Pupput
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The Roman city of Pupput is located south of Hammamet, in the Souk el-Abiod area, between the wadis Temad in the north and Moussa in the south. It was identified in the middle of the 19th century.
In the current state of research, no Punic remains seem to have been reported on the site of Pupput itself.
Until the end of the 2nd century, Pupput was a simple village [vicus] placed under the authority of Carthage.
It was the Emperor Commodus who elevated the town to the status of a Roman colony between 185 and 192. A Latin inscription, dated between 314 and 323, gives the town the title ‘Colonia Aurelia Commoda Pia Felix Augusta Pupput’.
Pupput owes this promotion to the illustrious jurist Publius Salvius Iulianus, a native of Hadrumetum (Sousse), Proconsul the province of Africa between 161 and 169 and patron of the city in 168-169, as indicated by a Latin inscription from Pupput.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the ancient site was very extensive; several remains have been identified: a capitol, temples, a theatre, an amphitheatre, thermal baths, several private cisterns, an aqueduct, a Byzantine citadel, etc. The fast-growing urbanization during the sixties and the pressure of hotel entrepreneurs prevented the safeguarding of the entire site.
Following the construction of hotel units in the 1960s, the site had undergone numerous excavations to save what remained of the ancient city of Pupput. Today, the archaeological park, which covers approximately 4 hectares, contains a residential area, located on the seafront, and two thermal complexes.
The visitor will appreciate, in particular:
- The black and white triclinium house (late 2nd c. - early 3rd c.) with its peristyle, the central part of which is occupied by a viridarium (garden) in which there is a basin facing a large ceremonial room whose mosaic composition indicates its function as a dining room. This room was furnished with three triclinia (couches laid out for dining around a small serving table).
- The house of the figured peristyle (4th - 5th c.) which owes its name to a mosaic pavement that reproduces on the floor the shadow cast by the columns of the portico surrounding it. The centre of the peristyle is adorned with a lighthouse representing a wish for happy navigation. The northeast corner of the peristyle leads to small private baths.
- The Satyr and the Nymph edifice (second half of the 4th c.), one part of which was dedicated for housing purposes, and the other part was dedicated to handicrafts. One of the two entrances to this building is monumental: it was framed by two column bases. The building owes its name to a figurative mosaic depicting a Satyr provoking a Nymph.
At a short distance, to the north of the archaeological site, lays the main necropolis of Pupput, of which only a part was preserved. The dating of the 1400 excavated burials makes it possible to place the occupation of the necropolis between the end of the 1stand the 6th centuries AD.
