VR Mahdia

Mahdia is first of all a Phoenician then Roman counter under the name of Aphrodisium. The Fatimids founded it in 920 to make it the capital of their caliphate. The founding Caliph, Abdoullah-El-Mehdi (909-934) who, after the fall of the Aghlabids (909), changed the center of power, had chosen it for its strategic location. Hilalians, Christians, Spaniards and Turks occupied or liberated the city in turn. It was the Spaniards who destroyed its ramparts and set the city to fire and sword, in 1555. After this date the City had lost its military and commercial importance, especially under Turkish and Husseinite domination.