The Makthar Museum is a small Tunisian

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

, inaugurated in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, located on the Makthar archaeological site, the ancient ''Mactaris''. Initially a simple site museum using a building constructed to serve as a café on the site of a

marabout A marabout ( ar, مُرابِط, murābiṭ, lit=one who is attached/garrisoned) is a Muslim religious leader and teacher who historically had the function of a chaplain serving as a part of an Islamic army, notably in North Africa and the Saha ...

, it comprises three rooms, some of which are displayed outside in a lapidary

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate both ...

. Additionally, just behind the museum are the remains of a

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

. The collection, primarily consisting of items found during excavations conducted on the site or in its immediate vicinity, is representative of the

history of Tunisia The present day Republic of Tunisia, ''al-Jumhuriyyah at-Tunisiyyah'', is situated in Northern Africa. Geographically situated between Libya to the east, Algeria to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the north. Tunis is the capital and the l ...

from the

Punic The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

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 ...

period to the end of the

Ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

, including traces of Christianity in the

Byzantine era The Byzantine calendar, also called the Roman calendar, the Creation Era of Constantinople or the Era of the World ( grc, Ἔτη Γενέσεως Κόσμου κατὰ Ῥωμαίους, also or , abbreviated as ε.Κ.; literal translation of ...

Punic and Neo-punic items

The site did not yield any remains from the earliest Phoenician settlement in North Africa. However, the Punic or Neo-Punic collections, representing Punic civilization but dating from a period after the destruction of Carthage during the

Third Punic War The Third Punic War (149–146 BC) was the third and last of the Punic Wars fought between Carthage and Rome. The war was fought entirely within Carthaginian territory, in modern northern Tunisia. When the Second Punic War ended in 201 ...

, are particularly interesting. They consist mainly of Punic and Neo-Punic ex-votos and funerary

stelae A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

, sometimes bearing inscriptions in Libyco-Punic and Neo-Punic characters. Some also feature symbolic representations of the deceased, albeit with a relatively naive or schematic treatment. These discoveries allow the understanding of the relationship between the

Punics The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

and the

indigenous populations Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

, as well as the "Punicization" of the latter, even in a period after the destruction of the great African city. Punic cultural codes continue to spread, some persisting particularly in the religious or even political spheres. Architectural items are also found in this section of the museum.

Roman items

The Roman-era items are quite diverse, including funerary furniture as well as life-related artifacts, particularly the daily life, of the small city. Architectural items are displayed outside the museum, including the

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

of a funerary monument belonging to priestesses of

Ceres Ceres most commonly refers to: * Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid * Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture Ceres may also refer to: Places Brazil * Ceres, Goiás, Brazil * Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...

. Additionally, there are statue bases and

altars An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paganism, ...

. Among the objects of daily life, a showcase presents a collection of

oil lamps An oil lamp is a lamp used to produce light continuously for a period of time using an oil-based fuel source. The use of oil lamps began thousands of years ago and continues to this day, although their use is less common in modern times. Th ...

from various periods, coins, ceramics, and also a display of ancient glassware.

Pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

mosaics A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

are displayed, including a large mosaic adorned with numerous animal motifs (birds and game). This theme is widespread in African mosaics from this period. Another mosaic depicts Venus bathing, the deity undressing, leaning against a tree, and surrounded by two cherubs bringing her flowers. The work is remarkable for its light and shadow play. There are also fragments of sculptures, especially heads of

emperors An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

or deities, showing degradation signs. A lion, dating back to the

1st century The 1st century was the century spanning AD 1 ( I) through AD 100 ( C) according to the Julian calendar. It is often written as the or to distinguish it from the 1st century BC (or BCE) which preceded it. The 1st century is considered part o ...

and belonging to an older

tradition, is visible, although a better-preserved specimen is located in the

Bardo National Museum Bardo National Museum or Musée National du Bardo may refer to: * Bardo National Museum (Algiers) in Algeria * Bardo National Museum (Tunis) , logo = , image = Tunis, musée du Bardo, salle de Virgile 01.jpg , caption = Apartments of the Be ...

