Utica

Traditionally the oldest Phoenician settlement on the coast of North Africa, located near the mouth of the Majardah (Medjerda) River in modern Tunisia. It was founded in the 8th or 7th century BC and grew rapidly, being second only to Carthage among Phoenician settlements in Africa. In the Third Punic War (149-146 BC), Utica sided with Rome against Carthage; after the destruction of Carthage it was made the administrative center of the Roman province of Africa. Utica became a municipium in 36 BC, but lost its primacy when Carthage was refounded as a Roman city in 44 BC. Excavators have found Phoenician graves dating from the 8th century BC onward, Roman bath buildings, and a substantial residential area of the Roman city with houses containing mosaics.

[modern Utique]. In antiquity a Phoenician city on the North African coast, sited at the mouth of the River Bagradas (now Medjerda) in Tunisia. Tradition gives it as the earliest Phoenician foundation, possibly of the 8th century bc. Since antiquity, silting has left the former port isolated some 10 km inland on an alluvial plain. Although playing second fiddle to Carthage for most of its existence, Utica was the favoured survivor in 146 bc when Carthage was destroyed by Rome (see Punic Wars), and went on to become the capital of the new province of Africa, attracting much new blood and finance from Italian merchants. Eventually Utica was again eclipsed, this time by Roman Carthage, and also had to face the growing problems of its receding port and spreading marshlands. Excavation dates from the late 1940s, and has produced evidence for a Phoenician necropolis, extensive Roman bath-buildings, decorated houses with mosaics, and a possible location for the forum.