BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

Meninx Mapped

Roman trading post (4th century B.C.E. to 3rd century C.E.) on Tunisian Jerba island coast has been surveyed

Archaeologists excavating the Roman bathhouse of Meninx. (Photo: Stefanie Holzem/MAP)

2,000 years ago, at the height of the Roman Empire, Meninx was an important port off the coast of North Africa, with trading ties to Italy Spain, Greece, Asia Minor, and Egypt. It apparently enjoyed great wealth from trading textiles dyed with purple from the native snails.

Photo: Paul Scheding/MAP

As announced by the Ludwig Maximilians Universitat Munchen, using magnetometer surveys, a joint German-Tunisian team has completed a mapping of the city of Meninx. The study was led by archaeologists Stefan Ritter, of LMU, and Sami Ben Tahar, of Institut National du Patrimoine, Tunis. Following their maps, they were able to complete preliminary excavations of business and residential buildings, as well as temples and shrines.

Read the LMU Munich release here.

Related reading in Bible History Daily:

In Jesus’ Time: The Ancient Art of the Deal For thousands of years, different peoples have interacted with each other by fighting wars and also by trading. In addition to the conquests that built an empire like the world had never known before, the Romans traded extensively.

Roman Curse Tablet Uncovered in Jerusalem’s City of David 1,700 years ago, a woman named Kyrilla had vengeance on the mind. A Roman-era curse tablet discovered in a mansion in Jerusalem’s City of David invokes four religious traditionsan attempt to “strike and strike down and nail down the tongue, the eyes, the wrath, the ire, the anger, the procrastination” of a figure opposed to Kyrilla.

Roman Ships Discovered off Turkish Coast Two Roman ships were discovered by Italian archaeologists working near the Cilician Roman city Elaiussa Sebaste in southeastern Turkey. Elaiussa Sebaste’s location on a narrow isthmus made it ideal for trade between Anatolia, Egypt and Syria.