Maktar Travel Guide

 Willettsworld Says:  Immediately adjoining the Temple of Hathor Miskar is a Roman house, the Maison de Vénus, in which was found a well preserved mosaic depicting Venus taking off her sandals, with birds and fishes dating from the 2nd/3rd century. 

 Willettsworld Says:  On the east side of the Roman road is the little temple of Hathor Miskar (a love goddess of Egyptian origin), a Punic shrine, probably of the 1st century B.C., which was rebuilt in the 2nd century A.D. and converted into a Christian church in the 4th century. The ground-plan... 

 Willettsworld Says:  These are some other baths located on the western side of Mactaris. 

 Willettsworld Says:  The assembly hall (basilica) of A.D. 88 was later converted into a Christian church (with a Punic sarcophagus serving as altar) in the 3rd century. 

 Willettsworld Says:  Immediately beyond the Schola of the Juvenes is a necropolis which was in use for burial from the foundation of the Roman town until the fourth century, together with a number of megalithic tombs of the Numidian period. 

 Willettsworld Says:  The Schola of the Juvenes in Maktar was a kind of clubhouse and training school for young men - found also in other Roman cities under the name of Collegia Juvenum - in which, in addition to being trained in various sports and the military art, they were given instruction in... 

 Willettsworld Says:  Along the paved decumanus to the west of the Great Baths is the old Punic Forum used by the Libyan/Punic population of Maktar. Just north of this is the Temple of Bacchus (Liber Pater), of which little remains apart from a double crypt; the present masonry belongs to a later... 

 Willettsworld Says:  South of the Basilica of Hildeguns are the imposing remains of the Great Public Baths (Grandes Thermes Publics), built at the end of the 2nd century, which are among the best preserved Roman baths in Africa. The lower floor is completely preserved. The walls of the central... 

 Willettsworld Says:  Beyond the Arch of Trajan in Maktar are the remains of a three-aisled basilica, much altered and rebuilt, with a baptistery flanked by four columns and the tomb of a Vandal prince named Hildeguns. It was built in the 5th century A.D. 

 Willettsworld Says:  At the south end of the Forum stands the magnificently preserved Arch of Trajan, erected in A.D. 116 in honour of the town's promotion to the status of municipium. An inscription dedicates it to "the Emperor Caesar Nerva Trajanus Augustus, the best of all Emperors, conqueror... 

 Willettsworld Says:  Beyond the Maison de Vénus in Maktar, at the intersection of the cardo and the decumanus, lies the rectangular Forum, paved with marble, which was probably laid out in the early 2nd century, when Mactaris became a municipium. Nothing is left of the colonnades and buildings... 

 Willettsworld Says:  As you walk around the sights of Roman Mactaris, you'll be mostly walking on the original Roman roads. 

 Willettsworld Says:  The amphitheatre is located near the museum and is reached by taking a path down a slight hill. You then enter into it via a wide entrance and are able to see two sets of walls with a gap of around a metre or so between them. The amphitheatre, which was built in the 2nd... 

 aliante1981 Says:  Many countries, including Tunisia, are predominantly Muslim, so the religious sites you are most likely to encounter, are, predictably, mosques. This is a brief tip of advice, written from the point of view of a non-Muslim, female traveler (yours truly!!!):- Do dress...