Before the Roman annexation of Numidia, the town of Thugga, built on an elevated site overlooking a fertile plain, was the capital of an important Libyco-Punic state. It flourished under Roman and Byzantine rule, but declined in the Islamic period. The impressive ruins that are visible today give some idea of the resources of a small Roman town on the fringes of the empire.

Brief synthesis The archaeological site of Thugga/Dougga is located in the North-west region of Tunisia, perched on the summit of a hill at an altitude of 571 m, dominating the fertile valley of Oued Khalled. Before the Roman annexation of Numidia, Thugga had existed for more than six centuries and was, probably, the first capital of the Numidian kingdom. It flourished under Roman rule but declined during the Byzantine and Islamic periods. The impressive ruins which are visible today give an idea of the resources of a Romanised Numidian town. The archaeological site covers an area of approximately 75 ha. These ruins of a complete city with all its components are a testimony to more than 17 centuries of history. They are an outstanding example illustrating the synthesis between different cultures: Numidian, Punic, Hellenistic, and Roman. The Roman monuments were integrated within the urban fabric, essentially Numidian. Despite its relative unimportance in the administrative structure of the Roman province of Africa, Dougga possesses a remarkable group of public buildings, dating for the most part from the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. Dougga is considered the best preserved example of an Africo-Roman town in North Africa. As such, it is an exceptional illustration of what daily life was like in Antiquity. Criterion (ii): The site of Dougga is an outstanding example of the birth, development and history of an indigenous city since the second millennium BC. The site of Dougga conserves the complete ruins of an antique city with all its components and provides the best known example of town layout of an indigenous foundation, adapted to town planning on the Roman model. Criterion (iii): The important epigraphic collection (over 2000 Libyan, Punic, bilingual, Greek and above all Latin inscriptions) has made a decisive contribution to the decipherment of the Libyan language and knowledge of the social and municipal life of the Numidians, testifying to the level of…