Travel Guide Makhtar

In the south of the Tunisian High Tell, at an altitude of 1,000 meters, located between Le Kef (70 kilometers to the northwest) and Kairouan (113 kilometers to the west), Makhtar was first of all a Numidian fortress intended to push back the Berbers (3rd century BC).The Latin name Mactaris is the transposition of a Punic name of Libyan origin. Successively Punic then Massyle, the city became a Roman colony in the 2nd century AD. After a century of growth, Makhtar was occupied by the Christians, Christianity was very active there, the traces of several basilicas attest it. Then it was the Byzantines who occupied it. In the 11th century, the Hilalian invasion (Arab tribe of Anu Hilal) accelerated the decline of the city which had begun in the 4th century. The city of modern Makhtar will rise from its ashes only in the XIXth century, attached to its eventful past by the triumphal arch of Bab el Aïn. This important rural center, at the edge of the forest of Kesra, offers the rejoicing spectacle of a healthy agricultural region: exploitations, farms, cultivated fields.Every Monday, people from all over the region flock to the market place of Makhtar and take over the pastry shops and small restaurants. It is a pleasant moment to discover the city..The door of Bab el Aïn is well preserved. This door is a talking sign of the local heritage.