Batu Caves

Lord Murgan tallest statue at the entrance of the caves. 42m high statue is made of concrete, steels and painted with gold

Batu Caves is the main attraction of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. It would seem that it's one of the Hindu shrines situated outside India. The site is dedicated to lord Murugan, the god of war and victory in Hindu religion.

Batu Caves is a limestone hill that an Indian trader called K. Thamboosamy Pillai promoted it as a shrine in 1890. The spear-shaped entrance inspired the trader to dedicate a shrine to Murugan. As a god of war and victory, Murugan is holding a holy spear known as Vel. The wood steps were added in 1920.

A museum and an art gallery are open for visitors. They are full of statues and paintings related to Hindu beliefs.

Photos taken around Batu Caves 

Entrance of Hanuman Temple, on the left of Batu Caves main entrance

15m tall state of Hanuman, noble and sacred monkey in Hind belief

With the sponsorship of  Qatar airways

Museum Of Sousse At Historic Kasabah

Kasabah of Sousse

Sousse, the pearl of the Tunisian coast, has provided guests with a gateway to the past with the opening of the Archeological Museum of Sousse, located in its historic Kasbah, on the west fringe of the Medina.

Sousse is one of the oldest cities in Tunisia, and was a central point for the world’s largest ancient civilizations, starting with the Phoenicians who founded it as a base for their sea trade. They named the area “Hadramuete” in the ninth century BC.

Sousse museum plan

When Carthage, the Phoenician urban center encompassing Hadramuete, was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC, the city was annexed to Rome, becoming Rome’s first African colony.For more than five centuries under the Roman empire, Hadramuete was a merchant metropolis due to the wealth the port brought the country. The wealthy Roman citizens built luxurious villas paved with mosaics, and the villages were dotted with public buildings,such as baths, basilicas and temples.

With the Arab conquest in the 7th century, the area currently known as Sousse became a military port. The city was marked by ribats and fortresses to protect the coast from Byzantine assaults.

Sousse and its surrounding area are home to literal layers of culture. Underneath the Arab institutions lies the ruins of both the Punic and Roman eras. The Arabs kept some cultural edifices from the previous inhabitants. The new Arab leaders used the Roman’s huge stone blocks and columns to build the Arab cities of Sousse and Kairouan.

Oceanus was widely worshiped in Roman Hadramuete

The museum, covering 2000 meters, offers the opportunity to see the development of each civilization.  The building itself is a historical monument that evokes the Arab-Byzantine style of the eighth and ninth century.

The museum is divided into thirteen departments, with an outside terrace offering a panoramic view of Sousse. Statues, mosaics and funeral objects exhumed from Sousse and other sites along the Tunisian coast, are exhibited.

Inside Museum

The mosaics are a central component of the musem, as Sousse is famous in the Mediteranean for its collection of art. Their importance to Sousse is reinforced every summer with the festival of Aoussou. This is one of the oldest traidtions of the Tunisian Sahel, the Tunsian desert area, which draws its origins from the Oceanus, one of the most popular gods from the Roman era. This god was worshiped in the first and second centuries, and was the most commonly represented deity in mosaics in the public baths and basins.

The mosaics depicted gods, goddesses and heroes from Greek and Roman mythology, many of which are available for exhibition at the museum.

The Punic and early Christian eras are also represented in the museum. The Punic department exhibits funeral items, with terracotta vases and funeral objects. Christian artificats are plentiful.

A beautiful baptistery, found accidentally  in the Bkalta quarry 40 km south of Sousse It is decorated with mosaics, depicting birds and chrism, or holy oil used in early churches. Other funeral mosaics and tombstones were discovered in the undergrounds catacombs, one km from the Sousse bus station of Souk Lahad.

This museum allows guests to witness the ancient civilizations that have shaped the Tunisian identity and have enriched Tunisia’s development into one shaped by a variety of cultures.

Remember The Timeless King Of France: Saint Louis

 Saint Louis in America, Canada..... and Tunisia 

On the peak of Byrsa, a hill in Carthage, a coastal suburb of Tunis, a cathedral is located among the Roman ruins scattered throughout the ancient city.
Now the structure - today known as the Acropolium - is no longer used as a place of worship, but as a venue for concerts. The cathedral now features a variety of Tunisian and international musical performances.
This building evokes memories of one of the most pivotal conflicts between Muslims and Christians - the Crusades.

The Cathedral 1890

In 1270, King of France Louis IX, or Saint Louis, left his kingdom and landed in Carthage - an event now referred to by historians as the beginning of the Eighth Crusade. However, the king was so sick and weak that he could barely hold his shield and sword. Three weeks later he died, and a small chapel was built. Today the site is still frequented by French and international tourists.

Saint Louis Statue Carthage Museum

In 1830, the ruling Bey of the Tunisian Monarchy Al-Hussein II ibn Mahmud, authorized the consul of France to erect a cathedral dedicated to the king few meters from the chapel marking his burial site. The French consul sent a letter to Tunisia's former monarch stating the following:
Praise to god, to whom all things return!
We cede in perpetuity to His Majesty the King of France a location in Malaga, sufficient to raise a religious monument in honor of King Louis IX at the place where the prince died.
We commit ourselves to respect and to make respected this monument consecrated by the king of France to the memory of one of his most illustrious ancestors. Greetings from the servant of God, Hussein Pasha Bey. May the Most High be propitious! Amen.
The 17th of Safar of the year 1246. Done at Bardo the 8th of August 1830. For the Consul-General Mathieu de Lesseps.
After several examinations, officials charged with determining the location of the cathedral's construction concluded that it would be built on the ruins of the Roman Carthage in Byrsa.
The layout of the structure is typical of a French 19th century Byzantine-Moorish cathedral. The construction style - resembling a Latin cross - spread throughout France in the 19th century. The building is 65 meters long by 30 meters wide, with a facade framed by two square towers. The center of the cathedral's cross-section lies beneath a large cupola surrounded by eight steeples, and a smaller cupola is located above the apse.
The church contains a nave and two aisles separated by arches passing above. The ceiling is adorned with beams featuring sculpted, painted, and gilt arabesques. The stained glass is also embellished with arabesques

Inside the Cathedral

. The cathedral also hosts a great bell, weighing six tons, in addition to a four-bell carillon.
Today, the cathedral is open for visitors. The entrance fee is four Tunisian dinars, and is paid separately from those tickets offering package deals of the other sites in Carthage.

