Souk Erbaa ( ar, سوق الربع) is one of the

souks A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, such as in the W ...

in the

medina of Tunis The Medina of Tunis is the medina quarter of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. The Medina contains some 700 monuments, including palaces, mosques, mausoleums, madrasas and fountains dating from ...

Etymology

Some historians say that the souk got its name ''erbaa'' or quarter from the fact that the quarter of the incomes in every shop was paid as a

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

. Some others believe that this name comes from the word ''tarbiaa'' ( ar, تربيعة) that refers to the position in which the traders of this souk used to sit in front of their shops with their legs crossed.

Location

It is located in the south of

Al-Zaytuna Mosque Al-Zaytuna Mosque, also known as Ez-Zitouna Mosque, and El-Zituna Mosque ( ar, جامع الزيتونة, literally meaning ''the Mosque of Olive''), is a major mosque at the center of the Medina of Tunis in Tunis, Tunisia. The mosque is the o ...

, near Souk El Souf.

History

The souk was founded during the

Hafsid The Hafsids ( ar, الحفصيون ) were a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berber descentC. Magbaily Fyle, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'', (University Press of America, 1999), 84. who ruled Ifriqiya (western ...

era between 1128 and 1535.Historique des espaces de production et d’échanges dans la Médina de Tunis
(in French)

Notes and references

{{Portal, Africa

Erbaa Erbaa is a town and a district (''ilçe'') of Tokat Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. The town of Erbaa lies on the left bank of the Kelkit River and is surrounded by the Erbaa Plain, most of which lies in its district. One kilometer ...