MAHRES

City of Mahres / History

It is an ancient town that dates back to prehistoric civilizations, until the arrival of the Muslim civilization. It has an exceptional strategic location at the edge of the Mediterranean on the South East coast of the city of Sfax. It was inhabited by the Gothics in the eighth millennia BC who formed a model of a social and stable life. The Phoenicians used it as a transit passage for trade caravans. It was a little colony for coastal ports during the prehistoric period (2nd and 3rd millennia). It was called the old Mahres since the Roman era, Vandal and Byzantine. Then little by little it became a populated town and an important center of Christian movement, during the years 411-484 - 511 BC

Among the most important historical towns discovered during the 30s and 40s:

Byzantine tower in Sidi Ahmed Absa region (Younga) which extends over a large area and which received great consideration of the State that ordered his maintenance for reasonable periods for the benefit of cultural and environmental tourism. They also discovered at "Younga", el "Mouasset" and "Henchir Messaouda", ruins of Christian churches dating from the fifth century.	Great Younga temple located 30 m to the southeast of the church of Younga, found during archaeological excavations made by the administration of Tunis in 1941. These excavations have shown the existence of a place of worship in poor condition and an architectural form of a temple. According to preliminary a research, these buildings and that church buildings are religious and they represent a city for the bishops and religious men.	Other groups of mosaic parquet and great paintings on Younga temple are being in Bardo Museum. There are also rare and beautiful tableaux existing only in the g Greek Salonika church dating back to 314.BC.²
Stone dome of Sidi Ghrib engraved in Greek and Latin, shows the construction history of Younga rampart during the Justinian era and Tiberius to 574-578 BC, this stone is in the Louvre museum.	Another painting represents the tomb of Christ in Jerusalem during the era of Emperor Constantinos noted among the key references relating to the old Christianity.	Other extremely beautiful paintings found in the arches of the wall and the temple and sanctuary, the table in a marble room discovered in 1930, it was given to the civil controller of Sfax.

During the Arab-Muslim conquests, the Aghlabids have chosen Mahares among marine refuges that control Tunisian coast from the invasions of Byzantine, Roman and French. Abu Ibrahim Ahmed Ibn Al Aghlab traced the architecture of Mahres .He has built its rampart by his military chief Ali Ben Salem Elbikri 849 JC 235 Hejri.

When Aghlabids have built a complex of palaces to its surroundings on the Sfax governorate coast including the palace of Nakta Younga was called Tlida , It is a gigantic edifice built as a monitoring point for the region. It is called Ribat, the Aghlabites built a large cistern for rainwater reservation, it was strong and large but it was demolished in the sixties, its visible traces remained under the ruins, it is replaced by a paved road called Avenue Aghlabites.

We could then rediscover, rebuild and use it for cultural tourism.

The origin of the inhabitants of Mahres as M.Tijani says

"And its people were residents of Hawara. They lived in castles called Beni khiar. They were dismissed by Arabs and settled in Younga"

Source: Mahares: strategic site, civilization and art, Author: Professor Hashmi Bibi