Medina of Sousse
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How it came to be
In 800 the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid gave the governorship of Ifriqiya, roughly modern Tunisia, to Ibrahim ibn al-Aghlab, founder of the Aghlabid dynasty. In this period ribats, fortified religious buildings, were set at regular intervals along the coast so signals could pass quickly between them. The Ribat of Sousse was most likely founded in the 8th century, and a marble plaque on its tower records building under Ziyadat Allah I in 821, the oldest surviving Islamic-era monumental inscription in Tunisia.
As the town grew, the ribat's mosque became too small, and in 851 the ruler Abu'l-Abbas Muhammad commissioned the Great Mosque. Next to the older ribat, it took on a fortified look with crenellated walls and corner towers. Its prayer hall was extended southwards later in the 9th century, and the Zirids added a portico in the 11th.
The medina, with its kasbah, ramparts, Great Mosque, Bu Ftata Mosque and ribat, formed part of a coastal defence system. The medina was inscribed as a World Heritage site in 1988.
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