ZANFOUR TO AIN EDJAH AND TEBOURSOUK — DOUGGA.
We started from Zanfour at a quarter to five A.M., and reached
Teboursouk at four P.M., a ride of thirty-eight miles, too far for
one day, especially during such intense heat as we encountered.
After quitting the plateau of Zanfour we paid a visit to the tents
of our friend Si Mohammed esh-Shabi. The good Sheikh was quite
distressed that we would not spend a day at his encampment, or
even alight to partake of his hospitality; but time was precious,
so we contented ourselves with quaffing a lordly bowl of milk to
his health, and he filled the haversacks of our escort with dates,
bread and fresh cheese, the only luxuries of a portable nature that
he possessed. He accompanied us several miles on our way, and we
parted with, I hope, mutual feelings of goodwill and regret that our
visit had been so short. His encampment did not materially differ
from all other Arab villages, if so they may be called. It consisted
of a circle of black tents, in the centre of which were the cattle,
horses and mules of the family. The intervals between the tents were
filled up with prickly brushwood; but the great protection of an Arab
camp, which makes approach to it extremely dangerous to a stranger,
is the cloud of yelping dogs which rush out from every direction,
and can hardly be pacified by the utmost efforts of the owner. The
tents are made of strips, sewn together, of black and brown woollen
material like sacking, very open in texture, but perfectly impervious
to the rain. The Arab knows nothing of the exigencies of fashion;
he dresses as his forefathers have done for countless generations,
and his tents are exactly the same as when they were described by
Sallust as ‘_oblonga, incurvis lateribus tectâ, quasi navium
carinæ sunt_.’[202]
We traversed the plain of Es-Sers from north-west to south-east, over
soft springy meadow land, or amongst fields of corn, and crossing a
low range of hills which bounds it, entered a valley scored in every
direction with deep ravines, only just practicable for laden mules,
and so descended into the plain of El-Gharfa. This is drained by a
considerable river, the Oued Tessäa, which lower down becomes the
Oued Khalad. It contains a small quantity of cultivated land, but much
excellent pasturage. A considerable part of it is overgrown with a
thick scrub of lentisk, once a favourite resort of brigands, but since
the accession to power of the present Wuzir, General Kheir-ed-din,
the roads in Tunis have become nearly as secure as those in Algeria.
The heat all day was insupportable; a strong sirocco, I will not
say _blew_, but _existed_, for the worst siroccos are characterised
by an utter absence of air in motion; the atmosphere is deprived of
every particle of moisture, the sky is leaden, the mucous membranes
of the body get parched, dry and incapable of relief by perspiration;
everything one touches is hot and brittle, and the leaves of a book
curl up and expand like those of a fan. It is no use to rest under
the shade of a tree; the heat is not only in the direct rays of the
sun, but everywhere; escape is hopeless and life is a burden.
About four miles before reaching Teboursouk we passed Ain Edjah,
where is an interesting ruin, sometimes called Bordj Ibrahim,
after a late Kaid of the Drid tribe, who built a stone house here,
and surrounded it with a beautiful orchard of fruit trees.
The ruin was evidently a Roman fort, restored by the Byzantines,
and converted into a fonduk, or wayside inn, by the Arabs. In some
few places the original Roman foundations are still visible. Of the
Byzantine restoration a great part of the wall of circumvallation
remains; it was of a rectangular form, with square towers at the
angles. In one of these the vaults which covered in the rooms on the
ground floor and first storey still exist, as well as the stairs
which conducted to the upper terrace. From the foundation of the
eastern tower issues a beautiful spring, which waters the orchard
below. This is the source of Edjah, which gives its name to the
district. There is no doubt that this name is simply a corruption
of the ancient one, Municipium Agbiensium, or Agbia, mentioned in
the Tables of Peutinger. A short distance beyond, on the road to
Teboursouk, we observed two milliary columns lying half buried in
the earth, with their bases still in place close beside them. One
was too deeply covered to permit us to see the inscription, and
we had no instruments with which to dig it up. The other was only
partly legible, the upper part of the inscription being much defaced
by the action of weather. It has been recorded, both by Pelissier
and Guerin.[203]
After a very fatiguing journey we reached Teboursouk, and were at
once conducted to the house of the Khalifa. Our host was extremely
courteous, but at first cool and reserved. He gave up one of the
rooms in the ground-floor of his own house for our accommodation,
and appropriated an empty building close by for the use of our
attendants. He sent us our meals from his own kitchen, where
certainly the art of cookery is thoroughly understood, and very
soon, through the instrumentality of his son, a dear little fellow
about four years old, to whom we presented a few trifles, and whose
curiosity was insatiable, the good gentleman thawed considerably
and our intercourse became more friendly and unrestrained.
