17th October. Travels in Tunisia Part IV

After another day in Monastir, day six took in El Djem. The most stunning Roman Amphitheatre (plus a spare) and a really great museum. The afternoon took in Kairouan, its fabulous mosque and medina (Used as Cairo in Raiders of the Lost Ark) and a charming carpet salesman with every trick in the book (there’s a new rug in the house now) before a drive to the final destination Sidi Bou Said. From here a day eight trip went to Dougga, sometimes called the Tunisian Pompeii. A well preserved Roman hilltop city with a capitol, theatre, baths and theatre (but no amphitheatre unless there’s one hiding somewhere). Buildings in the town were still occupied until the inhabitants were evicted in the 1980s after Tunisian Independence and the site became an archaeological park in 1991 and a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1997.

10th October. Travels in Tunisia Part III

On day four we travelled via Sousse to Monastir. The old town and harbour are great, the strip of hotel compounds to the north flanking the Airport road and filled with busloads of Eastern European package tourists, less pleasing on the eye. When the Arabs gained control in the middle ages their solution to keeping out pirates, crusaders, the Spanish etc. was to build a string of massive stone forts ‘Ribats’ along the coast, including at Hamamet, Sousse and Monastir. All feature conspicuous re-use of Roman stone components in their walls.

The example at Monastir is particularly striking. As you step through the gates into the courtyard you’d be forgiven for thinking you were in first century Jerusalem - specifically that of ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and ‘Life of Brian’ (both filmed here). To the south along the coast were the Roman port towns of Leptis Minor and Thapsus, both of which appear on the 12th Century ‘Tabula Peutingeriana’ as ‘Leptiminus’ and ‘Tapsum’ (see Adventures in Campania PtIII 30th Jan 2025 below). The corresponding modern settlements are Lemta and Bekalta. Having a couple of hours spare, a 20 mile cab ride searched out the Amphitheatre of Thapsus. (Site visit page now live)

8th October. Travels in Tunisia Part II

After a traditional Hammam, the first foray from Tunis took in the Bardo Museum which contains one of the most stunning collections of complete Roman Mosaic floors in the world. Centuries of development and redevelopment within Tunisia together with its hot and sometimes harsh climate, means many mosaics were discovered relatively recently, located within the private grounds of houses built over the ruins beneath. They have therefore been removed and displayed in museums rather than preserved in situ. In locations which are open to public visitors, there tend to be reproductions in the original settings. My overall favourite is shown below - a superbly executed, aggressive and sneaky looking sanglier in a mosaic depicting the four seasons.

The Antonine Baths and Amphitheatre of Carthage followed (Site visit page now live).

The next day, driving south across the plain of LaSoukra the main road followed 20m high elevated sections of the Zaghouan aqueduct.

It is here that the story of Spike Milligan’s trousers came to pass. Milligan fought with Montgomery’s Eighth Army eastwards from Algeria as a gunner in the 56th Heavy Regiment - Royal Artillery. Between the fall of Tunis in May 1943 and departure for Italy in September of that year, large numbers of allied soldiers found themselves in a lacuna (or perhaps a hiatus?), camped on barren plains, indulging in war games and taking rest days by the sea and, in some cases visiting Roman Ruins. It was thus on or about 18th May 1943 that Gunners Forrest, Devine and Milligan set off to climb the Roman Aqueduct on the plain of Oudhna in an effort to find out what was at the top. Having attained a height of fifty feet or so they found themselves stuck and unable to get down as nightfall approached. After an hour of calling for help (none came) they resorted to fashioning a rope by removing their trousers and knotting them together. Their descent was observed at distance by Major Chater Jack through his binoculars. He commented the next day “There’s no need to climb that Aqueduct again, Milligan, the water down here is perfectly safe.” ( ‘Monty, My Part in his Victory’)

The road took us on to Oudhna (Roman Uthina) a ‘statement’ colonial new town with the remains of an enormous Capitol (Nothing says ‘The Romans are Here’ like a hilltop classical temple with 18m high columns). In addition to providing some of the mosaics now in the Bardo museum, Oudhna has a well-preserved amphitheatre. The site visit page is now live. After reaching the source of the Zaghouan aqueduct we proceeded by way of an abandoned Berber hill village to Nabeul with a day off to visit Hammamet.

