Sousse, Kaiouran and El Jem, Tunisia
This morning we tied up in the ancient Tunisian city of Sousse. Sousse was one of the major trading ports of the Roman province of Africa Pro Consularis. By the second century A.D., present day Tunisia was exporting two-thirds of the entire grain requirements of the Roman Empire. Tunisia was to use not an exact analogy, the bead basket of the empire.
We boarded our buses for Kaiouran, the fourth holiest Muslin city in the world, after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. The great mosque was first begun in the late seventh century but the present structure is essentially a tenth century complex. The great courtyard spreads out for acres and was used not only as a public space but has an elaborate series of drains which collected and filtered the rainwater. Beneath the courtyards are enormous cisterns. The mosque was used as a place of refuge if the city was ever under siege. We were not able to enter the great prayer room but did get a good view at the interior which is filled with Roman columns that the Muslims took from many cities, some as far away as Carthage. Indeed, one of the large building blocks they used contained a Latin inscription to the Imperial family of Antoninus Pius.
The great Medina of Sousse adjoins the Mosque, and so our next stop was the souk. The souk was a cacophony of smells, spice shops were everywhere, colorful carpets hung from windows, men on motor scoters whizzed by, merchants called out to us to look at their wares. It was as if we were translated back into a millennium old past.
After a fine lunch in the Kasbah Hotel, we left for El Jem (the ancient city of Thysdris) and the villa museums. The amphitheatre of El Jem as it rose up in the desert some 100 feet took our collective breaths away. This ancient arena used principally for gladiatorial combat of men against men, men against animals and animal against animal held 35 thousand people. It is the largest amphitheatre in Africa and the 3rd largest coliseum in the ancient world. We went beneath the floor of the arena and saw the pens where the animals and gladiators were held before they were hoisted up into the arena on platforms. It would have been a fearsome site to have seen the battles and listen to the roar of the crowds as they called for mercy or death for he combatants.
Driving home to the M.S. National Geographic Endeavour through mile after mile of olive groves suddenly the rain began to fall. It was a cooling balmy rain and was welcomed by all the Tunisians as the ground was parched. We reached Sousse at six after an extraordinary day of sights and sounds.
This morning we tied up in the ancient Tunisian city of Sousse. Sousse was one of the major trading ports of the Roman province of Africa Pro Consularis. By the second century A.D., present day Tunisia was exporting two-thirds of the entire grain requirements of the Roman Empire. Tunisia was to use not an exact analogy, the bead basket of the empire.
We boarded our buses for Kaiouran, the fourth holiest Muslin city in the world, after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem. The great mosque was first begun in the late seventh century but the present structure is essentially a tenth century complex. The great courtyard spreads out for acres and was used not only as a public space but has an elaborate series of drains which collected and filtered the rainwater. Beneath the courtyards are enormous cisterns. The mosque was used as a place of refuge if the city was ever under siege. We were not able to enter the great prayer room but did get a good view at the interior which is filled with Roman columns that the Muslims took from many cities, some as far away as Carthage. Indeed, one of the large building blocks they used contained a Latin inscription to the Imperial family of Antoninus Pius.
The great Medina of Sousse adjoins the Mosque, and so our next stop was the souk. The souk was a cacophony of smells, spice shops were everywhere, colorful carpets hung from windows, men on motor scoters whizzed by, merchants called out to us to look at their wares. It was as if we were translated back into a millennium old past.
After a fine lunch in the Kasbah Hotel, we left for El Jem (the ancient city of Thysdris) and the villa museums. The amphitheatre of El Jem as it rose up in the desert some 100 feet took our collective breaths away. This ancient arena used principally for gladiatorial combat of men against men, men against animals and animal against animal held 35 thousand people. It is the largest amphitheatre in Africa and the 3rd largest coliseum in the ancient world. We went beneath the floor of the arena and saw the pens where the animals and gladiators were held before they were hoisted up into the arena on platforms. It would have been a fearsome site to have seen the battles and listen to the roar of the crowds as they called for mercy or death for he combatants.
Driving home to the M.S. National Geographic Endeavour through mile after mile of olive groves suddenly the rain began to fall. It was a cooling balmy rain and was welcomed by all the Tunisians as the ground was parched. We reached Sousse at six after an extraordinary day of sights and sounds.
