THE WESTERN BASILICA

It has been beautifully restored. Its plan is consistent with the classical scheme on the southern shore of the Mediterranean: it has three naves divided by two baseboards with five columns each. At the entrance to the basilica, a tank was discovered in the north and in the south a grave containing bones of children and adults. It may be a martyriale or burial basilica, as appears to indicate the discovery of five collective or individual graves, probably those of buried persons near the relic of a saint resting in a martyrium (north-west exhibit). Beautiful clear blue marbles make up the whole. They would come from Proconèse or Dassilio-Aliki in Greece. The marble plates, marked or still resting on the ground, are carved on each side of motifs based on diamond, cross, rosettes and lilies. These plates (31 in all) were carved in Greece.

250 m later, at the level of the eastern basilica, a magnificent arch-shaped islet in the middle of the creek. The larger Eastern basilica is not restored. This cathedral was the seat of the Diocese. During the first Arab invasion, it was fortified and recovered in the baptistery (south-east) the relics and bones of the western Basilica abandoned. Itself was abandoned during the second Arab invasion (th century).