Funs And Memories At Happy Land Dah Dah

Are you searching for a place in Tunis where you can have fun with your kids? Or do you want to have fun like you were a kid again?
Happy Land DahDah gives you the opportunity to spend a lovely time with the whole family. Since its opening in 1995, many families have visited the fun park to spend an afternoon or evening relaxing and enjoying the rides. School holidays and Eid Alfitr (the day that marks the end of Ramadan) mark the highest number of visitors.

The Entrance of DahDah

Tunisia Live recently went to the fun park to enjoy the rides and talk to locals and visitors about why they liked going there.
Anis, a local resident, said that he has liked Dah Dah “since the park’s opening.”
“I often used to come and spend hours with my friends. Now I’m 35-years-old and I come with my wife and my son,” he said.
For Mr. and Mrs. Ben Arbia, a Tunisian couple living in Paris and on holidays in Tunis, visiting Dah Dah brought back happy memories. “We still remember the first time we met here, fourteen years ago when we were in high school,” said Mr Ben Arbia. “Now we live in France but when we visit Tunisia we come to the park and relive the best moments of our lives.”
Although entry to the park is free, tickets must be purchased to enjoy the many games and rides scattered throughout the park. The price of one ticket is one dinar while a booklet of twelve tickets is ten dinars. Each game and ride costs from one to three tickets.

Roller Coaster Dah Dah

Among the most magnificent rides is the Ferris Wheel- worth three tickets. It gives you the opportunity to see the whole city of Tunis including the airport, the mountains, the hills and its huge lake with the islet of Chickly in the middle.
Other rides allow you to live amazing adventures like the dream boat and the roller coaster. They cost between two and three tickets.
Kids have also are able to enjoy the experience. To the left of the entrance is a space dedicated to children. Bouncing games, trampolines and mini bumper car games are available. Some of these games are located in a covered hall, while others are outside.
Restaurants and shops are also available. You can find them in the entrance of the park, and the price of food and drinks is reasonable. For example a café direct – a coffee with milk – costs no more than two dinars. Billiards and bowling are also nearby.
Happy Land Dah Dah is situated in the main street of Berges Du Lac and can be reached by taxi that costs around six dinars (from Tunis downtown) or by bus number 28 that drops you off in front of the entrance.
The park is open from 2pm until 10pm and until midnight on Saturdays and during summer.

Moorish Heritage in Tunisia

Ibn Khaldun Statue in downtown Tunis

Look around the cities and towns of Tunis and you will see the footprints of many different civilizations. Carthage and Rome are the best-known examples perhaps, but many other ethnic groups have come to these shores as conquerors, as traders, as migrants and as refugees. For most of the last 4,000 years, Tunisia has welcomed people from around the Mediterranean basin, and Africa, who have brought their own histories, cultures, languages and religions. Each has made their own contribution to the richness and diversity of contemporary Tunisian culture.
Two of these groups are the Andalusians and the Moors. Both these people came as refugees from Spain during the middle ages and settled in Tunisia over several centuries, bringing with them culture and traditions that have become an important part of Tunisia’s cultural heritage.
For many centuries much of the Iberian peninsula – modern-day Spain and Portugal – was under the influence of Moorish culture and Islam. The architectural masterpieces of the Alhambra palace-fortress in Granada or La Mezquita in Cordoba, to cite just two examples, still stand as testaments to the wealth and cultural sophistication of this society. From the eleventh to the fifteenth centuries, however, the peninsula gradually fell under the control of Christians in a process known as the reconquista, which continued until 1492 when the last Moorish city, Granada, fell to Christian Spain.
As a result of the reconquista, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco received two distinct waves of Muslim Spanish migration. The first group – Andalusians – were Arabic-speaking Muslims who started to arrive in 1230. Often wealthy and educated, they had few difficulties integrating with local populations in urban areas such as the medinas of Tunis and Sousse. For example, the historian Ibn Khaldoun (1332-1406), born in Tunis, was from an Andalusian background. He was the first to write about the Amazigh in his book Almuqadima; the Introduction. Today, his statue can be seen in downtown Tunis, opposite the cathedral and French embassy.

The second group consisted of Moors. After Granada fell under the control of the Christians kingdoms in 1492, Muslims were forced to convert to Christianity and adopt the Spanish language and traditions. Despite a ban on Islam, Muslims practiced their religion secretly until their expulsion in 1609 to Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco.
This expulsion under Phillip III in 1609 marked one of the most significant waves of Moorish immigrants to the country, and their arrival made a large impact on Tunisian culture and popular memory. Some of the wealthier Moors chose to settle in the north fringe of the Medina of Tunis- Bab Souika, Bab Carthagene and Bab El-Khadhra. Many farmers and poorer immigrants settled in several villages scattered throughout the Medjerda Valley and in other parts of northern Tunisia.

