Punic Port, Tunis

The Punic Port once formed the commercial and military heart of Carthage. From this shoreline, Carthaginian fleets controlled key routes across the western Mediterranean, connecting North Africa with Sicily, Sardinia, Iberia, and beyond. The harbor system was ingeniously planned and divided into two connected basins: a rectangular commercial port and a circular military harbor.

The inner, circular basin was designed specifically for warships, with individual docks arranged around a central island that likely functioned as a command and administrative center. This sophisticated layout allowed ships to be constructed, repaired, and deployed efficiently, giving Carthage a decisive naval advantage over its rivals.

The port was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC, and the basins were gradually filled in after the city’s fall. During the 2nd century AD, the Romans reused the area as a commercial harbor for their merchant fleet and added new structures, including temples, before the site eventually fell out of use again. Although the original buildings no longer survive, the outlines of both basins remain clearly visible today.

A small on-site museum, situated directly on the central island of the circular military harbor, presents scale models that reconstruct what the complex looked like at its height. Located just to the south-west on the mainland is the Carthage Oceanographic Museum. Walking north-east from the circular harbor of the Punic Port, leads you to Point of Carthage by the sea, where the land slopes gently toward the water and opens onto wide views across the Gulf of Tunis.