At
its apogee in 2 nd-c. And 3 rd-c. A.D; Thysdrus was one the
most flourishing city in the Roman world. Its expansion was
closely linked to the great prosperity of the African province
within which it managed to rank second, right after the prestigious
capital, Carthage.
During Antiquity, as much as today, Thysdrus was famous particularly
for its huge amphitheatre, which is one of the largest and
best preserved among Roman entertainment buildings. With a
capacity of 30 000 spectators, it ranks third among similar
monuments, following the coliseum in Rome and the Capoue amphitheatre,
which is today extensively destroyed.
The city boasted several other public and private buildings,
including in particular a circus for chariots and horse races,
as big as Maxence’s in Rome.
Finally the importance of the city can not be better evidenced
as by the historic role, of prime importance, that it played
in the year AD 238, when it took the initiative, followed
by Carthage and Rome, of hoisting Gordian
- who was at that time proconsul - to the position of emperor.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the archeological site
of Thysdrus, covering an area of approximately 200 ha (approx.400
acres), continuously stands out with its sensational discoveries.
If one considers only private housing architecture, the site
gave away throughout a period of a centuryabout thirty houses,
more or less well preserved, but which gave Tunisia one of
its richest collections of mosaics. Exhibited mainly in three
major museums i.e. the Bardo museum, the El Jem and the Sousse
museums, they represent the finest pieces of their collections.
The vestiges of some of the houses, where these luxurious
pavements were discovered, were preserved and can still be
seen at the site.
However the most impressive discovery ever to be made
remains the house known as the House of Africa, which was
unearthed during the last decade of the 20 th-c. Following
an unauthorized construction attempt, at the antique city
suburbs.
The colleseum
The house
of Africa
The ceramic
The sclupture