Chechia Market Tunis photo 1900

In contrast to the experience of the Andalusians, the Moors had a more difficult time integrating into Tunisian society. Arabic and Islam had been banned for over a century in their Iberian homeland, and the Moorish communities that settled in the countryside in particular, were considered by the established communities to be culturally influenced by Christianity. Moreover, these migrants were not only Muslims: Spanish Jews were also expelled from Spain and joined the Tunisian Jewish community that has existed here since the Diaspora, more than two and a half millennia ago.
Moorish Heritage in Tunisia 
When the Moors left Spain following the reconquista and settled in North Africa, they brought with them their knowledge, culture and aesthetic tastes. Together, the contribution of the Moorish and the Andalusian in Tunisian culture can be seen in the daily life of the Tunisians, particularly in domains such as cuisine, architecture and clothing.
Testour, founded in 1609, is an authentic Moorish village located in Northwestern Tunisia. The urban planning of the town follows Spanish norms- with windows and doors opening onto the streets rather than inner courtyards. The minaret of the city’s mosque is reminiscent of the church bell-towers in Seville and Toledo. A square for bull fighting was even erected before the blood-sport was banned by the local authorities a few decades after the village was founded.
Today, the original layout of the village is still visible and the minaret of the mosque can be seen from the GP5 road on the way to Teboursouk and the archaeological site of Dougga.

The Medina of Tunis is one of the best witnesses of a Moorish contribution to the artistic life of Tunis, not only in terms of architecture but also culture and tradition.
The minarets of many of the mosques were designed by Moorish architects as were a number of palaces and schools, including Bir Lahjar. The colorful and eclectic ceramic wall tiles you can see throughout the medina are also of Andalusian origin.
The chechia, a red felt hat, is another notable Moorish contribution. Souk Chaouachine in the Medina houses the biggest felt-hat workshops. The first waves of these communities who settled in the Medina of Tunis installed the souk very close to the Zitouna Mosque in the heart of Tunis, since the felt-hat is a symbol of wealth and nobility.
Furthermore, the Moorish and the Andalusian architectural influence can be seen in the construction of bridges in Medjerda Valley. In Medjez El-Bab, around 70km west of Tunis capital, a bridge can be seen from the GP5. It was built in 1677, when the Ottoman rulers ordered a bridge to be built on Medjerda valley to make the work of tax collectors easier. The construction was supervised by Moors since they had experience in such work.

Medjez el bab Bridge supervised by a Moorish engineer

Ridha Mami is an expert on the Moorish Culture in Tunisia and in the Mediterranean who teaches in Manouba University in Tunis and Madrid University. He told Tunisia Live that the Moorish heritage can be observed in several common family names of Tunisians including Morou (Moor), Tlatli (from Toledo) and Qortbi (from Cordoba).   Mami also argued that one of the most significant contribution of the Moors to Tunisian culture is in cuisine. The names of many dishes have Spanish roots. Ojja for example is derived from olla the pot. Moreover, in Soliman, some 40km south of Tunis, a typical pie is made from cheese and parsley: Banadhej. This name has been derived from the Spanish term empanada.

Testour Mosque: the minaret follows the model of Sevilleans chruch bell-towers

In addition, Moorish heritage extends to the arts, and especially especially music. The traditional music genre of Ma’luf has Andalusian origins. In particular, two Tunisian musicians have left their touch on this music, Habiba Msika (1903-1930) and Khmaies Tarnen(1894-1965), both of whom came from Moorish families.

The Other Face of Kairoaun

Kairouan is the fifth-biggest city in Tunisia with more than 150,000 inhabitants. It’s 155 km south of Tunis and 65 km west of the Sahel – Tunisia’s eastern coast.
The Arabs founded the city in the 7^th century and made it into a military base during their conquest of the Maghreb and Spain. Later it became the capital of Ifriqiya, the Arabic name for Tunisia in the Middle Ages, and was the largest metropolis in the western basin of the Mediterranean Sea for more than three centuries.
Nowadays, Kairouan is the most visited city in central Tunisia, thanks to its rich Islamic heritage. One of the Prophet Mohamed’s companions, Abou Zumaa Balaoui, is buried there. During Mouled – the festival that celebrates the birthday of the Prohpet Mohamed – thousands of visitors from Tunisia and abroad descend upon the city.
Kairouan is blessed with an important architectural and cultural heritage. With its massive, ancient walls, Kairouan’s medina remains one of the most authentic in Tunisia. Its grand mosque even served as a model for other mosques constructed in the Maghreb as well. Designed in the form of a citadel, it bears witness to the city’s military origins.
The Backroads of Kairouan
Despite the large number of visitors who come to Kairouan each year, relatively few take the time to explore the hills and mountains behind the city. Those who do explore these backroads are rewarded with wonderful views and the opportunity to experience some of Tunisia’s impressive pre-Islamic heritage. This dates back to pre-historic times and includes the Byzantine era in the 5^th and 6^th centuries AD. Much of this history is ignored not only by many Tunisians but by specialists in the field as well.

Ksar Limsa

Ksar Limsa
Ksar Limsa is often described as one of the most beautiful and most complete Byzantine monuments in Tunisia.
 With walls gilded by sunshine and crenellated towers, this fortress overlooks the valley of Oued Mahrouf some 30 km north-west of Kairouan near the village of Al Ouesllatia. 
The fortress is rectangular in shape, flanked by 13-meter high towers in each corner. The walls are around eight meters high and a crenellated parapet protects the wall walk.
 The inner courtyard measures 31 meters in width and 28 in length. The walls were built by stone collected from the ancient Roman town of Limisa. Constructed in the 6th century, it is a typical “castellum” built by the Byzantines to protect the town from attack.
Rock Art in Djebel Ouesllat 
This large and impressive mountain covers more than 130,000 hectares. Although it’s hard to reach and lacks water, this mountain has known human occupation for over 5,000 years.

