In Punic times, Byrsa Hill was occupied by a temple to the Carthaginian god Eschmoun. The Romans destroyed most of the Punic structures – all that remains is a small, well-preserved section of a residential quarter dating from the time of Hannibal (around the 3rd century BC). It's still possible to discern a street grid dotted with small, carefully planned domestic structures – some of which were once five storeys high – complete with subterranean cisterns and ground-floor shops.
From the terrace in front of the Carthage Museum that now sits atop the hill (a former Roman Catholic seminary built in the early 20th century), it's possible to see the ancient Punic ports and the intensely blue Gulf of Tunis.
