| Thugga دڨة | |
 | |
| State | Tunisia |
|---|---|
| Region | Northern Tunisia |
| Surface | 0.7 ha |
| Institutional website | |
Thugga or Dougga is an archaeological site of the Northern Tunisia.
To know
Thugga holds the vast ruins of a Roman city, located on a hill, included in the list of World Heritage Sites in Tunisia. It also has many other monuments dating back to pre-Roman times.
Plan to spend around 2 hours, and if you are driving, combine it with trips to the surrounding areas (ask the security guard at the ticket office for advice).
Unlike the Roman ruins of Carthage or even European cities where one or two remaining monuments are isolated in the middle of a modern city, in Thugga, the whole city is preserved, even the Roman streets. Without the barriers and the multitudes of tourists, you can take your time to climb in and out of houses, tunnels, temples and theaters.
Geographical notes
The archaeological site is located a few kilometers from the present city of Téboursouk, on a plateau that offers a clear view of the surrounding plains bathed by the wadi Khalled. The road to Thugga passes through beautiful rural and scenic countryside surrounded by olive plantations.
When to go
| The opus africanum |
 Opus africanum to Bulla Regia The Roman sites of Tunisia feature a constructive structure called opus africanum, because it is widely used in the Roman regions of Africa. L'opus africanum it consists of a "frame" obtained by inserting stone pillars and then completed with a filling of smaller and irregularly shaped stones, sometimes tied with earth or mortar. |
This site can be visited all year round, but during the summer the temperatures are scorching and the visit can be exhausting also due to the absence of shade. It is always best to plan in between seasons
Background
The human occupation of the site was early as evidenced by the presence of a necropolis with dolmens, the oldest archaeological evidence of Thugga, a sanctuary of Ba'al Hammon and neo-Punic votive steles.
As an ancient Numidian city marked by the influence of Carthage, the Romans attributed it during their conquest the status of an indigenous city (civitas). It then became a colony of Carthage during the reign of Augustus while it was part of the territory of the Roman colony of Carthage. For two centuries, two civil and institutional structures shared the same urban site.
With the advancement of Romanization, the two communities are getting closer. It was only during the reign of Septimius Severus, in 205 AD, that the two entities merged into a so-called free commune. From the reign of Diocletian and up to that of Theodosius the Elder, the city is prosperous, as evidenced by its monumental refinement. However, from the 4th century, the city went into torpor and Christianity left only modest traces.
The Byzantine period saw the forum area transformed into a fortress and many important buildings destroyed to provide the materials needed for construction. However, the site was never completely abandoned and remained a populated village for a long time, as evidenced by the small mosque installed on the site. The first Western visitors who left evidence of the site's remains date back to the 17th century. This trend continued over time. The best preserved monuments, including the Libyan-Punic mausoleum, have been the subject of descriptions and, at the end of the period, of architectural studies.
The establishment of the protectorate in 1881 saw the Tunisia establish an antiquities service, which made the reclamation of the Thugga site a priority in 1901, in parallel with the work carried out in Carthage. Excavations began until 1939. At the same time, restoration work was carried out on the Capitol, and on the Libyan-Punic mausoleum.
In the 1960s other buildings were unearthed and at the same time, the last inhabitants are driven from the site and resettled in a village located in the plain, a few kilometers from the ancient site, which bears the name of New Thugga. In 1991 the decision was made to transform the site into a national archaeological park. In 1997 the site became a Unesco world heritage site.
How to get
By car
From Tunis, take the A3 towards Medjez el-Bab. At the intersection with the P5 road, take the road on the left, towards Testour, in a southwest direction. Continue on Teboursouk. From there, you can reach the site in two different ways: either continue on the P5 road, towards the south, for about six kilometers, and arrive in Dougga from the south, taking a small road to the right; or take the RR74 road, in Teboursouk, for about two kilometers, before turning left, to reach the upper car park in front of the theater. From Tebersouk there are clear signs indicating the site.
From Jendouba, follow the P6 road, north-east, up to Bou-Salem. Continue on the C75 road for Thibar. From there, on the same road, reach Teboursouk and follow one of the two previous routes.
From Kairouan, take roads C99, C46 and C73 in the direction of Siliana. From this city continue north on the C73 road until the intersection with the C47 road, which is approximately three kilometers to the left. The P18 road, on the right (north), leads to Doukhania, then it joins the P5 road, which must be followed, always north, towards Teboursouk. The left fork leading to Dougga is about three kilometers away.
- 1 south parking.
- 2 north parking.
By bus
Take a bus (at least two hours) or a louage (80 minutes) for Teboursouk (pronounced Tebsook) from the Bab Saadoune louage / bus station (Gare de Routiere Nord) to Tunis.