Rock Art in Djebel Ouesslat

Ouesllat mountain contains an impressive quantity of wall paintings that demonstrate the existence of disappeared species. The paintings show that the white rhinoceros, the great ancient buffalo, as well as antelope, giraffe, hyena,
 and ostrich, once lived in the region.
Precious details about daily life are also revealed, such as hunting and family life. Domestic animals, such as cows, goats, sheep, and dogs, are well-illustrated in bucolic pasture scenes.
This mountain’s more recent history is likewise remarkable. The tribes of this mountain were very hostile towards any central authority and historically supported all kinds of rebellion against it.
In the beginning of the 18^th Century, the hill tribes supported Hussein Ben Ali, the founder of the Husseinite monarchy that ruled Tunisia until 1957. During a bitter civil war between Ben Ali and his nephew, Ali Pacha, local villagers were punished by the Pacha for their support of Ali, who was murdered by Pacha and whose death was avenged by his sons – the ultimate victors of the war. All of the olive trees were cut down and the inhabitants were exiled during the Pacha’s reprisals.

Oueslatia

These days the region is largely deserted, despite its fertile soil, and the abandoned villages have been left untouched for two hundred years. They stand witness to this important and bloody period of the Tunisian history.
The villages of Ouesllatia and Ksar Limsa can still be visited by car if one takes the regional roads – 99 and 46 – from Kairouan. Guided tours can be also organized from Kairouan.

Camels in Tunisia

The one-humped camel dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) was first domesticated some 4000 years ago. In Tunisia, the Berber tribes of the south used it for their transportation. Then in the beginning of the first century BC, Romans started using camels to explore the hinterland of Tunisia. The camel was represented in Roman artistic works such as mosaics and reliefs in the second and the third century. The camel was also depicted on Roman coins.

A mosaic exhibeted in El Jem museum depecting Silenus riding a camel

One of the most significant mosaics is the “Dyonisiac Procession” in the El Jem museum where Silenus the foster-father of Bacchus is riding a camel instead of donkey and Bacchus is riding an African lion instead of panther.

The dromedary has a special status in the life of nomads because it is the base of their economy. The Bedouin classification of the camel notes four basic varieties based on the color of the coat. The Mehari is a small, white camel used for races and hunting and can reach 70km per hour. The Tunisian border guards in the Sahara desert in Tunisia’s south are known as the Mehari troup due to the camel that they use. The second is the red camel which is used for goods transportation, especially heavy goods. The third is the yellow camel that is usually bred with females from other varieties, and the male is consecrated as a stud to produce other varieties of camels. The last variety consists of a dark-coated camel that is often used for smuggling and is called a Lazreg by locals.

Camel milk is healthy and rich in proteins that can’t be found in cow or goat milk, and is regularly drunk by Tunisians. The milk is particularly rich in insulin and is recommended for people with diabetes. The milk mustn’t be boiled because it loses its nutritional value. Camel milk tastes similar to cow’s milk. If a traveler wants to try the milk they can ask a local camel guide.
Mixed breed camels are the best for eating. Many restaurants in central and southern Tunisia serve camel meat at good prices. Kairoaun is one of the best places where you can try the meat. Its mild flavor makes it well-suited to dishes such as couscous.
The camel is the base of the economic life of the Bedouin tribes. The hair is sheared in April and May. Since it is light and durable, the hair is then used as an insulator and to make clothes that protect from the extreme heat of summer as well as the cold nights and winter days. Nomadic tents are also made from the hair. The traditional north African coats Qashabia and the Barnous are made of  camel hair and can be purchased from handicrafts shops in traditional Tunisian markets.
Driving through the Sahara, foreign visitors can see wandering herds of camels that are usually assumed to be wild. But each camel in these herds have an owner that they go home to.
Today, the camel contributes to the development of cultural tourism in the Tunisian south. The camel ride is one of the main attractions of the Tunisian Sahara that gives the visitors the opportunity to experience the life of a nomad.

Camels waiting for riders Douz

Douz, known as the gateway to the Sahara, is one of the most frequented resorts in the south. Visitors have the opportunity to ride camels thanks to specific stations built for that purpose. Ali Arouri, a manager of a camel station in Douz, said that the best time to enjoy camel rides is in the spring between March and April, when the weather is cool and the temperature doesn’t reach over 30 degrees.
Independent travelers can organize multi-day camel treks through the desert. Appel du Desert is one of several companies that organize à la carte trips. The average price range for a week-long trip is 500 euros per person for a group of ten people.

Hannibal From Rome To Zama

*Hannibal strategy:
Hannibal wanted to free Carthage from Roman pressure not destroying Rome. He thought that his victories would halt the Roman alliances with the rest of the Italian cities.

Hannibal recognized that he can't rely on the Italian cities. He decided to make alliance with Phillip V, king of Macedon. However, he wasn't able to supply with a navy. The alliance failed and Rome supplied the king of Macedon with navy.

Besides, after the death of Hiero, ruler of Syracuse, his successor made an  alliance with Hannibal. People in Syracuse rose up and killed the new ruler. The alliance ended and Sicily restored by Roman in 211BC.

Hannibal controlled much of Campania and Southern Italy. Despite his superiority and tactical skills, Hannibal was unable to withstand the new Roman tactic. They start with Capua which fell in 211.

Hannibal route of invasion

Roman army started to make pressure on the Carthaginian territory outside Italy. They took Carthegena in 209BC. Hannibal brother, Hasdrubal, was defeated by Roman army led by Scipio Africanus Hasdrubal wanted to join Hannibal in Italy, but surprised by Scipio forces near Metauro. He was beheaded and his head was thrown into Hannibal camp. It became obvious for him that he can't rely on senators in Carthage.

In 206BC, Carthaginians were expelled from Spain. Two years later, Romans landed in Africa and Hannibal was forced to come back. After the reinforcement, he confronted Roman army in Zama. He was cheated by Numidian king Massinissa. The Numidian horsemen supported Rome and destroyed Carthaginian army. This battle is known as the Battle of  Zama, 202BC.

