SULLECTHUM
(Salacta) Tunisia.
Situated
at the tip of a small protecting promontory 15 km S of
Mahdia. The homes in a village of farmers and fishermen are scattered over the ruins of the ancient site along
the shore. The main coast road ran through the ancient
city, which was linked to the hinterland, especially to
Thysdrus, by a direct route; the city grew up around a
port that was connected with the rest of the Mediterranean, particularly Ostia, where the site of its warehouse was found in the Square of the Corporations.
The site has never been systematically excavated, but
remains have continually been discovered. A rectangular
rampart several dozens of meters long runs around the
port; the basins of the latter are protected by moles sheltered by a long jetty.
Among the remains partially excavated are small baths
situated a few meters from the shore. An aedicula opens
onto the frigidarium; a sort of nymphaeum designed like
a grotto, it consists of an almost square basin with raised
walls containing six niches and, most probably, with a
vault over all. In front of the opening of this basin was
a wide platform (2.87 x 1.73 m) paved with a geometric
mosaic; in the middle of the mosaic was a tablet (1.07 x
0.38 m) containing a quatrain, in black letters on a white
ground, proclaiming the fall of the envious.
To the E of the small baths, which very probably belonged to a professional or religious association, was a
salting and garum factory that can be identified by its
appurtenances: basins of various sizes, placed at ground
level, which were vaulted or open and had walls faced with opus signinum.
Also on the seashore is another house with baths that
were partly explored on account of their mosaic floors.
The floor of one of the rooms (4.65 x 4.05 m) has a design of dolphins frolicking in the sea with, among them, two sailing ships, one decorated with a lion, the other with a dog, and labeled respectively “Leontius” and “Caneius” below the stern. The design has been badly damaged
since excavation. To the E is another room with a mosaic
(also very badly damaged) where a design of a lion
devouring a boar, and an illegible inscription, were
noted. There is a corridor, leading to a doorway, decorated with footmarks to the N, and to the S another
room with a mosaic of a lion measuring 4.5 m (now at
the Sousse Museum) and on the threshold the design of
a boat, now also almost totally destroyed. Other older
mosaics have also been found.
Particularly important are the various necropoleis
spread out along the entire coastline, which have been
located in active prospecting for a long period of time:
dolmens of Berber origin, Punic vaults, Roman tombs,
Early Christian catacombs, in which various grave gifts
and epitaphs have been found. Also aligned along the
shore are some mounds of pottery. Here many fragments
of amphora necks have been found, complete with potters' stamps. There are remains of some fine villas a
few kilometers S of the site, at El Alia and La Chebba.
In one of these the famous mosaic of the Triumph of
Neptune, now at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, was discovered.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
D. Anziani, “Nécropoles puniques du
Sahel tunisien,”
MélRome (1912) 245-303; L. Foucher,
“Note sur l'industrie et le commerce des salsamenta et
du garum,”
Actes du 93e Congrès National des Société Savantes (1968) 17-21.
A. ENNABLI
