THE EXCAVATIONS OF THE SANCTUARY OF TANIT 



AT CARTHAGE 1 



By Byron Khun de Tkouok 

 Codirector of the Carthaginian cxcavatiuns. 



[With 4 plates] 



The Sanctuary or Temple of Tanit is the first Punic ruin to be 

 found " in situ " in Carthage. Father Delattre has uncovered many 

 Punic tombs at Carthage, but the richly crowded area "of the 

 Temple of Tanit," now being exhumed, is the first trace of Car- 

 thaginian remains of the Phoenician period in the original position. 

 The discovery was made by two amateur archeologists of Tunis, 

 Mr. Icard and Mr. Geilly, and the discovery was at once communi- 

 cated to the Academic des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres by J. B. 

 Chabot, membre de I.Tnstitut, and expert in the Phoenician Lan- 

 guages. 



Tlie ruin Avas found in one of the most common ways in oriental 

 countries — that is, by tracing the selling of antiquities by the local 

 Arabs. A beautiful Punic inscription was being sold when Mr. 

 Geilly asked whence it came. He was told by the Arab that he 

 had found it in the mountains above Carthage, and for two weeks 

 a search was made in the indicated place. These indications were 

 a ruse so that the Arab could go on peacefully digging up the 

 antiquities in secret and selling them at once to tourists and col- 

 lectors. One night the Arab was followed and was seen by the 

 light of the moon to be digging on his hands and knees in a hole. 

 He was caught red-handed, with 10 Aotive inscription stones near 

 by, and the famous Sanctuary of Tanit was at last located. From 

 the historian Polybius we laiow that the Temple of Tanit and of 

 Baal Hammon stood in the vicinity of the ancient forum not far 

 distant from the ancient ports. The site of this recent discovery 

 corresponds with the ancient historian's position of the temple, and 

 strangely enough this discovery is situated on the spot called " Sa- 

 lammbo," about 100 yards from where the ancient ports are sup- 

 posed to have stood. Gustave Flaubert, who wrote the greatest 

 historical novel ever produced in France, would have been pleased 

 if he had lived to know that the temple he had so vividly described 



• Reprinted by permission from Art aiul Archeology, Vol. XIX, No. 1, January, 1925. 



569 



