Mauretania Caesariensis

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Provincia Mauretania Caesariensis
Province of the Roman Empire
42 AD–Late 7th Century
Roman Empire - Mauretania Caesariensis (125 AD).svg
The province of Mauretania Caesariensis within the Roman Empire, c. AD 125
Capital Caesarea
Historical era Classical antiquity, Late Antiquity
• Incorporated into the Roman Empire as a full province
42 AD
• Vandal Conquest
430s AD
• Byzantine partial reconquest by Vandalic War
534 AD
Late 7th Century
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Mauretania et Numidia.jpg Mauretania
Vandales.png Vandal Kingdom
Vandal Kingdom Vandales.png
Umayyad Caliphate Umayyad750ADloc.png
Today part of Algeria

Mauretania Caesariensis (Latin for "Caesarean Mauretania") was a Roman province located in present-day Algeria. [1] The full name refers to its capital Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell).

Contents

The province had been part of the Kingdom of Mauretania and named for the Mauri people who lived there. Formerly an independent kingdom, and later a client state of Rome, it was annexed into the Empire formally during the reign of Claudius and divided into two provinces about 42 AD. A third province, named Mauretania Sitifensis, was later split off from the eastern portion during the reign of Diocletian in 293 AD. During and after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, most of the hinterland area was lost, first to the Vandal Kingdom and later to the Mauro-Roman Kingdom, with Roman administration limited to the capital of Caesarea. The land was reconquered by Rome during the reign of Justinian. This province was a part of Praetorian prefecture of Africa, later Exarchate of Africa. The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb brought an end to Roman rule in Mauretania, permanently this time, which became ruled by the Umayyad Caliphate as part of Medieval Muslim Algeria.

History

The Roman Empire in the time of Hadrian (ruled 117-138), showing the imperial province of Mauretania Caesariensis (roughly modern Algeria, in the Maghreb) Roman Empire 125.png
The Roman Empire in the time of Hadrian (ruled 117–138), showing the imperial province of Mauretania Caesariensis (roughly modern Algeria, in the Maghreb)

In the middle of the 1st century, Roman emperor Claudius divided the westernmost Roman province in Africa, named Mauretania ('land of the Mauri', hence the word Moors), into Mauretania Caesariensis (named after its capital, Caesarea in Mauretania, one of many cities named Caesarea after the imperial cognomen that had become a title) and Mauretania Tingitana.

Mauretania Caesariensis included eight colonies founded by the Emperor Augustus: Cartennae, Gunugus, Igilgili, Rusguniae, Rusazus, Saldae, Zuccabar, Tubusuctu; two by the Emperor Claudius: Caesarea in Mauretania, formerly the capital of Juba II, who gave it this name in honour of his patron Augustus, and Oppidum Novum; one by the Emperor Nerva: Setifis; and in later times, Arsenaria, Bida, Siga, Aquae Calidae, Quiza Xenitana, Rusucurru, Auzia, Gilva, Icosium and Tipasa in all 21 well-known colonies, besides several municipia and oppida Latina.

Under Diocletian's Tetrarchy reform, the easternmost part was broken off from Mauretania Caesariensis as a separate small province, Mauretania Sitifensis, called after its inland capital Setifis (now Sétif) with a significant port at Saldae (presently Béjaïa). [2]

At the time of Diocletian and Constantine the Great, both Sitifensis and Caesariensis were assigned to the administrative Diocese of Africa, under the Praetorian prefecture of Italy. Tingitana belonged to the Diocese of Hispania under the Praetorian prefecture of Gaul, so it was an enclave separate from the European territory of the Diocese and Prefecture it belonged to.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, a Germanic Vandal Kingdom was founded, but the remaining Eastern Empire (now known to historians as the Byzantine Empire) recaptured the area around 533. Most of Mauretania Caesariensis remained under the control of local Moorish rulers such as Mastigas, and it was not until the 560s and 570s that Byzantine control was established inland.

During the reign of Maurice, the empire was reorganized, and a number of Exarchates were founded, among them the Exarchate of Africa, which included Mauretania, among other territories. Mauretania Sitifensis was re-merged back into this province and granted the name "Mauretania Prima."

The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb for the caliphate under the Umayyad dynasty meant the end of the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa and Late Antique Roman culture there, and Mauretania Caesariensis became part of the westernmost Islamic province called Maghreb.[ citation needed ]

Economy

Mosaic of vineyard workers from Caesarea Travail de la vigne Cherchell.jpg
Mosaic of vineyard workers from Caesarea

The principal exports from Caesariensis were purple dyes and valuable woods; and the Amazigh or Mauri were highly regarded by the Romans as soldiers, especially light cavalry. They produced one of Trajan's best generals, Lusius Quietus, and the emperor Macrinus.

Ruins of the Roman town of Cuicul in Djemila Roman Ruins of Djemila in Setif, Algeria.jpg
Ruins of the Roman town of Cuicul in Djemila

Religion

Caesarea was a major center of Judaism before 330, and Sitifis was one of the centres of the soldier cult of Mithraic mysteries. Christianity spread throughout in the 4th and 5th centuries.

Among the ruling class, Trinitarian Christianity was replaced by Arianism under the Germanic kingdom of the Vandals, which was established in 430, when the Vandals crossed the Strait of Gibraltar.

Episcopal sees

Ancient episcopal sees of Mauretania Caesariensis listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees: [3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Michael Brett (2013). Approaching African History. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 120. ISBN   978-1-84701-063-6.
  2. ↑ "Map of Mauretania Sitifensis (in blue color) and Mauretania Caesariensis (in light brown color)". Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
  3. ↑ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ISBN   978-88-209-9070-1), "Sedi titolari", pp. 819-1013

Sources

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