Sousse Archaeological Museum

Located in the Kasbah of the UNESCO-listed Medina of Sousse, this museum houses Tunisia's second-finest mosaic collection after the Bardo. Ancient Hadrumetum (Sousse) was a major Phoenician trading port. The collection includes Punic stelae, terracottas, and funerary objects alongside spectacular Roman mosaics.

What to do there

4 things to do

1. 1 Find the 7th-Century BC Urns That Started It All History · Price: low

   These unassuming clay urns and votive stelae are 2,700 years old — and they're why Sousse exists. In the 9th century BC, Phoenician merchants from Tyre founded Hadrumetum here as a wine and trade waypoint on the route from Lebanon to Spain. French archaeologist Pierre Cintas excavated the Tophet of Hadrumetum in 1944 — the sacred sanctuary where these urns were buried as offerings to Baal Hammon and Tanit. Find them on the ground floor, Punic section (the first room you enter after buying your ticket at the Kasbah entrance on Place de la Kasbah, Sousse Medina — 10 TND foreigners / 5 TND Tunisian nationals). Ask the attendant for 'la section punique' and look for the Case containing the largest concentration of stelae with the triangular symbol of Tanit. This ground held a living Phoenician city for 700 years before the Romans arrived.

   Backup: If the Punic room is closed for maintenance (it occasionally is), the Roman mosaic galleries still contain 2nd-century dedications inscribed in Latin that reference the older Punic deities — history layering on top of itself.

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2. 2 Decode the Magerius Mosaic — A 3rd-Century AD Receipt History · Price: low

   In 1963, workers digging in Smirat — a village 15 miles southwest of Sousse — unearthed this mosaic from a buried Roman villa. It had been there for 1,700 years. What they found was not just art: it is a transaction receipt frozen in tile. A wealthy landowner named Magerius hired four leopard hunters for a public beast hunt. The mosaic in the rear gallery of the Sousse Archaeological Museum shows all four hunters (named: Spittara, Bullarius, Hilarinus, Mamertinus) killing four leopards (also named: Victor, Crispinus, Luxurius, Romanus). At the center, a steward holds a silver tray with four money bags marked with infinity symbols meaning 1,000 denarii each — Magerius is paying each hunter 1,000 denarii right now, in public, for all to see. Crouch down to floor level to see the fine work in the leopards' spots, then stand back and read the Latin inscription around the border.

   Backup: If the rear gallery is crowded, the Gorgon mosaic in the adjacent room rewards patience — a 2nd-century Medusa with wings on her brows and six vipers for hair, originally from the warm room of a Roman bath. The eyes track you as you move.

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3. 3 Climb the 821 AD Tower That Called Monks to Prayer Adventure · Price: low

   Built in 820–821 AD by the Aghlabid dynasty, this is the oldest building in Sousse and one of the most consequential structures in Islamic North Africa. It was simultaneously a fortress, a monastery for warrior-monks, and the city's minaret — the Great Mosque next door has no minaret because the Ribat's tower served the purpose. The tower in the southeast corner is 27 meters high and you climb it on a spiral staircase barely wide enough for one person. Walk 90 seconds northeast of the museum along Rue de la Grande Mosquée to reach the Ribat of Sousse (Place de la Grande Mosquée, admission 8 TND). Enter through the main gate, find the spiral tower entrance in the southeast corner. At the top: a 360-degree panorama of the entire medina, the Mediterranean, and on a clear day Monastir 25 miles south. This is the exact view the warrior-monks had when they scanned for Byzantine ships.

   Backup: If the tower is closed for restoration (periodic), the main courtyard of the Ribat is free to enter and offers a ground-level sense of the scale. The horseshoe arches and the prayer niches cut into stone are worth 20 minutes on their own.

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4. 4 Toast Mago's Legacy With Tunisia's Most Awarded White Wine Wine · Free

   In the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, a Carthaginian writer named Mago compiled a 28-volume agricultural encyclopedia that included the most advanced viticulture manual in the ancient world. When Rome destroyed Carthage in 146 BC, the Senate ordered Mago's treatise translated into Latin. It was one of the only Carthaginian documents they deemed worth saving. What grew from those traditions became the Muscat Sec de Kelibia — Tunisia's most internationally decorated wine, produced by Les Vignerons de Carthage from sandy siliceous soils on Cap Bon, 90km north of Sousse. Find it at any restaurant in or near Sousse Medina that serves wine — El Kasbah Café-Restaurant (3-floor rooftop place, right on the main route into the medina) is ideal. Ask for 'Muscat de Kelibia' or 'Muscat Sec' by name. The wine's florals cut the heat of harissa perfectly when paired with brik or grilled local sea bream.

   Backup: If Kelibia Muscat is unavailable, ask for any Tunisian white from Cap Bon — the region Mago's successors farmed for 2,000 years. Even a house Tunisian white carries the thread of that history.

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Insider tips

• Sousse Medina is UNESCO-listed - explore after the museum

• Less crowded than Bardo with comparable quality

• Combine with Tunisia's coastal wine route