Qualla: Dougga https://qualla.com/dougga en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:30 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/q/x/dougga-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Dougga https://qualla.com/dougga Dougga: Introduction https://qualla.com/dougga/ Photo credit Youssefbensaad, CC BY-SA 4.0. A wealthy citizen named P. Marcius Quadratus built his city a theater with his own money and celebrated the dedication with games, festivals, and food for the populace. That was in 168 AD, and the theater he paid for still hosts performances during the annual festival of Dougga. Few places in the ancient world offer this kind of continuity. UNESCO designated Dougga a World Heritage Site in 1997, calling it "the best-preserved Roman small town in North Africa." The 75-hectare site escaped the fate of Carthage -- repeatedly pillaged and overbuilt -- because it sat in the countryside, too remote for modern urbanization to consume it.

Read more: Dougga on Qualla

Image: Youssefbensaad | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/q/x/dougga-wp/snqx-dougga-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Dougga: Before Rome, Before Carthage https://qualla.com/dougga/ Photo credit Youssefbensaad, CC BY-SA 4.0. Dougga's name preserves its origins. The Numidian toponym TBGG, recorded in the Libyco-Berber alphabet, likely derives from a root meaning "to protect" -- a reference to the site's position atop a defensible plateau overlooking the Oued Khalled valley. The settlement dates to at ...

Read more: Dougga on Qualla

Image: Youssefbensaad | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/q/x/dougga-wp/snqx-dougga-before-rome-before-carthage.mp3 0:06 2 full Dougga: The Capitol and Its Companions https://qualla.com/dougga/ Photo credit Pradigue, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Capitol dominates the forum as it was meant to, its Corinthian columns rising eight meters to support a perfectly preserved pediment. Carved into that pediment is a scene of Emperor Antoninus Pius being carried to godhood by an eagle. Completed around 166-167 AD with a dedica...

Read more: Dougga on Qualla

Image: Pradigue | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/q/x/dougga-wp/snqx-dougga-the-capitol-and-its-companions.mp3 0:06 3 full Dougga: A City Built for Spectacle https://qualla.com/dougga/ Photo credit Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0. For a town of perhaps 5,000 inhabitants, Dougga accumulated an extraordinary concentration of public buildings. The theater seats 3,500 -- meaning the entire population could attend a performance simultaneously and still leave room for visitors. A circus 393 meters long hosted ch...

Read more: Dougga on Qualla

Image: Dennis G. Jarvis | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/q/x/dougga-wp/snqx-dougga-a-city-built-for-spectacle.mp3 0:06 4 full Dougga: The Mausoleum's Stolen Voice https://qualla.com/dougga/ Photo credit Pradigue, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Libyco-Punic Mausoleum, 21 meters tall and capped with a pyramid, is one of only three surviving examples of royal Numidian architecture. In 1842, the British consul in Tunis, Thomas Reade, damaged the monument severely while removing its bilingual inscription -- a Punic-Liby...

Read more: Dougga on Qualla

Image: Pradigue | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/n/q/x/dougga-wp/snqx-dougga-the-mausoleums-stolen-voice.mp3 0:06 5 full