Madauros (''Madaurus'', ''Madaura'') was a

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 ...

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 ...

city and a former diocese of the

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 ...

in the old state of

Numidia Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between ...

, in present-day

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

History

The birth of the city dates back to the 5th century BC under the aegis of the

Punics The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people who migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'', ...

. Madauros was made a

Roman colony A Roman (: ) was originally a settlement of Roman citizens, establishing a Roman outpost in federated or conquered territory, for the purpose of securing it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of a Roman city. It ...

at the end of the first century and was famous for its "schola". A colony of veterans was established there; it was called ''Colonia Flavia Augusta Veteranorum Madaurensium'' under emperor

Nerva Nerva (; born Marcus Cocceius Nerva; 8 November 30 – 27 January 98) was a Roman emperor from 96 to 98. Nerva became emperor when aged almost 66, after a lifetime of imperial service under Nero and the succeeding rulers of the Flavian dynast ...

. The city was fully Romanised in the fourth century, with a population of Christian Berbers who spoke mainly

African Romance African Romance, African Latin or Afroromance is an extinct Romance languages, Romance language that was spoken in the various provinces of Africa (Roman province), Roman Africa by the African Romans under the later Roman Empire and its various ...

, according to Theodor Mommsen. Madauros was the see of a Christian diocese. There were three famous bishops of this

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...

: Antigonus, who celebrated the 349

Council of Carthage The Councils of Carthage were church synods held during the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries in the city of Carthage in Africa. The most important of these are described below. Synod of 251 In May 251 a synod, assembled under the presidency of Cyprian ...

; Placentius, who celebrated the 407 Council of Carthage and Conference of 411; and Pudentius, who was forced into exile alongside others present at the Synod of 484 because of the Vandal king

Huneric Huneric, Hunneric or Honeric (died December 23, 484) was King of the (North African) Vandal Kingdom (477–484) and the oldest son of Gaiseric. He abandoned the imperial politics of his father and concentrated mainly on internal affairs. He was ma ...

. The ruins of Madauros are close to the actual city of

M'Daourouch M'daourouch is a communes of Algeria, commune in Souk Ahras Province, Algeria, occupying the site of the Berber-Roman town of Madauros in Numidia. Demographics As of the 2008 census, M'daourouch has 36,351 inhabitants, which gives it 11 seats i ...

() in present-day

. It is possible to see: * A Roman mausoleum with some statues. * A Roman theatre, reduced in size because of a Byzantine fortification made in 535. * Some small Roman

thermae In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large Roman Empire, imperial public bath, bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed i ...

. * A Roman basilica of the Byzantine era with three sections of columns. * Some epitaphs, with Latin inscriptions.

Notable residents

Apuleius Apuleius ( ), also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (c. 124 – after 170), was a Numidians, Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He was born in the Roman Empire, Roman Numidia (Roman province), province ...

, the author of the famous novel ''

The Golden Ass The ''Metamorphoses'' of Apuleius, which Augustine of Hippo referred to as ''The Golden Ass'' (Latin: ''Asinus aureus''), is the only ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety. The protagonist of the novel is Lucius. At the end of ...

'', which is the only Latin novel to survive in its entirety, was born in Madauros in the 120s. Lucius, the (fictional) protagonist of the novel, is also from Madauros.

Saint Augustine of Hippo Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

studied in Madauros in the 4th century.

Notes

Bibliography

* Gurney, Hudson ''The works of Apuleius'' Publisher Bell (University of California Libraries). London, 1878 * Gsell, Stephane. ''Histoire ancienne de l'Afrique du Nord en 8 tomes, Inscriptions de Madaure'', ibid., p. CLXX-CLXXIV. Paris, 1922. * Mommsen, Theodore. ''The Provinces of the Roman Empire''. Barnes & Noble Ed. New York, 2005

External links

Images of Madauros (M'daourouch)
in Manar al-Athar digital image archive {{Authority control Archaeological sites in Algeria Roman towns and cities in Algeria Ancient Berber cities Former populated places in Algeria Populated places established in the 1st century Populated places disestablished in the 7th century 7th-century disestablishments in the Exarchate of Africa es:Madaura

History

Notable residents

See also

Notes

Bibliography

External links