SUFETULA

modern Subaytilah, or Sbeitla ancient Roman city 19 miles (31 km) east-northeast of modern Al-Qasrayn, Tunisia. Most likely originating as a fort during the Roman campaigns against the Numidian rebel Tacfarinas (AD 1724), it became a municipium under the emperor Vespasian (6979) and a colonia under Marcus Aurelius (161180) or his son Commodus. At Sufetula, as elsewhere in the interior of Tunisia, Roman skill in the conservation and use of limited water supplies produced an agricultural prosperity, based primarily on olive cultivation, that was not achieved again until modern times. The city was destroyed by the Arabs about AD 646, leaving impressive remains surrounding its forum, including a triumphal arch of the emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned 138161) and three temples.