The only known mosaic portrait of the Roman poet Virgil from antiquity. The poet is depicted seated, holding a scroll inscribed with a line from the Aeneid, flanked by the muses Clio (history) and Melpomene (tragedy). It confirms that the intellectual culture of Roman Carthage rivaled that of Rome itself.

One of the largest preserved ancient mosaics in the world, measuring over 100 square meters. Neptune rides his chariot drawn by hippocamps at the center, surrounded by the four seasons personified as female figures, marine creatures, and agricultural scenes. Its scale reflects the wealth of Roman North Africa at its imperial peak.

The world's finest collection of Punic grimacing masks — grotesque terracotta or glass-paste faces with exaggerated features placed in the tombs of the Carthaginian dead to ward off evil spirits. Their distorted, vivid expressions have no parallel in the ancient Mediterranean world and represent one of the most distinctive contributions of Carthaginian art.

The most celebrated object in the museum, this marble sarcophagus depicts a Punic priest and priestess in reclining pose on its lid. The lifelike faces and elaborate ritual dress — blending Phoenician, Egyptian, and Greek influences — offer a rare glimpse of the Carthaginian priestly class and represent the apex of Punic funerary sculpture.

Discovered at the Tophet of Salammbo — the sacred precinct of Ba'al Hammon and Tanit — this limestone stele depicts a robed Punic priest carrying a small child in his arms, apparently bringing the child to sacrifice. One of the most disturbing and debated images in Carthaginian art, central to ongoing scholarly debate about the nature of the Tophet.

A hauntingly beautiful Byzantine mosaic panel depicting a richly dressed noble woman — possibly a saint or empress — with large, penetrating eyes and elaborate jewelry. One of the finest Byzantine mosaics outside Constantinople, her serene, timeless gaze marks the definitive transition from the naturalistic conventions of classical Roman art to the spiritual aesthetics of the medieval world.

A large limestone slab inscribed in Punic recording the official tariff of fees charged by the temple of Ba'al for various categories of sacrificial offering. This document provides detailed insight into Carthaginian religious economics and priestly organization that no Greek or Roman literary source could supply — evidence of a highly organized religious establishment that rivaled Rome's own.

From the Punic necropolis of Tharros in Sardinia, this collection includes gold necklaces, earrings, and pendants decorated with granulation (tiny gold spheres soldered to the surface), filigree, and Egyptian-derived religious motifs. The technical virtuosity of these pieces — particularly the granulation technique — represents Punic goldsmithing at its peak, influencing Renaissance jewelry traditions.

Removed from Dougga in 1842, this bilingual inscription in Punic and Libyan (Numidian) was the key that unlocked the decipherment of the ancient Libyan alphabet — ancestor of the Tifinagh script still used by the Tuareg. Like the Rosetta Stone for hieroglyphics, this slab enabled scholars to read the Numidian language for the first time. Tunisia has long requested its return.

One of two Punic sarcophagi donated to the Louvre in 1906, this marble piece depicts a male figure — probably a priest — in the Egyptian-influenced recumbent pose common to Punic funerary sculpture. The figure's dress reflects the cultural syncretism of late Punic Carthage: Phoenician sacerdotal robes with Greek naturalistic modeling of the face and hands.

A significant group of votive stelae bearing the iconic Sign of Tanit — a schematic human figure with arms raised, surmounted by a horizontal bar and disc — the most ubiquitous religious symbol of Punic Carthage. Tanit was the supreme goddess of Carthage, paired with Ba'al Hammon, and her sign appears on thousands of stelae, amulets, and rings across the Punic world.

A fine example of the distinctive Punic glass-paste funerary mask — formed from colored glass paste in vivid polychrome blue, yellow, and white. The mask's exaggerated features — bulging eyes, prominent nose, open mouth displaying teeth — are characteristic of the Punic grotesque tradition. Found in a Carthage tomb, it served as an apotropaic guardian in the afterlife.

One of the earliest Phoenician texts discovered in the western Mediterranean and the oldest known reference to Sardinia by name ("Šardān"). Found at Nora in 1773, this monument documents the very earliest phase of Phoenician colonization of Sardinia — preceding Carthaginian dominance by centuries. Its inscription is one of the most important epigraphic documents in the history of Punic civilization.

The Cagliari museum holds the largest and most important collection of Tharros jewelry — pendants, earrings, necklaces, and rings in gold decorated with granulation, filigree, and enamel, often incorporating Egyptian-derived religious imagery. These objects testify to the wealth accumulated by Punic Sardinia through maritime trade and the extraordinary technical sophistication of Punic artisans — techniques not rediscovered in Europe until the Renaissance.

Flat, leaf-shaped bronze razors bearing engraved religious imagery — ships, deities, sacred symbols — are among the most characteristic products of Punic material culture, found wherever Carthaginian influence extended. The Cagliari museum holds an outstanding collection from Sardinian Punic tombs. Beyond their practical function, the razors were consecrated ritual objects associated with male rites of passage and religious dedications.