Milevum (in
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 ...
even "Milev" or "Mireon"; ''Μιραίον'' in
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
) was a
Roman–
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 in the
Roman province
The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...
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 ...
. It was located in present-day
Mila in eastern
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
In
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...
's "Geography" (vol. IV, iii, 7), the
city
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
is mentioned under the name of ''Mileum''. During the
Roman era
In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...
, it was called ''Colonia Sarnensis Milevitana'', after the River Sarnus in
Campania
Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...
(southern Italy), whence the colonists had emigrated. This name is often found in the inscriptions of the city.
Together with
Cirta
Cirta, also known by #Names, various other names in classical antiquity, antiquity, was the ancient Berbers, Berber, Punic people, Punic and Roman Empire, Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria, Constantine, Algeria.
Cirta was ...
,
Collo and
Rusicade, Milevum formed the
Confederation known as the 'Four Colonies', the territory of which was very extensive. This confederation area was fully romanised in the fourth century (when was renamed as "Numidia Cirtense"), with nearly all the population
speaking local Latin, according to historian
Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; ; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th ce ...
.
In the fourth century's second half Milevum was fully Christian and had a population of nearly 15000 inhabitants.
In the 6th century, the
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 ...
Emperor Justinian had Milevum enclosed by a fortified wall, which still stands and forms a rampart for the Muslim city of Mila. It has yielded quite a number of Latin inscriptions from this city and a colossal statue of Saturn.
Christianity appeared in the second century and dominated Miletum in the fourth century.
Two
church councils were held at Milevum, one in 402 AD and the other in 416 AD. The second appealed to
Pope Innocent I for repression of the
Pelagian heresy.
After 682 AD the city may have been conquered by the
Umayyad
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 membe ...
Arabs commanded by
Abu al-Muhajir Dinar and since then Milevum disappeared from History.
Bishopric
The city was the center of a small
bishopric
In 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 provinces were administratively associate ...
. Among the bishops of this
episcopal see
An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...
were:
*Pollianus, present at the
Council of Carthage (255) and martyred two years later;
*
Optatus, noted for his work against the
Donatists, who died in about 385 AD and who is commemorated on 4 June;
*Honorius;
*Severus, fellow-countryman and friend of
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 ...
;
*Benenanus (484 AD); and Restitutus, who attended the
Fifth Œcumenical Council in 553 AD.
Charles Lavigne Bishop of Milevum
Milevum remains today 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 archbi ...
in the
ecclesiastical province
An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...
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 ...
.
[David M. Cheney]
Milevum
at catholic-hierarchy.org.
*Emmanuel a Santo Ludovico (8 Feb 1672 appointed – )
*Hyacinthus de Saldanha (28 Jan 1675 appointed – )
*Johann Ignaz Dlouhovesky de Longavilla (10 Apr 1679 appointed – 10 Jan 1701)
*Caius Asterius Toppi (15 Nov 1728 appointed – 20 May 1754)
*Anton de Révay (20 May 1754 appointed – 16 Sep 1776
Bishop of Rožňava)
*Wilhelm Joseph Leopold Willibald von Baden (12 Jul 1779 appointed – 9 Jun 1798)
*Angiolo (Angelo) Cesarini (28 Sep 1801 appointed – 7 May 1810)
*Thomas Coen (26 Jan 1816 appointed – 9 Oct 1831 Succeeded,
Bishop of Clonfert)
*
Bernard Collier (14 Feb 1840 appointed – 7 Dec 1847)
*Jean-Marie Tissot (11 Aug 1863 appointed – 25 Nov 1886
Bishop of Vizagapatam)
*Charles Lavigne (13 Sep 1887 appointed – 27 Aug 1898)
*
James Bellord (16 Feb 1899 appointed – 11 Jun 1905)
*Ivan Borzatti de Löwenstern (15 Mar 1907 appointed – 17 Feb 1926)
*Acacio Chacón Guerra (10 May 1926 appointed – 1 Aug 1927)
*Anton Gisler (20 Apr 1928 appointed – 4 Jan 1932)
*Jean-Félix de Hemptinne (15 Mar 1932 appointed – 6 Feb 1958)
*José Manuel Piña Torres (12 May 1958 appointed – 7 Jul 1997)
*
Joseph Ignace Randrianasolo (24 Oct 1997 appointed – 3 Jun 1999,
Bishop of Mahajanga)
*Joseph Chennoth (24 Aug 1999 appointed – )
See also
*
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 ...
*
Caesarea
*
Icosium
*
Rapidum
*
Rusicade
*
Cirta
Cirta, also known by #Names, various other names in classical antiquity, antiquity, was the ancient Berbers, Berber, Punic people, Punic and Roman Empire, Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria, Constantine, Algeria.
Cirta was ...
*
Chullu
*
Thamugadi
*
Lambaesis
Bibliography
*A. Benabbès: "Les premiers raids arabes en Numidie byzantine: questions toponymiques." In ''Identités et Cultures dans l'Algérie Antique'', University of Rouen, 2005 ()
*Heurgon J. ''Les origines campaniennes de la Confédération cirtéenne'', Libyca archéol. Epigr.,t.V,1957, pp. 7–24.
* 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
* Reynell Morell, John. ''Algeria: The Topography and History, Political, Social, and Natural, of French Africa''. Publisher N. Cooke. London, 1854
Chullu
* P. Trousset (2002). ' v. 10, pp. 143–150.
Notes
{{Romano-Berber cities in Roman Africa
Archaeological sites in Algeria
Roman towns and cities in Algeria
Numidia (Roman provinces)
Ancient Berber cities
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