Thyna, formerly Henchir-Tina, is a town and commune in the

Sfax Governorate Sfax ( '; ) is one of the governorates of Tunisia. The governorate has a population of 1,047,468 (2024) and an area of 7,545 km2. Its capital is Sfax. It is along the east coast of Tunisia, and includes the Kerkennah Islands. Administrative ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. As of 2004 it had a population of 26,635.Recensement de 2004 (Institut national de la statistique)
It is located on the coast about south of

Sfax Sfax ( ; , ) is a major port city in Tunisia, located southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD849 on the ruins of Taparura, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate (about 955,421 inhabitants in 2014), and a Mediterranean port. Sfax has a ...

History

Thyna is located in the area of the

Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( ) usually refers to the civilisation of ancient Carthage. It may also refer to: * Punic people, the Semitic-speaking people of Carthage * Punic language The Punic language, also called Phoenicio-Punic or Carthaginian, i ...

city of

Thenae Thenae or Thenai (), also written Thaena and Thaenae, was a Carthaginian and Roman town (') located in or near Thyna, now a suburb of Sfax on the Mediterranean coast of southeastern Tunisia. Name The city was founded with the Punic name ( ...

. It is the most important archaeological site in the vicinity of Sfax. Thyna was the southernmost city in the

Roman Province of Africa Africa was a Roman province on the northern coast of the continent of Africa. It was established in 146 BC, following the Roman Republic's conquest of Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisi ...

and became a colony under the Emperor

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

(117-138). Little remains on the site, but traces can be seen of Roman villas, bath-houses, an

early Christian Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the historical era of the Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Christianity spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and be ...

basilica, a

necropolis A necropolis (: necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'' (). The term usually implies a separate burial site at a distan ...

, and tannery. The town was considered to be on the frontier between the

territory and the

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

kingdom of

Numidia Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between ...

. Many objects, including some of the

mosaic 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 (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

s, have been removed to the museum at Sfax. The main point of interest is the "Baths of the Months"; the mosaics here are intact but largely covered with sand. Nearby is a smaller bath house, and parts of the walls of the Roman town can still be traced. A temple has been excavated as well as some dwellings beside a Roman street.

Geography

The town is traversed by the RN1 which connects Sfax to

Gabès Gabès (, ; ), also spelled Cabès, Cabes, and Kabes, is the capital of the Gabès Governorate in Tunisia. Situated on the coast of the Gulf of Gabès, the city has a population of 167,863, making it the 6th largest city in Tunisia. Located 327 ...

. The town has an industrial area that was built in 1999, and to the west lies the Sfax-Thyna International Airport. There are salt mines nearby extending over an area of about and producing 300,000 tonnes of salt a year. On the coast are saltmarshes which are visited by large numbers of migrating water birds.

References

Populated places in Sfax Governorate Communes of Tunisia Phoenician colonies in Tunisia Roman towns and cities in Tunisia {{Tunisia-geo-stub

History

Geography

See also

References