Thysdrus

Place Description

Thysdrus is located on the western border of the Sahel at 60 km S of Hadrumetum on the road leading to Sfax. The development, from the end of the 2d c., of its olive plantations and its trade in oil made the fortune of the city.

The name appeared for the first time in the period of Caesar's African campaign when the city, at the time a small town, took side with the Pompeian and Juba against Ceasar. Towards the end of the 2d c. it became a municipium, competing with Hadrumetum for the second place in the province. The decline of Thysdrus began when, involved in a political crisis, the city choose the side of Gordian proconsul of Africa against the Emperor Maximianus. The joint effects of the political disgrace and the economic crisis, which resulted from it, brought an end to its development. By the end of the IVth century it was scarcely mentioned by the Catholic and Donatist bishops.

Among the most remarkable monuments of the ancient city are the best preserved large amphitheater in Africa, the small amphitheater located some 7.20 m to the S of the large one, the circus better visible on an aerial photography, the baths covering a surface of 2400 sq., and the residential district bounded on the S by a necropolis and to the E by a fine street.

Places

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5 garden articles in Thysdrus have been published:
Africa Proconsularis/Thysdrus

House of the Lucius Verus

The house was laid out around a large persityle garden of twenty-two columns (20 x15.5 m) that had a euripus and a semicircular basin facing a large reception room (Plan view, ...
Africa Proconsularis/Thysdrus

House of the Dolphins (Maison des dauphins)

The vast house (3000-3500 m2) is laid out around a large peristyle garden (Plan view, Fig.1). The large sunken garden (X, 16 x 16.25 m) was enclosed by a low wall (0.70 m high) ...
Africa Proconsularis/Thysdrus

House of the Peacock (Maison du Paon)

This large house (1800 m2) adjacent to the domus of Sollertiana on the N had a large peristyle garden (XIII, 10.50 x 13.20 m) enclosed on four sides by a portico (XIV-XVII) of 18 ...
Africa Proconsularis/Thysdrus

Sollertianna Domus

This large house (1120 m2) at the periphery of the SW quarter was laid out around a peristyle garden (VII, 8.20x11.30 m) enclosed on four sides by a portico of 14 columns that ...