Sbeitla or Sufetula ( ber, Sbitla or Seftula, ar, سبيطلة ') is a small town in west-central

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. Nearby are the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

ruins of Sufetula, containing the best preserved Byzantine forum temples in Tunisia. It was the entry point of the

Muslim conquest of North Africa The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb ( ar, الْفَتْحُ الإسلَامِيُّ لِلْمَغرِب) continued the century of rapid Muslim conquests following the death of Muhammad in 632 and into the Byzantine-controlled territories of ...

. Sbeitla is the capital of the largest delegation in

Kasserine Governorate Kasserine Governorate ( ar, ولاية الڨصرين ' ), sometimes spelt ''Casrein'', is one of the twenty-four governorates (provinces) of Tunisia. It is in west-central Tunisia on the frontier with Algeria, wholly north of the true centre lin ...

with an area of 1133.5 km². It is located in 33 km in the west of the governorate, and 264 km to

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

. It has a population of 23,844 (2014 estimate). Sbeitla is mentioned in Noman Douglas's '' Fountains in the Sand'' as being wooded by junipers and Aleppo pines as late as the 19th century, though he found them "bleak and bare" in the early 20th century.

History

The oldest traces of civilisation in the zone are

Punic The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of t ...

megaliths A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea. The ...

and funereal stelae. The region was inhabited by nomadic tribes until the

Legio III Augusta ("Third Augustan Legion") was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. Its origin may have been the Republican 3rd Legion which served the general Pompey during his civil war against Gaius Julius Caesar (49–45 BC). It supported the general Oct ...

established a camp at Ammaedara. Through the surrender of the Berber leader

Tacfarinas Tacfarinas ( Latinised form of Berber Tikfarin or Takfarin; died AD 24) was a Numidian Berber from Thagaste, located in the province of Proconsular Africa (now Souk Ahras, in Algeria), who was a deserter from the Roman army who led his own Mus ...

, the region was pacified and populated under the Roman emperor

Vespasian Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...

and his sons between 67 and 69, becoming a

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...

Byzacena Byzacena (or Byzacium) ( grc, Βυζάκιον, ''Byzakion'') was a Late Roman province in the central part of Roman North Africa, which is now roughly Tunisia, split off from Africa Proconsularis. History At the end of the 3rd century AD, t ...

. Some inscriptions found in the city suggest that the settlement had success along the lines of others in

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

during the 2nd century, reaching great prosperity through the olive industry, whose cultivation benefited from excellent climatic conditions in the region. The olive presses found in the ruins of the city further bolster this conclusion. The resulting prosperity made possible the construction of a splendid forum and other important buildings. The city began to decline during the Late Empire, during which the city was surrounded and occupied by

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...

, a fact that is demonstrated by the appearance of temples dedicated to their gods. The arrival of the Byzantines inaugurated a new period of splendor. In 647, the fields before the city were the site of a major battle between the Byzantines and Berbers of

Gregory the Patrician Gregory the Patrician ( el, Γρηγόριος, Grēgórios; la, Flavius Gregorius, died 647) was a Byzantine Exarch of Africa (modern Tunisia, eastern Algeria and western Libya). A relative of the ruling Heraclian dynasty, Gregory was fiercely ...

and the Rashidun Caliphate's governor of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

Abdullah ibn Saad Abd Allah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi al-Sarh ( ar, عبد الله ابن سعد ابن أبي السرح, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd ibn Abī al-Sarḥ) was an Arab administrator and commander. During his time as governor of Egypt (646 CE to 656 CE), Abd A ...

. The Battle of Sufetula ended in a decisive Muslim victory, which shook Byzantine control over the region and signalled the beginning of the

. Image:Sbeitla Temples of the Gods.jpg, Capitoline temples Image:Sbeitla 01.jpg, Public baths Image:Sbeitla Arch of Antoninus Pius.jpg, Arch of Antoninus Pius and Capitoline temples The

caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

at the time of the battle was

Uthman ibn Affan Uthman ibn Affan ( ar, عثمان بن عفان, ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān; – 17 June 656), also spelled by Colloquial Arabic, Turkish and Persian rendering Osman, was a second cousin, son-in-law and notable companion of the Islamic prop ...

