Carthage and the Bardo Museum
It was dark as a few hooded figures wound their way around the ancient alleyways of Tyre to seven ships already loaded with precious cargo waiting for them. As they crossed the planks to arrive safely onboard, the vessels hauled anchors and silently slipped out of the port, leaving behind the brother/king the queen was fleeing. Dido/Elyssa was escaping with her loyal followers who would become the founding parents of a new city built through her negotiation skills and their hard work. Dido followed the footsteps of many a woman ruler; she built an empire based on economic prosperity and not on war. The city was destined to become the ruler of the trade seas for over 700 years, Carthage. The Carthaginians were known throughout the ancient Mediterranean world as excellent merchants and sailors. Strabo called Carthage “A ship at anchor.” They only had a small spit of land on a peninsula in a bay on the North African shore, but the bay provided them with refuge for their navy, which was primarily to protect the merchant ships, and for trade routes along the African coast to Ireland and throughout the Mediterranean. It was such an important and wealthy culture that envious Rome was determined to destroy it, which they did. The Romans were far from fools, however, and they recognized that they could use the strategic location for their own ends. The legend that they destroyed all the agricultural land around the city by covering it with salt is seemingly exaggerated as the Romans needed the land to produce for them too. After killing most of the population, those that remained and provided food for the Empire were entitled to become Roman citizens. They did level the Byrsa Hill on which the former temple probably stood to create their own forum and basilica, which the French during their time as conquerors, redid by building a cathedral dedicated to Louis IX, the Crusader King, on the top of the hill next to the ancient forum. The monastery attached to the church is now the home of the Carthage Museum.
The Carthage Museum is on two floors, with basically one large room on either level. The ground floor has objects found in and around Carthage, including a Greco-Roman Isis holding baby Horus, a few statues of Serapsis, Fortuna, Minerva, and of Dionysus, as well as the usual pottery and glassware of the period. Upstairs there are fragments of pillars and walls and more pottery shards. The most important pieces in the museum are the two mosaics on the ground floor, one showing a woman with grapes and the other the famous “Lady of Carthage” with her huge Byzantine eyes staring back at the viewer.
The Cathedral has been deconsecrated and is now home to various art exhibits. The building is extremely tall and towers over the city from the outside and inside the open space in the middle dwarfs all who enter. The area just in front of the altar has three Arabic arches; above them is a gallery with Arabic columns. The paintings on the walls relate to Arabic stories and images, while the altar itself has been left more or less intact, but without personal representations. Outside the entrance to the church by the ticket counter is a sunken over-life sized Apollo that apparently couldn’t be moved.
The Forum, started by Augustus and enlarged by Hadrian and Antonius, is today a flat terrace which overlooks the ruins of the earlier Punic houses, probably built by Hannibal around 203 BCE that once stood four or five stories high. They fell in the destruction of the city in 146 BCE in the 3rd Punic War. Looking at the ruins, one can make out former kitchens, living rooms, passageways and even sewage lines.
While Byrsa Hill dominates the skyline, Carthage has a number of other archeological sites. Among them are the former ports, which are now lagoons and there isn’t much to identify them with their former functions as the area around them has been completely taken over by residential houses; the amphitheater where lions were set loose to attack slaves for the entertainment of the local citizenry; the Roman theater, which is quite large and is still used for concerts in the summer; and the Antonine Baths, named after Antonius Pious (138-161) who completed the project his father, Hadrian, had begun. The baths comprise a large complex directly on the sea front. A very nice site is that of the Roman villas as that one has a number of mosaics on display from different eras. The government is also in the process of developing a new museum, set to open in March, with an audio-visual room in one of the villas that comes complete with swimming pool overlooking the sea, near the top of the hill. The local guide mentioned that the slopes around the house and behind it used to be covered with vineyards and made a point to emphasize that Tunisian wine is quite good, which I can attest to, and that the local people drink both wine and beer even though they are good Muslims. Its good to know that the fruit of the vine is still being respected and appropriately honored. The most bizarre of the local archeological sites is the Tophet, which is dedicated to the god Baal Hammon and goddess Tanit. Multiple layers of funerary remains of children were found at the site, leading some people to say that this was where parents would offer their first born in sacrifice to the gods. This doesn’t make any sense to me, though, and I personally believe – with absolutely no proof other than a sense of other cultures' sacrificial rites – that this could be the place where the remains of children who died through whatever causes, illness, injury etc., would be buried and dedicated to the gods. There are many cultures where children are not buried in adult cemeteries, and this may be one of them. The site itself isn’t particularly large. From the entrance there is of a level area filled with tombstones with dedications to either Baal or Tanit. On the right side is a lower section that may have been part of a processional given the columns leading to an inner chamber. The other side has the caves for the actual remains.
