Dougga is one of the most monumental ruins in North Africa. The original name of this city was TBGG the Nubian name for "to protect". Then borrowed in Latin, the name became Thugga. Dougga is a French translation of this name.
The best-preserved ancient Roman city in modern Tunisia, Dougga was about 60 miles (100 km) west of Tunis, west of the ancient Carthage and Theveste road, now Tebessa, Alg. near Tabursuq. Thugga's most famous pre-Roman site is a mausoleum from the 2nd century BC. It was built in honor of a Numidian prince in BC. His three-storey building at the top of a pyramid, the Mausoleum, contains his bilingual inscriptions in Phoenician and Numidian, and is similar to Egyptian pyramidal tomb construction and Hellenistic Greek temples. It represented a fusion of construction and was characteristic of Roman Africa.
Dougga was made a Municipium (a municipality with partial rights to Roman citizenship) by the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (r. 193-211). Under the Romans, it developed into a prosperous economic and administrative center supported by abundant local agriculture. It fell into decline in the 4th century AD. Built in honor of Septimius Severus, the arch is one of his outstanding Roman ruins. Other important Roman buildings include forums, baths, villas, temples, aqueducts and theaters.