well worth a visit! There's also a pretty cool Punic quarry at nearby El Haouaria (nearby being a somewhat relative term here... :-) ) )

C.