We now enter the oldest part of the town by the central Porte du Nord (Pl. D, 1), 13¼ by 5¾ yds., preserved only in its lower parts. Between the pillars of the gateway, once enriched with Corinthian half-columns and pilasters, are the ancient guard-rooms. On the floor are relics of an inscription of 149 A.D., which names Antoninus Pius as the restorer (or finisher) of the gateway.
The first building on the left side of the Cardo Maximus Nord, a street ascending steeply for 185 yds., is that of the Petits Thermes du Nord (Pl. E, 1). On the left, beyond the fourth side-street, is the—
*Library (Pl. E, 2), one of the most curious buildings in the town, resembling the library in the forum of Pompeii, which was once supposed to be a shrine of the Lares. The building is preceded by an open colonnade, with two small chambers on each side. Two side-doors lead into the rectangular book-rooms, while the central door, as in all antique libraries, opens into a kind of sanctuary, with a large central niche flanked by four recesses on each side (for the sacred images), and approached by a basement in three steps, with ornamental columns.
The Cardo Maximus Nord leads to the main entrance to the Forum (see below) in the Decumanus Maximus, the chief thoroughfare of the town. To the right, at the W. end of the latter, rises Trajan’s Arch (p. [295]). We descend to the left. On the left, near the old E. gate of the inner town, are the Grands Thermes de l’Est (Pl. F, 2), whose tepidarium contains remains of mosaic pavement. We turn back here, and in the third S. street off the Decumanus Maximus we come to the Petits Thermes de l’Est (Pl. F, 2), where two of the rooms contain restored marble benches.
Next, on the same side of the Decumanus, comes the *Marché de l’Est or East Macellum (Pl. E, F, 2), the smaller town-market, very curiously planned.
A flight of eight steps ascends to a semicircular vestibule occupying the middle of a platform 30 yds. wide and 2¼ yds. deep, on to the right and on to the left sides of which open six small shops, three of them facing the street and three the courtyard. The latter, really a double court, consists of two segments of a circle with a triangular fountain at their intersection. Adjacent, along the back-wall, right and left, are five stalls with the old stone counters. In the centre of each half-court is an open semicircular colonnade with water-runlets.
Almost immediately to the W. of the market-hall, a later addition, is the Maison aux Jardinières (Pl. 4; E, 2), a private house with a fine garden-court, once adorned with flower-beds. These were enclosed by high segment-shaped stone balustrades.
Near the Fountain at the next street-corner, at the N.E. angle of the Forum, are the Latrinæ (Pl. 3; E, 2), the finest ancient building of the kind, with a washing-basin and excellent cleansing arrangements. The double seats (originally 25) have marble arms adorned with dolphins.
A propylæum, with a vestibule (16 ft. wide) and twelve steps forms the main entrance to the *Forum (Pl. E, 2, 3), the focus of municipal life, to which foot-passengers only were admitted. It was completed in the reign of Trajan, and conforms pretty closely in plan to the rules laid down by Vitruvius. It forms a large rectangle, 110 by 65 yds.; the area or central space, 55 by 47 yds., is enclosed by Corinthian colonnades. The vestibule and area were once adorned by a crowd of equestrian statues of emperors and figures of distinguished governors of Numidia and eminent citizens. The so-called Marsyas, the symbol of civic liberty, marked Thamugadi as one of the most favoured colonies, whose inhabitants enjoyed the full rights of Roman citizenship. Besides the pedestals of thirty-two statues, we note also several representations of figures of a game (comp. p. [318]) on the stone slabs of the pavement; among the inscriptions annexed is the light-hearted ‘venari lavari ludere ridere occ (hoc) est vivere’ (to hunt, bathe, play, and laugh is to live).
The chambers on the N. side of the Forum were perhaps Club Rooms. The two-storied Shops on the S. side opened, on the upper floor, into the Theatre Street (p. [293]).