Graham, Alexander: Roman Africa: an outline of the history of the Roman occupation of North Africa ; based chiefly upon inscriptions and monumental remains in that country (London [u.a.], 1902)

3Q

Roman Africa

the mass of the structure is formed of thin slabs of inferior
stone in regular courses, having at a distance the appearance of
bricks. The columns and cornice are Egyptian in character.
The capitals are Greek. The monument, in fact, is one of
the few existing buildings in North Africa which mark the
transition between Egyptian and Greek art, and was probably
the work of an architect from the neighbouring colony of
Alexandria towards the close of the second Punic war, B.C. 201.
The entrance to the sepulchral chamber, which is nearly in the
centre of the monument, is above the cornice on the west side,
and is approached by a series of steps and a straight narrow
gallery. The tomb has been ransacked from time to time in
search of treasure, and, frOm the charred appearance of some of
the masonry, attempts must have been made to set it on fire.
It was not till 1873 that the French engineers succeeded in
finding and effecting an entry, and, after much patient labour,
discovered the sepulchral chamber measuring 10 feet 3 inches
by 4 feet 7 inches. Nothing of value is stated to have been
found during the exploration. The points of resemblance
between these two monuments, the Medrassen and the so-called
Tombeau de la Chretienne, are very striking, leaving no room
for doubt that one furnished the idea for the other. Their
value must be estimated, not on the ground of any special
artistic merit, but as links in a long chain of architectural
history, and as memorials of two men whose names will be for
ever associated with that old-world country Numidia.1

The remains of Juba's renowned capital, splendidissima
colonia Cczsariensis, as it is designated in one of the numerous
inscriptions, are very extensive. Sacked by Firmus in the
fourth century, it was razed to the ground by the Vandals a
century later. Under Barbarossa it regained something of its
former splendour, but the city was almost entirely overthrown
by an earthquake in 1738. After such vicissitudes it is not
surprising to find the remains in a fragmentary condition.

1 A somewhat similar monument is that of El Djedar in Oran. And in Western
Algeria, not far from the village of Frenda, is a group of smaller tombs in the form
of low pyramids supported on square, instead of circular or polygonal, podiums. The
largest is about forty-three feet high, the podium being about ten feet. The entrance
was from the top of the podium, descending by a flight of steps to a vaulted
corridor communicating with the sepulchral chambers in the centre of the monu-
ment.