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Thysdrus
A city of Punic origin, thysdrus( now Roman) was most advantageously placed at the crossroads
at the heart of the future Byzacenus; it also benefited from the boosting of oil-growing
under Hadrian (117-138)
With Hadrumetum( Sousse) the province's second most important town, and a big oil markt,
it had some 30.000 residents in the 3rd C . 
Its extreme wealth made it
covet the rank of capital(its Amphitheatre is the 3rd biggest in the Roman
world; its Circus the size of the Maxencus Circus in Rome) and wish to head the empire.
But after SEVERUS ALEXANDER Was assassinated and MAXIMIAN procllaimed in 235, the
pressure of taxes on the province sparked offa revolt of thysdrus's landed proprietors,
supported by the peasants of central Tunisia. They toppled MAXIMIAN AND WITH THE ASSENT OF
THE Senate of Rome, made the proconsul GORDIAN emperor. But his son GORDIAN Il was beaten
and killed the same year by the troops of the 3rd legion;GORDIAN
committed suicide in carthage. 
Despite the repression that followed, thysdrus remained
relatively prosperous until the fall of the empire The Vandal and Byzantine periods saw
the town decline, situated, like Sufetula( Sbeitla) on the edge of the steppe, in contact
with the Berber tribes from Tripolitania and the Aurès. Stripped of everything but its
Amphitheatre, thysdrus became just a vast stronghold.
- HOUSES OF THYSDRUS
- Behind the museum are the villas,retaining some of their mosaics in situ and opening
onto the Roman road whose staggered rows of paving bear the marks of chariot wheels. The
most sumptuous villas (House of the Peacock, 'Solertiana Domus' ) have yielded mosaics
with mythological subjects (Zeus carrying off Ganymede, Leda and the swan, Amphitrite and
a sea monster), scenes of everyday life (falconry, hunting scenes) or amorous themes (
satyrs und bacchantes).
- AMPHITEATRE
Replacing a former 8.000-seat, the great amphiteatre of thysdrus was started in the late
2nd or early 3rd C It was not completed, because the legate
Capellian was punishing the town for rising in revolt.the amphitheatre is 149m. long,
124m. Wide and 36m high It has 3 arcaded stories crowned by a wall at the top, and
enclosed by composite, engaged columns.- The basement under the arena, 65m. long, has vaulted galleries containing rooms where
the wild beasts were kept.
- During the Vandal invasion (430) and the first Arab attacks (647) people took
refuge in the amphitheatre; it was used as a fortress by the KAHENA's troops in their
fight against HASSAN IBN NOOMAN( late 4th C) more recently, in 1695, MOHAMMED
BEY blew a hole in it to flush out Ali BEY's supporters.
