THE HISTORY OF TUNISIA AND CULTURAL IDENTITY OF ITS INHABITANTS
THE HISTORY OF TUNISIA AND CULTURAL IDENTITY OF ITS INHABITANTS
Anna Masliakova
Ph.D. in Art Criticism, Doctoral Researcher Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn,
Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek
ABSTRACT
The problem of cultural identity is especially acute in the Modern World. We are proposing to study this issue on the example of the history Tunisia.
Keywords: cultural identity, Tunisia, art, destruction, preservation.
On the one hand, the Republic of Tunisia, located in the North Africa, is primarily an agricultural country. And the name “Africa” itself takes its origin from Tunisia, which was called “Ifrīqiyyah” in the early centuries of the Islamic period [1]. Yet, on the other hand, arriving to Sousse one cannot help but feel that one is not in Africa but in French, or rather, “African Riviera”, metaphorically speaking. That is to say, people living there speak both Arabic and French fluently, and all the names of the streets and squares in Tunisia are written in French. Moreover, the City of Tunis was designed by the French and built by the Italians. Unfortunately, many of the colonial-era Art Deco and Art Nouveau buildings are in poor state nowadays. And I must say that, although I greatly admire their “dilapidated beauty” (see Fig. 1.), I absolutely agree that measures should be taken to protect those masterpieces regardless of them being associated with colonialism or not [2].
It is a well-known fact that the Phoenicians are considered to be the founders of Carthage (by the way, in Phoenician it means “new town”, just like, for example, “Novgorod”). Nevertheless, it is the Berbers that are the indigenous peoples of the North Africa for they antedate the Phoenicians by many millennia. And walking along the curvy streets of the Medina (or the ancient quarter) of Sousse, one can not only meet their descendants, buy also buy some very fine handmade products decorated with traditional Berber symbols (see Fig. 2.) [2], [3].
Figure 1. The City of Tunis
Figure 2. Berber handicraft shop, Medina of Sousse
According to Virgil’s “The Aeneid”, Elissa or Dido (meaning “the wanderer”), fearing for her life, had to flee from the City of Tyre (present-day Lebanon) since her brother Pygmalion, having assassinated her husband Acerbas, wanted to kill her and usurp the throne. Thus, Dido sailed form Tyre, went to Cyprus and then to Carthage. Legend has it that she managed to trick the locals into letting her buy what she could contain within the skin of a bull. And what occurred next clearly demonstrates a shrewd and cunning mind for she cut the bull skin into thin strips and covered a strategically placed hill with it, the Byrsa Hill, in fact.
Figure 3. The Amphitheatre of El Jem
Figure 4. The Baths of Antoninus, Tunis
Carthage was such a rich and culturally developed city that the Romans could not live in peace without destroying it. As Cato the Elder had put it – “Ceterum (autem) censeo Carthaginem esse delendam”, meaning “Furthermore, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed”. Hannibal, one of the most prominent Carthaginian generals and statesmen, crossed the Alps in 218 BC, as depicted in J.M.W. Turner’s painting held by the Tate Gallery in London, and nearly captured Rome. It is believed that he refused to do so because of love for a Roman lady who begged him not to destroy her city. One way or another, Hannibal was betrayed by the Romans and committed suicide between 183 and 181 BC. As for the Queen Dido, she also was unlucky in love. That is to say, she fell in love with Aeneas, who visited Carthage on his way from Troy to Lavinium, and killed herself when he left her in order to found Rome, as portrayed by Henry Purcell’s opera “Dido and Aeneus”.
