55. From Tunis to Dougga ( Le Kef )

Excursionists to Dougga usually start from the station of Medjez el-Bab (Hôt. des Colons; p. ), 41 M. by train from the S. Station at Tunis (in 1¼–2½ hrs.; fares 7 fr. 40, 5 fr. 60, 3 fr. 95, return 10 fr. 35, 7 fr. 85, 5 fr. 55 c.). Thence by motor-omnibus (starting every morning; 5 fr.) to Dougga direct. Or we may take a carriage (30 fr.; ordered in advance at the Hôt. des Colons) or the diligence (6 hrs.; 2½ fr.) from Medjez el-Bab to (28 M.) Teboursouk, whence we go on to (3¾ M.) Dougga by carr. (5–6 fr.) or on mule-back (3–4 fr.).—The journey may be made also from the station of Pont-de-Trajan (p. ; 66½ M. by railway in 2¾–4 hrs.; fares 12 fr., 9 fr. 10, 6 fr. 40 c.); ride thence (mule being ordered beforehand at Béja, p. ) viâ Henchir Maâtria to (17½ M.) Teboursouk; or from the station of Gaffour (p. ; 75 M. in 4½–5½ hrs.; fares 13 fr. 55, 10 fr. 30, 7 fr. 25 c.); ride thence across Jebel Sidi Abdallah Ben-Cheid to (19 M.) Teboursouk.

The excursion from Tunis to Dougga and back, in one day, is far more easily made by motor-car (p. ). Motoring parties are occasionally formed at the tourist offices (p. ).

From Tunis to (41 M.) Medjez el-Bab by railway, see pp. , 328.—The two roads from Tunis to Medjez el-Bab, one direct (35½ M.) viâ Bordj el-Amri, the other, passing the station and running viâ Djedeïda and Tebourba (p. ), unite on the left bank of the Medjerda, near the bridge (p. ).

Our road leads from Medjez el-Bab in the same direction as the Roman road from Carthage to Tebessa (see p. ), to the S.W., generally a little apart from the Medjerda, past a good many Roman ruins. 9 M. Slouguia (299 ft.; the ancient Chidibbia), a village with a slender minaret, lies on a hill on the right bank.

The road then leads through olive-woods and vineyards to (12 M.) Testour, on the site of the Roman Tichilla, now a little town of 3500 inhab., mostly descendants of Andalusian Moors, with thriving potteries and a large Friday market.

We cross the Oued Siliana, not far from its influx into the Medjerda, and then ascend in long windings above the valley of the Oued Khalled, a tributary of the Medjerda.

18 M. Aïn-Tounga (821 ft.; no inn), on the N. slope of Jebel Tounga (1575 ft.), the site of the small Roman town of Thignica, has the ruins of two triumphal arches, a temple of Mercury (170 A.D.), and a Byzantine fortress.

We descend, in sight of Teboursouk and the distant capitol of Dougga, into the valley of the Oued Khalled. We pass through many side-valleys, cross the river, and then ascend a branch of the road to the right, soon joining the Gaffour road (p. ).

28 M. Teboursouk (1378 ft.; Hôt. International, R. 3½) B. ½, déj. 3, D. 3½, pens. 10 fr., quite good, but charges should be agreed upon beforehand; Hôt. de la Poste, humble; pop. 3000, (incl. 300 Europeans) has a fine open site on the olive-clad slope of Kef Teboursouk, high above the valley of the Oued Zebbès. Into the walls of the narrow and picturesque streets are built many fragments from the ruins of the once considerable town of Thubursicum Bure. We note also the Byzantine Fortress (with remains of a Roman triumphal arch in its N. wall) and the Neo-Punic Burial Ground, to the S.W. of the town. A superb distant view is obtained at the ruined tower at the upper end of the town.

