GIGHTIS:
Roman ruins at the bay
The Temple of Serapis and Isis in the distance, seen from inside one of the market booths.
The preferred material here was sandstone.
The history of Gightis goes back to Carthaginian times, when it was an important trading and military post. Gightis was situated between the Carthaginian territories and the Libyan, and with an easily defendable bay in front. The main products passing through Gightis port were gold, ivory and slaves from the other side of Sahara. To Gightis there are three historical periods, the Carthaginian, the Roman and the Byzantine for a brief century between the destruction by the Vandals and the conquest of the Arabs in the 7th century. Since then it was forgotten and slowly hidden beneath earth and sand until 1906. The site of Gightis, interesting enough to warrant the effort of getting here, holds mainly Roman structures. Little, if anything, can be dated back to the Carthaginians. There are no signs indicating anything pre-Roman here, so the average visitor will not be able to make it all out. Gightis is quite large, beginning at the point where the ocean is out of sight, and stretching almost all the way down to what was a busy port two millenniums ago.
