Bulla Regia

Listen for a moment. Wind moves through dry grass and wild fennel. A bird calls somewhere above the broken columns. Underfoot, the ground feels warm, and the pale stone holds the afternoon heat. Now look down rather than up. In this ancient city, some of the most remarkable rooms are not above you. They are beneath your feet, cut into the earth itself.

Welcome to Bulla Regia, in the green northwest of Tunisia, not far from the town of Jendouba. Around you lies the wide valley of the Medjerda River, the longest river in the country. For thousands of years, this plain has grown wheat. Rome valued this land as a grain basket, and that wealth paid for the houses, baths and temples you are about to explore.

The name holds the first clue to the city's story. Regia means royal in Latin. Long before Rome took control, this was a Numidian town. The Numidians were the Berber kingdoms of North Africa, famous for their horsemen. Their kings used Bulla as one of their seats of power. So when the Romans arrived, they did not build on empty ground. They took over a place that already had a long life and a proud name.

Under Roman rule, the city grew rich. In the second century, the emperor Hadrian raised its status, and Bulla Regia became a full Roman colony. That title mattered. It meant its citizens held the rights of Romans. Local landowning families competed to show their wealth. They paid for public buildings, mosaics and statues, and they carved their names into dedications so that everyone would remember their generosity.

Now, to the feature that makes this site different from almost every other Roman city. Summers here are fierce. The heat sits heavy on the valley for weeks. So the wealthy families of Bulla Regia did something unusual — they dug down. Many of their houses had a second storey built underground. Below the ordinary ground-floor rooms, a staircase led to cool, shaded living spaces around a sunken courtyard.

When you walk down into one of these underground rooms, notice how quickly the air changes. The temperature drops. The light softens. Sound becomes quieter. Light shafts and openings let in daylight and fresh air, so the rooms are not dark caves. They are elegant dining rooms and reception halls, with columns and mosaic floors. And here is the surprise most visitors do not expect: because they were below ground, many of these floors survived where they were laid.

In most Roman sites in North Africa, the finest mosaics have been lifted and carried to museums. Many treasures from Bulla Regia did travel to the Bardo Museum in Tunis. But here, in several houses, you can still see mosaics in their original rooms, at the scale and in the light their owners knew. The houses have modern names, given by archaeologists after their best-known decorations. Look for the House of the Hunt, the House of Fishing, and the House of Amphitrite.

The House of Amphitrite is often the moment visitors remember most. Amphitrite was a sea goddess in Greek and Roman myth, the wife of Neptune. Some scholars read the central figure as Venus instead. Either way, a goddess rides across the sea, with sea creatures and small winged figures around her. Stand at the edge and take your time. The colours of the small stone cubes are still clear — creams, reds, greys and soft blues.

Come back up into the open air and walk toward the public heart of the city. Here you will find the remains of the forum, the central square where business, law and politics happened. Nearby stood temples, including one to Apollo, the god of light and music. Statues found in that temple were later moved to the Bardo Museum. Today the open space feels quiet, but imagine it filled with traders, officials and farmers in from the valley.

The city also had large public baths. The best-known complex carries the name of a local family, the Memmii, who paid for it. Romans did not treat bathing as a private chore. Baths were social places, where people met friends, discussed deals and relaxed between hot and cold rooms. Look at the thick walls and the remains of arches. Their mass helped to hold heat inside the warm rooms.

Then there is the theatre. It is one of the best-preserved parts of the site, and you can still sit on its stone seats and look down at the stage. In the floor of the orchestra, the space in front of the stage, there is a mosaic of a bear. It is a small detail, and it is easy to walk past. People here loved shows of all kinds, including spectacles with wild animals.

That love of entertainment brings us to a famous visitor. In the later Roman period, the city was largely Christian, and you can find remains of churches on the site. Saint Augustine, the great theologian and bishop from the town of Hippo in present-day Algeria, is known to have preached at Bulla Regia. In a surviving sermon, he scolded the people for caring too much about the theatre. It seems his listeners did not change their habits easily.

After Rome, the city slowly declined. Earthquakes, changes in trade and new rulers all played a part. Over the centuries, soil and silt covered much of the town. That burial, in the end, helped to protect it. Excavations through the twentieth century uncovered the streets and houses you walk through today. Large parts of the city are still unexcavated, so the ground around you may hold more rooms that no one has seen yet.

Before you leave, stop for a moment at the top of one of the underground stairways. Feel the cool air rise toward you from below. Then look out across the valley, at the same fields that fed this city. The families who lived here stood in this same light and felt this same heat. As you walk back across the warm stone, listen again to the wind in the grass.