A hostile peace treaty was signed, Carthage territory restricted, heavy taxes and no war without Rome permission. Hannibal returned to private life.

TO BE CONTINUED

   

Hannibal At The Gates Of Rome

After the first Punic War, Barcids founded Carthagena, new Carthage in Spain. Hannibal was named as a commander in 221 BC. He relied on diplomacy and military policy to set up a powerful metropolis in Iberia similar to Carthage in north Africa.
In 218 BC, he left Spain with about 35000 seasoned troops including elephants. He went overland across Pyrenees and Alps. on route, the number of troops was reduced to 25000 due to the harsh winter in the mountains. However, the number raised to 40000 after the addition of Gauls.

In the beginning of the Invasion, Hannibal troops won a minor victory at Ticina river(the map) followed by an important triumph against Scipio at Trebia river in 218 BC.

Hannibal had a decided advantage in Northern Italy thanks to the support of the Gauls, the traditional enemies of Rome. He wintered in Bologna while Italians withdraw to central Italy and await Hannibal.

In spring Hannibal crossed the Apennines and lost his left eye after an infection. 

Battles of the Second Punic War

In 217 BC, Roman army led by Gaius Flaminus and Servilius Geminus stationed at Arrezo and Rimini. The purpose is to guard the routes that Hannibal may use. Hannibal ambushed Flaminus army in a narrow pass near lake Tarismene and destroyed his army.

At Rome Quintius Fabious was elected by the centuriate assembly dictator of Rome . The elected dictator has a specific plan to defeat Hannibal. The plan is to force him to an unfavorable ground to fight him. Hannibal sent oxen with burnings sticks tied to their horns and escaped to Apulia.    

In 216 BC Fabius sent a formidable army led by two generals. Hannibal relied on his strong cavalry while the Romans relied on their superior number.

Hannibal plan was positioning his cavalry on a crescent-shaped line, to defeat the Roman horsemen quickly and attack the infantry from the rear. The plan is to to press from the flanks and encircle the Roman troops. The plan succeeded; 25000 dead and 10000 captured.

To be continued

The Bricks of Tozeur

Tozeur is a city in southwestern Tunisia and home to the country’s biggest oasis containing hundreds of thousands of palm trees. Its economy is based on the export of dates and “Saharan” tourism. In fact, more than 700 thousands visitors – both Tunisians and foreigners – come to enjoy the beauty of its mountain oasis.
Scores of ponds are scattered throughout the oasis and outside its confines. The layers of silt found at the bottom of these ponds provide the essential raw material for the local brick industry. With summer temperatures reaching 45 degrees, the extracted silt takes little time to dry and assume its yellowish, hardened form that is known in its Arabic name as “toub.”
Walking around the old city of Tozeur, one is immediately confronted by intricate, geometrical patterns of “toub” that decorate the buildings’ façades and the walls of the old city’s narrow passageways. These yellow bricks astonishingly maintain houses cool in the stifling heat of the summer and even warm in the cold winter.

Brick of Tozeur

Abdelhamid Haddan, a writer, painter, and artist, described the manufactory process of the brick of this yellowish brick. Mud and sand are mixed together and then soaked in water. Afterwards, mulch is added. The mixture is then moulded within small rectangular wooden frames and left to dry in the sun for one day in summer and ten in winter. Finally, the bricks are baked in a kiln under extreme temperatures reaching over 1000 degree celsius.
Haddan pointed out that the brick’s production is very economical. 1 cubic meter of clay can produce in turn 1000 bricks. The brick measures 17 cm by 8 cm and 3.5 cm high and weighs 728 grams.
The technique of Tozeur’s brick-making is Mesopotamian in origin and brought by the Arabs in the 8^th century. Due to the similarity of environment, Arab settlers found Tozeur to be a propitious location to continue their brick-making traditions, claimed Haddan.
For those who plan to visit Tozeur, Haddan’s book The Brick of Tozeur is available in the city’s libraries in English as well as French and can be consulted for more information.

Saint Augustine; The Tunisian Father Of The Catholic Church

It is a little known fact that Saint Augustine, the great Christian reformist of antiquity, is Tunisian. He was raised in the city of Carthage where he taught before being named the Bishop of Hippo.

Sandro Botticelli Saint Augustine

Born in 354 from a pagan father and a Christian mother, Augustine is a native of Thagaste, which today is Souk Ahras on the Tunisian Algerian border. It was here that he studied Latin grammar before moving to Carthage in 370. There he became a Manichean and founded a school of rhetoric. His next move took him to Italy where he was again converted, this time to skepticism and installed a school of rhetoric in Rome and Milan similar to the Carthage school.
His mother  Monica was a Christian, and for many years prayed to see him converted to Christianity. In 387 her prayers were answered, and Augustine was baptized at Easter. They decided to travel back home to Africa, but on the way his mother died at the port of Ostia. Augustin recorded his conversations with his mother before her death in a book called Confessions.
After his return to Tagaste, Augustine decided to live a monastic life, selling everything he had and giving it to the poor, only keeping what was necessary to live on. Augustine at the time had no intention of becoming a priest or a bishop. But in 395 the he was asked to be the Bishop of Hippo. He accepted, and began trying to unify the African Church, that was at the time deeply divided between the Donatist and Catholic sects. In 411 he condemned the division and succeeded in bringing the African Church together.

