Thuburbo Majus is a well-preserved Roman site in northern Tunisia, located on a fertile plain just 60 kilometres southwest of Tunis. The city was founded as a Roman veteran colony by Augustus in 27 BC and features impressive ruins, including a forum, capitolium, amphitheatre, temples, baths, and houses.
The city, whose name Thuburbo indicates Berber origins, experienced a period of Punic occupation from the 3rd to 2nd centuries BC. The Romanisation process started during Augustus’ reign when he established a Roman veteran colony. This allowed military veterans to begin their post-army lives with land of their own. Hadrian elevated the city to the status of a municipium, known as Municipium Aelium Hadrianum Augustum, which encouraged an urban boom. A few decades later, Commodus declared the city a colonia, which was given the more impressive title of Colonia Julia Aurelia Commoda.
The town’s elevated status led to further construction projects, including the Forum and the Capitolium. Thuburbo Majus thrived and developed into a significant provincial metropolis with around 10,000 inhabitants. Luxurious residences adorned with intricate mosaics and a variety of public monuments were built.
Several ruins in Thuburbo Majus indicate the presence of Christianity, including a temple that was converted into a church in the late 5th century AD. The city began to decline in the early 6th century AD and appears to have been gradually abandoned during the 7th century AD.
The site has been partially excavated, with the initial work carried out by French archaeologist Charles Joseph Tissot in 1857. The significance of the discoveries was so great that excavations continued for another century (1936). Many mosaics were unearthed and removed from the site, now housed in the Bardo Museum in Tunis.
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The House of the Trussed Animals, the Baths of the Capitol and the Capitolium.The House of the Trussed Animals. The house was laid out around a peristyle (9 x 1.80m) that enclosed a garden bounded by eight columns. A large triclinium, an oecus and a cubicula opened toward the garden.The well-preserved Forum was built between AD 161 and 192. It was a vast square covering an area of about 1,400 m², surrounded by porticoes of cipollino green columns on three sides. The northwest side of this square is occupied by the Capitolium, in front of which a large masonry altar was erected.The Forum.The Capitolium was built on a massive podium in AD 168 and was dedicated to the Capitoline Triad of gods: Jupiter, Juno and Minerva.The Capitolium stood on a high podium with then fluted Corinthian columns of pink limestone. The building included carved Latin dedications to Marcus Aurelius, Commodus and the triad of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. It was reached by a wide flight of stairs leading up from the Forum.The Capitolium’s vaulted basement rooms were converted into cisterns, while the basement of the cella was transformed into an oil mill. The pressing platform, counterweight, and settling basins of the oil mill still remain.The Temple of Peace, northeast of the forum. The temple had a marble-paved courtyard and a peristyle leading to a large marble hall. A statue of peace is thought to have once stood here.Stone relief of Pegasus in the Temple of Peace with the Capitolium in the background.View towards the Macellum (market), the Temple of Mercury and the Capitolium.The House of Bacchus and Ariadne. This large house, occupying most of an insula, dates to its current form from the early 5th century AD. The rooms were arranged around a peristyle garden. The mosaic depicting Bacchus and Ariadne in the large room that opens off the northwest portico gave the house its name. The southwestern part of the house was dedicated to business activities, including the production of olive oil.The Palestra of the Petronii, built in AD 225 at the expense of Petronius Felix and his sons.The Palaestra of the Petronii was a square courtyard surrounded by a Corinthian portico located between two baths. It was used for games and gymnastic activities (wrestling, boxing, pankration) before bathing.The Corinthian portico of the Palaestra of the Petronii with a relief depicting a Maenads, a female follower of Bacchus.Part of the dedicatory inscription that stood on the portico. It indicates that the construction of the palaestra was also financed by the decurions. ILAfr 00271The Summer Baths. They covered an area of approximately 2800 m² and were restored in AD 136.The Summer Baths had cold, warm, and hot rooms, fed from three large cisterns. The rooms were all lavishly decorated with marble, mosaics, and fountains.The Temple of Caelestis (Tanit). Very little remains of the Temple of Caelestis, originally the Carthaginian goddess Tanit (the wife of Baal Hammon), except the gate and a Punic column. The temple was turned into a church in the 6th century AD.The Temple of Baalat, a small square temple dedicated to the Punic goddess Baalat, chief goddess of the ancient city of Byblos (Gebal) in Phoenicia.The Temple Baalat, whose plan shows both Roman and Oriental influence, features a semicircular porticoed courtyard with an angular outline, preceded by a small prostyle temple that stands on a podium.The Temple of Ceres, turned into a church. The temple had a 900m2 courtyard decorated with mosaics and a portico with three gateways. Later, this portico became a church, and the cella became the baptistery.The Temple of Ceres, turned into a church. Numerous tombs were placed in the church, one of which revealed jewels.The Eastern Gate. Thuburbo Majus was not fortified, so it had no walls. The entrance to the town was marked by celebratory arches, one of which still stands on a hill to the east of the site.The ruins of the amphitheatre on the outskirts of the site.The south entrance of the amphitheatre.A massive cistern that supplied the town with water. It was once vaulted in concrete.The Western Gate.The Winter Baths, completed between AD 392 and 408. The bathhouse had more than 20 rooms organised around the frigidarium and covered an area of approximately 1600m².A hall in the Winter Baths with columns from Simitthus (Chemtou).Latrines in the Winter Baths, located to the southwest of the frigidarium.The House of Neptune (Maison de Neptune) is one of the best-preserved houses in Thuburbo Majus. It is a large residence in the early 3rd century AD. The house was laid out around a peristyle garden, with four porticos supported by twelve columns. A low wall separated the porticos from the garden.The peristyle garden of the House of Neptune (Maison de Neptune) has a semicircular basin on the east side, originally decorated with a scene showing Oceanus.Fountain basin from the House of Neptune with a scene showing Oceanus surrounded by sea monsters carrying Nereids. National Museum of Bardo.A room paved with polychrome geometric mosaic in the House of Neptune (Maison de Neptune).
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