The city of Zaghouan

The city of Zaghouan is a city in northern Tunisia, located 50 km from the capital Tunis and 35 km from the seaside resort of Hammamet, the city of Zaghouan is one of the most beautiful destinations in Tunisia.

Zaghouan dominates a vast agricultural plain and established on the slope of Djebel Zaghouan and is home to nearly 20,798 inhabitants in 2014. Not far from the capital Tunis, about fifty-one kilometers and is limited by the governorates of La Manouba and Ben Arous to the north , Kairouan and Sousse to the south and Siliana and Béja to the west. Zaghouan is on the road to El Fhas, the famous Roman site of Thuburbo Majus, a small town with Andalusian ceramics and hanging balconies. Known for its natural mineral wealth and especially first-rate thermal baths, this town, originally Berber, fascinated the Romans who baptized it Ziqua (a term related to water) before it was occupied by Andalusian refugees in 1609. .

Zaghouan is a town with steep streets on the site of the ancient Ziqua, in which only a triumphal gate remains. It is indeed cut by small squares offering glimpses of the plain. The city is famous for its roses, in particular the botanical ancestor of the rose: the rosehip, which were cultivated in the 17th century during the Reconquista by the Andalusian Muslims expelled from Spain.

Zaghouan attracts tourists from the Arab world as well as Tunisians because this region is famous for its sources (aïns) and its hammams. One of the best known is undoubtedly the hammam of the city of Zriba and its rose water which is eight kilometers from Zaghouan.

History

Zaghouan was conquered in the seventh century with the emergence of Islam in the Maghreb, by the military leader Moussa Ibn Noussaîr. And thereafter, the city was governed by the Aghlabids then the Fatimids before being invaded by the Spaniards.
Thereafter, the avenue of Christianity which was introduced in North Africa thanks to the traders who came from the East who settled there and through the many ports which were there. And many proofs have come down to us of this period since the second century.
At this time in history, Zaghouan was represented by Bishop Séjermès. And this representation is in fact one of the oldest attestations that proves the presence of Christians in this region.
We can still find undeniable traces today, which refer to the Christian era.

What we have been able to discover in this city bears ample testimony to this; Hewn tombs, cemeteries, common graves and even the rock in the form of a small chamber. All its monuments are still not far from a village called Sidi Medyen placed behind the mountain of Zaghouan or said Djebel Zaghouan, not only there but also in other places such as Sidi Zid and Ain Asker.
And even if we have nothing to prove that the city of Zaghouan was very prosperous at the time of the Carthaginians or the Punic era, that does not prevent us from exhibiting several irrevocable proofs of its prosperity and its development in the he Roman era and more particularly between the second and the third century AD Indeed, the city experienced a great boom which earned it the name of Municipality. Ziqua; the old name of the current city of Zaghouan, according to the researchers, it is very likely that its name is a derivation of the word “aqua”, that is to say water, which alludes to the main wealth of this region.

The current city, according to these same researchers, is estimated to be built on the remains of the same ancient Roman city. Many sculptures can prove it and one of them was offered to Boniface: governor of Ifriqiya (423-432 J.C.) in his homage who worked for the renovation and the restoration of the city.
The famous Water Temple is the most important piece of evidence, a work that attests to the importance to the history of Zaghouan in Roman times and even long after. His stature stands proudly today on the heights of the mountain of the city.