The modern town is no exception to the general law, which seems to
have doomed all Mohammedan cities to decay. Its situation is naturally
most beautiful, being built on the slope of a hill which commands
a valley of singular fertility, covered with groves of olives, and
orchards of fruit trees; but the houses are half-ruinous, and the
streets in a filthy and neglected condition.
Teboursouk, the ancient Thibursicum Bure, was so-called to distinguish
the city of the pro-consular province from another of the same name
in Numidia, Thibursicum Numidarum, the modern _Khamisa_.
Several bishops of this place are recorded, and one of them is
mentioned by St. Augustine in his book _Contra Cresconium_.[204]
It can hardly be said to be now surrounded by a wall, though in
some places the wall built on Roman or Byzantine foundations still
exists. The most interesting part is towards the north, where one
of the ancient city gates still remains entire, though built up and
buried to a great part of its height in _débris_.
This is curious, as it differs from all the triumphal arches I have
yet seen in North Africa. The piers on each side consist of two
fluted Corinthian pilasters, supporting a complete entablature, from
which the central arch rises. As nothing except the arch itself now
remains, it is impossible to say how this was crowned. Amongst the
stones used in the re-construction of this part of the walls are many
fragments of sculpture and inscriptions. The latter have frequently
been published. One of them contains the ancient name of the city,
THIB. BVRE, another a record of the reconstruction of its walls by
Thomas, prefect of Africa during the reign of Justinus II. and the
Empress Sophia, A.D. 565 to 578.[205] This Thomas is honourably
mentioned by Carippus Africanus in the first book of his poem,
_De laudibus Justini minoris_:—
Et Thomas Libyæ nutantis dextera terræ.
Three others have been recorded by Bruce, but the precise locality
where they were found is not given.
AEDEM . NOVAM . L. PALATIVS . HONORATV . . . .
BONIFATIAE VXORIS SVAE XX MIL. N. EX. T.
MVLTIPLICATA . PECVNIA . EXCOLVIT . ET . OMNI . REPER.
VRBI ROMAE AETERNAE AVG
RESP. MVNICIPI . SEVERIANI ANTO
NINIANI LIBERI THIBVRSICENSIVM
BVRE
S PRO COS PP
VM PVBLICARVM
The principal water-supply of Teboursouk is derived from a very fine
spring, which issues from a small chamber and flows into a large
square reservoir, both of Roman work. The overflow runs through
a subterranean passage, and waters the gardens to the north of
the town. On the lintel of the door of the chamber from which the
water flows may be traced a few letters, which Guérin gives as
VG. ARA. They are hardly legible now, but the entire inscription is
recorded by Peyssonnel:—
NEPTVNO . AVG. SACR. PRO . SALVTE . IMP. CAESARVM.
L. S. H. TIMIS.[206]
On the summit of the hill above the town is a koubba, from which a
very fine view is obtained.
From Teboursouk we made an excursion to Dougga, دُقّة, the ancient
Thugga, Cives Thuggenses, or, as it is given in one inscription in the
wall of a house near the temple, Respublica Coloniae Liciniae Septimiae
Aureliae Alexandrinae Thuggensium.
This city must have been of very considerable consequence, to judge
by the extent and magnificence of its remains, which cover an area
of about three square miles; and when its temples and palaces were
standing, and clear of the cactus and brambles that now invade
their remains, it must have been a most striking object in the
landscape. The city was built high up on the hill, which bounds
on the west the extensive valley watered by the Oued Khallad, a
tributary of the Medjerda. A wretched modern hamlet is built amongst
its ruins, and the traveller has to wade through the accumulated
filth of years to visit the various objects of interest which the
village contains. This, however, occupies but a small extent of the
ancient city; the remainder is overgrown with cactus and briars,
or laid out in delightful groves of olive-trees.
