5

Merging technologies
in North African
ancient architecture
opus quadratum and
opus africanum from the
Phoenicians to the Romans

Stefano Camporeale

Abstract
Using the examples of opus quadratum and opus africanum, this study discusses the interconnection between
traditions and techniques of construction which typifies the architecture of North Africa between the second
century BC and the early Imperial period.To understand how the Hellenistic and Roman traditions are grafted
onto their predecessors, the analysis begins with the Phoenician period. New hypotheses are also proposed
about the two techniques, based on typology and the construction process. The analysis does not confirm ear-
lier hypotheses about their Phoenician origin. Opus quadratum was used at Carthage in the fifth century BC and
spread from there during the second century BC, as exemplified by the mausoleum at Thugga. Opus africanum
appears at Carthage in the seventh century BC, but the more complex versions are found both at Bulla Regia
and at Carthage from the second century BC. The reasons for using this technique are clarified, starting from
its diffusion in Morocco and by analysis of the Capitolium at Sala.

Introduction
In 1982, Friedrich Rakob gave the first overview of the construction techniques and traditions
of North Africa between the second century BC and the early Imperial period. His starting point
was Hellenistic architecture, transmitted to the Maghreb via the Punic world, which had in turn
received it through the influence of Alexandria and through contact with Magna Graecia and
Sicily. Rakob argued for the intertwining in this period of Punic-Hellenistic, Italian, and more
specifically North African cultures and their different building techniques. Within this picture
he considered various techniques: reticulate, opus africanum, pisé and sun-dried brick, concrete,
terracotta vaulting tubes, and opus testaceum – all during a period of particular expansion of
urbanism in North Africa when the introduction of monumental building types brought inno-
vations in building technologies. Since Rakob, no study of North African building techniques on
the same lines has been attempted. By following his example (that is, by observing the intercon-
nections between the diverse building traditions), we can better understand how the innovations
in technology came about in the Maghreb. Using the same long-term perspective adopted by
Rakob, this paper will consider in particular the typology and the spread of two techniques: opus
quadratum, in which the whole wall is built of squared blocks, and opus africanum, characterized by
a skeleton of ashlar piers. I will also go even further back, starting from the period of Phoenician
colonization around the middle of the eighth century BC, to see if it is true that the Phoenicians

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played a primary role in the transfer of high-level technologies previously unknown in the west-
ern Mediterranean. Phoenician technologies would have been inherited by the Punic world and
further developed following the diffusion first of Hellenistic and then of Roman technology.
Therefore opus quadratum and opus africanum should form the most representative examples of
survival in North Africa of building techniques in the Phoenician and Punic traditions. Through
the use of new data, this general interpretation can be further elaborated.
Firstly, by analysing the evidence for the techniques over time, I will try to verify their Phoe-
nician origins and better understand how the Hellenistic and Roman traditions are grafted onto
their predecessors. Secondly, I will attempt to explain the reasons why, in certain periods, some
techniques were preferred to others in specific regions or for individual buildings. Particular
attention will be paid to the context which determines the choice of specific building types and
the techniques most suitable for their creation.
After having traced the origins of the two techniques and having followed their transfor-
mations, local traditions of construction will emerge more clearly. In this way the character of
North African architecture of the Roman period will be seen not only as a result of the importa-
tion of building technologies and types, but also of numerous adaptations of these techniques in
the different regions of the Maghreb. Through case studies I will seek to understand how these
adaptations came about; for opus quadratum we will refer to some better known examples, while
for opus africanum the results of new research conducted in Morocco in the Mauretanian and
Roman periods will be used (Figure 5.1).1

Opus quadratum

The problem of origin

According to Fantar, opus quadratum was known and used by the Phoenicians in their homeland and in
their western colonies, where it is found from the eighth century BC, as shown in particular by some
tombs at Carthage and Utica in Tunisia, and at Trayamar in Spain.2 Opus quadratum should therefore
have spread into southern Spain and the Maghreb well before the Hellenistic period. This picture,
however, merges different examples known from the Levant and the west by presupposing that opus
quadratum is a generic category without internal distinctions. An alternative interpretation was pro-
posed a little later in Sharon’s study of Phoenician building techniques at Tel Dor (Israel), where it
was shown that none of the Levantine techniques are really similar to those of the western colonies.3
Sharon concentrated specifically on opus quadratum and opus africanum, proposing a typology of these
techniques based on the arrangement of the blocks in walls and piers.This analysis showed that differ-
ent techniques were in use from the tenth to the second centuries BC, and have no precise parallels
either in the surrounding regions (Anatolia, Persia, Greece, Egypt) or in the Phoenician colonies.
If we exclude the hypothesis of a Phoenician origin, then according to Sharon’s work we
should consider that opus quadratum was introduced into Phoenician colonies after their founda-
tion. In any case, we have confirmation of the use of squared blocks from before the arrival of the
Hellenistic technique, as Fantar had already hypothesized. The time frame for this has recently
been reconsidered in the light of new C14 analyses carried out in some Phoenician contexts
in Spain, Sardinia, Portugal and Carthage. These analyses show that the foundation of the first
colonies was at the end of the ninth century and therefore earlier than that suggested using the
ceramic evidence (middle of the eighth century BC).4

1
This research was financed by a Marie Curie IEF Fellowship, 2011-2013, at the École normale supérieure de
Paris, Laboratoire AOROC. My thanks go to the board of the Patrimoine du Ministère de la Culture du Maroc for
permission to pursue this research, and to the site conservators Abdelkader Chergui (Sala-Chellah), Rachid Arharbi
(Banasa) and Mustapha Atki (Volubilis). A particular vote of thanks goes to Naïma Khatib-Boujibar and Brahim
Mlilou for permission to record the opus africanum in the temple at Zilil. My research at Sala was carried out in
collaboration with Abdelkader Chergui and Layla Es-Saadra (Université de Rabat-Souissi). Finally I am grateful to
Carla Amici, Pierre Gros, Mark Wilson Jones, Lynne Lancaster, Cynthia Mascione, Emanuele Papi for their useful
comments on the reconstruction of the Capitolium at Sala.
2
Fantar 1984, 326-330.
3
Sharon 1987.
4
Sagona 2008.

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