Roman baths of Gafsa

The Roman baths of Gafsa (French: Piscines Romaines) are well-preserved[1] remnants of the Limes Tripolitanus era of North African history, when Gafsa, Tunisia was called Capsa.[2] According to a history of water in the Roman world, "there are two open-air central pools" in part because it was a Trajanic colony.[3] The baths and the nearby Gafsa Oases were both established because of a local spring that emerges from the nearby mountains.[4] Sallust mentioned the oasis/settlement existing circa 100 BC.[4] A "Byzantine fortress" also remains.[5]

Roman pool in Gafsa
Roman baths at Gafsa Tunisia photographed 1905

The American 16th Infantry Regiment used the baths for a respite during the North African campaign of World War II.[6]

See also

References
  1. Car Illustrated: A Journal of Travel by Land, Sea, & Air. 1905.
  2. Young, George Frederick (1916). East and West Through Fifteen Centuries: Being a General History from B.C. 44 to A.D. 1453. Longmans, Green and Company.
  3. Henig, Martin; Lundock, Jason (2022-08-11). Water in the Roman World: Engineering, Trade, Religion and Daily Life. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. p. 60. ISBN 978-1-80327-301-3.
  4. Sterry, Martin; Mattingly, David J. (2020-03-26). Urbanisation and State Formation in the Ancient Sahara and Beyond. Cambridge University Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-1-108-49444-1.
  5. Economic Yearbook of Tunisia. Azzedine Ben Achour. 1964.
  6. Regiment, 16th, United States Army Infantry (1999). The 16th Infantry, 1861-1946. Cricket Press.

34°24′56″N 8°47′13″E


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