[Illustration: _Plate XXII._
J. LEITCH &. Co. Sc.
TEMPLE OF JUPITER AND MINERVA AT THUGGA (DOUGGA) SIDE VIEW.
FAC SIMILE OF INDIAN INK DRAWING BY BRUCE.
HENRY S. KING Co. LONDON.]
[Illustration: _Plate XXIII._
J. LEITCH &. Co. Sc.
TEMPLE OF JUPITER AND MINERVA AT THUGGA (DOUGGA)
FAC SIMILE OF FINISHED INDIAN INK DRAWING BY BRUCE (AND BALUGANI?)
HENRY S. KING Co. LONDON.]
The ancient name probably had the same signification as the modern
word _Dougga_ still bears in the Berber language, _green grass_;
and, indeed, it would be difficult to find a more charming position,
or one which, from its abundant water-supply, was more likely to be
always verdant, than the hillside on which the city was built.
The most beautiful of all the ruins here—and, I am tempted to
add, the most exquisite gem of art I have seen in North Africa—is
the temple built from the private resources of two brothers, and
dedicated, as will be seen, to Jupiter and Minerva. Bruce calls this
One of the most beautiful ruins of a temple in white marble in
the world.
And again he says—
It is, I think, one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture
I ever saw, the richest in ornament, and the most elegant in
execution. I spent fifteen days upon the architecture of that temple
without feeling the smallest disgust, or forming a wish to finish it.
It is, with all its parts, still unfinished, in my collection. These
beautiful and magnificent remains of ancient taste and greatness,
so easily reached in perfect safety by a ride along the Bagrada,
were at Tunis perfectly unknown. Dr. Shaw has given the situation of
the place without saying one word about anything curious it contains.
Bruce’s illustrations of this temple consist of nine sheets:—
1. A perspective view in pencil of the front of the portico,
showing the door of the cella and the apse beyond.
2. Details and measurements in pencil of capital and base of column,
and of entablature.
3. Rough pencil sketch of plan, with details in ink of various parts.
4. Perspective view in Indian ink of front; podium in pencil only. The
triumphal arch of Septimius Severus is seen to the left.
5. Perspective view in Indian ink of the side of portico, showing
the construction of the cella, or the building which has replaced it
(Pl. XXII.)
6. Highly finished drawing in Indian ink, taken from an opposite point
of view to the last, with landscape and figures of the Balugani type
(Pl. XXIII.)
7. Finished Indian-ink plan and elevation, with dimensions.
8. Finished Indian-ink drawing of a capital, details of abacus
and base.
9. Finished drawing in Indian ink of soffit of cornice, six of the
fifteen flowers for centre of abacus, details of head of doorway of
cella, and the same given _in petto_.
10. Finished drawing in Indian ink of details of pediment and podium
of temple.
This temple seems to have suffered very little if any injury during
the last century; but it is in a very incomplete condition, and the
portico, the noble entrance-door of the cella, and a small portion of
the wall, are probably all that remain of the original structure. I
am inclined to attribute to a later period, probably that of the
Byzantines, the masonry now existing on the site of the cella. It
is in a style very commonly met with in Africa.
A course of cut stone was laid horizontally, a long cut stone was
erected at intervals of four or five feet on this, and the interstices
filled in with rubble masonry, exactly like the _long and short
bond_ found in Roman and early Saxon work in Britain. Some excellent
specimens of this still exist at Teboursouk, twenty or thirty feet
in height. This explains the occurrence of so many upright stones in
all ruined cities throughout Africa; the masonry of inferior quality
has fallen away, bringing down the whole of the superstructure,
and leaving only the uprights resting on the foundations. As this
part of the building has a semi-circular apse at its extremity,
it is probable that it was intended for a Byzantine basilica.
To return, however, to the temple. It is a tetrastyle, with a noble
portico, of the Corinthian order. The columns are fluted, and with
one exception, monoliths. The dimensions of the buildings, as given
in Bruce’s plan and elevation, are as follows:—
Ft. in. lines.
