Chemtou
Location | Tunisia |
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Region | Jendouba Governorate |
Coordinates | 36°29′31″N 8°34′34″E / 36.49194°N 8.57611°E |
Chemtou or Chimtou was an ancient Roman-Berber town in northwestern Tunisia, located 20 km from the city of Jendouba near the Algerian frontier. It was known as Simitthu (or Simitthus in Roman period) in antiquity.
History
Chemtou was founded in the 4th to 5th century BC as a colony of the Berber kingdom of
Remains
It lies at the crossroad of two major highways: the one that connects Carthage and Hippo Regius (today Annaba), and the one that connects Thabraca (today Tabarka) and Sicca (today El Kef). The town is known for its quarries, where one of the most precious types of marbles in the Roman Empire, the antique yellow marble (marmor numidicum or giallo antico), was exploited.
With Chemtou's ruins dating from over a period of 1,500 years, the site covers over 80 hectares of area pending further excavations. After being partially excavated in the late 19th century, a series of excavations carried out since the late 1960s by a Tunisian-German archaeological team has uncovered new parts of the city, as well as the Roman road connecting it to Thabraca for the purpose of transporting marbles to the Mediterranean Sea. The excavated ruins are typical of Roman cities with temples, baths, an aqueduct, an amphitheatre, and housing for quarry workers whose number may exceed a thousand. The Chemtou Museum displays artifacts discovered in the area.
The testimonies of the long history of the settlement of Chimtous have been partly preserved on the rocky ridges and on their southern, western and northern slopes. In Simitthus there were all the buildings that are to be found in Roman cities: an amphitheater, a theater, a forum with forum basilica and fountain, a three- aisled market hall, a nymphaeum, at least three thermal baths. Byzantine church buildings and a building in the north-west of the city, interpreted as an imperial edifice, which is most probably a so-called Italian podium temple or temple italique. There were also two Roman sanctuaries, the temple districts of Dii Mauri on the eastern slope, and the Caelestis on the western slope at Djebel Bou Rfifa.
In addition, Simitthus also had a few buildings that stand out because of their uniqueness in the North African region:
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Römisches Forum
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Felsrelief der Dii Mauri
Mount Chimtou
On the summit of the Temple Mount / Djebel Chimtou is a Numidian shrine, which is attributed to the Numidian King Micipsa. His father Massinissa, who had been an Allied Roman since the Second Punic War, had seized power over the upper
The monument consisted of a high substructure, which was orientated towards the east to the rising sun. On its east long side a shining door was attached, which was led by a three-step base. On the substructure was a second storey, which was designed as a Doric column pavilion. The building was decorated with rich decorations, including a trophy relief. The fragments of the building decoration are among the most valuable examples of the very rarely preserved Numidian royal architecture and can be visited today in the Chimtou Museum to reconstruct the sanctuary.[2]
In Roman times, the Shrine was used as a sacred temple dedicated to the god Saturn. It was expanded in the late 2nd century AD by various additions. In the 4th century AD it was finally replaced by a small, three-aisled church, using the quader and architectural parts of the destroyed sanctuary.[3]
Rock-reliefs
At the end of the 1960s, the largest known series of Roman rock reliefs in North Africa was discovered at Tempelberg. Altogether there are about 200 pieces. They are sculpted out of the rock in the southwest, west, and north of the Temple Mount, heavily weathered and visible only with oblique incident light. The reliefs usually form the same: the consecrated ones, an altar, a sacrificial animal, which, if recognizable, is always a ram. The devotee is often depicted on the sacrificial horse, with the attributes rhombus and wreath. Although no inscriptions were found, the typology points to the god Saturn. His consecrated reliefs form one of the greatest monuments in North Africa. The reliefs are arranged in groups and are, if possible, on natural rock banks. Often, there was a niche in front of it, where dedications could be given. In one case, shards of several vessels and a clay lamp were discovered.
Roman bridge over the Medjerda
The Roman bridge over the
The bridge had three arch openings, only one of which served as a water passage so that it was a dam at the same time. Only the southernmost bridge pillar still stands in its original position. The material used for the cuboids was green limestone from Bordj Helal, gray marble /limestone from Ain El Ksir and yellow stone blocks of unknown origin
Turbine mill
About a century after the inauguration of the bridge, a grain mill was installed on the left bank of the river. It is one of only two Roman turbine mills known in North Africa (the second is in
Working camp
A work,
Cisterns and Aqueducts
As in every Roman city, there was an urban
Ecclesiastical history
The
The
Gallery
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Roman theatre
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Roman forum
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Building dedicated to Imperial cult
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Roman basilica near the forum
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Roman baths
References
- ^ Friedrich Rakob – Theodor Kraus: Chemtou, Du. The Kunstzeitschrift 3, 1979, p62.
- ^ Friedrich Rakob, Numidian Royal Architecture in North Africa, in: HG Horn – Ch. B. Rüger (Eds.), Die Numider (Bonn 1979) 119–171.
- ^ Friedrich Rakob – Theodor Kraus: Chemtou, Du. The Kunstzeitschrift 3, 1979, p63.
- ^ Friedrich Rakob – Theodor Kraus: Chemtou, Du. The Kunstzeitschrift 3, 1979, p68
- ^ a b Friedrich Rakob – Theodor Kraus: Chemtou, Du. The Kunstzeitschrift 3, 1979, p66.
- ISBN 3-8053-1500-7
- ISBN 3-8053-3461-3(Simitthus, 3).
- ^ Friedrich Rakob – Theodor Kraus: Chemtou, Du. The Kunstzeitschrift 3, 1979, p55.
- ^ Friedrich Rakob – Theodor Kraus: Chemtou, Du. The Kunstzeitschrift 3, 1979, p57
- ^ Chimtou, Aquädukt.jpg
- ^ Friedrich Rakob – Theodor Kraus: Chemtou, Du. The Kunstzeitschrift 3, 1979, p67
- ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 973
External links
- Museum and ancient site of Chimtou
- Webpage about Chemtou Archived 2019-10-24 at the Wayback Machine
- Anotherebpage about Chemtou (in German)
- Roman mills of Chemtou and Testour (in German)