Libyco-Punic Mausoleum of Dougga

A 21-metre-high funerary monument at Dougga, Tunisia, dating to the 2nd century BC and representing one of only three surviving examples of royal Numidian architecture. The mausoleum rises in three tiers atop a five-step pedestal: a podium with a burial chamber, a colonnaded shrine with Ionic columns, and a richly decorated upper level capped by a pyramid with sculptured griffons and a quadriga. A bilingual Libyo-Punic inscription helped decode the ancient Libyan script and identified the tomb as dedicated to Ateban, son of Iepmatath. Damaged during excavation by Sir Thomas Reade in 1842, it was reconstructed by French archaeologist Louis Poinssot and is now part of the UNESCO-listed Dougga site.