Tunisia Way

The National Museum of Carthage located on the Byrsa Hill, contains a most interesting Punic and Roman collection from marble sarcophagi to everyday household items as well as a model of Punic Carthage and the Roman Capitol and Tophet built on its ruins. Here again we find the curious Punic colored glass paste masks with their large protruding eyes and the clay masks designed to ward off the evil spirits as well as a lovely collection of jewelry.

The main ruins of Punic Carthage are here as well as in the Carthage-Salambo area. It is believed that over 400,000 persons lived in this vast city surrounded by walls 13 meters high. Today the view from the Byrsa hill overlooks the modern Carthage ,the Punic Harbour, Tunis, and in the distance the Bou Kournine mountain. Amid this beauty it is hard to imagine the fall and destruction of Carthage in 146 BC.
".. for 17 days the city was in flames that devoured all, the living and the dead and all that grew and once flourished...the land was cursed and strewn with salt and forbidden to all mankind henceforth. " One hundred years later the Romans returned and upon the ruins erected Roman Carthage with magnificent public buildings second only to Rome itself in importance and grandeur.

To the South of the Museum lies the Punic Quarter, an ancient burial site, converted to an area of workshops and houses. Excavations have shown the houses to be in general two or three stories with indoor wells and cisterns.
Unfortunately even the ruins of the temple dedicated to Eshmum were completely obliterated during the Roman reconstruction.
To the east along the Rue Hannibal lies the Kothon- the Punic harbor -which sheltered the mightiest fleet of the ancient Mediterranean. Composed of a commercial harbour which gave direct access to the sea through a narrow channel and a military harbour surrounded by a high wall.