Excursionists to Dougga usually start from the station of _Medjez
el-Bab_ (Hôt. des Colons; p. 328), 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. 327;
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. 328) viâ
_Henchir Maâtria_ to (17½ M.) Teboursouk; or from the station of
_Gaffour_ (p. 360; 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. 330). Motoring parties are occasionally
formed at the tourist offices (p. 331).
From Tunis to (41 M.) _Medjez el-Bab_ by railway, see pp. 329, 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. 329), unite on the left bank of the Medjerda, near the
bridge (p. 328).
Our road leads from Medjez el-Bab in the same direction as the Roman
road from Carthage to Tebessa (see p. 328), 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. 360).
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. 327) 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.
357) 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. 392), 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. 321), 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. 363), 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. 288), the conspicuous landmark of Dougga, is
one of the finest ruined temples in Tunisia, vying with the three
temples of Sbeïtla (p. 371). 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. 360).
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. 327), 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. 360) joins
the road from Maktar (p. 360) and, a little farther on, that from Souk
el-Arba (p. 326).