After two days of intensive work on two Latin hymns of Ambrose and the first pages of Augustine’s “De spiritu and littera” the group visited the archeological sites of ancient Carthage. The guest lecture of Prof. David Wilhite on the North Africa background of Augustine prepared the group for the discovery tour through the remains of Phoenician and Roman history. Led by Frank Bernardi, Rector of St. George’s Tunis, we visited the most important Christian sites of Roman Carthage:
- Carthagenna basilica (maybe the church of Carthage’s bishop) and Musée Paléochrétien
- Carthage Tophet (Punic burial site for children)
- Byrsa Hill (Forum Romanum, Punic quarter)
- Carthage Amphitheater (where the martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity took place)
- Basilica of St. Cyprian
- Antonine Baths (with a Donatist church)
- Basilica of Damous El Karita (Basilica Fausti)
- Baths of Gargilius (where the negotiations between Caecilianists and Donatists took place in 411 in which Augustine and the Roman official Marcellinus, to whom “De spiritu et littera” is addressed, played a major role)