El Amrouni mausoleum

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Neo-punic inscription on the mausoleum Lidzbarski's Handbuch der Nordsemitischen Epigraphik Table XVI number 5 (cropped).jpg
Neo-punic inscription on the mausoleum
Capitals from the debris of the El Amrouni mausoleum El Amrouni mausoleum.jpg
Capitals from the debris of the El Amrouni mausoleum
Bas reliefs of the El Amrouni mausoleum El Amrouni mausoleum v2.jpg
Bas reliefs of the El Amrouni mausoleum

The El Amrouni mausoleum is a Punic tower mausoleum in Tunisia, south of Tataouine, in the Gefara region. [1] It contains a Neo-punic inscription known as KAI 117. [2] [3]

Contents

Kanaanäische und Aramäische Inschriften proposes a date of the first century CE, but Latin epigraphy specials have been in favour of a later date. [4]

Discovery and description

They were first discovered in early February 1894 by French Lieutenant Henri-Marie-Albert Lecoy de La Marche, who was on an archaeological reconnaissance mission on behalf of Fernand Foureau. [5]

Lecoy de la Marche had noticed white cut stones emerging from the sand, and recognized moldings on closer inspection. His subsequent excavations uncovered a very large tomb of which only the square base was intact. Fragments of seven of the monument's eight bas-reliefs were found nearby, some under 1 or 2 meters of sand. The reliefs were carved on cut stones measuring almost 0.25cm3. Under the monument a large vault was found, although it was empty and without a covering slab. [6]

The bas reliefs include scenes from the legend of Orpheus descending to Hades in search of Eurydike. Clermont Ganneau noted that the tomb bears similarities with monuments near Leptis Magna, which consist of high square towers adorned with columns, pilasters and sculptures. These were also found badly damaged, likely by earthquakes, and fragments of statues and basreliefs and inscriptions were also found. [7] Four smaller tombs, also containing fragments of moldings and columns, were found nearby. [6]

Inscriptions

Among the nearby finds were two inscriptions, one Latin and the other neo-Punic, found at a very short distance from each other. The Latin inscription notes that the tomb was that of a significant person named Q. Apuleus Maximus. [6]

Bibliography

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References

  1. Mugnai, N.; Nikolaus, J.; Ray, N. (2016). De Africa Romaque: Merging cultures across North Africa (in Catalan). Society for Libyan Studies. p. 202. ISBN   978-1-900971-36-2 . Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  2. Ferchiou, Naidè (1989). "Le Mausolée de Q. Apuleus Maxssimus à El Amrouni". Papers of the British School at Rome. [British School at Rome, Cambridge University Press]. 57: 47–76. ISSN   0068-2462. JSTOR   40310897 . Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  3. Berger, Philippe (1895). "LE MAUSOLÉE D'EL-AMROUNI". Revue Archéologique. Presses Universitaires de France. 26: 71–83. ISSN   0035-0737. JSTOR   41729537 . Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  4. PLH, Laboratoire. "ERC MAP - View Source #1959". ERC MAP MAP Database. Retrieved 2023-09-24.
  5. Lecoy de La Marche 1894, p. 389, 403, 404.
  6. 1 2 3 Lecoy de La Marche 1894, p. 403, 404.
  7. Frothingham, A. L.; Marquand, Allan (1896). "Archæological News: THE MAUSOLEUM OF EL AMROUNI". The American Journal of Archaeology and of the History of the Fine Arts. Archaeological Institute of America. 11 (1): 77–78. ISSN   1540-5079. JSTOR   496535 . Retrieved 2023-09-24.