6th October. Travels in Tunisia (18th-27th September 2025) Part I

Seafaring Phoenicians originating in Tyre (in present day Lebanon) used advanced navigation and trading skills to establish an empire along the mediterranean coast of North Africa from Egypt to Morocco, Southern Spain, Corsica, Sardinia and half of Sicily. The capital city of Carthage was established as a seaport on a projecting peninsula to the north of present day Tunis. The Carthaginians traded with the Greeks and shared with them what might, with hindsight, be described as a degree of complacency towards some noisy neighbours to the north based around the city of Rome. Three ‘Punic’ wars later, the Roman hostile takeover of Carthage was complete. in 146 BC Carthage was besieged, burned for 17 days, ploughed into the ground and the surrounding land salted. Relatively few Carthaginian artifacts survive. About a century later, Julius Caesar founded Roman Carthage which expanded over time to be the second largest city of the empire with a population of around half a million. It was watered by the 132km Zaghuoan Aqueduct, 33 years in the making, which linked the city with sources in the mountain range 60km to the south. Much of its course consisted of underground tunnels which still form part of the present day supply network. The extensive remains of three arcaded sections cross 5km of the plain of Oudna, 2km of the plain of Miliane, and 10km of the plain of La Soukra standing up to 20m high. The aqueduct is one of a number of Tunisian historic sites featured in the second and third volumes of the War Memoirs of the Anglo Irish comedian, poet, playwright, actor and musician Terence Alan ‘Spike’ Milligan (1918-2002) (‘Rommel, Gunner Who?’ & ‘Monty, My Part in his Victory’) , of which more later. The proximity to Italy, abundance of suitable land and water, together with the practice of settling retired legionaries with land and pensions resulted in many former soldiers participating in the expanding colonisation of the area. Among its many ancient treasures, Tunisia has 27 known amphitheatre sites. Arrived on 18th September 2025…. here we go.

11th August. University Challenge

In the final seconds of University Challenge (Long running UK TV quiz show) on 11th August, the scores stood at- Manchester University 160, New College Oxford 155. Amol Rajan began the following 10 point starter question:

“Pula in Croatia, El Djem in Tunisia, Verona in Italy…”

a New College team member buzzed and answered..

“Coliseums”. He was docked five points for an incorrect interruption and the rest of the question read to his opponents ”…….and Arles in southern France are locations of what distinctive structures from the Roman Period whose name indicates that it has all-round seating?” Manchester buzzed and answered “The Amphitheatre”. They were given the 10 points. The gong sounded, they were declared winners.

The concise Oxford Dictionary offers the following definition: “Coliseum n. large stadium etc. (as n. Applied to a Roman amphitheatre)”….

If I receive a reply from the BBC it will be posted!

28th June. Adventures in Tuscany and Umbria

Sarcastically dubbed ‘Chiantishire’ by some wag to reflect the ubiquity of home-counties holiday homes (Yes of course Sting was here!) the region of vineyards, hill towns, cyprus trees and breathtaking scenery was dotted with Etruscan towns which were subject to hostile takeover by the expanding Roman Empire a few hundred years BC. It later became the cradle of the Florentine Renaissance. The incredible art and architecture from that period, together with the religious buildings which came before, during and after it, understandably seem to eclipse what remains of ancient Rome. Who knew that the Unesco World Heritage sites of Florence and Assisi both have Roman Amphitheatres? The answer is ‘we do’. Some new site visit pages will be up shortly.

14th March

Right up in the instep of the ‘boot’ of Italy lies the port city and major Italian Naval base of Taranto, founded as an ancient Greek colonial city. Approaching the harbour mouth from the south-east is the Via Anfiteatro, and to the south of it between Via Guiseppe de Cesare and Via Domenico Acclavio there’s a covered market building with the courtyard used as a car park. This sits on top of what remains of the city’s amphitheatre. There is apparently a small section of Roman wall exposed in a corner of the car park. Plans to excavate and present the remains in readiness for the 2026 Mediterranean Games (which Taranto is hosting) will have to get a mighty shift on. Nevertheless it makes it onto my list as site no.251 - for the time being classed as ‘Invisible’.