By taxi
A taxi will take you a short distance from Dougga and then will pick you up again at an agreed time. Louage drivers often phone ahead to notify the taxi of a tourist's arrival. It is very convenient and fast but costs 15-20 DT for a short distance. If you can't reduce the price, remember that Dougga is a memorable place to visit and well worth it. In July 2016 there was only one taxi in Teboursouk, extremely crowded, which also served as a local bus, so arguing with the driver about the price is pointless.
Use the return trip by taxi to get to Teboursouk as there will almost certainly be no taxis waiting to pick up passengers departing from Dougga (being in the middle of nowhere).
Other
To limit the problems you could also join an organized tour departing from Tunis.
Permits / Rates
The entrance is 7 DT plus 1 DT for photos. The site is open from 16 September to 31 May: 08: 30-17: 30, from 01 June to 15 September: 08: 00-19: 00. During Ramadan: 8: 00-17: 00.
There are also some restrictions on access to areas.
The site is well maintained and there are precise indications and descriptions of the monuments in French and English.
How to get around
Thugga: full screen map.
The site obviously turns on foot and light sandals may not be the best footwear as the paths are, for the most part, cobbled and can be reasonably steep in places.
What see
As with other sites in Tunisia, the history of Dougga is not limited only to the Roman period. Here is an old Punic temple with a purifying bath and walls from the Phoenician period, which were later transformed and reused by the Romans. There is also a funerary monument, the Ateban Mausoleum, dating back to the 2nd century BC, one of three examples of Numidian royal architecture. His inscription is kept in the British Museum and the Punic-Libyan bilingual inscription was used to translate the Libyan script.
Many houses have preserved remains of mosaics, although the most beautiful have been dismantled and are now on display at the Bardo Museum in Tunis. Those that remain essentially represent geometric motifs: friezes, rosettes, palmettes ...
1 Thugga Theater (Next to the north entrance to the site). Built in 168 or 169 AD, it is one of the best preserved theaters in Roman Africa. It has 31 floors of steps and could seat 3,500 spectators and is the first thing you see upon entering the site. It is still used for shows. A dedication, engraved on the pediment of the stage and on the portico overlooking the city, commemorates its builder, P. Marcius Quadratus. 
The forum and the square of the rose of the winds
This is one of the most important areas of the site and one of the best preserved. The various monuments it contains are easily readable, giving the impression of what the neighborhood must have been like in the past.
- 2 Thugga Mosque (east of the compass rose square). A small building with Roman columns inside built on the temple of Fortuna.
- 3 Market (Macellum) (In front of the temple of Mercury, south of the square of the compass rose). This market dates back to the first half of the 1st century AD. Notice the marks on the floor where the door hinges of individual shops once stood. Although placed next to the forum it actually had no direct connection.
- 4 Piazza della Rosa dei Venti. Look for the signs on the floor (still perfectly intact) with the 12 winds described in Latin characters.
Thugga Mosque
_01.jpg/260px-Forum_(Dougga)_01.jpg)
Piazza della Rosa dei Venti
Hole
_01.jpg/260px-Forum_(Dougga)_01.jpg)
- 5 Capitol (Located near the market and the forum). A Roman temple from the 2nd century AD, mainly dedicated to the protective triad of Rome: Jupiter Optimus Maximus, Juno Regina and Minerva Augusta. The Capitol has a six-column peristyle, with fluted columns and Corinthian capitals. The four columns on the facade support a triangular pediment carved in bas-relief. The cell walls are still standing.
- 6 Hole (The space west of the Capitol). This place was the center of the political and economic life of the Roman cities. Notice the statue with the images of four gods on two sides.
- 7 Temple of Mercury (Next to the Capitol). This temple, located to the right of the facade of the Capitol, is placed on an esplanade raised by four steps with respect to the Forum. Only an intact column remains, with a smooth shaft and Corinthian capital.
- 8 Temple of the piety of Augustus (East of the Piazza della Rosa dei Venti, next to the mosque). Only four rectangular columns remain of this temple, two of which are intact and two are broken.
East area
- 9 House of the Gorgon.
- 10 House of the seasons.
- 11 Arch of Septimius Severus. The arch was built under the government of Emperor Septimius Severus on the occasion of the creation of the town hall in 205. It was located at the entrance to the city in the road that led to Theveste (Tebessa), to the east.
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- 12 House of the Trifolium (Trifolium) (Next to the Terme dei Ciclopi). A large house used as a brothel, in the southern part of the city with well-preserved walls and columns. It consists of a floor at street level (of which almost nothing is left) and a lower one that takes advantage of its slope. Access was through a portico with two columns on the street, and one entered a room from which the stairs descended to the lower floor, organized around a patio surrounded by a portico and occupied in the center by a garden. In the western gallery there were the three doors of the large room, which also overlooked another room to the north, in the southern part the rooms were smaller; in the area of the portico there was a cistern and next to it a fountain. In a stone there is a penis and two breasts, which mark the direction.
