Tubusuctu also known as Colonia Iulia Augusta Legionis VII, was a

Roman colony A Roman (plural ) was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of a Roman city. It is also the origin of the modern term ''colony''. Character ...

founded by

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

for military

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

s and known for its olive oil.

Location

The town is located at 36.667565, 4.8462225 near El Ksour,

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

and flourished from 330 BC - AD 640.

The town lies in a valley on the left bank of the Soummam, occupying an eminence and the plain running along it on S and E, where there are still vestiges of ramparts. The ruins have suffered from the cultivation of the region. To the S of the eminence are important baths, 50 m square in plan. To the N, in the center of the ruins, and to the E are the remains of immense cisterns. The N cisterns, fed by an aqueduct coming from the W, measure 35.5 x 77 m and are made up of 15 connected basins; the vaults were semicircular in section and there were interior and exterior buttresses. The ruins of the E cistern, fed by an aqueduct leading from the S, crossing the river via a bridge now gone, are confused and disjointed. Not all the important waterworks appear to be contemporary; it seems that the military importance of the site, in a region where there were numerous revolts in the 3d and 4th c., justified these creations.Richard Stillwell, William L. MacDonald, Marian Holland McAllister, Stillwell, Richard, MacDonald, William L., McAlister, Marian Holland, Ed
The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites
Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press. 1976.).

Archaeology

Tubusuptu, located in the fertile

Soummam River The Soummam River (pronounced om'm is a river in northern Algeria, born from the confluence of the Sahel River and the Bou Sellam River near Akbou and flowing into the Mediterranean Sea at Béjaïa. Description The waters that reach the sea in ...

valley just south of the Port of Saldae, was populated by the

Roman soldier This is a list of Roman army units and bureaucrats. *'' Accensus'' – Light infantry men in the armies of the early Roman Republic, made up of the poorest men of the army. *'' Actuarius'' – A military who served food. *''Adiutor'' – A camp o ...

sJean Pierre Laporte (Historien spécialiste du Maghreb antique et médiéval). Journal El Watan du 27/01/2008.
Retrieved 12/08/2011. of the

Legio VII Claudia Legio VII Claudia (Claudius' Seventh Legion) was a legion of the Imperial Roman army. History According to H.M.D. Parker, the first legion Julius Caesar raised for his campaigns in Cisalpine Gaul was the Seventh; the numbers 1-4 were omitted ...

. The Roman veterans of Legion VII merged into the population of the valley of the

. The region's olive oil was very popular and Tiklat jars were found throughout the Roman Empire, which proves its commercial importance at the beginning of the Christian era. Today there are still vestiges. There is an aqueduct and also well-preserved

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 ...

.Les vestiges archéologiques de la ville antique de Tiklat (Béjaïa) Journal El Watan du 27/01/2008.
Retrieved 12/08/2011. An almost intact

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

is also present on site. The archaeological district of

Béjaïa Béjaïa (; ; ar, بجاية‎, Latn, ar, Bijāya, ; kab, Bgayet, Vgayet), formerly Bougie and Bugia, is a Mediterranean port city and commune on the Gulf of Béjaïa in Algeria; it is the capital of Béjaïa Province, Kabylia. Béjaïa is ...

is planning to carry out work to preserve the site and prevent its degradation. The French archaeologist Jean-Pierre Laporte made a study of these ruins in the 1960s. Several inscription survive in the ruins.

History

The town is attested in

Pliny Pliny may refer to: People * Pliny the Elder (23–79 CE), ancient Roman nobleman, scientist, historian, and author of ''Naturalis Historia'' (''Pliny's Natural History'') * Pliny the Younger (died 113), ancient Roman statesman, orator, w ...

;

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

and

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity (preceding Procopius). His work, known as the ''Res Gestae ...

The town also appears in the Ravenna Geographer, and

Julius Honorius Julius Honorius, also known as Julius Orator, was a teacher of geography during Late Antiquity. He is known only by a single work, ''Cosmographia'', which is a set of notes he had written down by one of his students while he lectured about a world ...

but it is missing from the Antonine Itinerary. In the late Roman period it became the centre of a military district.

Bishopric

The town was a center for

early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...

with bishops for the town being recorded in 411 and in 484. The bishopric survives today as a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...

of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

and the current bishop is Alphonse Marie van den Bosch.Titular Episcopal See of Tubusuptu
at GCatholic.org.

References

{{Reflist Roman sites in Algeria Catholic titular sees in Africa Roman towns and cities in Mauretania Caesariensis Coloniae (Roman)