The Libyco-Punic Mausoleum of Dougga (Mausoleum of Atban) is an ancient

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

located in

Dougga Dougga or Thugga or TBGG was a Berber, Punic and Roman settlement near present-day Téboursouk in northern Tunisia. The current archaeological site covers . UNESCO qualified Dougga as a World Heritage Site in 1997, believing that it represents " ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. It is one of three examples of the royal

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

Numidia Numidia ( Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunis ...

, which is in a good state of preservation and dates to the 2nd century BC. It was restored by the government of

French Tunisia The French protectorate of Tunisia (french: Protectorat français de Tunisie; ar, الحماية الفرنسية في تونس '), commonly referred to as simply French Tunisia, was established in 1881, during the French colonial Empire era, ...

between 1908-10. As part of the site of Dougga, the mausoleum is listed by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. On 17 January 2012, the Tunisian government proposed it be included in a future classification of the royal mausoleums of Numidia and

Mauretania Mauretania (; ) is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It stretched from central present-day Algeria westwards to the Atlantic, covering northern present-day Morocco, and southward to the Atlas Mountains. Its native inhabitants, ...

and other pre-Islamic funerary monuments.

History

The first westerners to visit the site of Dougga arrived in the 17th century, becoming more frequent throughout the nineteenth century.Historique de l'exploration du site de Dougga (Strabon)
/ref> The mausoleum was described by several of these tourists and was the object of early architectural studies at the end of the period. In 1842, the British

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

in Tunis

Thomas Reade Sir Thomas Reade (1782 – 1 August 1849) was a British army officer during the Napoleonic Wars, known also as a collector. In 1799, at the age of sixteen, he ran away from home to enlist in the army and participate in campaigns in Holland, Egy ...

seriously damaged the monument in the process of removing the royal inscription which decorated it. The current state of monument is the result of a reconstruction of the pieces strewn through the surrounding area, carried out with Tunisian support by the French archaeologist between 1908 and 1910.

Description

The 21 m high mausoleum is divided into three levels, atop a five step pedestal. On the north face of the

podium A podium (plural podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. It derives from the Greek ''πόδι'' (foot). In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used ...

, the first of the three levels, an opening covered by a slab leads to the funerary chamber. The mausoleum's other faces are decorated with false openings, the corners with

Aeolic In linguistics, Aeolic Greek (), also known as Aeolian (), Lesbian or Lesbic dialect, is the set of dialects of Ancient Greek spoken mainly in Boeotia; in Thessaly; in the Aegean island of Lesbos; and in the Greek colonies of Aeolis in Anatolia ...

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s. The sepulchre's second level consists of a

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

in the form of a shrine (''naiskos''). The engaged columns on each side are of the

ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

. The third and final level is the most richly decorated: in addition to pilasters on the corners similar to those on the first level, it is capped by a

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

. Sculptural elements have survived: griffons are perched on the corners and a

quadriga A () is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast and favoured for chariot racing in Classical Antiquity and the Roman Empire until the Late Middle Ages. The word derives from the Latin contraction of , from ': four, and ': yoke. The four- ...

on one of the faces of the upper level.

Bilingual Punic and Libyan inscription

The bilingual

Numidian Numidia ( Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunis ...

and

Punic-Libyan Inscription The Punic-Libyan bilingual inscriptions are two important ancient bilingual inscriptions dated to the 2nd century BC. The first known, the Cenotaph Inscription, was discovered in 1852, played a significant role in deciphering the Libyco-Berber scr ...

now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

enabled the decipherment of the Numidian alphabet:

Interpretation

The Libyo-Punic Mausoleum has often been connected with the funerary monuments of

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

and

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

es of

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC.Pierre Gros, ''L'architecture romaine du début du III^e siècle av. J.-C. à la fin du Haut-Empire'', tome 2 « Maisons, palais, villas et tombeaux », éd. Picard, Paris, 2001, p. 417 On account of the inscription, the tomb is considered to be dedicated to Atban son of Iepmatah son of Palu. It has recently been determined that the inscription, which is located beside one of the false doors of the podium, was not unique. Another inscription, irreparably damaged, would have enumerated the titulare of the tomb's occupant. According to recent studies, the names mentioned on the surviving inscription are merely the monument's builders: the architect and the various head artisans. The monument would have been built by the citizens of the city for a

n prince. It is thought to have possibly been a tomb or cenotaph intended for

Massinissa Masinissa ( nxm, , ''MSNSN''; ''c.'' 238 BC – 148 BC), also spelled Massinissa, Massena and Massan, was an ancient Numidian king best known for leading a federation of Massylii Berber tribes during the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), ult ...

.Mustapha Khanoussi, ''op. cit.'', p. 75

References

Bibliography

Gabriel Camps Gabriel Camps (May 20, 1927 – September 7, 2002) was a French archaeologist and social anthropologist, the founder of the ''Encyclopédie berbère'' and is considered a prestigious scholar on the history of the Berber people. Biography Gabriel ...

, « Dougga », ''

Encyclopédie berbère ''Encyclopédie berbère'' (English: ''Berber Encyclopaedia'') is a French-language encyclopaedia dealing with subjects related to the Berber peoples (''Imazighen'' in Berber language), published both in print editions and in a partial online ...

'', tome XVI, éd. Edisud, Aix-en-Provence, 1992, pp. 2522–2527 *

, ''Les Berbères, mémoire et identité'', coll. Babel, éd. Actes Sud / Leméac, Arles / Montréal, 2007 * Pierre Gros, ''L'architecture romaine du début du III^e siècle av. J.-C. à la fin du Haut-Empire'', tome 2 « Maisons, palais, villas et tombeaux », éd. Picard, Paris, 2001 * Mustapha Khanoussi, ''Dougga'', éd. Agence de mise en valeur du patrimoine et de promotion culturelle, Tunis, 2008 * Edward Lipinski ous la dir. de ''Dictionnaire de la civilisation phénicienne et punique'', éd. Brépols, Paris, 1992 *

Louis Poinssot Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis (d ...

, « La restauration du mausolée de Dougga », ''CRAI'', vol. 54, 9, 1910, pp. 780–787
online
* Jan-Willem Salomoson & Claude Poinssot, « Le mausolée libyco-punique de Dougga et les papiers du comte Borgia », ''CRAI'', vol. 103, 2, 1959, pp. 141–149
online
* Hédi Slim & Nicolas Fauqué, ''La Tunisie antique. De Hannibal à saint Augustin'', éd. Mengès, Paris, 2001 {{ISBN, 285620421X Mausoleums in Tunisia Archaeological sites in Tunisia Cemeteries in Tunisia Kingdom of Numidia Berber architecture Dougga