Maktar Attractions
Access
Maktar lies on GP 12 (Le Kef-Kairouan), 114km/71mi northwest of Kairouan and 69km/43mi southeast of Le Kef, and on GP 4 (which branches off GP 3 at El Fahs), 156km/97mi southwest of Tunis. Bus services to and from Tunis, Téboursouk/Tunis, Le Kef, Sbeitla/Kasserine and Kairouan; bus station (Gare Routière) in the market square.
The little market town of Maktar, founded only in 1887, is commandingly situated on a high plateau in the High Tell, the hills of central Tunisia. The surrounding countryside is Tunisia's largest corn-growing area after the Medjerda valley, and in spite of the altitude olives also flourish here. Situated between the uplands and the steppe, Maktar is an important market center (market on Mondays).
The principal attraction of Maktar, in a beautiful setting, is the site of Roman Mactaris, which ranks with Dougga and Bulla Regia as one of the most important Archeological sites in Tunisia.
History
A Numidian settlement was established here in the second century B.C., in a commanding situation which offered safety from attack and enabled it to control the routes between the uplands and the steppe; and the abundant summer rainfall guaranteed a water supply for the adjoining valley.
After the destruction of Carthage in 146 B.C. many Punic refugees came to Maktar, since the town, by now fortified, lay outside the Roman province of Africa (until 46 B.C., when it was incorporated in the new province of Africa Nova). The remains of a tophet and numerous funerary stelae and Punic inscriptions are evidence of an enduring Libyan/Punic influence. As in other towns, the two communities - the old-established Libyan/Punic civitas and the Roman pagus - lived in harmony side by side. It took almost 200 years until the Romanisation of Mactaris (as the Romans called the town) was complete. In the reign of Trajan, at the beginning of the second century A.D., it was given the status of a municipium; and in 180, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, it became a colonia and its inhabitants were given Roman citizenship. Maktaris now controlled some 60 villages in the surrounding area and became one of the wealthiest cities in the province. Its trade in corn, olives, livestock and textiles flourished as never before, and this promoted much new building.
In the first half of the third century Mactaris took part in the revolt headed by Gordian against the reintroduction of the tax on olive oil; but - unlike El Djem, then the most prosperous city in the Sahel, which was ruined - it managed to recover after the repression of the rising. It also survived the Vandal raids (439-534) and thereafter was fortified by the Byzantines.
After the Arab invasion the city's decline set in, and was finally consummated by the raids of the Beni Hilal nomads (1050).
The town was re-founded by the French colonial authorities in 1887 as an administrative and market center. Excavation of the ancient site began in 1914, but so far only a third of the very extensive area of Roman Mactaris has been brought to light.
The entrance to the site is through the gardens of the Museum, on the main Kairouan-Le Kef road.
Maktar lies on GP 12 (Le Kef-Kairouan), 114km/71mi northwest of Kairouan and 69km/43mi southeast of Le Kef, and on GP 4 (which branches off GP 3 at El Fahs), 156km/97mi southwest of Tunis. Bus services to and from Tunis, Téboursouk/Tunis, Le Kef, Sbeitla/Kasserine and Kairouan; bus station (Gare Routière) in the market square.
The little market town of Maktar, founded only in 1887, is commandingly situated on a high plateau in the High Tell, the hills of central Tunisia. The surrounding countryside is Tunisia's largest corn-growing area after the Medjerda valley, and in spite of the altitude olives also flourish here. Situated between the uplands and the steppe, Maktar is an important market center (market on Mondays).
The principal attraction of Maktar, in a beautiful setting, is the site of Roman Mactaris, which ranks with Dougga and Bulla Regia as one of the most important Archeological sites in Tunisia.
History
A Numidian settlement was established here in the second century B.C., in a commanding situation which offered safety from attack and enabled it to control the routes between the uplands and the steppe; and the abundant summer rainfall guaranteed a water supply for the adjoining valley.
After the destruction of Carthage in 146 B.C. many Punic refugees came to Maktar, since the town, by now fortified, lay outside the Roman province of Africa (until 46 B.C., when it was incorporated in the new province of Africa Nova). The remains of a tophet and numerous funerary stelae and Punic inscriptions are evidence of an enduring Libyan/Punic influence. As in other towns, the two communities - the old-established Libyan/Punic civitas and the Roman pagus - lived in harmony side by side. It took almost 200 years until the Romanisation of Mactaris (as the Romans called the town) was complete. In the reign of Trajan, at the beginning of the second century A.D., it was given the status of a municipium; and in 180, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, it became a colonia and its inhabitants were given Roman citizenship. Maktaris now controlled some 60 villages in the surrounding area and became one of the wealthiest cities in the province. Its trade in corn, olives, livestock and textiles flourished as never before, and this promoted much new building.
