Lixus

Lixus is an ancient city founded by Phoenicians (8th-7th century BC) before the city of Carthage. Its distinguishing feature is that it was continuously occupied from antiquity to the Islamic Era, and has ruins dating to the Phoenician (8th–6th centuries BC), Punic (5th–3rd centuries BC), Mauretanian (2nd century BC–AD 50), Roman (AD 50–6th century AD) and Islamic (12th–15th centuries AD) periods. Tentative World Heritage Status Lixus was submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage on July 1, 1995, by the Ministry of Culture of Morocco, on the basis of three cultural selection criteria. In a 2019 press release, the Ministry of Culture stated that it was implementing a cultural and economic development strategy, with the intent on working towards Lixus being officially listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Geography The archaeological site of Lixus is located in Morocco northeast of Larache city ( south of Tangier) on the right bank of the Loukkos river, from the coast. Lixus was built on a hill of above sea level, and covers , it dominates the Atlantic shore and the valley formed by the Loukkos. It is surrounded by marshy plains to the south and southwest, in which salt factories have been created. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage tentative list on July 1, 1995, in the cultural category. Name The official language was Punic, used on the city's autonomous currency issues from the 2nd century BC, the name of the site appears on coins in Punic as the triliteral LKS, and in Latin as LIX and LIXS (The Lixus / Lixos form is consecrated by the Greco-Latin tradition).