The Enigma of the Great Thapsus Harbour Mole

Abstract

On the East coast of Tunisia, between Sousse and Sfax, lie the scant remains of the ancient city of Thapsus, notable mainly for a battle fought in the civil war in 46 BC. Visits by the authors resulted in the discovery of one of the longest‐known harbour moles in the entire Roman Empire. No ancient sources make reference to any work of such magnitude and the paper suggests that the harbour was never completed, but might have been started by the local emperors Gordianus, none of whom survived long enough to have executed such a project.

Key words:

• Roman
• Thysdrus
• concrete
• Vitruvius
• Pliny
• Civitavecchia

Acknowledgements

While the opinions expressed are those of the authors, we must express our considerable gratitude for the valuable encouragement of Professor David Mattingly and for the painstaking review of the sources and the argument by David Stone, whose knowledge and experience from his work at the nearby site of Leptiminus/Lamta have been of great value.