Hippo Regius

Last updated
Hippo Regius
Hippone.JPG
Saint Augustin Basilica overlooking the ruins of Hippo Regius
Algeria location map.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Shown within Algeria
Location Algeria
Region Annaba Province
Coordinates 36°52′57″N07°45′00″E / 36.88250°N 7.75000°E / 36.88250; 7.75000

Hippo Regius (also known as Hippo or Hippone) is the ancient name of the modern city of Annaba, Algeria. It served as an important city for the Phoenicians, Berbers, Romans, and Vandals. Hippo was the capital city of the Vandal Kingdom from AD 435 to 439. [1] when it was shifted to Carthage following the Vandal capture of Carthage in 439.

Contents

It was the focus of several early Christian councils and home to Augustine of Hippo, a Church Father highly important in Western Christianity. [lower-alpha 1]

History

Hippo Regius on the map of Roman Numidia, Atlas Antiquus, H. Kiepert, 1869 Mileve Hippo Thagaste in Numidia.JPG
Hippo Regius on the map of Roman Numidia, Atlas Antiquus, H. Kiepert, 1869

Hippo is the latinization of ʿpwn (Punic : 𐤏𐤐𐤅𐤍), [2] [3] probably related to the word ûbôn, meaning "harbor". [4] The town was first settled by Phoenicians from Tyre around the 12th century BC. To distinguish it from Hippo Diarrhytus (the modern Bizerte, in Tunisia), the Romans later referred to it as Hippo Regius ("the Royal Hippo") because it was one of the residences of the Numidian kings. Its nearby river was Latinized as the Ubus and the bay to its east was known as Hippo Bay (Latin : Hipponensis Sinus).

A maritime city near the mouth of the river Ubus, it became a Roman colonia [5] which prospered and became a major city in Roman Africa. It served as the bishopric of Saint Augustine of Hippo in his later years. In AD 430, the Vandals advanced eastwards along the North African coast and laid siege to the walled city of Hippo Regius.[ citation needed ] Inside, Saint Augustine and his priests prayed for relief from the invaders, knowing full well that the fall of the city would spell death or conversion to the Arian confession for much of the Christian population. On 28 August 430, three months into the siege, St. Augustine (who was 75 years old) died, [6] perhaps from starvation or stress, as the wheat fields outside the city lay dormant and unharvested. After 14 months, hunger and the inevitable diseases were ravaging both the city inhabitants and the Vandals outside the city walls. The city fell to the Vandals and King Geiseric made it the first capital of the Vandal Kingdom until the capture of Carthage in 439. [7]

It was conquered by the Eastern Roman Empire in 534 and was kept under Roman rule until 698, when it fell to the Muslims; the Arabs rebuilt the town in the eighth century. The city's later history is treated under its modern (Arabic and colonial) names.

About three kilometres distant in the eleventh century, the Berber Zirids established the town of Beleb-el-Anab, which the Spaniards occupied for some years in the sixteenth century, as the French did later, in the reign of Louis XIV. France took this town again in 1832. It was renamed Bône or Bona, and became one of the government centres for the Constantine (departement) in Algeria. [5] It had 37,000 inhabitants, of whom 10,800 were original inhabitants, consisting of 9,400 Muslims and 1,400 naturalized Jews. 15,700 were French and 10,500 foreigners, including many Italians.

Ecclesiastical history

Hippo was an ancient bishopric, one of many suffragans in the former Roman province of Numidia, a part of the residential see of Constantine. It contains some ancient ruins, a hospital built by the Little Sisters of the Poor and a fine basilica dedicated to St. Augustine. Under St. Augustine there were at least three monasteries in the diocese besides the episcopal monastery. [5]

The diocese was established around 250 AD. Only these six bishops of Hippo are known:

It was suppressed around 450 AD.

Council of Hippo

Three church councils were held at Hippo (393, 394, 426) [5] and more synods – also in 397 (two sessions, June and September) and 401, all under Aurelius. [9]

The synods of the Ancient (North) African church were held, with but few exceptions (e.g. Hippo, 393; Milevum, 402) at Carthage. We know from the letters of Saint Cyprian that, except in time of persecution, the African bishops met at least once a year, in the springtime, and sometimes again in the autumn. Six or seven synods, for instance, were held under St. Cyprian's presidency during the decade of his administration (249–258), and more than fifteen under Aurelius (391–429). The Synod of Hippo of 393 ordered a general meeting yearly, but this was found too onerous for the bishops, and in the Synod of Carthage (407) it was decided to hold a general synod only when necessary for the needs of all Africa, and it was to be held at a place most convenient for the purpose. Not all the bishops of the country were required to assist at the general synod. At the Synod of Hippo (393) it was ordered that "dignities" should be sent from each ecclesiastical province. Only one was required from Tripoli (in Libya), because of the poverty of the bishops of that province. At the Synod of Hippo (393), and again at the Synod of 397 at Carthage, a list of the books of Holy Scripture was drawn up, [9] and these books are still regarded as the constituents of the Catholic canon.

Titular episcopal see

The Hippo(ne) diocese was nominally revived in 1400 as Catholic Latin titular bishopric of the (lowest) episcopal rank, for which no incumbent is recorded.

It ceased to exist on 23 September 1867, when the see was formally united with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Constantine.

