Susa, the Roman Hadrumetum, is one of the oldest Phœnician colonies on the coast of Tunisia. It appears for the first time in history at the end of the second Punic war, when it was Hannibal’s base of operations, and, after the battle of Zama (B. C. 202), his place of refuge. It escaped the fate of Carthage in 146 B. C., and it was again spared a century later, although it had sided with Pompey in the civil war. Under the later Roman empire Hadrumetum was remarkably prosperous, being the great outlet for the produce of the numerous and thickly peopled inland colonies as far as Tebessa. The fertility of its environs is indicated by the name given to it when re-colonized under Trajan (Colonia Concordia Ulpia Trajana Frugifera Hadrumentina). At that period the whole coast from Hadrumetum to El-Alia and Chebba (p. [370]) was bordered with sumptuous country-houses. After its conquest by the Arabs (in 665, and again in 689) Susa, whose present name is said to date from the 8th cent., was outstripped by Kairwan and Mehdia. It afterwards suffered severely from the irruption of the Hilalides (p. [323]) and its conquest by the Normans (1135), and in more modern times from its bombardment by the Spaniards (1537 and 1550), the French (1769), and the Venetians (1783).
The Harbour, 35 acres in area, constructed in 1886–9, is tolerably sheltered by two moles and by the Grande Jetée (737 yds.), the end of which is a splendid point of view. The Digue Sud (Pl. D, 4, 5), where new harbour-works are in progress, is occupied by storehouses for the phosphates from Aïn-Moularès (p. [372]).
Between the N. mole and the dunes of Bou-Jaffar, near the Punic-Roman harbour (Kothon), of which scarcely a trace is left, lies the new town, dating from 1881. The busy parts of it are the Rond-Point de la Douane (Pl. D, 2), near the steamboat-quay, and the Place Pichon (Pl. C, D, 2), from which the Boul. René Millet leads to the station.
Between the two small public gardens here is the *Museum (Pl. C, 2), a valuable collection of Punic, Roman, and early-Christian antiquities, mostly excavated of late in the Sahel. Adm. daily, except Mon., 8–11 and 2–4 (from 1st July to 15th Oct. 7–11 only). No catalogue. Curator, M. E. Gouvet, the town architect.
The chief treasures of the museum are the numerous mosaics from Roman villas. In the centre of the hall is a large pavement from El-Alia, already freely restored in ancient times, representing an inundation of the Nile, with two-storied houses, a hippopotamus, a crocodile, etc.; by the entrance-wall, Neptune in a chariot with sea-horses, ducks, and fish; by the back-wall, procession of Bacchus, fishing scenes, a gazelle among edible animals and fruits (from a dining-room), the rape of Ganymede, a Nile scene, a basket with fish and lobsters; by the end-wall to the left, a peacock. By the right end-wall, an early-Christian mosaic, with the signature of the artist (Theodulos).
By the back-wall are relics of wall-paintings and the marble statuette of a negro boy. By the entrance-wall, fragments of Roman reliefs in stucco: head of a bearded man, from El-Djem (2nd cent. A. D.); bust of Athena and female head in profile, from Susa (2nd cent.). By the left end-wall, a large relief, from Susa, of the triumphal procession of a Roman emperor, with a fettered warrior behind the chariot.
The central presses contain (on the left) *Terracotta Figures from Susa (mother and child, Venus, female harpist, rider on a camel, etc.) and fine vessels in clay; (on the right) ancient coins; a fine bust in bronze and leaden rolls inscribed with curses (comp. p. [341]), from Susa; bronze utensils, trinkets, implements in bone; Punic, Roman, and early-Christian lamps; mosaic of Virgil writing the Æneid.
The old town, an irregular quadrilateral almost unspoiled by modern improvements, contains no buildings of outstanding importance, but its Oriental streets are strikingly picturesque. The many-towered *Town Wall, with its gallery of defence and its crowning battlements, was erected by the Aglabides (p. [323]) in 827.
From the Place Pichon we first visit the Place Bab el-Bahar (Pl. C, 2), named after the old ‘sea-gate’, almost always enlivened by a dense and busy throng. The main streets of this quarter are the Rue de France and Rue Général-Logerot, between which rises the Chief Mosque (Pl. C, 2), built in the Aglabide period on a ⟙-shaped plan (p. [376]), with forecourts like the Gâmia Ibn Tulûn at Cairo (p. [451]).