UTHINA
(Oudna) Tunisia.
On the route
from Tunis to Pont-du-Fahs, 25 km SW of Tunis, an
extensive site, rises on the first slopes of Mt. Mekrima,
which shuts off the plain of Mornay to the S. Still little
explored, the only excavations were undertaken more
than half a century ago. A large aristocratic area was
excavated N of the town on the flank of the hill; 20
houses were partially or fully uncovered. Numerous
pieces of sculpture, figural and architectural, as well as
other objects were found, but it is the great number
and the quality of the mosaics—67 of them are decorated with figures—which have made the site famous.
They are for the most part preserved at the Bardo
Museum in Tunis.
The largest and most luxurious of these houses is
that of the Laberii, which, aside from the principal
building, comprised numerous outbuildings: cisterns, reservoirs, shops, and private baths. Built against the side of the hill, the peristyle of the house was surrounded by rooms and apartments, some reception rooms having
their own small colonnaded peristyle. All these rooms,
porticos, and the atrium were paved with rich and beautiful mosaics. The one of rural life, and the one of Dionysos making the gift of the vine to Ikarios are
preserved at the Bardo. Following a landslide, one of
the sides of the house was rebuilt and a new pavement
superimposed on the earlier one. Later, when the house
was abandoned, a potter's workshop was set up in the
private baths; numerous lamps and plates of red clay
were found.
The large public baths were partially excavated in
1947; conceived according to an axial and symmetrical
plan, the facades embellished with apses and exedras,
the edifice consisted of three levels. The excavation
of certain vaulted halls has furnished inscriptions and
especially 13 pieces of sculpture, which have been
transported to the Bardo.
Although of consequence and often identified, many
other buildings still remain poorly known in spite of
having been excavated; for example, under the acropolis—considered by some as the citadel—are constructed
two huge halls in a magnificent style. Seven large symmetrical and parallel cisterns are fed by an aqueduct. There is a theater and, a little outside the town, an amphitheater.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gauckler in
MonPiot 2 (1896) 177-229
PI; P. Quoniam in
MélRome 60 (1948) 35-54
I.
A. ENNABLI