The rough, hilly road from Pont-de-Trajan (p. ) to Teboursouk leads through the rugged hill-region to the S. of the Medjerda, and passes (12½ M.) Henchir Maâtria, the ruins of the small Roman town of Numluli or Numiulis (foundations of the capitol of 170 A.D., early-Christian chapel in quatrefoil form with four apses, and Byzantine fort). It ends at the N. gate of (17½ M.) Teboursouk.

The Road to Dougga, 3¾ M. from Teboursouk, leaves the Le Kef road (p. ) after ½ M. and ascends to the S.W. over a plateau thinly overgrown with scrub.

Dougga (about 1970 ft.), a poor Berber village on the S. margin of Kef Dougga, is the ancient Thugga, one of the oldest and most important places in the heart of Tunisia. The site of the ruins, which vie with those of Gightis (p. ), is the most beautiful in the whole country. The name is of Berber origin (thukka, pasture). It appears to have been the seat of a Berber dynasty allied with Carthage. It then belonged successively to the Carthaginian dominions and to those of Masinissa (p. ), and attained its prime about the end of the 2nd cent. A.D. The grand late-Roman ruins, partly excavated since 1891, the venerable olive-woods on Kef Dougga, and the view of the Oued Khalled valley and of the N. Tunisian hills, stretching far away to Jebel Zaghouan and Jebel Bou-Kornin (p. ), combine to form a fascinating picture. On the N.W. horizon is Jebel Gorra (3160 ft.), famed ever since ancient times for its lead and zinc mines.

Comp. ‘Thugga’, by Dr. Carton (Tunis; 2½ fr.).

The old Porte de l’Est, where a branch of the Tebessa road ended, and the Thermae near it are entirely ruined.

From that gate we walk along the S. slope of the hill to the *Mausoleum of a Berber prince (5th or 4th cent. B.C.), probably the oldest existing Punic-Libyan monument of the kind.

Built in the style of the Egyptian and Syrian tombs of kings, the mausoleum, originally about 55 ft. high, consisted of a pile of huge limestone blocks. The substructure, resting on a foundation of six steps, is adorned with narrow corner-pillars and three blind windows. The middle part, which is square, rises above three steps and has two portals flanked with Ionic mural columns and an Egyptian concave moulding instead of a cornice. Three more steps, once embellished at the angles with figures on horseback, bore a small pyramid crowned with the figure of a lion. The upper part was unfortunately destroyed in 1842 by natives employed by Sir T. Reade, with the bey’s permission, to remove the inscription in the Phœnician and the Libyan language, which is now in the British Museum. The monument, however, has been recently completely restored The tomb-chamber is probably underneath the monument.

Passing through the village, to the W., we come to the ruins of other Thermae and the so-called Dâr el-Acheb, a Roman building of some kind, of which the steps and façade alone remain. We ascend thence to the N.E., past the foundations of Roman Houses, to the hill of the Capitol.

The *Capitol (comp. p. ), the conspicuous landmark of Dougga, is one of the finest ruined temples in Tunisia, vying with the three temples of Sbeïtla (p. ). It is a Corinthian pseudo-peripteros, with a lofty flight of eleven steps and a portico of six columns, 43 ft. high and 24 ft. deep, the whole consisting of great limestone blocks. The square cella, 15 by 14 yds., has been destroyed, with the exception of the portal and the stone-panelled back-wall, with its semicircular niche in the centre and two square side-niches for images. The inscription on the frieze of the portico, of the time of Marcus Aurelius (166–9 A.D.), names two citizens of Thugga as the founders. In the Byzantine period the temple formed the nucleus of the citadel.

The **Roman Theatre, on the hill-side a little to the E. of the Capitol, is not only the best-preserved in N. Africa but is unique in the richness and beauty of its embellishment. The twenty-five tiers of seats in the Cavea, or auditorium, are almost intact, except that the upper colonnade has fallen into the orchestra. The stage (pulpitum) still has the old pavement, the front-wall, articulated like similar structures in Algeria, and the superb rear wall, with its three niches and remains of rich columnar decoration. The founder of the building, as recorded by the inscription now lying on the ground, was the flamen perpetuus L. Marcius Quadratus.

