[1] UNESCO qualified Dougga as a World Heritage Site in 1997, believing that it represents "the best-preserved Roman small town in North Africa".

The site, which lies in the middle of the countryside, has been protected from the encroachment of modern urbanization, in contrast, for example, to Carthage, which has been pillaged and rebuilt on numerous occasions.

The archaeological site is located 4.6 km (2.9 mi) SSW of the modern town of Téboursouk on a plateau with an uninhibited view of the surrounding plains in the Oued Khalled.

[6] Further to the east, the ridge of the Fossa Regia, a ditch and boundary made by the Romans after the destruction of Carthage, indicates Dougga's position as a point of contact between the Punic and Berber worlds.

Dougga's history is best known from the time of the Roman conquest, even though numerous pre-Roman monuments, including a necropolis, a mausoleum, and several temples have been discovered during archaeological digs.

The identification of the temple dedicated to Masinissa beneath the forum disproved Louis Poinssot's theory that the Numidian city stood on the plateau but that it was separate from the newer Roman settlement.

The city was supported by the euergetism of its great families of wealthy individuals, which sometimes reached exorbitant levels, while its interests were successfully represented by appeals to the emperors.

In order to make it more attractive, the construction of an on-site museum is being considered, while the national antiquities institute has established a website presenting the site and the surrounding region.

From AD 205, when the city (civitas) and community (pagus) fused into one municipality (municipium), Dougga bore the title liberum, whose significance is not immediately clear.

[27] Gascou, in line with Veyne's interpretation, describes the situation thus: "Liberum, in Thugga's title, is a term [...] with which the city, which had waited a long time for the status of a municipium, is happy to flatter itself".

The liberty of the municipia founded during the reign of Septimius Severus could thus be a reference to the fiscal immunity made possible by the region's great wealth and by the emperor's generosity to each municipium at the time of its fusion.

During the reign of Gallienus, a certain Aulus Vitellius Felix Honoratus, a well-known individual in Dougga, made an appeal to the emperor "in order to assure the public liberty".

[30] Lepelley believes that this is an indication that the city's privilege had been called into question, although Dougga appears to have been at least partially able to preserve its concessions, as evidenced by an inscription to the honor of "Probus, defender of its liberty".

It was the autonomy that the civitas had achieved during the reign of Marcus Aurelius and the granting of Roman law that raised the specter of a fusion of the two communities, which would without a doubt have provoked a certain unease in the pagus.

[37] Although these traces are very faint, they served to disprove the theories of the first archaeologists, including Louis Poinssot, that the Roman and pre-Roman settlements were located on separate sites.

This residence, which dates to the 2nd or 3rd century, stands downhill from the quarters that surround the forum and the principal public monuments in the city, in an area where the streets are winding.

The "square of the Rose of the Winds" (which is named after a decorative element) seems more like an esplanade leading to the Temple of Mercury, which stands on its northern side, than an open public space.

[65] The donation of the land for the pleasure of the general populace (ad voluptatem populi) and its development following a request from the entire population (postulante universo populo) are a reminder of the importance of spectacles in the social life of Roman cities and the demand for popular entertainment.

The size of the building (its frigidarium is less than 30 m2 (320 sq ft)[67]) has led some experts to believe that it was a private bath, but the identification of a domus in the immediate vicinity has proven difficult.

Louis Poinssot's identification of the bath as dating to Gallienus' reign on the basis of incomplete inscriptions and Dougga's prosperity at this time has been called into question by recent research, conducted in particular by Michel Christol.

[69] Others have even suggested that the bath dates from the reign of the Severan dynasty, because of a particularity which became common a century later in the west: the columns in the northwest peristyle feature daises bearing arches.

The archaeological analysis of the bath's relationship with the house in which it is located has led Thébert to suggest that it was a later addition to the original construction but he does not propose a date for this event.

The cella inside the sanctuary features six lateral niches which are designed to hold the bases of statues of Apollo, Liber, Neptune, Mercury and of two other gods that can no longer be identified.

[96] It is possible that the Temple of Pluto is located near Septimius Severus's triumphal arch in an area of the city that has only been partially excavated as yet,[97] but this hypothesis is not very firm and is based on the discovery of a bust in a courtyard,[96] which has been dated by Poinssot to the 2nd or 3rd century.

An inscription provides details about the temple's construction: it was erected using funds bequeathed in the testament of a notable local resident named Lucius Octavius Victor Roscianus at a cost of at least 150,000 sestertii,[103] which seems expensive but may be explained by the extent of the earthworks required to give the temple a solid foundation;[104] these works nonetheless seem to have proven insufficient as work to restore and shore up the edifice appear to have been carried out before it finally fell into ruin.

[107] The temple, which was erected between AD 222 and 235,[106] was paid for by a certain Q. Gabinius Rufus Felix, who donated inter alia two silver statues of Juno Caelestis that cost 35,000 sestertii.

An aqueduct leading to the city, located a short distance from the well-preserved cisterns, is amongst the best preserved examples of this type of structure on the territory of modern-day Tunisia.

Few works of art have been left on site, with the exception of a sculpture of a togate man (togatus) at the "Square of the Rose of the Winds" and a number of mosaics, including those in the building known as the house of Venus and in particular at the Aïn Doura Bath.

Amongst these, the portrait of Lucius Verus is particularly noteworthy: he is depicted with a generous head of hair, a full beard and a vivacity that makes it one of the most significant statues yet discovered in Roman Africa.

This work of art was found in a private residence and it appears that it must be interpreted as a monument donated by the owner celebrating the victory of a charioteer named Eros.