Punic Carthage, Byrsa hill

The places

Byrsa hill

The citadel hill of Carthage, today about 57 m high (the Romans cut down its summit), with a quarter of houses laid out on its south slope at the start of the 2nd century BCE. The harbours lie 0.9 km to the south, the sea about 1 km to the east.

Down to the harbours

Rue II runs straight downhill toward the harbours at a gradient of 16–17 %, seven metres wide, of beaten earth rather than paving, with flights of steps on the steepest stretches. Appian describes the Romans fighting their way up such streets from roof to roof in 146 BCE.

A house of the quarter

From the street door a corridor led to a small courtyard over the cistern, with small rooms around it and an upper storey. The courtyard floor is pavimentum punicum: red mortar of crushed tile studded with white stone chips. Plots were only 5 m wide and 15 m deep. The gallery, the vine, the quern and the rooms’ furniture are estimates.

Houses and workshops

The full blocks, 31 × 15.65 m (60 × 30 Punic cubits), were divided into narrow houses about 5 m wide and 15 m deep (some 75 m²). A corridor led from the street door to a small courtyard over the cistern, with small rooms around it; walls were coated in a pinkish render of lime and crushed tile. Shops and workshops opened at the corners.

Over the city to the sea

From the top of Byrsa the city fell away to the round war harbour and the merchant harbour, the tophet beside them, and the Gulf of Tunis beyond.

How it was made

Modelled and lit in Blender: the light (sun, sky and every bounce) is path-traced once and stored with the model, so it stays true as you walk. The Punic quarter on the south slope of Byrsa as excavated by S. Lancel: blocks of 31.30 × 15.65 m, streets of beaten earth about 7 m wide at 15–17 %, house plots 5 × 15 m with a corridor, a courtyard over the cistern and rooms around it, walls rendered with crushed tile. Storey heights, the cross streets, which houses stand open, the walls left bare (opus africanum: stone piers with rubble between), the jettied storeys, the shade cloths, the furnishings, the summit and the temple of Eshmoun are estimates; the rest of the city is illustrative. Textures: Poly Haven (CC0).

Sources: Lancel, CRAI 1978 (the Punic quarter) · Lancel, CRAI 1981 · Appian, Punica 128 · Byrsa (fr.wikipedia)

The era

Carthage, the Phoenicians & the Numidians, 814–146 BCE: A Phoenician colony grew into the naval superpower of the western Mediterranean, beside the Berber kingdom of Numidia.

Other reconstructions

• The harbours of Carthage
• The Antonine Baths of Carthage
• El Djem amphitheatre