Width of portico 44 0 0
Depth of portico 24 6 0
Distance between bases of central columns 9 9 0
Distance between bases of first and second
columns on each side of front 9 4 0
From first to second column on each side 8 4 3
From second column to wall of cella 8 9 4
Width of base of staircase 12 5 0
Height of base of column 2 9 6
„ shaft 26 6 0
„ capital 3 9 0
„ architrave 2 7 6
„ frieze 3 3 2
„ cornice 3 0 0
Height of pediment 6 1 0
Apex of pediment to apex of cornice 3 9 0
Height of stairs 5 6 0
Height of door of cella to bottom of
lintel 27 0 0
Height of lintel 2 3 2
Height of cornice 1 5 6
Width of door of cella, clear opening 13 7 0
Diameter of base of column 5 0 0
Diameter of shaft at base 3 5 9
In saying that the ornamentation of this temple was the richest he
ever saw, Bruce was no doubt right, especially if he alluded to the
monuments still retaining a certain purity of style, which he had met
with in Africa; but in Italy the temples of the latter half of the
second century were generally most highly decorated. In the case of
this temple the frieze has an inscription, but otherwise it is without
ornaments of any kind. The architrave is divided, as usual, into
three bands, but the mouldings are simple, without oves, pearls, or
other ornaments. On the other hand, the cornice is highly decorated,
and the pediment is enriched with a grand piece of sculpture.
Bruce, evidently misled by the occurrence of the letters NERVAE
in the inscription on the frieze, imagined that these alluded to
the Emperor Nerva, and inferred that the temple had been built by
Hadrian, and that the sculpture, which represented a male figure on
the back of an eagle, was
The apotheosis of his benefactor Trajan, by an angel flying with
him to heaven.
Sir Grenville Temple’s supposition, that it was intended to
represent the rape of Ganymede by the eagle of Jupiter, is much more
likely to be correct.[207]
On the frieze of the order is an inscription, now almost effaced,
but which has been recorded by Bruce more fully than by subsequent
travellers. It is as follows:—
IOVI . OPTIMO . M[AXIMO . ET . MI]NERVAE[208]
AVG. SACRVM . PRO[SALVTE] . . . M . . . .
ANTONINI . . . . . [V]ERI . AVG. ARMENICO . R
MED. PARTH. . . . . . . . MARCVS . SIMPLEX .
REGILLIANVS . SVA . P.F.
The door of the cella is nearly all that remains of that part of the
temple. It consists of three huge stones, a lintel and two door-posts,
the former of which projects a considerable distance beyond the
latter. These are enriched with a moulding on the exterior edge of the
stones, which, instead of mounting in a straight line from the ground
to the top of the lintel, as would probably have been the case in an
earlier period of Roman art, follows at right angles the course of
the projecting portions of the lintel. A similar style is often met
with in Etruscan architecture, but in such cases the line of moulding
under the projections hardly ever formed horizontal straight lines
and right angles, unless painted or cut in the _inside_ of tombs.
On this lintel is a second inscription:—
L. MARCVS . SIMPLEX . ET . L. MAR
CIVS . SIMPLEX . REGILLIANVS . S.P.F.
From these inscriptions it is evident that the temple was built by
two brothers, L. M. Simplex and L. M. Simplex Regillianus, at their
own expense, _sua pecunia fecerunt_, in honour of Jupiter and Minerva,
during the reign of Marcus Aurelius and his colleague in the Empire,
L. Aurelius Verus, between the years A.D. 161 and 169.
No strong marks of decadence strike the eye at first sight, but the
antæ at the end of the cella walls are wanting, and perhaps other
signs of decadence would have been apparent in the cella itself,
had it been preserved.
Bruce states that the material of which the temple is built is
white marble. If this is not actually the case, it is a very compact
and crystalline limestone, full of fossil shells, and susceptible
of receiving a high polish; when new it must have been even more
effective than the finest description of marble. I am inclined to
believe that it is none other than the _Lumacchella antica_, one of
the lost Numidian marbles, of which only two or three specimens are
known to exist, and which at the present moment is worth something
like its weight in gold. A bold and conspicuous hill was pointed out
to us as the spot whence the stone of the temple was obtained, but
it was too remote to be included in our visit. I leave the solution
of this question to some future traveller.[209]
Altogether this grand monumental fragment is a most interesting
historical specimen of the workmanship and architectural genius
displayed by the Romans in their African possessions.
