Travels in the footsteps of Bruce in Algeria and Tunis

by Sir R. Lambert Playfair

3. Rough pencil sketch of plan, with details in ink of various parts.

4. Perspective view in Indian ink of front; podium in pencil only. The triumphal arch of Septimius Severus is seen to the left.

5. Perspective view in Indian ink of the side of portico, showing the construction of the cella, or the building which has replaced it ([Pl. XXII.])

6. Highly finished drawing in Indian ink, taken from an opposite point of view to the last, with landscape and figures of the Balugani type ([Pl. XXIII.])

7. Finished Indian-ink plan and elevation, with dimensions.

8. Finished Indian-ink drawing of a capital, details of abacus and base.

9. Finished drawing in Indian ink of soffit of cornice, six of the fifteen flowers for centre of abacus, details of head of doorway of cella, and the same given in petto.

10. Finished drawing in Indian ink of details of pediment and podium of temple.

This temple seems to have suffered very little if any injury during the last century; but it is in a very incomplete condition, and the portico, the noble entrance-door of the cella, and a small portion of the wall, are probably all that remain of the original structure. I am inclined to attribute to a later period, probably that of the Byzantines, the masonry now existing on the site of the cella. It is in a style very commonly met with in Africa.

A course of cut stone was laid horizontally, a long cut stone was erected at intervals of four or five feet on this, and the interstices filled in with rubble masonry, exactly like the long and short bond found in Roman and early Saxon work in Britain. Some excellent specimens of this still exist at Teboursouk, twenty or thirty feet in height. This explains the occurrence of so many upright stones in all ruined cities throughout Africa; the masonry of inferior quality has fallen away, bringing down the whole of the superstructure, and leaving only the uprights resting on the foundations. As this part of the building has a semi-circular apse at its extremity, it is probable that it was intended for a Byzantine basilica.