SUSA (Fr. Sousse)

This article appears in Volume V26, Page 162 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: SUS-TAV

SUSA (Fr. Sousse) , a city of Tunisia, on the Gulf of Hammamet, in 350 49 N., 10 39' E., 36 m. by rail E. by N. of Kairawan, of which it is the port, and 93 M. S. by E. by rail of Tunis. Susa, which occupies part of the site of the ancient Hadrumetum, is built on the side of a hill sloping seawards, and is surrounded by a crenellated

wall

WALL (O. Eng. weal, weall, Mid. Eng. wal, wane, adapted from Lat. vallum, rampart; the
original
- ORIGINAL
O. Eng. word for a wall was wag or tenth)
WALL, RICHARD (1694-1778)

, strengthened by towers. Recesses in the inner side of the

wall

WALL (O. Eng. weal, weall, Mid. Eng. wal, wane, adapted from Lat. vallum, rampart; the
original
- ORIGINAL
O. Eng. word for a wall was wag or tenth)
WALL, RICHARD (1694-1778)

are used as shops and warehouses. The kasbah, or citadel, built on the highest point within the town, was thoroughly restored by the French after their occupation of the country in 1881, and serves as military headquarters for the

district

DISTRICT

, the camp for the troops being outside the walls west of the citadel. The native town has been little changed since the French occupation, but north of the port a European quarter has been created, and here are public buildings such as law courts, a museum and a town-

hall

. The museum contains many archaeological treasures, notable mosaics and sculptures. The most interesting buildings in the old town are the Kasrer-Ribat and the Kahwat-el-Kubba. The Kasr-er-Ribat is a square fortress with a high tower and seven bastions. Its date is uncertain, but is not later than the 9th century. The Kahwatel-Kubba (Cafe of the

Dome

DOME (Lat domus,
house
- HOUSE
- HOUSE (O. Eng. hiss, a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dut. huis, Ger. Haus; in Gothic it is only found in gudhiss, a temple; it may be ultimately connected with the root of " hide," conceal)
; Ital. duomo, cathedral)

) is a curious

house

, square at the base, then cylindrical, and surmounted by a fluted

dome

DOME (Lat domus, house; Ital. duomo, cathedral)

. It was probably a church during the Byzantine period. Another domed building, now used as oil-mills, dates from Roman and Byzantine times. In the Bab-el-Gharbi (West Gate) a Roman sarcophagus of marble has been built into the wall, and serves as a drinking fountain. The grand mosque is in the north-east part of the town. The ancient harbours are silted up, but vestiges of the Roman breakwaters may be seen. The modern port, completed in 1901, enables steamers drawing 21 ft. to lie at the quays. Exports are chiefly phosphates and other minerals, olive oil, esparto and cereals; imports:

cotton

goods, building material, &c. The population, less than 10,000 at the time of the French occupation, had increased in 1907 to over 25,000, of whom 1500 were French and 4000 other Europeans, chiefly
Italians and Maltese. was educated for the Church, first at Constance, then at Cologne, where he came under the influence of the greatest of the German mystics, Meister Eckart. He subsequently entered a monastery in Constance, where he subjected himself to the severest ordeals of asceticism. In 1335 he wandered through Swabia as a preacher, and won all hearts by his gentle, persuasive eloquence; the effusive lyricism of his language made him an especial favourite among the nuns. About 1348 he seems to have settled in Ulm, where he died on the 25th of January 1366. Suso's first work, Das Bitchlein der Wahrheit, was written in Cologne about 1329; setting out from Eckart's doctrines, he presents the mystic faith from its speculative or theoretical side; whereas
is El Jem, the site of the city of Thysdrus. Of the ancient city there are scarcely any remains save the amphitheatrea magnificent ruin scarcely inferior to that of the Colosseum in Rome. There is nc record of the building of the amphitheatre, which is usually assigned to the reign of Gordian III. (A.D. 238-244). It is made of limestone brought from Sallecta, 20 m. distant, bears evidence of hasty construction, and was probably never finished. It is of four storeysthree open arcades crowned by a fourth storey with windows. The first and third arcades are Corinthian ; the middle one Composite. Each of these galleries has sixty-four columns and the same number of arches. Constantly used as a fortress since the Arab invasion, the amphitheatre suffered much, and in 1697 the bey of Tunis made a great breach in its western end to prevent it being again used for defence! But even in its present condition the amphitheatrestanding solitary in a desolate districtis grandly impressive. Its major axis is 488 ft., its minor axis 406 ft. (The figures of the Colosseum are 615 and 5102 respectively.)

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