. The four

steles A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek language, Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ...

known as the " Ghorfa steles", discovered not far from Makthar in

, at

Maghrawa The Maghrawa or Meghrawa ( ar, المغراويون) were a large Zenata Berber tribal confederation whose cradle and seat of power was the territory located on the Chlef in the north-western part of today's Algeria, bounded by the Ouarsenis to ...

(ancient Macota), are the latest in a significant series. The first ones were found in the mid-19th century, and their provenance was poorly understood until the work of Ahmed M'Charek. They have allowed the study of religious rites and beliefs in

Roman Africa Roman Africa may refer to the following areas of Northern Africa which were part of the Imperium Romanum and/or the Western/Byzantine successor empires : ; in the unified Roman empire : * Africa (Roman province), with the great metropolis Cartha ...

and the determination of the importance of the Libyan-Punic substrate. These discoveries follow stereotyped forms, organized in superimposed registers depicting the divine world, a depicted dedication in the middle of a temple pediment, and a

sacrifice Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...

representation in its lower part. More generally, the texts provided by the site are very interesting for the knowledge of ancient Africa: the

onomastics Onomastics (or, in older texts, onomatology) is the study of the etymology, history, and use of proper names. An ''orthonym'' is the proper name of the object in question, the object of onomastic study. Onomastics can be helpful in data mining, w ...

appearing in the exhibited works concern names of individuals belonging to a local population undergoing

Romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

. File:Makthar musée bases statues, cippe de Beccut au milieu.jpg, Statue bases, including

Beccut cippus The Beccut cippus is an Artifact (archaeology), archaeological artifact found in 1953 in Maktar, Makthar (Tunisia). It is preserved in the town's Makthar Museum, archaeological museum, opened in 1967. Along with the famous Makthar harvester insc ...

in the middle. File:Musée Makthar têtes empereur.jpg, Emperors and Aesculapius heads. File:Musée Makthar stèles Ghorfa.jpg, "Ghorfa" type stelae. File:Makhtar Venus bain.jpg, ''Vénus au bain'' (Venus bathing)''.''

Paleochristian and Byzantine items

The finds on display in this department of the museum bear witness to the

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

establishment in the region. The Paleochristian and Byzantine period is represented by marble fragments from gravestones of Christian tombs, some of which feature delicate incised decorations. The museum also includes fine examples of

epitaphs An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

from the same period, discovered in large numbers at the site. The museum also houses beautiful Christian mosaics, especially funerary ones, some of which feature a

Chi-Rho The Chi Rho (☧, English pronunciation ; also known as ''chrismon'') is one of the earliest forms of Christogram, formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters—chi (letter), chi and rho (ΧΡ)—of the Greek word (Christ (title), ...

symbol; some adorned double tombs. At the back of the museum are the remains of the so-called "Rutilius"

, which have been the subject of studies, particularly by

Noël Duval Noël Duval (24 December 1929, Le Chesnay – 12 December 2018, Paris) was a French archaeologist. Biography In 1953 Duval started working as a researcher and for three consecutive years worked at the Roman Historical Institute. He was a member ...

. The construction, which took over the site of a sanctuary dedicated to

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

, may have been the city's

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

and has suffered greatly from the excavations carried out on the site since the mid-19th century. File:Makthar mosaïques chrétiennes.jpg, Christian mosaics in the museum. File:Makthar stèle chrétienne.jpg, Christian funerary stele with Chi-Rho. File:Makthar basilique musée.jpg, Remains of the "Rutilius" basilica, at the rear of the museum, on the street side. File:Makthar basilique Rutilius annexes.jpg, Remains of the annexes to the "Rutilius" basilica, on the amphitheatre side.

References

Bibliography

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External links