2037 TUNISIA - Dougga / Thugga (UNESCO WHS), Amphitheatre of El Jem (UNESCO WHS), and Thuburbo Majus

2037 The Roman Tunisia - Dougga (The Capitol);
Amphitheatre of El Jem; Thuburbo Majus

Dougga or Thugga is an ancient Roman city located in the North-west region of Tunisia, perched on the summit of a hill at an altitude of 571 m, dominating the fertile valley of Oued Khalled. Before the Roman annexation of Numidia, Thugga had existed for more than six centuries and was, probably, the first capital of the Numidian kingdom. It flourished under Roman rule but declined during the Byzantine and Islamic periods. The impressive ruins which are visible today give an idea of the resources of a Romanised Numidian town.

1648 TUNISIA (Kairouan) - A woman with sefseri

The majority (99%) of modern Tunisians are Arabized Berber or Arab-Berber, and nearly all are Muslims , so that the traditional clothing, especially that of the women, comply the strict canons of this religion. In the towns, the vast majority of young women have adopted the European style but women of a certain age, even in urban areas, often wrap a sefseri, white veil of silk or fine wool that covers the head, with a blouse and baggy pants. These figures of women wearing sefseri is engrained in the traditional culture of Tunisia as much as the blue and white houses of Sidi Bou Said.

1547 TUNISIA - Archaeological Site of Carthage (UNESCO WHS)

The city of Carthage, founded in the 9th century B.C. on the Gulf of Tunis, on a promontory with sea inlets to the north and the south, developed from a Phoenician colony into the capital of an empire, because all ships crossing the Mediterranean Sea had to pass between Sicily and the coast of Tunisia, where the city was built. The area was before inhabited by Berber people who also became the bulk of Carthage's population and constituted a significant part of its army, economy and administration. Native Berbers and settling Phoenicians in Carthage mixed in different ways including religion and language, creating the Punic language and culture.

1252 TUNISIA - Amphitheatre of El Jem (UNESCO WHS)

El Jem, or El Djem, was built by the Romans on a former Punic settlement, under the name Thysdrus. In a less arid climate than today's, Thysdrus, which became part of the Roman province of Byzacena, prospered especially in the 2nd century, at the time of Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-138), when it became an important center of olive oil manufacturing for export. It was the seat of a Christian bishopric, which is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees. By the early 3rd century AD, it rivaled Hadrumetum (modern Sousse) as the second city of Roman North Africa, after Carthage.

1240 TUNISIA (Kairouan) - Kairouan (UNESCO WHS)

Located in the centre of Tunisia, in a plain at an almost equal distance from the sea and the mountain, Kairouan (Al Qairawān) was founded around 670, as an Arab military post for the conquest of the West. The site had housed a Byzantine garrison before the Arab conquest, far from the sea - safe from the continued attacks of the Berbers, who had fiercely resisted the Arab invasion. In the period of Caliph Mu'awiya (r. 661-680), it became an important centre for Islamic and Quranic learning, and thus attracting a large number of Muslims, next only to Mecca and Medina.

0203 TUNISIA (Tunis) - Sidi Bou Said, the town in blue and white

Sidi Bou Said, located about 20km from the capital Tunis, it’s a special town. With a population which slightly exceeding 5000 inhabitants, it got its name for Abou Said ibn Khalef ibn Yahia Ettamini el Beji, a Sufi saint who lived there in 13th century. The town is a tourist attraction, but also has the reputation of a town of artists, being visited by Paul Klee, Gustave-Henri Jossot, August Macke, Saro Lo Turco, Louis Moillet, and more members of Ecole de Tunis.