In the first half of the third century Mactaris took part in the revolt headed by Gordian against the reintroduction of the tax on olive oil; but - unlike El Djem, then the most prosperous city in the Sahel, which was ruined - it managed to recover after the repression of the rising. It also survived the Vandal raids (439-534) and thereafter was fortified by the Byzantines.
After the Arab invasion the city's decline set in, and was finally consummated by the raids of the Beni Hilal nomads (1050).
The town was re-founded by the French colonial authorities in 1887 as an administrative and market center. Excavation of the ancient site began in 1914, but so far only a third of the very extensive area of Roman Mactaris has been brought to light.
The entrance to the site is through the gardens of the Museum, on the main Kairouan-Le Kef road.
Ellès
At Ellès (ancient Thigibba), northwest of Maktar, can be seen over 40 megalithic tombs of the Punic period (second century B.C.). The tomb chambers and the passages leading to them are roofed with huge stone slabs weighing several tons, up to 12 sq.m/130 sq.ft in size and 50cm/20in thick.
Access
27km/17mi from Maktar on the Le Kef road (GP 12), take a road on the left which runs south to Ellès (12km/7.5mi).
Access
27km/17mi from Maktar on the Le Kef road (GP 12), take a road on the left which runs south to Ellès (12km/7.5mi).
Arch of Trajan
At the south end of the Forum in Maktar stands the magnificently preserved Arch of Trajan, erected in A.D. 116 in honor of the town's promotion to the status of municipium. An inscription dedicates it to "the Emperor Caesar Nerva Trajanus Augustus, the best of all Emperors, conqueror of the Germans, the Armenians and the Parthians, in his 21st year as a tribune". In Byzantine times the gateway was walled up and incorporated in the fortifications of the town.
Bab el Ain
At the far end of Maktar, outside the excavation site, is Bab el Ain, one of the old town gates (restored). Here, near the stream, was the Punic tophet dedicated to Baal-Ammon.
Basilica of Hildeguns
Beyond the Arch of Trajan in Maktar are the remains of a three-aisled basilica, much altered and rebuilt, with a baptistery flanked by four columns and the tomb of a Vandal prince named Hildeguns.
Forum
Beyond the Maison de Vénus in Maktar, at the intersection of the cardo and the decumanus, lies the rectangular Forum, paved with marble, which was probably laid out in the early second century, when Mactaris became a municipium. Nothing is left of the colonnades and buildings which stood round it. At the northeast corner is a small market.
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Hammam Zouakra
Around Maktar are numerous other excavation sites of lesser importance. At Hammam Zouakra (19km/12mi northwest) are the remains of an ancient settlement, with a triumphal arch, a megalithic monument and a number of mausoleums.
House of Venus
Immediately adjoining the Temple of Hathor Miskar in Maktar is a Roman house, the Maison de Vénus, in which was found a well preserved mosaic depicting Venus taking off her sandals, with birds and fishes (second/third century).
Kbor Klit
At Kbor Klit are the scanty remains (a few courses of masonry) of a victory monument erected after Caesar's defeat of Juba in 46 B.C.
Access
Leave Maktar on the Le Kef road (GP 12) and in 22km/14mi turn right into GP 4, signposted to Siliana; then in 8km/5mi take a road on the left which comes in 1km/0.75mi to the site.
Access
Leave Maktar on the Le Kef road (GP 12) and in 22km/14mi turn right into GP 4, signposted to Siliana; then in 8km/5mi take a road on the left which comes in 1km/0.75mi to the site.
Ksar Touar
On the far side of the hill, in the middle of a field, is a Roman mausoleum, originally three-storied.
Necropolis
Immediately beyond the Schola of the Juvenes in Maktar is a necropolis which was in use for burial from the foundation of the Roman town until the fourth century, together with a number of megalithic tombs of the Numidian period.
Neo-Punic mausoleum
Some 300m/330yds west of the necropolis in Maktar can be found a two-story mausoleum with a pyramidal roof, a Roman version of the Numidian and Punic tower tombs, the best preserved example of which is the mausoleum at Dougga.
Other Sights
To the northwest of the mausoleum in Maktar are the remains of a temple of Apollo (second century), probably built on the site of an earlier shrine of Baal-Ammon, and fragments of an aqueduct. Outside the excavation site, northeast of the Museum, is the half-ruined Mausoleum of the Julii.
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