Maktar

Maktar
Maktar
Location in Tunisia
Coordinates: 35°51′38″N 9°12′21″E / 35.86056°N 9.20583°E / 35.86056; 9.20583Coordinates: 35°51′38″N 9°12′21″E / 35.86056°N 9.20583°E / 35.86056; 9.20583
Country Tunisia
Governorate Siliana Governorate
Population (2014)
 • Total 13,576[1]
Time zone UTC1 (CET)

Maktar (Arabic: مكتر‎, Latin: Mactaris), or Makthar, is a town and Roman–Berber site in Siliana Governorate, Tunisia.[2] It is located at 35°51′38″N 9°12′21″E / 35.86056°N 9.20583°E / 35.86056; 9.20583, around 140 km (90 mi) southwest of Tunis and 60 km (40 mi) southeast of El Kef. The population in 2014 was 13,576.[1]

The ancient town was founded by the Numidians as a defense post against the Carthaginians. It was settled by Punics after the destruction of Carthage by the Romans in 146 BC. Numerous inscriptions are recorded through the ruins.[3]

Under Roman and Byzantine control, it served as a defense against the local Berber tribes. The Roman town at Maktar was known as Colonia Aelia Aurelia Mactaris[4] or simply Mactaris.[5] It was the seat of a bishopric in pre Islamic times. It is in the provence of Byzacena,[6] and mentioned by the Notia Africae. In 46 BC, it obtained status as a free city and by 146 AD was established as a Roman colony, when it saw its greatest development. The town appears on the 4th century Peutinger Map.

It was eventually destroyed by the Banu Hilal tribe in the 10th century.

The modern town lies on a plateau at 900 m (3,000 ft) above sea level. It sits on the other side of a ravine from the Roman remains and is known for its scenic views. The town has a continental climate, with cold winters and warm summers and occasional snowfall during the months of January and February.

History

Plan of Maktar

In the 3rd century BC the Numidians built a strategic fortress at the site, chosen to control trade routes between Sbeitla, Kairouan, and El Kef. The establishment grew rapidly, and under Masinissa developed into a major center of Numidia. After the fall of Carthage numerous Punic refugees flocked to Maktar, bringing their culture and skills. Buildings, civic organization, and language were strongly influenced by the Carthaginians.

Roman occupation at first retained the Punic government and administration under suffetes, while Roman immigrants largely remained in a separate settlement (pagus). The growth of the city continued. As a transit point for grain, oil, livestock, and textiles, and as a transport hub between Carthage, Sufetula, Thugga, and Tebessa, Mactaris grew into one of the richest cities in the province.

Under Trajan (97–117), the city was Romanized. The city received a uniform Roman constitution and the status of Colonia, whereby all residents were automatically given Roman citizenship. The troubles of the third century, which ushered in the decline of the Roman Empire, also affected Maktar. The decline was halted again under Diocletian (284–305). Maktar survived the invasion of the Vandals and became an important Byzantine fortress. In late antiquity the Mactaris diocese of the Roman Church was founded, and Christianization of the city could be seen in the construction of numerous churches.

The devastating raid of the Beni Hilal in 1050 led to the complete destruction of the city.

French archaeological excavations began in 1914, and were continued from 1944 on a large scale. Although not fully excavated, the ruins unearthed so far, especially of the thermal baths and the Schola of the Juvenes, mark this as one of the most remarkable ancient sites in Tunisia.

Archaeology

Trajan Forum

This rectangular paved gathering place was designed ca 116 AD under Trajan as a forum for the Roman population when Roman citizenship was granted to members of the local elite.[7] (The indigenous population had its own forum 50m to the southwest.) The space was surrounded by a portico, and the south side is still dominated by the majestic and well-preserved Arch of Trajan.

Large baths

The Great Baths are among the best preserved of their kind in North Africa. The walls of the frigidarium rise to 15 m. The building was constructed around the year 200 AD and is decorated with oriental foliage on the capitals and with a beautiful mosaic floor.

