History Lovers
Tunisia
Rome burned it, demolished it, and poured salt in the ground. The most powerful city in the ancient world, erased on purpose.
The Forgotten Atlas — Field Report
Rome burned it, demolished it, and poured salt in the ground. The most powerful city in the ancient world, erased on purpose.
Carthage was the dominant power of the western Mediterranean for five centuries. A Phoenician city founded on the coast of what is now Tunisia, it built an empire that stretched from Spain to Libya, controlled the sea lanes, and produced Hannibal — the general who crossed the Alps with elephants and brought Rome to the edge of destruction. Rome fought three Punic Wars against Carthage over 118 years. After the third, in 146 BC, they did not just defeat the city. They burned it, demolished every structure, enslaved the surviving population, and poured salt into the earth so nothing would grow. The most powerful deliberate erasure in ancient history.
Carthage was not simply defeated. It was unmade. The Romans wanted not just the city gone but the memory of it gone. That they did not entirely succeed is what makes standing there so extraordinary.
The Forgotten Atlas
The Romans were thorough but not complete. The Punic tophet — the sacred precinct where Carthaginian religious ceremonies were held — survives. The Antonine Baths, built by the Romans on the ruins, are among the largest Roman baths ever constructed and command an extraordinary view over the Gulf of Tunis. The Byrsa hill, where the Carthaginian citadel stood, has a museum containing the best-preserved Punic artefacts in the world. And around the site, embedded in the walls of villas and gardens, fragments of the original city surface constantly — a sarcophagus lid here, a mosaic floor there.
Carthage today is a wealthy suburb of Tunis, which creates a strange effect: ancient ruins surrounded by manicured villas and embassies. The site is scattered across several locations connected by a pleasant coastal road. Take the train from Tunis — it runs along the Gulf of Tunis with the sea on one side and the ruins on the other. Spend half a day here and combine it with Sidi Bou Said, the extraordinary blue-and-white hilltop village ten minutes further along the coast.
Combine Carthage with Sidi Bou Said and the Bardo Museum in Tunis, which contains the greatest collection of Roman mosaics in the world. Three days in Tunis covers everything.
The site of the original Carthaginian citadel. The National Museum of Carthage here contains the most important Punic collection in the world.
The largest Roman baths outside Rome itself. The columns along the seafront are what most photographs show. The scale only becomes apparent when you stand in them.
The circular military harbour and the rectangular commercial harbour are still visible from the air and partially from the ground. Remarkable engineering.
Ten minutes away. Blue and white houses on a clifftop above the sea. One of the most beautiful villages in North Africa.
In Tunis medina. The finest Tunisian cuisine in the country served in a restored 18th century palace. The brik and the lamb couscous are outstanding.
On the clifftop in Sidi Bou Said. Pine nut tea and traditional sweets with a view over the sea. Come in the afternoon.
Traditional Tunisian food in an atmospheric setting in the Tunis medina. Reliable and generous.
A Tunis institution on Avenue Habib Bourguiba. Coffee, pastries, and watching the city pass. Go for breakfast.
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