Built in the style of the Egyptian and Syrian tombs of kings, the mausoleum, originally about 55 ft. high, consisted of a pile of huge limestone blocks. The substructure, resting on a foundation of six steps, is adorned with narrow corner-pillars and three blind windows. The middle part, which is square, rises above three steps and has two portals flanked with Ionic mural columns and an Egyptian concave moulding instead of a cornice. Three more steps, once embellished at the angles with figures on horseback, bore a small pyramid crowned with the figure of a lion. The upper part was unfortunately destroyed in 1842 by natives employed by Sir T. Reade, with the bey’s permission, to remove the inscription in the Phœnician and the Libyan language, which is now in the British Museum. The monument, however, has been recently completely restored The tomb-chamber is probably underneath the monument.
Passing through the village, to the W., we come to the ruins of other Thermae and the so-called Dâr el-Acheb, a Roman building of some kind, of which the steps and façade alone remain. We ascend thence to the N.E., past the foundations of Roman Houses, to the hill of the Capitol.
The *Capitol (comp. p. [288]), the conspicuous landmark of Dougga, is one of the finest ruined temples in Tunisia, vying with the three temples of Sbeïtla (p. [371]). It is a Corinthian pseudo-peripteros, with a lofty flight of eleven steps and a portico of six columns, 43 ft. high and 24 ft. deep, the whole consisting of great limestone blocks. The square cella, 15 by 14 yds., has been destroyed, with the exception of the portal and the stone-panelled back-wall, with its semicircular niche in the centre and two square side-niches for images. The inscription on the frieze of the portico, of the time of Marcus Aurelius (166–9 A.D.), names two citizens of Thugga as the founders. In the Byzantine period the temple formed the nucleus of the citadel.
The **Roman Theatre, on the hill-side a little to the E. of the Capitol, is not only the best-preserved in N. Africa but is unique in the richness and beauty of its embellishment. The twenty-five tiers of seats in the Cavea, or auditorium, are almost intact, except that the upper colonnade has fallen into the orchestra. The stage (pulpitum) still has the old pavement, the front-wall, articulated like similar structures in Algeria, and the superb rear wall, with its three niches and remains of rich columnar decoration. The founder of the building, as recorded by the inscription now lying on the ground, was the flamen perpetuus L. Marcius Quadratus.
Of the Forum and of the street connecting it with the Capitol fragments of the pavement only have been unearthed.
The *Temple of Cælestis, in the olive-wood to the N.W. of the Capitol, is the strangest ruin at Dougga. The crescent-shaped court represents the half-moon, the symbol of the Punic goddess Tanit, or Astarte, whose name was Latinized in the Roman period.
The ruin stands on the hill-side, supported by huge substructures. The court terminated in a rectangular antechamber, 46 by 20 yds. The two entrances, with dedicatory inscriptions, lay at the sides, preceded by square chambers (or towers). The semicircular wall of the court (57 yds. in diameter), in concrete, is partly preserved. A large hall here, with two corner-pillars and twenty-three Corinthian columns, formed along with the antechamber the meeting-place of the congregation. The temple itself, in the centre of the court, which was probably planted with trees, was a rectangle of 18½ by 10½ yds., but its foundations alone survive. The flight of steps and the two semicircular apses at the back of the cella date from a restoration in the Byzantine period. The inscription names a wealthy citizen of the time of Alex. Severus as the founder (222–35).
We next walk through olive-wood to the E. to the Roman Cisterns, once fed by the partly preserved aqueduct of Aïn el-Hammam (S.W. of Dougga), and then, past the ancient N. gate of the town, the Arch of Alexander Severus, called by the Arabs Bâb er-Rûmia (‘gate of the Christian woman’), to the ruins of the Numidic Citadel and the Roman Hippodrome. Near this is the ancient Berber Burial Ground, containing several dolmens.
On the steep slope of a bare hill to the N.N.E. of the Theatre, and once no less conspicuous than the Capitol, was enthroned the Temple of Saturn, founded by a rich citizen in 195 A.D. The ruin probably stands on the site of a Punic temple of Baal Hâman. The peculiar ground-plan is reminiscent of the Phœnician temples, whose open colonnaded courts contained altars for burnt offerings.
The pronaos or vestibule, resembling a corridor, to which there was an approach at the S. end only, had a portico of four Corinthian columns facing the E., high above the Oued Khalled; but of all this there are but scanty traces. From the pronaos a small gate admitted into a quadrangle, paved with limestone slabs, and enclosed on three sides by Corinthian colonnades. On the W. side these were divided by partitions into three sections, forming ante-rooms to the three cellæ. The raised central cella, once railed in, was the chief shrine, richly adorned with wall-paintings and reliefs in stucco.