There are seven archeological sites that are part of a ticket for 10 DL (a little over $4) and another DL for photography. The sites must all be visited in the same day. There is yet another archeological site that is not part of the ticket as it is free to anyone who wants to go there, the Zaghwan aqueduct. This isn’t just another aqueduct, though, as there are at least 15 large rows of storage tanks to hold the water that came from the mountains to the city. It was an ingenious system and one that kept the city healthy and constantly hydrated even in times of drought.
The archeological sites are what brought me to Carthage, but I found something else there too. There is a laid back sense of peace to this region, much different than in the capital city, Tunis, just a few miles away. It is still a place to escape to for relaxation and enjoyment. Queen Dido found a good location, and even the President of Tunisia has followed suit, as the “White House” isn’t in the capital, but here overlooking the sea.
One of Carthage’s neighboring villages is Sidi Bou Said. This is a delightful hill community where the buildings are all whitewashed with the same hued iridescent blue trim; it’s a Tunisian version of Santorini, with views to match. It is distinctly touristy for both locals and foreigners as the winding alleyways sporting colorful bougainvillea create stunning pictures backdropped by the houses and sea. The harbor is filled with sailboats, motorboats and small yachts. This isn’t a place where refugees cross the seas, that is far away in Libya or via the ferry from La Goulette outside Tunis.
While the Carthage Museum is small, the Bardo National Museum in Tunis is quite large and beautifully laid out. It is housed in the former palace of the Beys (rulers) of Tunis and according to the brochure is a masterpiece of 19th C Husseinid architecture. The museum has three floors. The majority of the first floor is dedicated to Greco-Roman and Byzantine mosaics. The most incredible piece is a cross-shaped baptismal font that is entirely covered in mosaics with Christian and biblical imagery. The artistry is simply amazing. The Byzantine section flows into the Islamic section where mosaics morph to tiles, of which three major kinds of imagery are prevalent on the walls: Ottoman, with representations of mosques; Spanish, with black and white arches like in Cordoba; and Moroccan, with just vegetation. Tiles line the walls while intricately carved designs cover the white and sometimes white and blue stucco ceilings of the Islamic rooms. On the second floor there is the pre-historic section with the gods and goddesses I am particularly interested in, along with Greco-Roman statuary and more Islamic rooms. Covering whole sections of the atrium are gigantic mosaics taken from the floor of the Roman theater. The mosaic was too large to be shown in one piece and has been cut into several sections. Most of the other mosaics are showcased intact. The Bardo has the largest mosaic collection in the world.
While I was visiting the museum I was fortunate to meet two women from the Louvre who are working to teach young Tunisians the art of cultural artifact restoration and display. Until this collaboration between their museums, there was no such training program in the country and, by not knowing how to take care of the artifacts, unintentionally many have been damaged. The project leaders hope to develop a university degree for those who want to pursue this field. The collaboration has not been easy for these rather courageous women, who were in the museum during the 2015 attack, as the first volunteers seemed to want to use the program as a stepping stone to get to the Louvre and France and not use it for what it is intended, namely to build local capacity. There were apparently differing sets of expectations from those who created the program to those who volunteered for it.
I wasn’t sure what to expect of Carthage and environs. I came to see if I could locate any of the Punic goddesses and any of Dido’s legacy. I am happy to say that I found gracious people who truly wanted to make my experience in their country a positive one. Tom, the taxi driver the ticket agent at the cathedral called for me as I didn’t have transportation back to the hotel, was a delightful chauffeur for the rest of my time in the region and very concerned that I didn’t engage in any conversations in the medina in Tunis, and the folks at Villa Carthage, where I stayed provided an absolutely first class service for a rather mid-budget price. Carthage is a mix of old and new; residential housing is being built all around, while outside my window sheep graze overseen by their shepherds as in ancient times. I don’t know what Dido would say about her city today, but this visitor enjoyed her hospitality. Thanks!
Addendum: Achtung! If you have extra TD you cannot exchange them unless you have a receipt. The ATM didn't give me a receipt so I was unable to change the money I had left - & you can't use TDs at the stores in the airport after the passing through security clearance - they only take Euros or Dollars!
