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