Chief town of the governorate of Le Kef
Situation and characteristics
The old town of Le Kef (kef = "rock"), known in Arabic as Chikka Benar, is picturesquely situated on the slopes of Dir el Kef, an outlier of the High Tell. It is the market center of the surrounding upland region, with a
busy market on Thursdays.
The upper town, crowned by the Kasbah, has so far been little affected by tourism, though there are plans to develop its tourist potentialities. If this should come about Le Kef will make a good base from which to visit some of Tunisia's most important ancient sites lying within easy reach, including Dougga, Bulla Regia and Maktar.
History
Nothing is left of a settlement established by the Numidians on this commanding site. The place came under the influence of Carthage at an early stage. At the end of the First Punic War (241 B.C.) Carthage resettled here numbers of mercenaries who had mutinied in Sicily - a move which sparked off the bloody Mercenary War of 240-237 B.C. Among them were Elymians from the Sicilian city of Eryx, who brought with them their cult of the goddess Sicca Veneria, and the town, now renamed Sicca Veneria, became an important center of the cult.
The goddess worshipped as Sicca Veneria was identified with the Carthaginian Astarte, the Greek Aphrodite and the Roman Venus. Temple prostitution featured prominently in the cult; but although Elissa, the legendary founder of Carthage, is said to have brought the cult with her, along with eighty hierodules (female temple servants), Le Kef is the only place in Punic Africa where traces of the cult have been found; and the town's Arabic name of Chikka Benar or Chakbenaria still recalls the ancient Sicca Veneria.
The Romans took over the town, preserving its Punic name of Sicca Veneria. In the reign of Augustus it was raised to the status of a colonia, and during the second and third centuries it achieved great prosperity. As early as 256 it was the see of a bishop.
After the Vandal raids the town lost much of its population, and after the Arab conquest it was abandoned, to be refounded only in the 16th century under the name of Le Kef. As a frontier town it was long disputed between Algiers and Tunis. Its massive Kasbah was built by the Algerians towards the end of the 17th century, but Tunisian control was finally established in the 18th century. During the Second World War the town was for a time the seat of the government of the French protectorate.
Access
Le Kef lies on GP 5, 170km/106mi southwest of Tunis and 42km/26mi east of the Algerian frontier. Regular bus services to and from Tunis, Tabarka, Maktar, Kairouan and Kasserine; bus station (Gare Routière) in the lower town.
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