Civitas Popthensis was an ancient

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 ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

- Berber city located in the present-day Henchir Kssiba area in the municipality of Ouled Moumen in Souk Ahras Province,

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. The word " civitas" is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

''civis'' ("city"), meaning that the city was a politically autonomous city-state.

History

The history of the site goes back to the

Punic The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of t ...

and

Numidian Numidia (Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisi ...

periods. The findings in the ruins of the ancient city testifies of a cultural diversity of the city influenced as well by Berbers,

Carthaginians The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...

and mainly by Romans. The inscriptions that have been found are in three ancient languages, Latin, Libyan, and Punic. Epigraphy reflects particular local cults to

Ba'al Hammon Baal Hammon, properly Baʿal Ḥammon or Baʿal Ḥamon ( Phoenician: ; Punic: ), meaning “Lord Hammon”, was the chief god of Carthage. He was a weather god considered responsible for the fertility of vegetation and esteemed as King of ...

(equivalent to Roman Saturn) and Mercury. Initially the "Civitas Popthensis" was probably a big village at the centre of an opulent agricultural land with cereal, olive growing, as many presses and livestock have been found in and out of the city. Not far from major trade routes, the city organized the local exchanges between the people of the plain and those of the mountains. Civitas Popthensis was located at the foot of the "Alpes Numidicae" and near the present border between

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

and Algeria Its period of maximum prosperity seems to be at the beginning of the 3rd century, under emperor

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 the customary suc ...

. From the area ruins and the evaluation of the flow of water, Julien Guey, a French archeologist, estimated the population of the agglomeration around 10,000 and 12,000 inhabitants. Civitas Popthensis had huge Roman baths and probably a Roman theater. Paul Monciaux found a Christian epitaph of the beginning on the fifth century, that shows the importance of Christianity in the city when was under the influence of Saint'Augustine.Monciaux, Paul "Une inscription christienne d'Algerie". Persee Christianity remained dominant until the arrival of the Arabs, who destroyed the city at the end of the seventh century. However the history of the city is still not explored; furthermore 80% of this legacy is still buried under the Earth: Serious excavations are needed to illuminate the past of this city.

Discovery

The exact name of the ancient city remained unknown until 1917 where the finding of an official inscription commemorating the building of a temple to Saturn, helped prove that this city was the "Civitas Popthensis". Excavations in the 1930s resulted in the foreground the religious history of the city by finding a sacred area and 47 steles dedicated to Saturn. Excavations carried out by Julien Guey in the

thermal baths A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as baln ...

in 1936 also allowed to find many Latin inscriptions. The baths were built in large unit and included well-preserved latrines. In 1930, an epitaph dedicated to a cleric named Rogatianus was discovered in the necropolis of the city.

Notes

Bibliography

* Laffi, Umberto. ''Colonie e municipi nello Stato romano'' Ed. di Storia e Letteratura. Roma, 2007 * Mommsen, Theodore. ''The Provinces of the Roman Empire'' Section: Roman Africa. (Leipzig 1865; London 1866; London: Macmillan 1909; reprint New York 1996) Barnes & Noble. New York, 1996 * Smyth Vereker, Charles. ''Scenes in the Sunny South: Including the Atlas Mountains and the Oases of the Sahara in Algeria''. Volume 2. Publisher Longmans, Green, and Company. University of Wisconsin. Madison,1871
Roman Civitas Popthensis
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History

Discovery

Notes

Bibliography

See also