Kerkouane

Kerkouane

• Phoenician (Punic) town, founded c.650 BCE on the eastern shore of Cape Bon (site of the quarries). View of Pantelleria.
• Its original name is not known. Probably about 2,000 inhabitants.
• Double city wall with towers, a temple with a house for a priest, at least three squares, sewers, public baths, kilns, and of course a port. Urban planning.
• Several very great houses ("House of the Sphinx", "House of the Clifftop", "House of the Tanit Sign", "House with the Central Courtyard"): use of opus signinum and Opus Africanum. Private baths.
• Hardly any agriculture: this town lived for trade (with Phoenicia itself and the Greek world) and trades (stonemasons, purple painters, potters...). Still, several fishermen.
• 310: Destroyed by Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse
• The towers of Kerkouane were probably built in the years preceding the First Punic War (264-241)
• 256: Probably destroyed during the First Punic War by the Roman army, commanded by Regulus, and abandoned; the Romans never repopulated the town
• One of the best-preserved Phoenician towns (with Motya)

Kerkouane, Opus Africanum with stucco	Kerkouane, Altar with griffins	Kerkouane, Punic altar with a sphinx	Kerkouane, Head of a goddess
Kerkouane, Public Baths	Kerkouane, House of the Sphinx	Kerkouane, House of the Tanit Sign	Kerkouane, House with the Central Courtyard
Kerkouane, Figurine of lion	Kerkouane, Head of one of the Dioscuri	Kerkouane, Necklace	Kerkouane, Phial