See also

Notes

  1. "A Berber, born in 354 at Thagaste (now Souk-Ahras) in Africa, he died as Bishop of Hippo (later Bone, now Annaba) in 430, while the Vandals were besieging the town."Braudel 1995, p. 335

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oea</span> Ancient city in present-day Centreville à le Souq Yafran, in Tripoli, Libya

Oea was an ancient city in present-day Tripoli, Libya. It was founded by the Phoenicians in the 7th century BC and later became a Roman–Berber colony. As part of the Roman Africa Nova province, Oea and surrounding Tripolitania were prosperous. It reached its height in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, when the city experienced a golden age under the Severan dynasty in nearby Leptis Magna. The city was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate with the spread of Islam in the 7th century and came to be known as Tripoli during the 9th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Africa during classical antiquity</span> Historic phases of North Africa (c. 8th cent. BCE - 5th cent.CE)

The history of North Africa during the period of classical antiquity can be divided roughly into the history of Egypt in the east, the history of ancient Libya in the middle and the history of Numidia and Mauretania in the west.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utica, Tunisia</span> Ancient Phoenician and Carthaginian city

Utica was an ancient Phoenician and Carthaginian city located near the outflow of the Medjerda River into the Mediterranean, between Carthage in the south and Hippo Diarrhytus in the north. It is traditionally considered to be the first colony to have been founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa. After Carthage's loss to Rome in the Punic Wars, Utica was an important Roman colony for seven centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cirta</span> Ancient Berber and Roman settlement

Cirta, also known by various other names in antiquity, was the ancient Berber, Punic and Roman settlement which later became Constantine, Algeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theveste</span> Roman colony in present Algeria

Theveste was a Roman colony situated in what is now Tébessa, Algeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thubursicum</span> Archeological site

Khamissa, ancient Thubursicum Numidarum or Thubursicum, is an Ancient Roman and Byzantine archeological site, in Souk Ahras Province of northeastern Algeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thagaste</span> Ancient city in Algeria

Thagaste was a Roman-Berber city in present-day Algeria, now called Souk Ahras. The town was the birthplace of Saint Augustine.

Possidius was a friend of Augustine of Hippo who wrote a reliable biography and an indiculus or list of his works. He was bishop of Calama in the Roman province of Numidia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mila (city)</span> City in Mila Province, Algeria

Mila is a city in the northeast of Algeria and the capital of Mila Province. In antiquity, it was known as Milevum or Miraeon, Μιραίον and was situated in the Roman province of Numidia.

The Synod of Hippo refers to the synod of 393 which was hosted in Hippo Regius in northern Africa during the early Christian Church. Additional synods were held in 394, 397, 401 and 426. Some were attended by Augustine of Hippo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leptis Parva</span>

Leptis or Lepcis Parva was a Phoenician colony and Carthaginian and Roman port on Africa's Mediterranean coast, corresponding to the modern town Lemta, just south of Monastir, Tunisia. In antiquity, it was one of the wealthiest cities in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milevum</span>

Milevum was a Roman–Berber city in the Roman province of Numidia. It was located in present-day Mila in eastern Algeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Icosium</span>

Icosium was a Phoenician and Punic settlement in modern-day Algeria. It was part of Numidia and later became an important Roman colony and an early medieval bishopric in the casbah area of modern Algiers.

Restless Heart: The Confessions of Saint Augustine is a 2010 two-part television miniseries chronicling the life of St. Augustine, the early Christian theologian, writer and Bishop of Hippo Regius at the time of the Vandal invasion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caesarea in Mauretania</span> Ancient city and bishopric in Roman North Africa

Caesarea in Mauretania was a Roman colony in Roman-Berber North Africa. It was the capital of Mauretania Caesariensis and is now called Cherchell, in modern Algeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madauros</span>

Madauros was a Roman-Berber city and a former diocese of the Catholic Church in the old state of Numidia, in present-day Algeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Calama (Numidia)</span> Colonia in the Roman province of Numidia

Calama was a colonia in the Roman province of Numidia situated where Guelma in Algeria now stands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archdiocese of Carthage</span> Former Latin Catholic diocese established in Roman Carthage, now a titular see

The Archdiocese of Carthage, also known as the Church of Carthage, was a Latin Catholic diocese established in Carthage, Roman Empire, in the 2nd century. Agrippin was the first named bishop, around 230 AD. The temporal importance of the city of Carthage in the Roman Empire had previously been restored by Julius Caesar and Augustus. When Christianity became firmly established around the Roman province of Africa Proconsulare, Carthage became its natural ecclesiastical seat. Carthage subsequently exercised informal primacy as an archdiocese, being the most important center of Christianity in the whole of Roman Africa, corresponding to most of today's Mediterranean coast and inland of Northern Africa. As such, it enjoyed honorary title of patriarch as well as primate of Africa: Pope Leo I confirmed the primacy of the bishop of Carthage in 446: "Indeed, after the Roman Bishop, the leading Bishop and metropolitan for all Africa is the Bishop of Carthage."

Gunugus or Gunugu was a Berber and Carthaginian town in northwest Africa in antiquity. It passed into Roman control during the Punic Wars and was the site of a colony of veteran soldiers. It survived the Vandals and Byzantines but was destroyed during the Muslim invasion of the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vandal conquest of Roman Africa</span>

The Vandal conquest of Roman Africa, also known as the Vandal conquest of North Africa, was the conquest of Mauretania Tingitana, Mauretania Caesariensis, and Africa Proconsolaris by the migrating Vandals and Alans. The conflict lasted 13 years with a period of four years of peace, and led to the establishment of the Vandal Kingdom in 435.

References

  1. Merrills & Miles 2009.
  2. Head et al. 1911, p. 886.
  3. Ghaki 2015, p. 66.
  4. Brown (2013), p. 326.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Pétridès 1910.
  6. Portalié 1907.
  7. Merrills & Miles 2009, p. 60.
  8. 1 2 Tabbernee 2014.
  9. 1 2 Havey 1907.

Sources

Further reading

  • Laffi, Umberto. Colonie e municipi nello Stato romano Ed. di Storia e Letteratura. Roma, 2007 ISBN   8884983509
  • 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 Hippo Regius)