26th February

Latest research has confirmed amphitheatre sites at Modena and Siponto. The Modena Amphitheatre is lost beneath, but embraced by, the curving streets of Via Canalino and Via Montadora. There is a neat website featuring virtual reconstructions of the Roman City of Mutina and its buildings mutinaromana.it (It helps if you have a bit of Italian or Latin). The second at Siponto was revealed and excavated as part of an Archaeological survey in 2021 which began looking closely at remains of a ‘Medieval’ building in a field with an oddly curved outer wall and fanned divisions inside. The list of sites jumps to 250 and the total for Italy is now a round 100.

17th February

More information has surfaced on the so-called ‘souvenir’ glass flasks depicting Puteoli and the Flavian Amphitheatre. Pictures and text have been added to the Puteoli site visit page.

13th Feb. Adventures in Campania Part V. Third Day (15th January) Avella, Nola, Nocera and Pompeii

Into the mountains east of Naples to the Amphitheatre of Avella, shut up in winter but a venue for Jazz festivals and other things when the weather is warmer - able to sneak in through the fence. On to the, also closed, Amphitheatre of Nola, half of which is visible, then on to the almost completely invisible (but very significant historically) Nocera, with a great end to the day in the form of a sunset visit to an almost deserted Pompeii.

7th Feb. Adventures in Campania (and Lazio) Part IV. Second Day (14th January) Cuma to Capua (Via what lies between)

Day two drove west to Cuma and after some messing around trying to find a way in, visited the pretty Cuma Amphitheatre. It’s within the grounds of a villa operated as a study centre by The Vergilian Society of America - a body dedicated to promoting and supporting study of the classics in general, and the works of ‘Vergil’ (Virgil you fools) in particular. So readers, park any preconceptions about our friends across the Atlantic. Amid the morbid politics, gun worship and other lunacy, there is evidence that a flame of culture still flickers.

Travelling north on the Via Domitiana the next stop was Liturno, a place that felt like a tatty out-of-season seaside resort with a fragment of amphitheatre in the form of a grassy bank. There is much more of historic interest and charm elsewhere in Liturno - the last resting place of Scipio Africanus, including some significant remains of a theatre adjacent to the inlet to Lago di Patria.

Further north to the mouth of the Garagliano and across it into the Lazio region. The settlement of Roman Minturnae has a well preserved theatre and forum, an amazing aqueduct nearby, and an almost invisible amphitheatre site in private gardens to which I was denied access by a grumpy old Italian resident. Ironically, next to his house is a military cemetery which is the resting place of over two thousand allied soldiers who died fighting for his and my freedom in 1944.

Further north and west into the Lazio region around the Gulf of Gaetana to Formia, where Cicero had his villa and was assassinated. Scant remains of an amphitheatre sit in the hillside below the railway station above this breezy seaside resort. Final drive of the day was eastwards before the setting sun, back into Campania with the destination of the stunning World Heritage Site - the Amphitheatre of Capua.

30th Jan. Adventures in Campania Part III. First Day (13th January)Pozzuoli and Napoli (Check below for route detail)

On my first day I drove south to Pozzuoli and stalked my way around the two amphitheatre sites in the centre. After that, a trek eastwards into the centre of old Napoli in search of the lost underground amphitheatre and to visit the legendary Archaeological Museum. Driving around central Naples is fine if you have patience, a small vehicle, and an idea of where you’re going. On-street parking is, like in most Italian cities, unavailable without a fight, rammed or non-existent, but many back streets have small parking garages within buildings where they will valet park and watch your car for a reasonable €4 per hour (be sure to check the price first). Mine was half way up the nearby steep and narrow one-way Vico Sant Aniello a Caponapoli which, even with my limited Italian, clearly translates as something akin to ‘St. Aniello’s Road to the top of Naples’. The site visit blog pages for the three ‘day 1’ sites are now live.