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City of Marble Mountain
Chemtou is the site of the Numidian, later Roman city of Simitthu, or
Simithas. Simitthu was famous for its marble, which has a lively play
of orange, red, yellow and pink colours.
Although
there had been an important Numidan settlement here, with a temple on
top of the mountain, it was the Romans who turned it into a wealthy
city. It spread around the mountain, with the free men living to the
west, and the prisoners who worked the quarries to the east.
All Roman functions were established here, and the
forum and basilica are in good condition. The theatre is most
interesting with its underground quarters. The amphitheatre warrants a
visit mainly because it was built for the prisoners, reflected in the
poor building materials. The baths and the bridge are partially
destroyed, and you will see better of both other places. The Numidian
Altar and Roman Temple is quite disappointing, but their location
offers a superb view over large parts of Chemtou and the surrounding
landscape.
 The
transportation of the marble is no less impressive, although nothing
here illustrates it. It was originally transported on the river
Medjerda to Utica.
The river Medjerda carried to my surprise plenty of water when I
visited one day in June. But this was during Roman times gradually
silted, and eventually in 129 CE a paved road had to be built crossing
the mountain to Tabarka, from where it could be transported by ships to the rest of the Roman Empire.
Entrance to all of the site is free, but there is an entrance fee to the museum.
Underground quarries
For me, the most impressive part of the visit to Chemtou was the
crossing of the marble mountain, then looking down into the underground
quarry. It truly looks impressive with the smooth marble walls diving
straight down. The process of cutting out the marble is everything as
hard as it sounds, and the field here is the result of decades of
labour from thousands of men.
You
will pass a couple of rocks that never were completed, I don't know for
which reason. Perhaps they were of inferior quality or perhaps they
were worked at at the times when Chemtou and its heyday came to an end,
sometime in the 7th century with the Arab invasion.
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