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The Roman Cities
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The cities of the Roman Province of Africa supplied the Empire with two-thirds of their supply of duro wheat and olive oil. This trade enabled the provincial people to replicate and even enhance the lifestyle of cosmopolitan Rome. The most important archeological ruins the towns of Roman Africa lie in rural areas of Tunisia's North and Central Area.
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On the edge of a vast and fertile valley, Dougga is possibily the most impressive Roman city in the world. The well-preserved Theater, its large Temple of Caelestis and many smaller temples, the rows of cisterns, and the several baths reflect the high standard of living of its 5,000 inhabitants. There is a large capitol, the forum, and triumphal arches to honor Septime Serverus and Alexander Serverus. Underfoot are mosaic floors and superbly paved city streets. Interesting pre-Roman structures on the site include pre-historic dolmens, a Numidian wall and the Libyan-Punic mausoleum.
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| Temple at Dougga |
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| Underground Villa at Bulla Regia |
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Thuburbo Majus, which was built in the second and third centuries, is known for its palaestra, its capitol, its variety of temples, and its summer and winter baths.
Bulla Regia is the only archeological site in the Roman world with underground villas and their floor mosaics are excellent in both quality and preservation.
A trio of temples to Jupiter, Minerva and Juno distinguish the Forum of Sbeitla, a site whose buildings sit on a rectilinear grid and include several Byzantine churches.
Long before its promotion to the Roman colony under Marcus Aurelius, the 1000 m high Makhtar was a Numidian city. It is here Roman culture blended with the African, as seen in the intersting collection of objects in the Makhtar Museum.
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The third century Amphitheater of El Jem, build for 30,000 spectators, is only slightly smaller than that of Rome but rises in the midst of a sleepy village, where there is an excellent museum, a smaller amphitheater and excavations of villas with fine mosaics.
At Lamta, from which the Romans exported red slipware pottery throughout the Mediterranean, guests can visit the new museum and see excavations in progress.
The archeological site of Utica was originally Phoenician and includes a Punic necropolis. The Roman House of Cascades, has luxurious marble work and mosaics. Small objects from the excavation are found the Utica Museum
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Chemtou and Hadrain's Aqueduct are sites which help the visitor understand how the ancient Roman cities were built and maintained. The 100 km aqueduct, portions of which still stand to their full height today, supplied fresh water from the Roman fountain on Mount Zaghouan to the cisterns of Roman Carthage.
From the Roman quarries at Chemtou came the pink and yellow marble which was prized throughout the Roman world. The new Chemtou Museum explores not only the ancient marble trade but gives new insight into the Numidian-Berber civilization which played a role in the struggles between Carthaginians and Romans.
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