Utica (in Latin Utica) is an ancient ancient port city founded by the Phoenicians and located in the north of present-day Tunisia.
Location
Utique is located in the governorate of Bizerte and is the largest archaeological site in this region. The delegation of Utique which houses it is located in the south-east of the governorate. Nearby is the village of Henchir Bou Chateur. This territory is characterized, during Antiquity, by the presence of the Mediterranean Sea which reached the current ruins before the alluvial deposits of the Medjerda isolated it inland.
Currently, the site is 33 kilometers from Tunis and close to 4 cities with other historical sites:
* Zhana:village located 2 kilometers from the site and endowed with some important monuments
* Ghar El Melh:city located on a narrow strip of land between the mountain and the sea and hosting several fortresses
* El Alia:town with Andalusian-style monuments
* Metline:Andalusian-style coastal town
History
Utica is renowned as one of the oldest cities in the western Mediterranean. According to Pliny the Elder, Aristotle and Velleius Paterculus, the city was founded in 1101 BC. This city-state was formed out of commercial necessity:it was one of the essential trading posts for travel between Tire and Cadiz. This city, whose anteriority (more than 3 centuries) compared to Carthage is admitted by several authors, had an independence vis-à-vis Tyre, contenting itself with sending it a customary tribute every year. It was not until the 5th century that Utica fell under Carthaginian domination. However, archaeological excavations have not confirmed this anteriority, no archaeological remains prior to the 8th century have been unearthed.
This city has often changed sides during its history:it remains Punic to fight the Greeks of Sicily and then the Romans before siding with the latter during the Third Punic War. When Carthage, its neighbor, fell into the hands of the Romans, it was rewarded for its loyalty and was one of the seven cities of Phoenician institutions known as free and immune. It was then erected as the capital of the Roman province of Africa and received a large portion of the territory of Carthage. It will be downgraded to the advantage of Carthage from the advent of the Roman Empire.
From 49 BC. J.-C., it is taken in the turmoil of the civil war which opposes Caesarians and Pompeians and becomes the rallying point of the partisans of Pompey. She sees Cato, a supporter of Pompey, kill himself in 46 BC. J.-C., after the defeat of Thapsus, to escape Caesar. The city receives municipal rights under Augustus and takes the name of Municipum Julium Uticense. Finally, it is then promoted to the rank of Roman colony under Hadrian and becomes Colonia Iulia Aelia Hadriana Augusta Utica.
Towards the middle of the 3rd century, the presence of Christianity is attested to in Utica by the participation of its bishop, Aurelius, in the Council of Carthage (256). In 252, a number of martyrs were executed there at a place called Massa Candida where a basilica would later be erected. The city was taken by the Vandals, commanded by Genséric, in 439 and taken over by the Byzantines in 534. It then experienced the silting up of its port which led to its gradual decline. The alluvial deposits of the Medjerda fill in the Gulf of Utica and throw the old port far from the sea so that the site is now 10 kilometers from the shore.