Villa Atlas Osis

Chebika lies at the foot of the Djebel el Negueb mountains and, because of its exposure to the sun, is known as Qasr el-Shams (“Castle of the Sun” in Arabic). In antiquity, it was once a Roman outpost named Ad Speculum and later served as a mountain refuge for the Berber people. Ad Speculum was a civitas of [1] the Roman Province of Africa between 30 BC and 640 AD.[2] Located on the Saharan limes, just north of Ad Turres, it served as a station on the road connecting Tebessa to Gafsa; the Romans used mirrors to communicate with other outposts and report possible enemy incursions. The modern village of Chebika (الشبيكة) has several hundred residents and was built near the old town, which was abandoned in 1969 following catastrophic flooding. The site, writes Jean Duvignaud, “is situated at the intersection of two mountain ridges that open out here toward the desert.”[3] The urban layout consists of a grid whose lines are formed by streets intersecting at the market square. Many scenes from the movies *Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope* and *The English Patient* were filmed in this area.