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

founded by

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 ...

for military

veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

s and known for its

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

Location

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

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 ...

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 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 at Béjaïa. Description The waters that reach the sea in this place have for ...

valley just south of the Port of

Saldae Saldae was an important port city in the ancient Roman Empire, located at today's Béjaïa (in Kabylia, eastern Algeria). It was generally a crossroads between eastern and western segments of Northern Africa, from the time of Carthage to the end ...

, 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 soldier charged with distributing pay and provisions ...

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 (Latin for "The 7th Claudian Legion") was a legion of the Ancient Roman army. History Legio VII was the first legion Julius Caesar raised for his campaigns in Cisalpine Gaul. In Caesar's account of the battle against the ...

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

. The region's

was very popular and Tiklat jars were found throughout the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, which proves its commercial importance at the beginning of the

Christian era The terms (AD) and before Christ (BC) are used when designating years in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. The term is Medieval Latin and means "in the year of the Lord" but is often presented using "our Lord" instead of "the Lord", tak ...

. 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 (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to prehis ...

.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 (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

is also present on site. The archaeological district of

Béjaïa Béjaïa ( ; , , ), formerly known as Bougie and Bugia, is a Mediterranean seaport, port city and communes of Algeria, commune on the Gulf of Béjaïa in Algeria; it is the capital of Béjaïa Province. Geography Location Béjaïa owes its ...

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;

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 ...

and

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicized as Ammian ( Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born , died 400), was a Greek and Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquit ...

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 The Antonine Itinerary (, "Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is an , a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly in part from a survey carried out under Augustus, it describes t ...

. In the late Roman period it became the centre of a military district.

Bishopric

The town was a center for

early Christianity Early Christianity, otherwise called the Early Church or Paleo-Christianity, describes the History of Christianity, historical era of the Christianity, Christian religion up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Spread of Christianity, Christian ...

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 archbi ...

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 ...

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)