Lixus

 

◙ The Lixus site is located on the right bank of the Loukkos river, about 4 km from its mouth. The ancient city of Lixus is built on a hill known to the inhabitants of the region under the toponym of Tchemich.

 

◙ Lixus is certainly one of the oldest cities in North Africa according to ancient sources (Pliny the Older); according to these, Lixus would have been founded at the end of the 12th century BC., long before Carthage and Cadiz.

 

◙ It is cited in Greco-Roman sources as a legendary city where two of the exploits of Hercules are located. It is in Lixus, in fact, that he would have defeated Antaeus and gathered the golden apples from the garden of the Hesperides, which a dragon defended so well.

 

◙ Archaeological excavations at the Lixus site have so far not revealed any monument that can be attributed with certainty to the Punic period, which roughly corresponds to the time of the Carthaginian thalassocracy. This period is marked by the arrival of Greek ceramics with black varnish and red figure and important bronze furniture (Cypriot sink and table legs) and by the distribution of ceramics and amphorae produced in local workshops, notably in Kouass (Present Asilah city, Morocco).

 

◙ From the 3rd c. BC, the city of Lixus was to experience significant urban development, as evidenced by the residential district delimited by the Mauritanian enclosure (Kingdom of Mauretania).

 

◙ Towards the end of the first century BC., the city of Lixus will witness a phase of urban "prosperity" characterized by a concern for spatial planning in the city. This prosperity is manifested in the rich decoration of the houses, evidenced by the remains of painted plaster found on several walls and in the embankments.

 

◙ During the reign of Juba II and his son Ptolemy, Lixus experienced a period of unprecedented prosperity and urban development manifested by the temple district complex.

 

◙ From 42 AD, under the reign of Emperor Claudius, Lixus became a Roman colony, and we witnessed a great economic and urban development of the city.

 

◙ The fishing and the curing industries have made Lixus an economic metropolis in the western Mediterranean. Likewise, the wealth of the city's hinterland encouraged the development of agriculture.

 

◙ The city was equipped at this time with several public monuments (theater-amphitheater, thermal baths, temples) and private residences richly decorated with frescoes and mosaics (mosaic of Mars and Rhea, mosaic of the three Graces, mosaic of Helios).

 

◙ At the end of the 3rd , and in the 4th century, the city folded in on itself with the construction of an enclosure which halved the initially inhabited area.