Saturday 10 April

10 AM BST
11 AM CEST
7 PM AEST
9 PM NZST

With Dr. Eireann Marshall

Dougga and Thuburbo Maius, two stunning Numidian cities in modern Tunisia, became prosperous in the Roman period through the trade of olive-oil. Through exploring the magnificent buildings of these Numidian cities, we will examine how they adopted Roman culture and adapted it to suit their needs. Like many Roman cities, both Dougga and Thuburbo Maius have temples to the Capitoline Triad, shrines which were based on the Capitolium in Rome and which made them appear Roman. The Numidian cities also have baths, latrines, fora and macella which resemble their counterparts in other parts of the Roman empire. At the same time, these cities are distinctively Numidian in that their buildings are constructed in opus africanum, a building technique peculiar to North Africa and in that they venerated the same gods venerated by their ancestors before them. Temples of Ba’al, who becomes conflated with Saturn in the Roman period, dominated the highest points of both cities and several temples had the same triple cella which is see in Numidian and Carthaginian cities. In addition to exploring the cultural adaptations of these cities, I will explore their trade to Rome.