 | |
  Shown within Algeria | |
| Location | Algeria |
|---|---|
| Region | Souk Ahras Province |
| Coordinates | 36°17′10″N7°57′04″E / 36.286°N 7.951°E |
Thagaste (or Tagaste) was a Roman-Berber city in present-day Algeria, now called Souk Ahras. [2] [3] The town was the birthplace of Saint Augustine. [4] [5]
Thagaste was originally a small Numidian village, inhabited by a Berber tribe into which Augustine of Hippo was born in AD 354. His mother Saint Monica was a Christian and his father Patricius (with Roman roots) was at first a pagan who later adopted Christianity.
The city was located in the north-eastern highlands of Numidia. It lay around 60 miles (97 km) from Hippo Regius, (modern Annaba), 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Thubursicum (Khamissa), and about 150 miles (240 km) from Carthage (on the coast of Tunisia). [6]
Thagaste was situated in a region full of dense forest. In antiquity, this area was renowned for its mounts, which were used as a natural citadel against different foreign invaders, including the Romans, the Byzantines, the Vandals, and the Umayyads.
During the Roman period, trading increased in the city, that flourished mainly under the rule of Septimius Severus. Thagaste became a Roman municipium in the first century of Roman domination. [7] The city was mentioned by Pliny the Elder. As a municipium, Thagaste was settled by a few Roman Italian immigrants, but was mainly inhabited by romanized native Berbers. [8]
Indeed, Roman historian Plinius (V,4,4) wrote that Tagaste was an important Christian center in Roman Africa. It had a basilica and a Roman Catholic diocese, the latter of which was the most important in Byzantine Numidia. There are three bishops of Thagaste known to history: Saint Firminus, Saint Alypius (friend of Saint Augustine), and Saint Gennarus.
The rich and powerful gens Valeria, later under Saint Melania, owned an estate nearby which was of such extent and importance as to include two episcopal sees, one belonging to the Catholic Church, the other to the Donatists. Some of the rooms of the villa were "filled with gold". [9]
There is a tradition that Saint Augustine used to meditate under an olive tree on a hill of Thagaste: this tree still exists and is the place of reunion even now for the followers of Augustinian spirituality.
The Byzantines fortified the city with walls. It fell to the Umayyad Caliphate toward the end of the seventh century. After centuries of neglect, French colonists rebuilt the city, which is now called Souk Ahras.
Currently, philologists and researchers from the Canary Islands (Spain) have linked the Tagaste to Tegueste. [10] The latter derives from *tegăsət, which means "humid" and is of Guanche origin, which had a Berber origin. [11]
Hippo Regius is the ancient name of the modern city of Annaba, Algeria. It historically served as an important city for the Phoenicians, Berbers, Romans, and Vandals. Hippo was the capital city of the Vandal Kingdom from 435 to 439 AD. until it was shifted to Carthage following the Vandal Capture of Carthage (439).
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.
Monica was an early North African Christian saint and the mother of Augustine of Hippo. She is remembered and honored in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, albeit on different feast days, for her outstanding Christian virtues, particularly the suffering caused by her husband's adultery, and her prayerful life dedicated to the reformation of her son, who wrote extensively of her pious acts and life with her in his Confessions. Popular Christian legends recall Monica weeping every night for her son Augustine.
Annaba, formerly known as Bon, Bona and Bône, is a seaport city in the northeastern corner of Algeria, close to the border with Tunisia. Annaba is near the small Seybouse River and is in the Annaba Province. With a population of about 464,740 (2019) and 1,000,000 for the metropole, Annaba is the third-largest city and the leading industrial center in Algeria.
Tegueste is a town and a municipality of the northeastern part of the island of Tenerife in the Santa Cruz de Tenerife province, on the Canary Islands, Spain. It is surrounded by the municipality of San Cristóbal de La Laguna. The town Tegueste is located 4 km northwest of San Cristóbal de La Laguna and 11 km northwest of the island capital Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Tegueste became independent from San Cristóbal de La Laguna in the 17th century.
Melania the Younger is a Christian saint and Desert Mother who lived during the reign of Emperor Honorius, son of Theodosius I. She is the paternal granddaughter of Melania the Elder.
Alypius of Thagaste was bishop of the see of Tagaste in 394. He was a lifelong friend of Augustine of Hippo and joined him in his conversion and life in Christianity. He is credited with helping establish Augustine's monastery in Africa. Most of what is known about him comes from Augustine's autobiographical Confessions.
Khamissa, ancient Thubursicum Numidarum or Thubursicum, is an Ancient Roman and Byzantine archeological site, in Souk Ahras Province of northeastern Algeria.
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.
M'daourouch is a commune in Souk Ahras Province, Algeria, occupying the site of the Berber-Roman town of Madauros in Numidia.
Souk Ahras is a municipality in Algeria. It is the capital of Souk Ahras Province. The Numidian city of Thagaste, on whose ruins Souk Ahras was built, was the birthplace of Augustine of Hippo and a center of Berber culture. It was a city of great culture, described as the very hub of civilization.
Tobna, also known by the ancient names of Tubunae or Thubunae, is a ruined former city in Batna Province of Algeria, located just south of the modern city of Barika. From this position, it once controlled the eastern part of the Hodna region, while M'Sila did the west. It flourished from the time of the Roman Empire through the Islamic Middle Ages, until it was sacked and destroyed by the Banu Hilal in the 11th century, after which it was finally abandoned.
Calama was a colonia in the Roman province of Numidia situated where Guelma in Algeria now stands.
Thiava was an ancient Roman-Berber civitas in Numidia, Africa Proconsulare and in the Vandal Kingdom. It was a Latin Catholic diocese.
Roman colonies in Berber Africa are the cities—populated by Roman citizens—created in North Africa by the Roman Empire, mainly in the period between the reigns of Augustus and Trajan.
Valerius Pinianus (Pinian) * ~ 381; † 420 in Jerusalem, was a member of a branch of the gens Valeria and among the richest men of his time. He was the son of a Roman praefectus urbi and also had a brother named Severus. His life is closely coupled with that of his paternal cousin and wife, Melania the Younger, whom he married sometime between 396 and 400. After their arrival in Tagaste, North Africa in 410 and Melanias mother, Augustine, bishop of Hippo, convinced the couple to dedicate a large part of their wealth to his church. In 417, the couple moved to Palestine.
Numidia was a Roman province on the North African coast, comprising roughly the territory of north-east Algeria.
The Diocese of Thagaste is an ancient and famous Titular See of the Roman Catholic Church.
Nacéra Benseddik is an Algerian historian, archaeologist and epigrapher. She was born in Bordj Bou Arreridj on 4 December 1949.
A Berber, born in 354 at Thagaste (now Souk-Ahras) in Africa...
...he grew up in an area which was a center of Berber culture.
