The Pedantic Side of Chemtou

Chemtou is the site of an old Roman town and also an incredibly important former marble quarry. It's about twenty minutes from Jendouba - I took a louage out there this weekend with Nader, but I don't recommend that. The way back is challenging, to say the least. You're out in very agricultural Tunisia (we passed a town's "parking lot" which was twenty donkeys tied up next to the mosque), and have to wait for a louage to pass by. When Nader and I finally found one after walking several kilometers back (dodging large trucks on the incomplete road), we paid him for the other passengers (louages normally carry eight passengers and the passengers all share the total price), so we could get back in time for dinner.

The reason for the title of this post is that Chemtou also has a surprisingly excellent museum. Besides the artifacts, there's a lot of very cool information present on the Numidian language, general linguistics, and also Roman/Numidian sites in general. Since most people can't make it Chemtou anytime soon, I figured I'd post some of what I found. If anyone is interested, I could supply a few other images I took of displays via email. I'll also post some photos of the museum and the quarry, along with an evocative 18th Century ruined Italian church that stands on a hill overlooking the museum.

An artist's rendering of the old Roman town. Supposedly Chemtou marble was the second most expensive in the empire. (Although I don't feel 100% confident saying that - if anyone knows differently, feel free to let me know).

Another thing to note is that, as evidenced, this museum was in Arabic, French, and German. German tourism in Tunisia is big business, and Germans were the only other tourists I saw at Bulla Regia on Friday.

And one more thing... It sure as hell is fun to be a history major traveling around Tunisia. You get great historical sites with minimum interference. Often you're the one at some sites - as we were at Haidra back in the day.