Like the rest of the Roman Empire, North Africa was assaulted by the Vandals in 430.  Hippo became isolated and Saint Augustin died at the age of 76.
In modern theology, Saint Augustin is considered the father of the Catholic Church, his writings having influenced the society of much of the  Western World. The theories of Saint Augustine were shaped by a marriage between Greek philosophy and his religious beliefs. The blend of these two influences can be seen in his notion of the Soul, the relationship between God and man and even the Trinity.
Saint Augustine often traveled from Tagaste to Carthage, on a specific route which he described in his writings. Nowadays, this path through Tunisia can be followed on organized tours, called On the Path of Saint Augustine. Lotfi Rahmouni, a Tunisian professor of in archaeology, said that the Vatican is among the organizers of this trip in collaboration with Tunisian travel agencies. He said also that the trip is most popular with Catholics, many of whom consider it a pilgrimage.

Chemtou Bridge; Saint Augustine used to cross on route to Carthage

The trip starts from Tagaste, at the Souk Ahras in Augustine’s hometown, and finishes in Carthage where he established a school and unified the Christians of Africa in 411. They also pass through Chemtou and Bulla Reggia and sometimes Haidra, where the Bishop spent time with his father.

Legendary Tunisia

When it belonged to early Mediterranean civilization, the land of Tunisia featured in two of the oldest and greatest poems in the world: Homer's Odyssey and Virgil's Aeneid.

In Homer's Odyssey, Ulysses on his way  home from Troy with the rest of companions reached of Lotus-Eaters. Archaeologists refer it as the actual island of Djerba, 500 km south-east of Tunis capital.

In Virgil Aeneid, Aeneas was hosted by Dido, a princess from Phoenicia who escaped her city Tyre after the assassination of her husband. She founded Carthage and became its queen. Aeneas, the prince of  Troy who escaped it after the siege and the capture by the Greek. Aeneas destination is to found Rome from the ashes of Troy.

Aeneas was surprised by a storm that turned him to Carthage. He was welcomed by its ruler Dido. Shell fell in love with him but his mother Venus ordred him to leave Carthage and found Rome. Dido suicided after his departure while he arrived in Italian shores.

 Virgil inspired by two muses(Clio the muse of History with the writing tablet and Melpomene the muse of tragedy with mask)  writing the Aeneid (the 8th verse):
Musa mihi causas memora quo numine laes.... 
O muse put me in mind.....

The Aeneid of Virgil was written under Octavius, the son of Caesar and the founder of the Roman empire. He decided to rebuilt Carthage and made it the capital of Africa Proconsularis. Carthage was destroyed by the Romans in 146BC and the territory was considered accursed. Octavius wanted to find a religious excuse to rebuilt Carthage again. Dido and Aeneas symbolise Carthage andRome, her suicide may symbolise the end of Carthage. Aeneas may refer to Octavius who rebuilt the Roman Carthage.      

Introduction To Roman Tunisia

After the unification of the Italic peninsula, Rome came into conflicts with Carthage, a commercial power. The Roman ambitious started to emerge. They considered the Mediterranean Sea as theirs "Mare Nostrum". Thus the position of Carthage is strategic. With its destruction in 146BC, Rome became the new ruler of the territory. They ruled a territory that included the western and eastern coasts. Numidian kingdom stayed independent after the support of its king Massinissa.  With the strait of Messine, Rome controlled the universal wealth for more than six centuries.    


During the Roman civil war, the rulers of Numidia supported his rival Pompey. Caesar sent his army to Africa and defeated them in 46BC at Thapsus, actual Ras-Dimas , Tunisia.

To punish the Numidian kings, Caesar decided to annexe their kingdom to the Roman territory. The Numidian kingdom includes the east of Algeria and the west of Tunisia.This part was called Africa Nova "New Africa" while the first territory was known as Africa Vetus "Old Africa"  The new roman province  was ruled by a governor named by the Roman Consul.Since it became Africa proconsularis. Even with the transformation of Rome into an empire,Africa kept the name of proconsularis.

Map of the Proconsularis: It included the eastern part of Algeria

The truth behind the destruction of Carthage

In 433, Carthage and the rest of the province of Africa fell under the control of the Vandals. These Germanic tribes had invaded Europe before founding their empire in north Africa that Carthage was the capital.

Many historians have confirmed that the Vandals destroyed the Roman Carthage. They had wrecked Gaul, Spain and Italy itself before occupying Carthage and north Africa.

When French archaeologists started the excavation of the site of Carthage, they declared that Roman Carthage was destroyed by Vandals and later by Arabs.

The approach of the French archaeologists "missionaries" is completely wrong: First Vandals founded an empire and they used the buildings left by Romans. Second, the mission of these archaeologists is to find a "link" between the French history and Tunisian history. Third, the French missionaries didn't read the perfect description of the ruins of Carthage by the Arabs historians and geographers. They mentioned that the Roman buildings remained intact. In the 13th century, the rulers decided to built the second level of Tunis walls. They used the huge buildings as a quarry.......

Bath of Antoninus Carthage: Albekri in the 11th century described with perfect details the building and its huge columns 

Come To Tunisia

Dear customers

I invite you to discover Tunisia. I organize private tours for groups and individuals.
The price is negotiable. It depends on number of the clients and other issues......
The price includes normally the service of English Speaking Guide and transportation (car, bus,  4WD....)  

Tunisia is a rich country, more than 3000 of history. Nowadays 8 sites are listed by UNESCO as a world heritage. Here i offer you a trip to discover these sites: UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Tunisia

 Photos from Tunisia : Different photos to show the richness and the diversity of the Tunisian culture.....

To read what I write about my country

For your reservation these are my contacts:
Email: ahmedguide@yahoo.com
          Phone: 00216 22 023 532
                       00216 52 270 057

Bacchus in Roman African Mosaics

Bacchus is the God if wine and vegetation in the Roman mythology. He was assimilated to the Greek God of wine Dionysus.