- 13 Baths of the Cyclops (Baths of the Cyclops) (Next to the Casa del Trifolium). The part that remains easily recognizable of the internal building of the baths are the latrines that are part of the frigidarium. The name of the baths derives from the mosaic in which Cyclops are represented and which is now preserved at the Bardo. The droppings from the latrines were collected in a cistern and then used as fertilizer.
- 14 Temple of Pluto (near the arch of Septimius Severus). This temple is known as "of Pluto" but its dedication is not certain because it is based only on the discovery of a bust in the courtyard dated between the 2nd and 3rd centuries.
- 15 Libyan-Punic Mausoleum (Mausoleum of Ateban or Mausoleum of Massinissa) (in the southern part of the city). A monument easily recognizable for its square plan, surmounted by a pyramid. It is one of the very rare examples of royal Numidian architecture, another example is located in Sabratha in Libya. This 21-meter-high tomb built in the 2nd century BC. it was considered dedicated to Atban, son of Jepmatath and Palu, according to the text of the inscription that has been found. This inscription, whose precise position is on a false window of the podium, is not the only one because another bilingual inscription that adorns the other side has been lost. According to latest studies, the names mentioned are only those who built the building, because the monument would have been built by the inhabitants of the city for the Numidian prince Massinissa.
- The tomb consists of a pedestal of five steps. On the north wall of the podium, the first of the three floors, a window closed by a plate opens the burial chamber. The other faces are decorated with false windows, the four corner pillars are of the Aeolian order. The second level consists of a temple-shaped colonnade (naïskos), whose columns flanking each side are of the Ionic order. The third and last level is the most richly decorated: in addition to the corner pillars similar to those of the first level, it ends in a pyramidion. The statuary elements also persist.
- 16 Temple of Concord, Frugifer and Liber Pater (East of the Antonini baths).
- 17 Small theater (Auditorium) (South-east of the Lycinian Baths and south of the Concordia temple). A small theater attached to the temple of Liber Pater which was probably to serve as a place for the initiation of novices. There are some intact ends of steps obtained in a narrow area by walls and unevenness of the ground but very panoramic.
West area
- 18 Arch of Alexander Severus (From the shoulders of the forum, take a road that leads to the arch). Dedicated to the emperor Alexander Severus, it was built in 228, it was one of the city gates at the entrance to a road that connected to the road between Carthage and Tébessa.
- 19 Temple of Juno (Junon Caelestis Temple) (Through an olive grove there is a sign indicating the way). This temple is dedicated to Juno, successor of the Punic god Tanit. Its well-preserved temenos is bordered by a Phoenician wall, a large part of which is very well preserved. The interior has Roman columns. On the right side there is a small pit from the Punic period used for purification.
- 20 Cistern of Ain El Hammam. These four cisterns, now almost completely collapsed, provided water for the upper part of the city. They are preceded by two stones engraved with Latin inscriptions.
- 21 Aqueduct of Thugga (North of the temple of Juno). This aqueduct is one of the best preserved and carried water from a source located about 12 km away and which fed the many cisterns of the city.
South of the hole
- 22 Temple of the Victory of Caracalla (Temple of the victories of Caracalla) (west of the House of Venus, alongside). Built in honor of the emperor Caracalla, during his reign, probably during the beginning of the third century. Access was through a side door by means of three steps leading to a large tiled room, facing north from another rectangular room with a portico, accessed by a monumental staircase. This temple expresses the desire to build a building different from the others already existing in the place, also bound by the topography of the land. The circumstances of its construction are known through the dedication of the year 214, which consecrates the temple to the goddess of Victory, informing of the emperor's campaigns and for the salvation of Caracalla and his mother Giulia Domna. The text includes the military plans of Septimius Severus' son and his celebration, as well as reports that the construction of the temple was ordered by the will of a lady named Dougga Gabinia Hermione, with the will that her heirs would bear the costs. an annual banquet on the anniversary of the temple's dedication.
- 23 House of Dionysus and Ulysses.
- 24 House of Venus (Between the Dar Lacheb temple and the Victory Temple of Caracalla). In this building there is a beautiful mosaic with elegant decorations.
- 25 Dar Lacheb (east of the House of Venus, alongside). Temple dedicated to an unidentified deity. The frame of the portal, with the lintel still in position, is particularly characteristic. To its left is a fluted column. From Dar El Acheb, we have a beautiful view of the surrounding countryside and the presence inside it of inscriptions placed on the edges.
