Sbeitla

Sbeitla is a city in central Tunisia located in the heart of the high plateaus, between steppe deserts. It is located 117 km southwest of Kairouan, 163 km northwest of Sfax and 275 km southwest of the city of Tunis.

It is of great importance due to the ruins of an important Roman city that later became the Byzantine capital. It is also known as "Sufétula".

History

The oldest finds in the area consist of megaliths and Punic funerary steles.

The region was inhabited by nomadic tribes until the Third Augustan Legion established a camp at Ammaedara. After a revolt under the command of the Berber leader Tacfarinas, the region was pacified and populated by the emperor Vespasian and his sons Titus and Domitian between 67 and 69.

Some inscriptions found in the city suggest that it had a development similar to that of other cities in Roman Africa, achieving great prosperity in the century II thanks to the olive oil industry whose cultivation benefits from the excellent climatic conditions of the region. The oil presses found in the remains of the city attest to this. This prosperity made possible the construction of its splendid forum and other important buildings.

The city began to decline during the Late Empire until it was razed and occupied by the Vandals who settled in the city, a fact that is attested by the discovery of some temples dedicated to their cults.

The arrival of the Byzantines marked a new era of splendor. Gregory the Patrician moved his capital here from Carthage in the 7th century and declared himself independent of Byzantium. A year later the city was sacked by the first Arab conquerors after killing Gregory. Sufetula was the first city conquered by the Arabs in present-day Tunisia, thus becoming the spearhead for the following campaigns that subjugated all of North Africa.

The Arabs abandoned the city to its fate and the majority of the population moved to the new Arab town of Sbeitla and the new capital of Kairouan. Excavations of the ancient city began at the end of the 19th century during the French protectorate of Tunisia

Roman Remains

• The Arc de Triomphe de la TetrchyAt the entrance of the city, it is dedicated to the four emperors who ruled the empire in the year 300, just before the command of Constantine I the Great.

• Them Public bathrooms or thermos. There have been up to four facilities in the city, one of them of great magnitude. In these larger thermos the distribution of the rooms is very irregular, which makes the building think that it suffered subsequent modifications.

• The forum is one of the best preserved in the world, it presents a wide open space paved with large slabs, is walled and includes the capitol and other annexed buildings.

• La door of Antonino which gives entry to the forum can be dated between 138 and 161. His inscriptions refer to Antonino Pio and his two adopted sons Marco Aurelio, later emperor and philosopher; and Lucio Vero.

• The three temples. Instead of building a single temple or capitol dedicated to the three most important divinities for the Romans: Jupiter, Juno and Minerva the inhabitants of this city built separate temples for each of the deities. A similar provision has only been found in the city of Baelo Claudia de Cádiz in Spain.

• Other important buildings in the city, although in worse state of conservation are the Theatre, the amphitheater and public sources.

Byzantine remains

Most Byzantine buildings took advantage of the bases of buildings built by the Romans.

• The church of Bellator
• The church of Vitalis
• The chapel of Jucundus.
• Servus church.
• The church of the saints Gervasio, Protasio and Triphon
• The forts.

• 

  Capitoline temples

• 

  Thermal

• 

  Arc d Antonino Pio and the Capitol