The birth of the god is a mystery. His father, Jupiter sewed him up in his thigh for four month because his mother Semele, the princess of Thebes, was burned to ashes. She was the first Jupiter mistress to ask him to appear in all his god majesty. The burn was caused by Jupiter lighting and thunder when he came before her.

Bacchus was raised by satyrs, man with goat legs and pointed ears. Silenus, the oldest of the satyrs, taught him the secret of cultivating grapes and making wine.
Bacchus was represented as a handsome youth-god, beardless with long hair with wine ivy or vine leaves on the head. Bacchus like riding panthers and tigers. 

Bacchus in Roman African Mosaics   
Since the occupation of the Numidian territories by Caesar in 46BC, the Roman culture started to spread. A new culture emerged, Romano-African culture. Nowadays, Tunisia has the biggest collection of mosaics tableau. These mosaics are the witness of the flourished Roman-African culture.
Bacchus was represented in many tableau that archaeologists have extracted from the ground. It seems that he was assimilated to Shadrapha, the Semitic god that has the same features as Bacchus. ElJem museum shelters the most important tableaux depicting Bacchus and his cycle.

Mosaic depicting Bacchus riding a lion with a satyr and Silenus: Eljem Museum 2nd century

Bacchus surrounded by seasons and centaurs, Acholla (Henchir Botria north of Sfax) 2nd century.  

Tunisia By Henk Overberg

 It has been interesting to follow from afar as a disinterested but not uninterested observer the developments that have been taking place in Tunisia since the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, which sparked off the Arab Spring.   I have been fortunate to lead groups to visit Tunisia three times: twice prior to the revolution and once just before the recent elections.   We enjoyed all our visits to Tunisia, were made very welcome, and learnt a lot about people and country.  Within the time of our three visits, the country has certainly changed.

Two things that struck us especially were the changes in attitude: of the bureaucracy we came in contact with, and also of the people we met while travelling city and country.   We well remember how custom officials obstructed and delayed our arrival at Tunis Airport.  We had us wait for hours for no purpose, before they even started to think of issuing visas.  This upset our people greatly: we spent much time afterwards calming them.   Whenever we had to deal with officials we struck the same unfriendly attitude.  On our last visit officials and police had lightened up considerably, welcoming us with open arms, and were in general enthusiastic and helpful.   People we met on our pre-revolution visits were circumspect in their comments about officialdom. Where a comment was made they often mentioned frustration with the corruption of officials, unreasonable levels of taxation, restrictive rules of business, and the like.

Such attitudes had disappeared on our last visit early October 2011.   People had energy: they expressed hope that long established problems could be resolved and that a new future was dawning.   The hope was mixed with fear: hope that things might become better, but also fear that the old patterns might linger.   Much was expected of the forthcoming elections.

Looking at the situation from afar, it seems that the elections have had a positive effect on Tunisian society.   Moderate Islamists form the majority in government, and they are allied with centre-left groups: there seems to be no wish to establish an Islamist state.   A new constitution has been introduced.   The violence seen in Egypt, Libya and Syria has largely been avoided.

MR Henk Overberg in Matmata, Tunsian south east.
He is a senior lecturer in Deakin university Melbourne Australia

I think a number of factors have been at play here.   First, the old authorities, symbolized by ex-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, went quickly.   Second, there was little foreign interference, so that the proxy wars in Libya and Syria have been avoided.   Third, the army played a far less intrusive role in the transition than it has done in Egypt, which led to a greater public acceptance of transitional arrangements.   Fourth, Tunisian society is relatively homogeneous, and there has neither been the inter-tribal warfare that has so disfigured Libya, nor the Islamic-Christian confrontation that is complicating the situation in Syria.   Without wishing to trivialize the suffering of Tunisians during the revolution, the level of antagonism in Tunisia was lower to a degree than it has been in Egypt, Libya, and Syria.

Will it last?   There is a real chance that it will.   The West had hoped for a transition to a Western-style secular political establishment.   Given the situation in Tunisia before the revolution, that was never likely to happen.   The polity under President Ben Ali was secular, but its secularism was linked with deep-seated patronage which generated wide-scale corruption.   In this context a secular outcome of the revolution was too much to hope for.   Yet with a moderate Islamic government in charge there is hope for the future.   Some of the signs have been good.    First, relatively uncorrupted elections were held.   Second, the population has by and large accepted the outcome.   Third, a constitution with reasonable democratic safeguards has been put into place.   Fourth, the whole process of transformation has been achieved in a context of relative absence of violence.   The next elections will provide a further measure of the success of the revolution.   If the present government is returned, well and good.   If such elections point to a change of government, then it remains to be seen whether the present lot in power will relinquish power without violence or corruption.   If such is the case, then Tunisia may well feel that a new future has dawned.              

The Rise Of Islamic Art in Tunisia (Part1)

The rise of Islam in the seventh century as a new faith has shaped the universal history since Arab-Muslims for more than five centuries became the new rulers of the Mediterranean sea.
After the death of the Prophet Mohamed, Arabs started to conquer new territories. One century later, their empire spanned from China to as far as Spain. This empire included Parthia, heir of a thousands year Persian culture, Alexandria, the capital of the Hellenic world, and Carthage, the most powerful Roman province and the capital of a brilliant Punic culture. By the year 800, Islam had become the official religion of the newly conquered territories, and the natives of these lands started to convert to Islam and many of them took their autonomy from central authority, Damascus and later Baghdad.
Ifriqiya, the heir of Roman Africa, was not an exception. Territories included Tunisia, the eastern part of Algeria and the west of Libya. With the establishment of an Arab-Muslim state in 700, Kairouan became the new capital instead of Carthage. Again with the new system established by the Arabs, Ifriqiya found itself again a leader of the whole Maghreb, the governor that ruled from Kairouan used to control a huge territory that extends from Tripoli to Spain.
Kairouan was the first city to be founded in the Muslim west, its mosque known as the mosque of Ukba Ibn Nafii was the first mosque in the Muslim west that became a model for the rest of Maghrebian and Andalusian mosques. In fact, the mosque of Cordoba follows the model of Kairouan's mosque. Nowadays, the mosque is considered a masterpiece of the Maghreb mosques, since it shelters the oldest pulpit in the Muslim world.

