Tingis (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

; ''Tíngis'') or Tingi ( Ancient Berber:), was the ancient name of

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and an important Carthaginian, Moor, and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

port on the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. It was eventually granted the status of a Roman

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

and made the capital of the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Mauretania Tingitana Mauretania Tingitana (Latin for "Tangerine Mauretania") was a Roman province, coinciding roughly with the northern part of present-day Morocco. The territory stretched from the northern peninsula opposite Gibraltar, to Sala Colonia (or Chellah ...

and, after

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

's reforms, the diocese of Hispania.

Legends

The

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

claimed that Tingis had been named for a daughter of the

titan Titan most often refers to: * Titan (moon), the largest moon of Saturn * Titans, a race of deities in Greek mythology Titan or Titans may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities Fictional locations * Titan in fiction, fictiona ...

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

, who was supposed to support the vault of heaven nearby. They claimed that the

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

legends comported with the stories of

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

's labors, which carried him to

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

and the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

to retrieve the golden apples of the

Hesperides In Greek mythology, the Hesperides (; , ) are the nymphs of evening and golden light of sunsets, who were the "Daughters of the Evening" or "Nymphs of the West". They were also called the Atlantides () from their reputed father, Atlas (mytholog ...

. Having killed her husband

Antaeus Antaeus (; , derived from ), known to the Berbers as Anti, was a figure in Traditional Berber religion, Berber and Greek mythology. He was famed for his defeat by Heracles as part of the Labours of Hercules. Family In Greek sources, he was ...

and again condemned her father to eternally supporting the

firmament In ancient near eastern cosmology, the firmament means a celestial barrier that separates the heavenly waters above from the Earth below. In biblical cosmology, the firmament ( ''rāqīaʿ'') is the vast solid dome created by God during the G ...

, Hercules slept with Tinja and fathered the Berber hero

Syphax Syphax (, ''Sýphax''; , ) was a king of the Masaesyli tribe of western Numidia (present-day Algeria) during the last quarter of the 3rd century BC. His story is told in Livy's ''Ab Urbe Condita'' (written c. 27–25 BC).

. Syphax supposedly founded the port of Tingis and named it his mother's honor after her death.. The gigantic skeleton and tomb of Antaeus were tourist attractions for ancient visitors. The Caves of Hercules, where he supposedly rested on

Cape Spartel Cape Spartel (; ; ) is a promontory in Morocco about above sea level at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, 12 km west of Tangier. It is the northwesternmost point of the African continent. Below the cape are the Caves of Hercules. Des ...

, remain one today.

History

Phoenician port

A settlement in Tingis began, at the earliest, in the 10th centuryBC by Phoenecians, before being settled around the beginning of the 6th century BC by Carthaginian

colonists A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among the first settli ...

,. who variously recorded the name of their settlement as (), (), and (). The town is sometimes connected to the voyages of

Hanno the Navigator Hanno the Navigator (sometimes "Hannon"; , ; ) was a Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian explorer (sometimes identified as a king) who lived during the 5th century BC, fifth century BC, known for his Navy, naval expedition along the coast of West A ...

Mauretanian city

After the

Punic Wars The Punic Wars were a series of wars fought between the Roman Republic and the Ancient Carthage, Carthaginian Empire during the period 264 to 146BC. Three such wars took place, involving a total of forty-three years of warfare on both land and ...

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

lost control of the colony to the

-allied kings of

Mauretania Mauretania (; ) is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It extended from central present-day Algeria to the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, encompassing northern present-day Morocco, and from the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean in the ...

. Its name during this time appears in Greek and Roman sources variously as Tenga, Tinga, Titga, &c. It maintained strong ties to its Carthaginian heritage, issuing bronze coins with Punic legends reading "City of Titga" (, ), "City of Tinga" (, ), or "people of Tinga" (, ). These bore

Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...

or (via

interpretatio Graeca , or "interpretation by means of Greek odels, refers to the tendency of the ancient Greeks to identify foreign deities with their own gods. It is a discourse used to interpret or attempt to understand the mythology and religion of other cult ...

)

Demeter In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Demeter (; Attic Greek, Attic: ''Dēmḗtēr'' ; Doric Greek, Doric: ''Dāmā́tēr'') is the Twelve Olympians, Olympian goddess of the harvest and agriculture, presiding over cro ...

