Uppenna or Upenna is a Tunisian archaeological site located on the site of the present locality of Henchir Chigarnia. The site has delivered a basilica and the remains of a fortress . [1] [2]
The site is located at Henchir Fraga at 36°10'20.60"N, 10°24'50.22"E about 8 km north of Enfidaville, Tunisia. [3]
A Christian baptistery was cleared by René Cagnat in 1881. The fortress, classified March 25, 1889, [4] was largely degraded thereafter. The discovery of 1881 was identified in 1901, by Paul Gauckler as belonging to a basilica, however, it is not exhaustively searched for budgetary reasons. The church may have been built atop the foundations of a demolished pagan temple. [5]
The site was considered important by the excavators of the campaigns in 1904–1905, and focusing on this building allowed the discovery of about forty mosaics, the main one is the mosaic of martyrs [6] which led to a major controversy between Gauckler and Dr. Louis Carton, recovering a conflict between the Antiquities Department and the Archaeological Society of Sousse. Indeed, the mosaic citing thirteen African martyred saints led to a debate on the place of the monument in the Donatist schism.
The Diocese of Uppenna, is an ancient episcopal seat of the Roman province of Byzacena. [7] The diocese was centered on a Roman town identifiable with Henchir-Medded in today's Tunisia.[ dubious ] [8] [9]
Inscriptions in the church are dedicated to Bishops Honorius, [13] and Baleriolus, a deacon Crescentius and the Presbyter Emeritus. [14] Had an eight lobed font [15]
The basilica was built to memorialize a group of local martyrs. A Mosaic now housed in the Enfida Museum with a prominent Cross and the list of martyrs was uncovered in the basilica. [16]
Others commemorated in mosaics include Bishops Honorius [17] and Baleriolus, a deacon Crescentius and the Presbyter Emeritus. [18]
Taparura was an ancient Berber, Punic and Roman city in the location of modern-day Sfax, Tunisia. It was a former Catholic diocese.
The name Early African Church is given to the Christian communities inhabiting the region known politically as Roman Africa, and comprised geographically somewhat around the area of the Roman Diocese of Africa, namely: the Mediterranean littoral between Cyrenaica on the east and the river Ampsaga on the west; that part of it that faces the Atlantic Ocean being called Mauretania, in addition to Byzacena. Thus corresponding somewhat to contemporary Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. The evangelization of Africa followed much the same lines as those traced by Roman civilization.
Enfidha is a town in north-eastern Tunisia with a population of approximately 10,000. It is visited by tourists on their way to Takrouna. Enfidha is located at around 36°8′7″N10°22′51″E. It lies on the railway between Tunis and Sousse, approximately 45 km northeast of Sousse and a few kilometres inland from the Gulf of Hammamet. The nearby Enfidha – Hammamet International Airport opened in 2009, serving charter flights from several European countries.
Abitinae was a town in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis and is famed for the Martyrs of Abitinae.
The Sfax Archaeological Museum is an archaeological museum located in Sfax, Tunisia.
Palladius was caesar of the Western Roman Empire for two months in 455. He was born between 415 and 425 AD and may have held the position of Praetorian Prefect during the 450's. After his father, Petronius Maximus, assassinated Emperor Valentinian III and seized power, Palladius became heir-apparent with the title of caesar. His marriage to Valentinian’s daughter Eudocia broke a pre-existing treaty in which Eudocia had been promised as a wife for Huneric, son of the Vandal king Genseric. The Vandals invaded and sacked Rome; while attempting to escape the city, Petronius Maximus and Palladius were killed by a mob of angry Romans on 31 May 455.
The archaeological site of Sbeitla is an archaeological site in Sbeitla, in north-central Tunisia. It represents the Roman ruins of Sufetula, and contains the best preserved Roman forum temples in Tunisia. It was excavated and restored between 1906 and 1921.
The Catholic diocese of Sufetula was an ancient bishopric in the city of Sufetula, on the site of modern Tunisian Sbeitla, in the Roman province of Byzacena.
Sétifis, was a Romano town located in northeastern Algeria. It was the capital of the Roman province called Mauretania Sitifensis, and it is today Setif in the Sétif Province (Algeria).
Felix, Bishop of Aptunga, in proconsular Africa was a 4th-century churchman, at the center of the Donatist controversy.
Maximian of Bagai was a 5th century bishop of Bagai in Roman North Africa. His life shows the extent that the religious schism in Roman North Africa could become violent.
Abbir Germaniciana also known as Abir Cella is the name of a Roman and Byzantine-era city in the Roman province of Africa proconsularis. The city was also the seat of a bishopric, in the ecclesiastical province of Carthage, and is best known as the home town of the Pre Nicaean father, Cyprian, who was bishop of Abbir Germaniciana around 250AD.
Abthugni was an ancient city in Roman North Africa at present day Suwar (Henchir-es-Souar) in Tunisia. It was, in Roman times, in the province of Africa Proconsularis, Africa, and latter in Byzacena. In late antiquity Abthugni was also the seat of a bishop, and the diocese is a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church to this day.
Tibiuca was a Roman era civitas of the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis.
Henchir Chigarnia is an Archaeological site in Tunisia. It is identified with ruins near the modern town of Enfidha, Tunisia and represents a former Roman town of the province of Africa Proconularis.
Furni, also known as a Furnos Maius and Ain-Fourna, was a Roman era civitas of the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis on the Oued Kibira tributary of the Meliane River.
Baia was an ancient city and bishopric in the Roman province of Africa Proconsulare. It is a Roman Catholic titular see.
Cilibia was an Ancient city and bishopric in Roman North Africa, which remains a Latin Catholic titular see.
Præsidium also known as Praesidium Diolele was a town of the Roman Province of Byzacena in North Africa during the Roman Empire.
The Tébessa Basilica is a Late Roman archeological site located in the eastern Algerian city of Theveste, which is known today as Tébessa. It is one of the largest remains of Roman basilicas in Northern Africa. It was dedicated to St. Crispina to honor her martyrdom in 305 CE. This basilica was originally thought to have been created as a secular building for the Roman military; it developed into a religious building as new additions were built in the 4th and 5th century.