![]() Capitoline Hill of Sufetula | |
Location | Sbeitla, Tunisia |
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Coordinates | 35°14′25″N9°7′11″E / 35.24028°N 9.11972°E |
History | |
Founded | 67 AD |
Abandoned | 647 AD |
Site notes | |
Excavation dates | 1906-1921 [1] |
The archaeological site of Sbeitla is an archaeological site in Sbeitla, in north-central Tunisia. It represents the Roman ruins of Sufetula, [2] and contains the best preserved Roman forum temples in Tunisia. It was excavated and restored between 1906 and 1921.
The city was founded, if not already in existence, during the reign of Emperor Vespasian. Sufetula was the theatre of the great confrontation between Byzantines and Arabs in 647, [1] setting the stage for the later Muslim conquest of the diocese of Sufetula and further conquests in southern Europe.
The majority of the Byzantine buildings stand on the foundations and incorporate elements of earlier Roman ones. They include:
An engraving of a painting by Charles Bentley entitled Ruins of Sbeitlah, the ancient Sufetula, Tunis was published in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book ,1838 with a poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon, as Death of the Lion among the Ruins of Sbeitlah . [5]