's head

obverse The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''obverse'' ...

and

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

reverse.

Roman provincial capital

The town came under Roman rule in the 1st centuryBC. Q.Sertorius, took and held Tingis for a number of years in the 70sBC as part of his war against

Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (, ; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman people, Roman general and statesman of the late Roman Republic. A great commander and ruthless politician, Sulla used violence to advance his career and his co ...

's regime in Rome. Tingis grew in importance as a free city under

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

and then as a

under

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

, who made it the capital of Mauritania Tingitana. As a Roman colony, it bore the formal name , the " Julian colony of Tingis". Under the early empire, it began to use Latin script, issuing its bronze coins with the legend ; these bore Augustus and Agrippa's heads

and

's head reverse. As a provincial capital, Tingis developed and prospered. In the 4th century, it surpassed

Volubilis Volubilis (; ; ) is a partly excavated Berber-Roman city in Morocco, situated near the city of Meknes, that may have been the capital of the Kingdom of Mauretania, at least from the time of King Juba II. Before Volubilis, the capital of the kin ...

when that city was left south of the Roman lines and unprotected by

Roman legion The Roman legion (, ) was the largest military List of military legions, unit of the Roman army, composed of Roman citizenship, Roman citizens serving as legionary, legionaries. During the Roman Republic the manipular legion comprised 4,200 i ...

s. Tingis at its peak reached 20,000 inhabitants, all thoroughly

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

and mostly

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. Tingis was famed throughout the Roman Empire for its fishing conserve industry. Under

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...

, two

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

s were constructed from Tingis: one on the Atlantic coast to

Sala Colonia The Chellah or Shalla ( or ; ), is a medieval fortified Muslim necropolis and ancient archeological site in Rabat, Morocco, located on the south (left) side of the Bou Regreg estuary. The earliest evidence of the site's occupation suggests that th ...

and the second into the mountainous interior toward Volubilis. During

's reform of Roman governmental structures in AD296, Mauretania Tingitana became part of the Diocese of Hispania. Tingis remained the capital of the larger territory, maintaining its status and development.

Later history

The

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

conquered and occupied Tingis around AD425 before sweeping across the Roman Maghreb. Between 534 and 682, Tingis was restored to

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

control. Tingis was fortified and a new church erected. However, its commercial strength had waned, a change attested by its decreased issuance of coins. Tingis fell under the control of the

Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member o ...

as part of the Muslim conquest of North Africa in 702, after which it was reduced to a small town more commonly discussed under the name

. Moussa Ibn Noussair organized the conquest of Spain from Tingis and nearby Septem in 706.

Religion

The

history of Tingis started during the second half of the first century, under

's rule.Cass. Dio XLVIII 45.3 Originally, the city was part of the larger province of

Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Caesariensis (Latin for "Caesarea, Numidia, Caesarean Mauretania") was a Roman province located in present-day Algeria. The full name refers to its capital Caesarea, Numidia, Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell). The province had ...

, which included most of the Roman Maghreb. Later the area was subdivided, with the eastern part keeping the former name and the newer part receiving the name of Mauretania Tingitana. It is not known exactly at what period there may have been an episcopal see at Tangier in ancient times, but in the late Middle Ages Tangier was a titular see (i.e., an honorific fiction for the appointment of curial and auxiliary bishops). For the historical reasons given above, one official list of the Roman Curia places the see in Mauretania Caesariensis. Towards the end of the third century, Tingis was the scene of the martyrdom of StMarcellus, mentioned in the Roman Martyrology on 30 October, and of St.Cassian, mentioned on 3 December. Indeed, according to tradition, the martyrdom of StMarcellus took place on 28 July 298. A small Christian community survived in Tangier as late as the 10th century. Due to its Christian past, Tangierunder the name Tingisis still a titular see of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* . * . * . *Rachid, Mueden. ''Las colonias y municipios de la Mauretania Tingitana (Tingis, Zilis, Lixus, Banasa, Thamusida, Sala, Volubilis)'' University of Sevilla. Sevilla, 2010. * . {{coord, 35, 47, N, 5, 49, W, display=title, region:MA_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Roman towns and cities in Morocco Mauretania Tingitana Phoenician colonies in Morocco Roman towns and cities in Mauretania Tingitana History of Tangier