The inhabitants of Dougga were not ungrateful to these good citizens
for their unusual liberality; they appear to have voted a statue
to one of them at least, the pedestal of which was discovered by
M. Guérin.[210]
The precincts of this temple are in a state of great filth and
neglect. It is surrounded on every side by rude Arab huts, and is
used as a yard for sheep and oxen, the handsome flight of steps
leading to it are partly buried in a thick layer of manure, and
we found it impossible from any point to obtain a view showing the
whole columns from base to capital. Nevertheless my companion made
some excellent photographs of it, which testify in a remarkable
manner to the conscientious accuracy of Bruce’s drawings, when
not marred by the unfortunate accessories of Balugani.
[Illustration: _Plate XXIV._
J. LEITCH &. Co. Sc.
LYBIAN MAUSOLEUM AT THUGGA (DOUGGA)
FAC SIMILE OF ROUGH PENCIL SKETCH BY BRUCE.
HENRY S. KING Co. LONDON.]
One day at Dougga is quite insufficient. I would recommend anyone
having abundant time at his disposal to encamp for a week amongst
its delightful shady groves.
Unrivalled as this temple is as a work of art there is another
monument of even greater interest, the celebrated mausoleum from
which the Dougga bi-lingual stone was obtained.
Bruce has left a pencil sketch of this in outline merely (Plate
XXIV.); but it is exceptionally interesting, as the monument itself
was almost entirely destroyed by Sir Thomas Reade, the British
Consul-General at Tunis, in extracting the stone on which the
inscription was carved. We met people on the spot who were present at
this sacrilege, and who described to us the manner in which stone
after stone of this, beyond all question the most interesting,
because the only pre-Roman, monument in the Regency of Tunis, was
hurled by levers and crowbars into the valley below.
Such a proceeding would have been indefensible had the object been to
enrich some great public museum, but destruction so wanton to secure
an object of interest for a private collection cannot be too strongly
reprobated. Half the sum expended in destroying the mausoleum devoted
to making a plaster cast of the inscription would have sufficed for
every purpose, and even if some future traveller had carried away the
precious relic, at least the guilt would not have been chargeable to
the British nation. The deed being done, it is fortunate that the
two slabs containing the inscription were purchased by the British
Museum at the sale of Sir Thomas Reade’s collection in 1852.
The monument was square in plan, two storeys in height, forming
what might almost be regarded as two distinct tombs superposed one
on the other, the whole surmounted by a graduated pyramidal roof
of receding steps. It is supported on five steps, averaging 16·2
inches in height, with treads 10 inches wide. The lower storey 21
or 22 feet square, and 10 ft. 8½ in. high, with semi-plain and
slightly projecting pilasters or antæ at the angles, surmounted by
Ionic capitals, one volute being on each face, from which spring two
lotus-like flowers, one from above and the other from below. A plain
fascia, surmounted by a few bold simple mouldings, forms a cornice
to the lower order, 1 ft. 9 in. high, or one-fifth the height of
the pilaster; it runs in an unbroken line along the four faces of
the tomb. A false window appears on three of the sides.
[Illustration]
The arrangement of the courses of stone is peculiar. A narrow square
plinth or base, rather less than eleven inches high, from which the
pilasters appear to spring, is carried all round. Above this is a
course four times as high, then a narrow band half as high again
as the base, followed by another high course slightly lower than
that beneath it. Above is a fifth course, half the height of that
immediately beneath it, which contains the capitals of the pilasters,
and formerly bore the inscription. The upper storey, of which very
little now remains, resembled the lower one in its general divisions
and style of construction. It was supported by three steps, 16½
inches high, with treads 10 inches wide, and appears to have been a
sort of tetrastyle of the Ionic order, probably with pilasters at the
angles, certainly with two intermediate, attached, fluted columns,
15 inches in diameter on each front, separated by an interval of 3
ft. 5 in. On the north and east faces, between these columns, were
small doors, closed by portcullises of stone, giving access to the
interior. They had dressings all round, and the architrave above
them was very high. The construction of this storey is similar
to that of the lower one, consisting of four unequal courses,
dividing the height of the columns into six parts. The entablature
in Bruce’s drawing (Pl. XXIV.) equals one third of the height of
the columns. It is divided into architrave and cornice, the former
consisting of a plain fascia, with narrow but bold mouldings. The
latter has a distinctly Egyptian character, with a high and boldly
projecting cavetto, surmounted by a fillet.