- 26 Licinian Baths (Baths of the Antonini) (South of the Temple of Concord). 3rd century building with three rooms for warm, hot and cold baths. Located in the city center and used in winter. It is possible to go through the tunnels where the slaves heated the water that reached the three bathrooms.
- 27 Tellure Temple (Tellus Temple). Tellure is the Roman goddess of the Earth and protector of fertility, the dead and against earthquakes. A goddess equals Great Mother. The walls of the temple are relatively well preserved. Notice an entrance with a semicircular arch. Of the peristyle, only six more or less complete columns remain.
- 28 Aïn Doura thermal baths (near the Aïn Doura cisterns). This building dating from the late second and early third century is not accessible but visible in the distance as it has not yet been adequately excavated.
- 29 Cisterns of Ain Doura (Next to the backhoe of Ain Doura). A series of tanks whose structure is almost completely intact.
North of the theater
- 30 Hippodrome (Near the Temple of Minerva). Erected in 225 at the expense of private benefactors. It measured 393 meters in length is quite exceptional for North Africa. Almost nothing remains of the structure but a few stones. At the Bardo there is a mosaic representing him.
- 31 Temple of Minerva (Near the racecourse). Of this temple, there are only four cylindrical columns still standing.
- 32 Dolmen (North of the Temple of Minerva, near the Roman tombs). There are many archaeological questions regarding the dating (likely to the second millennium BC) also due to a use that could have lasted until the beginning of the Christian era.
- 33 Temple of Saturn. Saturn is the heir of the Punic god Ba'al Hammon and the stepson of Tanit or Junon Caelestis. The remains of this temple, small compared to those of the Capitol and Junon Caelestis temple, but are particularly interesting for their environment, with the ruins perched on a promontory overlooking the rich valley, 160 meters away outside the boundaries of the city. The remains of a temple in Ba'al Hammon were discovered during ex-votos excavations. This sanctuary is essentially made up of a vast open space that welcomes votive offerings and sacrifices. It was filled to allow the construction of the temple of Saturn whose ruins are visible today. The construction dates back to the reign of Septimius Severus. It consists of three cells, a porticoed courtyard and a vestibule. The roof water was collected in reservoirs.
- 34 Victory Church (north-east of the site, under the temple of Saturn). It is the only Christian building revealed by excavations so far. Between the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th century, a Christian community settled in a pagan cemetery with a small church with an irregular plan.
- 35 Hypogeum of Thugga (Next to the Vittoria church). The Hypogeum is a half-buried building, dating back to the third century, built in the middle of an ancient cemetery excavated in 1913. It was intended to house funerary urns in small niches arranged in the walls, it also contains sarcophagi that suggest a long use in the time.
Other
- The Roman roads. On the main roads (for example the wide road to Carthage), you can see the cuts for the horses to prevent them from slipping and the holes in the doors to tie them. Under the streets are the Roman sewers: various stones on the main road could be raised to let the water out in periods of flood.
- 36 Cistern of Ain Mizeb.
- Brothel (Halfway between Dar Lacheb and the Ateban Mausoleum). An environment with small rooms around a main courtyard. You can access it by going through the smaller theater which is just below the area towards the valley, exiting the steps.
What to do
Take lots of photographs, stroll through the olive groves, sit back and admire the majesty of the place.
For those who wish, there are several tourist guides on site. It will not be difficult to find them, they will be the ones to ask.
Shopping
No facilities on site and around. Don't be surprised if a local farmer or shepherd tries to sell Roman "artifacts".
Where to eat
There is a small shaded area with tables where you can buy cold drinks, snacks, postcards and use the restrooms.
- 1 Coffee bar.
- 2 Dar jdoud dougga (under the south entrance), ☎ 216 97 306 697.
91 DT for a meal for two at a fixed price (February 2019). 
Mon-Sun 6: 00-21: 00. This restaurant offers only one option: a meal of soup, salad, and couscous. Expensive by local standards but tasty and a pleasant setting.
91 DT for a meal for two at a fixed price (February 2019). 
Mon-Sun 6: 00-21: 00. This restaurant offers only one option: a meal of soup, salad, and couscous. Expensive by local standards but tasty and a pleasant setting.Where stay
There is no accommodation facility in the immediate vicinity of the site.
Safety
Make sure you have a supply of water although you can buy it - along with other drinks - on site. If you shop locally make sure you find a reputable store - street vendors have been known to fill empty bottled water containers with tap water.
The site is not suitable for wheelchair users. Several points, such as the Capitol, have particularly dangerous and unmarked high differences in height.
How to keep in touch
Internet
There are no internet and wifi stations.
Around
- Bulla Regia - Roman archaeological site 70 km