Scholia Juvenum

Built around the year 200, this building complex was the meeting place of the "youth organization" or Brotherhood, a kind of militia of young men, whose duties included policing and especially tax collection. The organization in Maktar consisted of about 70 members, and as in other Roman provincial cities it temporarily played an important role. Membership in the strictly managed organization was a prerequisite for higher military service. The curriculum of the school included paramilitary exercises and sports, but also subjects such as finance, politics, and culture. The Brotherhood became increasingly influential over time, as rich citizens of provincial cities used it to resist the authority of the central government. In the year 238 the Emperor Gordian I himself joined the organization. Emperor Diocletian restored the school. In the Christian era the original building, called the Basilica, was used as a church, using a Punic sarcophagus from the adjacent necropolis as an altar.

Pre-Roman structures

The site has several megaliths, large slabs evidently used in the burial of ashen remains. Excavations by Mansour Ghaki of an intact burial chamber uncovered many ceramics of various origins, both local and imported, dating from the early third century BC.

The site includes an example of Punic mausoleum pyramid, similar to the mausoleum of Atban at Dougga (Thugga). In addition, archaeologists have unearthed a Numidian-period public square that is thought to be the religious center of the city due to the presence of temples, which later housed a temple to Augustus and Rome.

The temple of Hathor Miskar is well known because of the extensive excavations that were carried out there, even if the remains are poorly preserved. At the center of the sanctuary, archaeologists have found an altar dated to about 100 BC.

The Tunisian government included the site in its proposal of 2012 to add various pre-Islamic monuments to the Unesco World Heritage List.

Bishopric

Although the Roman diocese effectively ceased operating with the arrival of the Islamic armies, the see remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church, and there have been 20 titular bishops since 1514.[8] The current bishop is Pedro Dulay Arigo[9]

Six bishops are known from antiquity,[10] including:

  • Marcus of Mactaris[11] fl 325.
  • Comparitor fl.411 (Donatist)
  • Adelfius fl.484 (Catholic)
  • Germanus[12]
  • Rutilius
  • Victor 6th century[13]

References

  1. 1 2 Population Census 2004 National Institute of Statistics (in French)
  2. ↑ Claude Lepelley: Les cités de l'Afrique romaine. 1981, Bd. 2, pp. 289–295.
  3. ↑ Robert M. Kerr, Latino-Punic Epigraphy: A Descriptive Study of the Inscriptions (Mohr Siebeck, 2010).
  4. ↑ "Inscription de l'Henchir Makter (Colonia Aelia Aurelia Mactaris)" 27 juin 1884 Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres / Année 1884 / Volume 28 / Numéro 2 pp. 281-286.
  5. ↑ Henri Marrou Irenaeus, André Mandouze, Anne-Marie Bonnardière, Prosopography of Christian Africa (303–533) p 1314.
  6. ↑ Joseph Bingham, Origines Ecclesiasticae, Volume 3 (Straker, 1843) p231
  7. ↑ http://db.edcs.eu/epigr/epi_einzel.php?s_sprache=de&p_belegstelle=CIL+08%2C+11798&r_sortierung=Belegstelle
  8. ↑ Titular Episcopal See of Mactaris at GCatholic.org.
  9. ↑ Mactaris, at catholic-hierarchy.org
  10. ↑ Toulotte, Géographie de l'Afrique chrétienne, Byzacène et Tripolitaine (Montreuil-sur-Mer 1894), 127–133.
  11. ↑ Philip Schaff, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: First Series, Volume IV "St. Augustine" (Cosimo, Inc., 1 May 2007)p500.
  12. ↑ known only from inscription in Basilica at Maktar.
  13. ↑ Brent D. Shaw, Bringing in the Sheaves: Economy and Metaphor in the Roman World (University of Toronto Press, 2013) p56.
  • Lexicorient
  •  Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Mactaris". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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