Dougga, Treasure of Tunisia lying over the hills

Dougga is a highly proud city that witnesses the history of an ancient human civilization of over 25 centuries, and considered a cultural treasure of Tunisia, and one of the best-preserved regions of North Africa.

Dougga is located in the northwest of Tunisia in a mountainous region surrounded by valleys and plateaus.

The story began with Dougga with the Roman invasion and historians say that its history began even before the Roman invasion.

Dougga has been a place of important human settlement, with cemeteries and a rock altar for boats and theatre, temple and extended houses, and reserves of supplies and other monuments that testify to the great civilization established in this area.

The population of this city is estimated at its peak by about 5,000 inhabitants (10, 000 if we include the population surrounding it), spread over a total area of about 70 hectares.

With an archaeological area that covers about 65 hectares, the city was declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site in 1997, whose name “Dougga” or “Toga” is derived from the word Amazigh which means “rocky mountain”.

Its ruins represent a historical period, starting with the Libyan Carthaginian monuments, such as the tomb of Ativan, son of Neptima, one of the princes of Numidia (who had lived from the third to the second century BC), through the Roman temples and Byzantine fortifications.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of most other archaeological sites is that it was not destroyed by the earthquakes that struck the region and survived the Roman invasion that occurred in many nearby cities.

With its rich and unique effects, we can discern the characteristics of an architectural revolution that has characterized the city with its characteristics over the centuries, making it an exceptional region.

TunisianMonitorOnline (Dhouha Saafi)

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