The ancient site of ‘Ziqua’ sits tucked at the foot of Jebel Zaghouan (Zaghouan Mountain, 1295m). A spring originating here supplied ancient Carthage with fresh water. First mentioned in the 3rd century BC, Zaghouan is the site where Hamilcar (father of Hannibal) defeated the mercenaries rebelling against Carthage after the 1st Punic war. Carthage was defeated by the Romans in 241 BC and was forced to pay a heavy war tribute to Rome. As a result, the Carthaginians couldn’t afford to pay their own soldiers and they rebelled. When Carthage was vanquished and destroyed, Zaghouan was included in the initial territory of Roman Africa. The city was slowly ‘Romanised’; the ruins of which we see today.

Water Temple
This once grand semi-round temple is built close to the city, over the springs of Zaghouan. It may have been constructed around the time that Emperor Hadrian ordered the building of the aqueducts for Carthage. Its main room above the spring was dedicated to one of the many gods of water and encloses a fountain surrounded by twelve niches. Each niche once held a statue depicting each of the twelve months of the year.

Acqueduct
Three hundred metres high on Jebel Zaghouan, a subterranean spring bursts from the rock into the aqueduct originating here. Later this section converges with another aqueduct coming from Jougar. Together they flow 123 kilometres to the immense cisterns of Maalga in Carthage.