Figure 5. “Villa Africa”, El Jem
Figure 6. Doorstep mosaic representing a hare browsing bunch of grapes (first half of the 3rd century AD, Maison des Daupfins, El Djem Archaeological Museum)
Roman forces, guided by Scipio Africanus, captured Carthage during the Third Punic War in 146 BC, levelled it to the ground and sowed it with salt so as to ensure that nothing would ever grow there. And yet, about 100 years later the Romans built a new city on the ruins of the old one. As a matter of fact, there are many Roman structures scattered around Tunisia, such as, for instance, the Carthage Amphitheatre and the Amphitheatre of El Jem, bearing traces of the shell splinters dating back to the World War II, where the famous movie “Gladiator”, directed by Ridley Scott, was filmed (see Fig. 3.); the Baths of Antoninus, built during the reign of the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius (see Fig. 4.), and the Zaghouan Aqueduct supplying it with water; the “Villa Africa” – one of the most luxurious mansions richly decorated with mosaics, which was excavated in 1990s, transported to El Jem and installed at the site of the excavations of the ancient City of Thysdrus (see Fig. 5. and Fig. 6.). In this regard one should mention the magnificent mosaic collection housed by the Archaeological Museum in Sousse (see Fig. 7.). Moreover, thanks to the efforts of the archaeologists one can still find of the remains of the “old” Carthage on top of the Byrsa Hill – the so-called Punic or Hannibal’s Quarter confirming the fact that it is almost impossible to completely destroy something that was once already created (see Fig. 8.) [3].
Figure 7. Representation of a stocky merchant ship from the Baths of Themetra, the Sousse Archaeological Museum
Figure 8. Hannibal’s Quarter, the Byrsa Hill
Figure 9. The Bourguiba Mausoleum in Monastir
As a matter of fact, the City of Carthage changed hands many times – it was captured by Vandals in 439, sacked and destroyed by Umayyad forces after the Battle of Carthage in 698, taken by the Crusaders with its inhabitants massacred during the Eighth Crusade, etc. Furthermore, Tunisia was under French rule from 1881 till 1956 (by the way, interestingly enough, the British occupation of Egypt also ended in 1956). And it was Habib Bourguiba who led the nation to independence and granted Tunisian women their fundamental rights [4]. So it is no surprise that there are many places named after him, for example, the Avenue Habib Bourguiba adjacent to the Place de l’Indépendance in Tunis, the Monastir Habib Bourguiba Airport, let alone the Bourguiba Mausoleum adorned with gold and marble (see Fig. 9.).
Figure 10. Dar El Annabi Museum, Sidi Bou Sai
Figure 11. Painting by Ahmed Shihabi (2007)
On the one hand, walking along the streets of Tunis one feels as if one is not in Africa but in Europe. And although the Saint Louis Cathedral, situated on the Byrsa Hill, near the ruins of the Punic and Roman cities, is inactive now, on Rue Mokhtar Attia there is the Cathedral of St. Vincent de Paul which is open to the public. And if you look closely, you may also find the Russian Orthodox Church, near the Clock Tower reminding of the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster. And yet, there is a distinct oriental flair everywhere. For example, not far from Tunis there is Sidi Bou Said – the blue and white Tunisian town that was named after a religious figure who lived there in the 13th century. And the Museum Dar el-Annabi gives visitors a unique opportunity to see the Tunisian life from within (see Fig. 10). Many artists were inspired by the beauty of its sights – Wassily Kandinsky visited it with his leady-friend Gabriele Munter in 1904, and Paul Klee arrived there several years later, in 1914, together with August Macke and Louis Moilliet. It is said that the colors of that enchanting town changed Klee’s style dramatically, and it appears that contemporary Tunisian artists continue to draw inspiration from the Tunisian culture, let us take as an example Ahmed Shihabi’s painting created in 2007 (see Fig. 11.).
Figure 13. Sidi El Mézeri Cemetery, Monastir
Figure 14. A cat living at the Sidi El Mézeri Cemetery
Wandering along the curvy streets of the Medina of Sousse or Monastir, it may seem that time has stopped. The view of the Ribats (or fortresses) of those cities with the red flags waving in the wind against the blue sky brings an incredible feeling of relaxation and tranquility. Just like the atmosphere of the Bourguiba Mausoleum in Monastir surrounded by the Sidi El Mézeri Cemetery (see Fig. 12. And Fig. 13). And summing up all written, I would like to quote Steve Jobs who in his famous Commencement Address at Stanford in 2005 said that “Death is very likely the single best invention of Life”, meaning that in the face of death you understand that your time on the Earth is limited, and you should not waste it living someone else’s life [10]. On the contrary, you need to follow your heart and not be afraid to be yourself, to embrace and express your cultural identity, however complicated it may be, especially in such multinational and multicultural country as Tunisia, because, as we all know, there may not be another opportunity.
I would like to thank Dr. Anvar Bugazov who inspired me to write this article.
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