The medieval Tunisia

Shaken by the Berber attacks, undermined by religious quarrels, the Byzantine power in Africa was all the more weakened as in 647, at Sufetula (Sbeitla), in the mid - west of Tunisia, Abdallah ibn Saad undid the armies of the Patrician Gregory and left with an enormous booty; fifty years later, terminating the job of his predecessors, Hassan ibn Nooman succeeds in defeating Carthage, the ultimate byzantine stronghold. Henceforth, Latin was going to give way to Arab and Christianity to Islam!
After an Eighth century during which the oriental governors followed one another , the Aghlabides appeared in 800 , local princes eager for their prerogatives and acting as real dynasts; thus, they watched over Tunisia while warding off any Byzantine attack by sea and bristled the coast with ribats, such as these beautiful monuments which are known today in Sousse and in Monastir; in the same way, as lieutenants of Islam, they embellished some mosques-the one of Kairouan first-and built some others…In their time, Kairouan and Raqqada shone with a special brightness…
In 909, Tunisia fell to the Fatimides, Shiites ascended to power by one section of the Berbers of Algeria, the Kutamas…

Settled at first at Raqqada, founded by their predecessors, these newcomers created their own capital, Mahdiya, whose site suits very well the ambitions of this dynasty which dreamed to set itself at the top of the whole Moslem world! Being established in Egypt in 973, the Fatimides let Africa in the care of their Zirides lieutenants (973-1050).

Dating from these times, numerous are the archaeological vestiges: religious monuments, palaces, hydraulic monuments but also attractive objects notably ceramics, dishes of remarkable beauty…