Rome in the Footsteps of an XVIIIth Century Traveller

You may wish to see an introductory page to this section first.

Among the excursions from Tunis, that to Dougga, where the French archaeologists have been excavating, is much to be recommended. The theatre there is a perfect one. It is even in a better state of preservation than the Theatre of Dionysos at Athens. The Temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva is one of the gems of architecture in the whole of Tunisia. It is wonderfully perfect. There are also the Temples of Saturn and Caelestes, whose outlines the French have exposed. Apart from the antiquities, the picturesqueness of the country would claim for it a visit.
Murray's Handbook for travellers in Algeria and Tunisia - 1895

The Mejerda River valley seen from Thugga (see a landscape view of the town in the introductory page)

Dugga or Tugga, by a Similitude in Name and the great Variety of Ruins, might be very well taken for the antient Tucca, provided we had not found It called Thugga in the Inscriptions. It is situated upon the Extremity of a small Chain of Hills (..) having been formerly supplyed with Water by an Aqueduct.
Thomas Shaw - Travels, or, observations relating to several parts of Barbary and the Levant - 1738
Thugga was situated in the southern side of the Bagradas (today Mejerda) River valley in today's northern Tunisia. The river had its source in the Atlas Mountains at a height of more than 3,000 ft. During Roman rule, thanks to a complex system of irrigation, the valley became a granary which provided key supplies to Rome. Thugga and many other Numidian settlements became small prosperous towns with temples, baths, theatres and other public facilities.

Ancient ruins near the Arch of Alexander Severus

After the fall of the Roman Empire the stones of many ancient monuments and houses were used to build Arab towns which in some instances, e.g. Sicca Veneria/El-Kef, stood on the same site as the old Roman town or at a short distance from it. Thugga instead returned to being a small village of peasants who did not need to use the ancient buildings as a quarry and who regarded the remaining standing monuments as part of their heritage, similar to what occurred at Thignica.
Today the ruins of Thugga are included in an archaeological area, but farming activities continue to be carried on in its peripheral sections, something which helps in understanding the environment of the ancient town (for another similar archaeological site in a rural context see a page on Aizani, a forgotten Roman town in Turkey).

Punic-Libyan Mausoleum which is situated in the valley below the town

At Dougga there is also the Libyo-Punic monument from which Sir Thomas Reade removed the bi-lingual stone which is now in the British Museum. Murray
In 1628 Thomas d'Arcos, a former secretary of Cardinal François de Joyeuse was captured by corsairs and sold at the slave market of Tunis. He was freed in 1630, but he preferred to remain in Tunis and he converted to Islam. He remained in touch with many correspondents in Europe, including Cardinal Antonio Barberini, brother of Pope Urban VIII, and in 1631 he reported having visited a village where the portico of a Roman temple stood in pristine condition and where he saw a very unusual mausoleum with a bilingual inscription. Other travellers visited the site and reported other details about the mausoleum and its inscription. In 1842 Sir Thomas Reade, the British consul in Tunis, commissioned the removal of the inscription to send it to the British Museum (it opens in a separate window). The operation was made in such a maladroit way that the two upper storeys of the building collapsed.

Punic-Libyan Mausoleum: details of its decoration

The monument is dated IInd century BC and the personage for whom it was built is still unknown. It is aka Mausoleum of Ataban after the name of its architect. Elements of the decoration such as the chariots and the lion suggest that it was made for a great military leader and the first name which comes to mind is that of Massinissa, King of Numidia, an ally of the Romans during the Third Punic War. The design of the mausoleum is vaguely similar to a monument at Sabratha in today's Libya, to the Mausoleum of Theron at Agrigento and to later Roman mausoleums at Igel near Trier and Glanum near Avignon.

Capitolium (166-67 AD) seen from a breach in the Byzantine walls (see it in a 1906 painting by F. E. Nesbitt)

In 105 BC the Romans defeated Jugurtha, grandson of Massinissa, after a long war and Thugga was included in the province of Africa. Land in the Mejerda River valley was distributed to veterans and in 30 BC Legio III Augusta was permanently stationed in Africa. Thugga retains few traces of the early Roman rule; its main monuments are dated IInd and IIIrd century AD.
The Capitolium was a temple dedicated to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, the three deities who were worshipped in a great temple on the Capitoline hill in Rome. It was built at the centre of the Forum to celebrate the concession of Roman citizenship to the inhabitants of the town by Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, so it was more of a civilian building than a place of worship. The ceremonies which took place in this temple were linked to lay festivities, such as the foundation of Rome on April 21st and public announcements were made from its steps.