In a more recent view of this tomb, taken by Mr. F. Catherwood in
1832 with the aid of the camera lucida, for which I am indebted to
Professor Donaldson, there appears an intermediate frieze between
these two features, which would give the very unusual height of half
the column to the entablature.[211]
Above this rose the pyramid, with a large upright block of stone at
each angle as high as three or four of the steps, crowning classically
the tomb underneath. Probably this never rose to an apex, but was
truncated to receive a group of statuary, like the mausoleum of
Halicarnassus. Sir Grenville Temple[212] mentions having dug up at
the base, a portion of a draped figure, and at no great distance
a small mutilated equestrian statue. He also says that on the base
of the monument was a coarsely executed alto-relievo representing
a quadriga with a warrior and the charioteer.
The monument contained two tiers of sepulchral chambers, one in each
storey, divided into cells by vertical walls.
This mausoleum and the Medrassen in Algeria are the only monuments in
North Africa of a pre-Roman origin, and the only examples remaining
of the style employed by the earlier aboriginal races. The height
of the courses, and the capitals of the antæ in the lower storey,
would indicate a Greek origin, as does also the upper storey, which
recalls the Tomb of Theron at Agrigentum, but the large cavetto of
the cornice, and the lotus flowers with which the volutes of the
capitals are ornamented, are identical with the Egyptian type. The
whole is of a purer style than Roman tombs generally, and excels in
this respect every other similar edifice in North Africa.
The inscription has frequently been published. The first copy of
which we have any record was one made by a Frenchman of the name of
Thomas d’Arcos in 1631, which he delivered to the learned scholar
Isaac Peirese; afterwards it was entirely forgotten until Camillo
Borgia copied it again in the year 1815. This copy became known to
the world through Münter, Humbert and Hamaker. Two other copies
were made by Sir Grenville Temple[213] and Honegger, and published
by Gesenius.[214] The last facsimile was taken by order of the Duc
Albert de Luynes, from an impression of the stone then in the British
Museum, and published in M. Guérin’s work.[215]
The mausoleum appears to have been erected in honour of a Numidian,
and not of a Carthaginian, which is supposed to be the reason why the
Lybian version of the inscription is more carefully executed than
the Punic one, and the place of honour, the right side, assigned
to it. The Punic text appears to be the translation of the Lybian
one.[216]
The following translation of it is given by Gesenius:—[217]
Cippus Ma-olami, filii Jophi-sch’at
filii regis
Harb-Schema, filii Schoter-Aram,
filii Abd-Mokarthi
principis, filii Aam, filii Jophi-
sch’at filii regis
Schalgi, filii Carsachal
quum intro abiisset in domum plenam,
et esset luctus ob memoriam sapientis,
viri instar adamantis, qui tulit
omnis generis calamitates, quum esset
viduus matris meæ
[qui erat] fons pellucidus, nomen
purum a facinore. Exstruxit in
pietate filius patri.
There was a second Corinthian temple situated on a plateau overlooking
the valley beneath, from which it must have been a very imposing
object. It is now almost entirely destroyed, but the plan of the
cella is still visible, and many columns are lying scattered about,
as also fragments of the inscription which decorated the frieze. It
seems to have been much more entire when Peyssonnel visited it in
1724. He says: ‘There are the remains of a temple, which was an
arc open in the middle. It had a great façade of about 100 paces in
breadth. The temple was of a semi-circular shape. The façade was
supported by columns, and the columns again supported a corridor
all round the temple. On these columns there had been large stones
inscribed with Roman characters, but we could not collect enough
pieces to make out the sense, as everything was destroyed and
overthrown. In the middle of the temple there had been an altar
raised about six feet and four feet broad. All this _débris_
indicated a great magnificence and a good taste in architecture,
and a style more beautiful than that of Zawan (_Zaghouan_), although
of a form very closely resembling it.’[218]
[Illustration: _Plate XXV._
J. LEITCH &. Co. Sc.
THEATRE AT THUGGA (DOUGGA)
FAC SIMILE OF ROUGH INDIAN INK SKETCH BY BRUCE.