The minaret of the grand mosque of Kairouan

The Kairouan mosque is one of the first mosques to include a minaret, and its minaret follows the model of Roman watchtowers, and. The mosaic tower is represented in a mosaic in Ostia, Italy.

The oldest Minbar in the Muslim world. Photo taken in 1930

According to some Spanish-speaking guides in Tunisia, many Spaniards come to see the grand mosque of Kairouan and compare it to Cordoba's. French writers, such as Guy de Maupassant, admired the beauty. He wrote: "moved by sublime inspiration, erect a dwelling place for their God, a place made of pieces torn from crumbling towns, but one that is as perfect and as a magnificent as the purest conception of the the greatest stonemasons."
The mosque was erected by stones and pillars that were collected from the Roman sites that surrounded the city. The mosque and its prayer-hall are considered as a museum of Romano-Byzantine capitals. The pillars and the blocks were installed magnificently, displaying a rhythmic symphony of semi-circular horseshoe arches.

Mosaic from Ostia depicting Roman watchtower and served as a model for the Tunisian minarets.

The minaret of the mosque and its buttressed walls reflects its military aspect. The mosque was built as a military base for the Arabs who founded the city as a military base. The name Kairoaun is derived from the Persian language and means ‘camp’.

Aghlabid Pools in Kairouan

Due to its arid weather, Kairouan attracted refugees from Yemen, Sham (Syria) and the Arabic peninsula. With the locals of Ifriqiya, Kairaoun counted around 500,000 inhabitants. The problem of water appeared since the precipitations are rare. The rulers of Kairouan appealed an old technique of water collections; the Fesquiya. The Kairouanese engineers built the biggest hydraulic work in the Muslim world that still stands in Kairouan. They consisted of fifteen reservoirs. Every reservoir is divided into three elements; small pools, big pools and water tanks. They are filled by water coming from aqueducts and rain. The small pools have a capacity of 4000 cubic meters and the purified water goes to the bigger pools, 57000 cubic meters in capacity while the potable water is pulled up from the cisterns.
Nowadays they are recognized by the name the Aghlabid Pools. Its a name of a dynasty that ruled Ifriqiya, Sicily and south Italy from Kairouan for more than a century. They were the first to be independent from the central authority of Baghdad. Independence allowed Kairouan to be the metropolis of the Mediterranean Sea.
Thanks to its contribution to the Islamic and universal culture Kairouan was named as a World Heritage site in 1988.
The legacy of Islamic architecture
Mr Neji Djelloul, a holder of a PhD from Sorbonne university, said the architectural elements in the Islamic art has its meaning. The minaret symbolize the power. In Sunni towns, the mosque with its minaret occupies the center since they believe that the mosque is the main area for their several activities like praying and studying and ruling. The minaret is not only to call Muslims for prayer but also symbol of the authority.  He said also that the courtyard of the mosque was derived from the Roman forum because Muslims meet every Friday after prayer to talk and converse about their issues and daily problems.
Since they believe that the nation must be ruled by a descendent of the prophet (Ahlù-bayt), Shiites built the palace of the Caliph or the ruler in the center of the town while the mosque is on the corner and devoid of minaret because they built it in the corner of the ruler palace.
Mahdia was the first Shiite capital in the history of Muslim monarchies, founded by the Fatimid monarchy that was considered a descedent of the prophet Mohamed. The town planning reflects  Shiite beliefs. The mosque is on the edge of the peninsula while the palace of the Shiite caliph was raised in the center.
Mahdia and later Sabra Mansouriya in the outskirts of Kairouan served as models for the future Cairo founded by the same dynasty in 974.

The History Of Religions in Tunisia

1-The Berber beliefs in the prehistory

2-The arrival of the Phoenicians and the emergence of Punic civilization; the problem of human sacrifice and its biblical background

3-The refuge of the Jewish after the destruction of Jerusalem temple

4-The Romanization of local deities; the The assimilation of the local deities to the Roman deities

5-The Christianity and the cult of the martyrs

6-The Islam and its rites from 700 to nowadays

Le marketing touristique en Tunisie

Le choix du tourisme de masse dans les années 60 et 70 était un choix tactique par le gouvernement Tunisien à fin de trouver un secteur souple pour avoir la devise nécessaire pour le développement du pays.

A partir des années 90 d’autres destinations méditerranéennes  sont apparues dont leur marketing est plus professionnel que le notre.

Notre marketing met toujours l’accent sur des attractions classiques et démodés ; plage, dromadaire, couscous, danse folklorique… sans oublier le thé à la menthe  

 Les rapports des experts dans les manifestations et les expositions prouvent ce que j’écris.

La catastrophe d’une agence de voyages :

A la mémoire de Tsunami une agence de voyage qui monopolise le marché Japonais a organisé une marche de solidarité devant  l’ambassade sous prétexte le marketing de la Tunisie.

C’est vraiment honteux de voir la faiblesse de marketing comme si on est devenu mendiant devant les ambassades comme si on n’a pas des compétences qui sont capable de faire un bon marketing sur la Tunisie, comme si la Tunisie n’est pas riche en attractions comme si on n’a rien à donner aux visiteurs.

Ce que fait cette agence de voyages nous oblige en tant que Tunisien de tirer la sonnette d’alarme et revoir le système de fonctionnement des agences Tunisiennes.

(un petit essai de ma part suite à une polémique de publication agressive sur facebbok et twitter)