The archaeological site of Sbeitla is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

Sbeitla Sbeitla or Sufetula ( ber, Sbitla or Seftula, ar, سبيطلة ') is a small town in west-central Tunisia. Nearby are the Byzantine ruins of Sufetula, containing the best preserved Byzantine forum temples in Tunisia. It was the entry point of the ...

, in north-central

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

. It represents the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

ruins of Sufetula, and contains the best preserved

Roman forum The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum ( it, Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum ( plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancie ...

temples in Tunisia. It was excavated and restored between 1906 and 1921.

History

The city was founded, if not already in existence, during the reign of Emperor

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Emp ...

. Sufetula was the theatre of the great confrontation between Byzantines and

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

in 647,SUFETULA (Sbeitla) Tunisia.
A. ENNABLI setting the stage for the later Muslim conquest of the diocese of Sufetula and further conquests in southern Europe.

Main sights

Roman remains

*The Triumphal Arch of the

Tetrarchy The Tetrarchy was the system instituted by Roman emperor Diocletian in 293 AD to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors, the ''augusti'', and their juniors colleagues and designated successors, the '' caesares'' ...

at the entrance to the city commemorates the four emperors that governed the empire in the year 300, just before the rule of

Constantine the Great Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...

*The Public Baths *The Forum, one of the best preserved in the world *The Gate of Antoninus, which stands at the entrance to the forum and can be dated between 138 and 161. Its inscriptions make reference to Antoninus Pius and his two adopted sons,

Lucius Verus Lucius Aurelius Verus (15 December 130 – January/February 169) was Roman emperor from 161 until his death in 169, alongside his adoptive brother Marcus Aurelius. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty. Verus' succession together wit ...

and

Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good E ...

*The three temples. Instead of constructing only one temple dedicated to the three most important Roman gods (

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousand ...

, Juno, and

Minerva Minerva (; ett, Menrva) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of strategic war. From the second century BC onward, the R ...

), the inhabitants of the city built separate temples for each one. A similar arrangement is also found at Baelo Claudia in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. *Other important buildings include the theater and the public fountains.

Byzantine remains

The majority of the Byzantine buildings stand on the foundations and incorporate elements of earlier Roman ones. They include: *The Basilica of Bellator (late 4th or early 5th century), named for a local bishopJ. Patout Burns, Robin M. Jensen, ''Christianity in Roman Africa: The Development of Its Practices and Beliefs'', p. 149 ff. Eerdmans 2014,

/ref> and including **The Chapel of Jucundus, which served as a baptistery and was named for an early 5th-century bishop buried there *The Basilica of Vitalis (5th-6th century), named for its founding

presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros,'' which means elder or senior, although many in the Christian antiquity would understand ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning a ...

. A basin predating the church and decorated by a fish mosaic was found under the floor of its nave. *The Church of Servus (5th century), named for its presbyter *The Church of Saints Gervase,

Protase Saints Gervasius and Protasius (also Saints Gervase and Protase, Gervasis and Prothasis and in French ''Gervais and Protais'') are venerated as Christian martyrs, probably of the 2nd century. They are the patron saints of Milan and of haymakers a ...

, and

Tryphon Tryphon or Trypho ( el, Τρύφων, ''gen''.: Τρύφωνος; c. 60 BC – 10 BC) was a Greek grammarian who lived and worked in Alexandria. He was a contemporary of Didymus Chalcenterus. He wrote several specialized works on aspects of la ...

In Art and Literature

An engraving of a painting by Charles Bentley entitled ''Ruins of Sbeitlah, the ancient Sufetula'', Tunis was published in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book ,1838 with a poetical illustration by

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

, as

References