HENRY S. KING Co. LONDON.]
Bruce has left no sketch of this, but there is an unfinished drawing
of the theatre (Plate XXV.), which has suffered great dilapidation
since his day, and is so thickly overgrown with briars and high rank
weeds that it is difficult to see more than the outer walls. These
are of solid rubble masonry. The sketch of Bruce is taken looking
towards the auditorium, which contains twelve or thirteen rows of
seats, occupying about two-thirds of the semi-circular area. Numerous
columns are seen in the foreground forming part of the scena.
The other monuments are a triumphal arch of the time of Septimius
Severus, represented in the background of one of Bruce’s sketches
of the great temple, all the upper part of which has since been
destroyed; several large reservoirs, fountains, public buildings of
various kinds, in a greater or less state of ruin; besides numerous
inscriptions which have already been published by Guérin.
In one of the houses near the temple I discovered a fragment of
the inscription first given by Peyssonnel, and copied, without
acknowledgment, from his manuscript, by Shaw—interesting, as it
records the name of the city in the nominative case. The first two
lines do not now exist.
[IMP. CAES. DIVI. ANTONINI
MARC. AVRELIO . SEVERO . ALEXANDRO]
PONTIFICI . MAXIMO . TRIBVNICI
ET . CASTRORVM . ET . SENATVS . ET . PA
LIVM LIBERVM . THVGGA.
Bruce has given the following inscriptions:—
. . . NE DIE DEDICATION . . . BL . . PRAESENTIBVS . . . MILIB . . .
VIGENTI . . . . ANCTISSIMI . . . SPORTVLAE NOMINE THUGGAM.
* * * * *
PIETATI . . . . . . AVG
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . E DEDICAVI CVRATORIBVS MM
* * * * *
IMP. CAES. DIVI
NERVAE NEPOTI
TRAIANO DACICI
PARTHICI FIL
TRAIANO HADRIANO AVG
PONT. MAX. TRIBVN
POTEST. COS. II. P.P.
CIVITAS THVGGA . D.D. P.P.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 202: Sall. _Bell. Jugurth._]
[Footnote 203: Pelissier, p. 251. Guérin, ii. p. 149.]
[Footnote 204: Morcelli, i. p. 318.]
[Footnote 205: Shaw, p. 173.]
[Footnote 206: Peyss. ap. D. de la Malle, i. p. 134.]
[Footnote 207: Temple, ii. p. 71.]
[Footnote 208: The letters within brackets are not given in Bruce’s
copy.]
[Footnote 209: Since the above was written I have had the pleasure
of meeting Signor Del Monti of Oran, who has recently discovered,
near Kleber, in that province, the quarries whence some of the most
precious marbles, so prized by the Romans, were obtained. He has been
good enough to forward specimens to me, and a complete collection
will be sent to the Paris Exhibition of 1878.]
[Footnote 210: Guérin, ii, p. 124.]
[Footnote 211: A better reproduction of Catherwood’s drawing,
together with a restoration of the Hieron of Suffetula (_ante_,
p. 181), has been given by Professor Donaldson, in a paper read by
him on my recent explorations, before the Royal Institute of British
Architects on the 4th December, 1876.]
[Footnote 212: Sir Grenville Temple, ii. p. 73.]
[Footnote 213: Temple, ii. p. 352.]
[Footnote 214: Plates 20 and 48.]
[Footnote 215: Guérin, vol. ii. p. 122.]
[Footnote 216: Dr. Paul Schröder, _Die Phönizische Sprache_,
p. 257.]
[Footnote 217: Gesenius, _Monumenta Phœniciæ_, p. 187.]
[Footnote 218: Peyssonnel, ap. D. de la Malle, i. p. 128.]