Chemtou (Simitthus)

Chemtou, ancient Simitthus, lies by the Medjerda river about 20 km west of Bulla Regia. It was the source of giallo antico, the yellow Numidian marble prized across the Roman Empire and used in buildings in Rome itself. The quarries on the hill were worked by labourers and convicts, whose camp can still be traced. On the summit are the remains of a Numidian royal monument later converted into a Roman temple. The site museum, built with German archaeologists in the 1990s, is one of the best-presented in Tunisia, and nearby you can see the ruins of a large Roman bridge.