The current remains are meager and difficult to interpret, due to untimely interventions at the 1930 Carthage Eucharistic congress.

The building enjoys a panoramic view over the Gulf of Tunis and the Djebel Boukornine and has been identified by literary sources as the edifice dedicated to Saint Cyprian, who died on September 14, 258 during the persecution of Valerian.

This identification, proposed at the time of the excavations, has been confirmed by most researchers, including Charles Saumagne, based on ancient texts.

The building is located on the outskirts of the Carthage archaeological site, in a suburb of the city, as it is not aligned with either the urban organization or the rural cadastration.

It is located near a thirty-meter gully overlooking the sea, on a site that has probably long been dedicated to the safety of sailors, and of great beauty.

[2][3] The inquiries of basilicas dedicated to Saint Cyprian have often been raised by historians working on African Christianity, in particular Auguste Audollent, Charles Saumagne, Serge Lancel, and Liliane Ennabli.

[4] Cyprian was brought before the proconsul to a place known as the "estate of Sextus", reputed for its salubrity, where he was executed the following day in a secret location.

[9] In his sermons, Augustine repeatedly refers to Cyprian's two altars, one of which was designed to hold offerings (known as the mensa), the need for the faithful to make donations, and the construction of a church in which services were held.

[12] After his martyrdom, Cyprian's body was brought by the faithful at night and buried in a place called Area Macrobi Candidati, not far from the pools and the palace.

[13][9] The Mappales building is mentioned in Augustine's account of a miracle involving a wealthy Carthaginian woman, Megetia, who fulfilled a vow to Saint Cyprian.

[6] Procopius of Caesarea, in his account of the arrival of the Byzantines in Carthage, refers to a Cyprian edifice located "in front of the city, by the sea".

[17] Excavations have uncovered a fragment of an inscription mentioning the divinity Securitas,[16][18] which suggests that a pagan temple existed there before a Christian edifice replaced it.

[19] Seafarers had long sought divine protection,[16] so the site was important for sailors seeking the fresh water[20] found in the Dar Saniat basins.

[16] Saint Cyprian, the first bishop of Carthage,[21] was arrested on September 13, 258 by two officers accompanied by soldiers and executed by decapitation the following day.

[14] This annual feast dedicated to Cyprian was called Cypriana and took place at both the martyrdom site and the saint's tomb;[25] it was popular with sailors.

[32] It was built at the end of the 4th century, with integrated elements of the former edifice,[33] probably near a cemetery or area, perhaps belonging to the procurator Macrobius Candidatus, ceded for the deposition of the saint's body.

[16] The basilica would have contained the marble lectern mentioned by Gregory of Tours,[34] "a masterpiece undoubtedly inspired by the genius of the martyr", no fragment of which was found during excavations by Father Alfred Louis Delattre.

[45] The site was restored on the occasion of the thirtieth Eucharistic congress held in Carthage in May 1930,[45] with heterogeneous anastyloses[47] of columns incorrectly placed above the foundations.

[1] The buildings left after the excavations were stripped bare, as Delattre was preoccupied with obtaining inscriptions and items for display at the museum on Byrsa hill.

[49] The site yielded some 10,000 inscriptions of varying interest, both in terms of religiosity and the onomastics present in Carthage at the time, with Vandal and Punic names.

[1] According to Lapeyre and Pellegrin, the general plan follows that of Syrian basilicas: quadratum populi (nave) with atrium and presbyterium, to which two sacristies were attached.

[23] Duval believes that a second church with an apse was located to the northeast and that the complex belongs to the double basilica model, even if the disproportion is great but perhaps less so in the primitive configuration.