Tunisia - Pupput

Simplified map of the region showing the location of the site.

Expedition title: The Roman Necropolis at Pupput (Hammamet)

Director: Marc GRIESHEIMER

Research topic: Funerary topography and ritual development of an urban necropolis in Roman Africa.

Overview of the archaeological site

The Roman city of Pupput is located 70km south-east of Carthage and was identified in the Souk-el-Abiod area from the middle of the 19th century. However, when a map of remains was drawn up in 1897, even then there were few elevated remains. At the beginning of the 20th century, several excavations carried out by officers of the 3rd and 4th African battalions brought to light the first information on the necropolis. Two inscriptions discovered during these initial excavations supplied the designated title of the city, which became colonia Aurelia Commoda Pia Felix Augusta Pupput under the rule of Commodus, and thus helped researchers to identify the city as previously deduced from the Antonine Itinerary and the Tabula Peutingeriana. The references in these itineraries emphasise the geographical significance of the city located at the intersection of roads linking Clupea to Thuburbo maius and Carthage to Hadrumetum.

During the 1960s, the construction of several hotels on the Hammamet seafront revealed further archaeological remains of Ancient Pupput, and in particular a residential district where the floors of the houses were decorated with mosaics. This district was developed into an archaeological park.

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