Of the Forum and of the street connecting it with the Capitol fragments of the pavement only have been unearthed.

The *Temple of Cælestis, in the olive-wood to the N.W. of the Capitol, is the strangest ruin at Dougga. The crescent-shaped court represents the half-moon, the symbol of the Punic goddess Tanit, or Astarte, whose name was Latinized in the Roman period.

The ruin stands on the hill-side, supported by huge substructures. The court terminated in a rectangular antechamber, 46 by 20 yds. The two entrances, with dedicatory inscriptions, lay at the sides, preceded by square chambers (or towers). The semicircular wall of the court (57 yds. in diameter), in concrete, is partly preserved. A large hall here, with two corner-pillars and twenty-three Corinthian columns, formed along with the antechamber the meeting-place of the congregation. The temple itself, in the centre of the court, which was probably planted with trees, was a rectangle of 18½ by 10½ yds., but its foundations alone survive. The flight of steps and the two semicircular apses at the back of the cella date from a restoration in the Byzantine period. The inscription names a wealthy citizen of the time of Alex. Severus as the founder (222–35).

We next walk through olive-wood to the E. to the Roman Cisterns, once fed by the partly preserved aqueduct of Aïn el-Hammam (S.W. of Dougga), and then, past the ancient N. gate of the town, the Arch of Alexander Severus, called by the Arabs Bâb er-Rûmia (‘gate of the Christian woman’), to the ruins of the Numidic Citadel and the Roman Hippodrome. Near this is the ancient Berber Burial Ground, containing several dolmens.

On the steep slope of a bare hill to the N.N.E. of the Theatre, and once no less conspicuous than the Capitol, was enthroned the Temple of Saturn, founded by a rich citizen in 195 A.D. The ruin probably stands on the site of a Punic temple of Baal Hâman. The peculiar ground-plan is reminiscent of the Phœnician temples, whose open colonnaded courts contained altars for burnt offerings.

The pronaos or vestibule, resembling a corridor, to which there was an approach at the S. end only, had a portico of four Corinthian columns facing the E., high above the Oued Khalled; but of all this there are but scanty traces. From the pronaos a small gate admitted into a quadrangle, paved with limestone slabs, and enclosed on three sides by Corinthian colonnades. On the W. side these were divided by partitions into three sections, forming ante-rooms to the three cellæ. The raised central cella, once railed in, was the chief shrine, richly adorned with wall-paintings and reliefs in stucco.

The High Road (from Medjez el-Bab) to Le Kef, which is joined by the road from Teboursouk 3 M. to the S. of the latter, runs high above the Oued Khalled, and soon passes (32 M. from Medjez el-Bab) Aïn-Hedja (about 1300 ft.), below the ruins of Agbia (Byzantine fortress, etc.). Farther on, leaving the zinc-mines of Jebel Fedj el-Adoum on one side, we traverse the hill-country to the N.W. of the Plaine du Krib (p. ).

38 M. Aïn-Rharsalla (about 1600 ft.), below the Byzantine castle of Aunobaris. 39 M. Kubba Sidi Abd er-Rehou, not far from Henchir Mest, the ruins of Mustis (including two arches on the Tebessa road, one being a triumphal arch of Gordian III.).

46 M. Bordj Messaoudi, a large caravanserai, with Friday market for the peasants of the Krib, adjoins the ruins of the small town of Thacia, near which the Roman road to Le Kef diverged from the road to Tebessa. We descend into the valley of the Oued Tessa, a tributary of the Oued Mellègue (p. ), and then, on the N. slope of Jebel Kebouch (2723 ft.), pass a Roman Bridge and the ruins of Ucubis.

The road now skirts the Dyr el-Kef (3570 ft.; ‘rock-plateau’), with its Poste Optique, and in the plain of Bled Zafran (p. ) joins the road from Maktar (p. ) and, a little farther on, that from Souk el-Arba (p. ).

70 M. Le Kef, see p. .