, who set the army under the leadership of

. At his arrival to Barqa,

Uqba ibn Nafi ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ ibn ʿAbd al-Qays al-Fihrī al-Qurashī ( ar, عقبة بن نافع بن عبد القيس الفهري القرشي, ʿUqba ibn Nāfiʿ ibn ʿAbd al-Qays al-Fihrī), also simply known as Uqba ibn Nafi, was an Arab general ser ...

and his troops joined the main army and the two commanders prepared together the plan to conquer Sbeitla. The battle was long and hard, and Caliph Uthman sent reinforcement under the leadership of Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. The three leaders prepared a new battle plan and they finally succeeded in taking Sufetula. The Muslim conquest marked the end of the diocese of Sufetula, which was however nominally revived as a Catholic

titular bishopric A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...

Geography

Sbeitla is located in western central Tunisia. By road it is 33 kilometres (29 mi) north-east of Kasserine, 246 kilometres (180 mi) south-west of Tunis, and 166 kilometres (141 mi) south-west of Sousse. The city is known by its

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...

Culture

Thanks to the well preserved archaeological site with its prestigious Roman forum, the cultural activities in Sbeitla have prospered. An annual festival is organised in the forum.

Museums

The archaeological museum of Sbeitla houses several sculptures and mosaics. It consists of three exhibition rooms: the first one is about the

Capsian culture The Capsian culture was a Mesolithic and Neolithic culture centered in the Maghreb that lasted from about 8,000 to 2,700 BC. It was named after the town of Gafsa in Tunisia, which was known as Capsa in Roman times. Capsian industry was concen ...

, the second about the rest of

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Roma ...

' empire, and the third contains two mosaics.

Festivals

Since 2000, the city holds its Spring International

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...

each year, it is an international celebration where many famous actors like Mahmoud Yacine and authors like Mahmoud Messadi were honored. The city celebrates also its international festival named also ''festival abadelah of Sbeitla''. It was founded in 2000, and it became international in 2013.

Economy

The economy of Sbeitla relays on handicraft, agricultural and petroleum production managed by ETAP in the oil field of Douleb. Smuggling goods and oil from Algerian Borders represent a major parallel economy activity in the region.

Agricultural

The city is surrounded by a large field of agriculture of olive, almond and animal husbandry. It contains 919

shallow wells A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

, 137 deep wells, a mountain lake and a mountain dam the irrigated Area remains limited to 2930 hectares.

Petroleum industries

The Oil field of Douleb is one of the fields explored by ETAP, since April 12, 1968 and it produces 230 000 barrels\year. In 1974, the field reached it maximal productivity with 1200m³ per day.

Handicraft

The majority of

handicraft A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

known in Sbeitla relay on

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. ...

processing. Tunisian barnous is one of those handcrafts.

Sports

Sbeitla's most popular sport club is ''Union Sportive Sbeitla'' also known as USS, the club plays in the

Tunisian ligue professionnelle 3 Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 3 is the 3rd tier of football in Tunisia. 42 teams compete at this level, divided into 3 groups of 14 teams each. 2016–17 clubs Group 1 * Ahly Mateur * AS Metline * Association Mégrine Sport * AS Mhamdia * AS O ...

before being promoted to ligue 2 in the 2013 season . The team currently plays in the Third Tunisian League. On June 5, 2013, the club advanced to the

Quarter-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

Tunisian Cup The Tunisian Cup , officially named the President's Cup, is the official competition of the Cup in Tunisian football and is considered the second most important local title after the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1. The first cup competition was h ...

for the first time in its history. After defeating Stade Tunisien, the club was eliminated by

CA Bizertin Club Athlétique Bizertin ( ar, النادي الرياضي البنزرتي) or CAB is a football club from Bizerte in Tunisia. It was founded on June 20, 1928. CA Bizertin have won the Tunisian League four times, the Tunisian Cup three times, ...

." Tunisian Cup : Stade Tunisien was eliminated by Union Sportive Sbeitla ", ''Mosaïque FM'', juin 9, 2013
/ref>

Notable people

* Ali Ben Ghedhahem (1814 - October 10, 1867) a famous Tunisian revolutionary. * Mongi Soussi Zarrouki (February 24, 1936 – May 26, 2000) is an athlete who participated in

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

and in the 1959 Mediterranean Games. * Lotfi Ben Jeddou (July 31, 1964Biography of Lotfi Ben Jeddou, Minister of the Interior
''Express FM'', January 27, 2014) is a politician who was the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

from March 2013 to february 2015.

References

External links

Lexicorient
{{Authority control Populated places in Kasserine Governorate Roman sites in Tunisia 69 establishments Communes of Tunisia Populated places of the Byzantine Empire Roman amphitheaters in North Africa Ancient Roman buildings and structures in Tunisia