Capitolium: (left) relief portraying the apotheosis of Emperor Antoninus Pius; (right) a capital

Here are several Tombs, Mausolea, and the Portico of a Temple, very beautifully adorned with fluted Columns. On the Pediment of this Structure, there is the Figure of an Eagle finely displayed, and below It we have an Inscription, in Commemoration as we may presume of the Founders. Shaw
Roman emperors were deified after their death and so the relief on the tympanum portrayed Antoninus Pius, the predecessor of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus. The deification was symbolized by an eagle carrying the emperor to Heaven (see the relief on the Arch of Titus in Rome), however while at Thugga they used the traditional iconography, in Rome the apotheosis of Antoninus was depicted in a more elaborate way and the eagle was replaced by a beautiful winged man.

(left) Museum of Bardo: head of Emperor Lucius Verus found at Thugga (Lunense/Carrara marble); (right) Capitolium: interior of the cella with the niches for Jupiter, Juno and Minerva

In general archaeologists did not find in Tunisia as many statues as they expected considering the wealth of the country during Roman rule. Likely causes could have been the absence of a local school of sculpture and the iconoclastic fury of Early Christians and Muslims.
The wall with the niches for the statues of the gods is not a modern reconstruction, but together with the portico and the portal bearing the celebratory inscription, is the original part of the building which so impressed the first visitors to Thugga.

Capitolium: (above) dedicatory inscription by the donors (Marcius Simplex family) at the time of Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus; (below) inscription of the time of Emperor Tiberius making reference to "Pagi Thuggensis"

Over approximately two and a half centuries, two legally distinct communities, one comprising an indigenous population and the other a community of settlers who were Roman citizens, coexisted in the same town and on the same territory. They both equally participated in the development and flourishing of the city.
From the UNESCO synthesis of the universal value of Thugga which in 1997 was included in the World Heritage List.
The concession of Roman citizenship to the inhabitants of Thugga was limited to those of civitas, the town and did not extend to those of pagus, the countryside district around Thugga, because the inhabitants of the latter had it already as they were descendants of Roman veterans. Civitas and pagus were two separate bodies. There were differences in legislation and taxation which ended in 205 when Emperor Septimius Severus fused civitas and pagus into a municipium having jurisdiction over both the town and the surrounding rural district.

Temple of Pietas Augusti

For the ancient Romans pietas was a mixture of affection and compassion among human beings. It was symbolized by a crane. Many coins of the time of Emperor Hadrian had an inscription with the words Pietas Augusti on the back. Antoninus was given the epithet Pius with reference to this civic virtue he had promoted throughout his life. The small temple of Pietas Augusti at Thugga was built at the time of Emperor Hadrian according to a (lost) inscription quoted by Thomas d'Arcos in his letters. The temple is located on the street leading to the Forum.

Wind Rose Square and names of some winds: "Leuconotus" (White Notus), south-south-western wind; "Auster", southern wind; "Africus", south-western wind; "Septentrio", northern wind. Small cavities for a game with balls or dice are visible in the foreground; they can be seen also in another square of the town

In 1908-10 French archaeologists excavated the area near the Forum and they unearthed a paved square having a decoration with the names of twelve winds. The square linked the Forum with a marketplace of which only the foundations remain. A Temple to Mercury, god of trade, stood on the northern side of the square, close to the Capitolium. Temples to Mercury were found also in other towns, e.g. Mactaris and Thuburbo Majus. The eastern side of the square had the shape of a crescent with steps where the inhabitants of Thugga sat to chat, play and bet (you can see small cavities similar to those at Thugga at Philippi in Greece and Caesarea Philippi in Syria).

Museum of Bardo: mosaic found in a house near Wind Rose Square (IIIrd century AD)

Tunisia is famous for the number and quality of its Roman floor mosaics. These were usually found in large houses away from the centre of towns and more often in villas in the countryside. At Thugga instead archaeologists found an elaborate mosaic near Wind Rose Square. It was probably located in the dining room of the building and it was meant to invite guests to enjoy their meal and in particular the wine. It portrays two giant slaves pouring wine to guests from large amphorae. The Greek word PIE (drink!) is written on the right amphora to which the left amphora replies ZHCHC (and you will live!). Two servants at the sides of the giants bring flowers, a napkin and a vase with perfume. The words are Greek, but they were written in the Latin alphabet. Very few non-Latin inscriptions have been found at Thugga and in nearby towns; the language spoken by the natives was only oral and probably they never had an in-depth knowledge of the Punic alphabet, which continued to be used only in some big cities, e.g. at Leptis Magna.

Temples to Concordia, Frugifer (fruit-bearer) and Liber Pater (Dionysus/Bacchus) (128-38 AD) and the small mosque of Arab Dougga in the background

The construction of many temples and public buildings at Thugga was due to donations by the Gabinii, a local wealthy family. These donations facilitated their access to public offices which granted prestige and probably some indirect economic benefits. The dedication to Concordia, Frugifer and Liber Pater is an example of syncretism, the combining of different beliefs. Archaeologists found that the temples housed statues portraying the donors in addition to those of the deities.

Small theatre and the valley to the south of the town

The Gabinii built a sort of small theatre next to the Temple to Liber Pater, which was probably used for ceremonies associated with the cult of Dionysus/Bacchus, the god of winemaking, and in particular with initiation rites. Thugga was built on the slope of a terraced hill and it did not have the usual orthogonal street grid of Roman towns. It was linked by two short roads to that built by the Romans in the valley south of the town to link Carthage to Theveste, in today's Algeria, where Legio Augusta III was stationed.

The theatre seen from the top

Thugga had a theatre built at the time of Emperor Augustus by excavating the hill at the top of the town. It was entirely rebuilt at the same time as the Capitolium. It has been restored in order to allow safe performances during the Festival of Dougga, but it is not dramatically unlike the photos taken in the early phases of the archaeological excavations. It could seat an audience of 3,500 (the population of Thugga has been estimated in the range of 5-10,000). You may wish to see a page on Roman works of art related to theatrical performances.

(above) View of the theatre from the front; in the foreground parts of a long of inscription by the donor (Publius Marcius Quadratus) celebrating Emperor Antoninus Pius; (below) detail of the inscription

The design of Roman theatres during the period from Augustus to Emperor Alexander Severus is extremely consistent with only minor changes. You may wish to compare the theatre of Thugga with those at Sabratha, Miletus, Orange, Aspendos and Bosra.
In the long inscription the donor stated that he built theatrum cum basilicis et porticu et xystis (gardens) et scaena cum siparis (curtains) et ornamentis om[ni]bus with his own money. The donor was not the first one to spell out all the details of what he had done for the community: Emperor Augustus in his Index Rerum Gestarum, a list of what he had done for the Romans, did not hesitate to say exactly how many sesterces (Roman coins which were used as unit of account) he spent for each of his accomplishments.

(above) Small Byzantine fortress surrounding the Forum built with materials taken from ancient buildings, similar to what occurred at Musti and other towns; (below) inscription on the walls of the fortress which celebrated improvements to the Temple to Mercury

The "Golden Century" of Thugga can be set between the reigns of Emperors Hadrian (117-138) and Alexander Severus (222-235). Arches, baths, temples were built in addition to those illustrated in this page. Then something happened which led to the decline of Thugga in the early IVth century. In most of the other towns of the region there are monuments, usually churches, of the following centuries, but not at Thugga, apart from St. Victoria's, a poorly built church.
The image used as background for this page shows one of the few reliefs which were found in the town. It portrays a genius holding a cornucopia.

Move to page two: north-western quarters of the town or page three: south-eastern quarters or move to:
Introductory page
Aphrodisium and Sullectum
Bulla Regia
Carthage
Clypea (Kelibia)
Kerkouane (Punic)
Mactaris
Musti
Neapolis
Pheradi Majus
Pupput
Sicca Veneria
Sidi Ghrib Roman Villa
Simitthus
Sufetula
Thapsus and Leptis Minor
Thignica
Thuburbo Majus
Thugga
Thysdrus
Uppenna
Uthina
Utica
Ziqua
Mosaics in the Museum of Bardo
Mosaics in the Museum of Sousse