Numidia (Roman province)

Numidia was a Roman province on the North African coast, comprising roughly the territory of northeast Algeria.

History

Eastern Numidia was annexed in 46 BC to create a new Roman province, Africa Nova. Western Numidia was also annexed after the death of its last king, Arabio, in 40 BC, and the two provinces were united with Tripolitana by Emperor Augustus, to create Africa Proconsularis. In AD 40, the western portion of Africa Proconsularis, including its legionary garrison, was placed under an imperial legatus, and in effect became a separate province of Numidia, though the legatus of Numidia remained nominally subordinate to the proconsul of Africa until AD 203.[1]

From the second century, the province is christianized, but quickly it adheres to the donatist heresy while knowing men of faith as illustrious as Saint Augustine, bishop of Hippo Regius (present Annaba).

After 193, under Septimius Severus, Numidia is officially detached from the province of Africa and constitutes a province in its own right, governed by an imperial legate. Under Diocletian, it constitutes a simple province in the tetrarchic reorganization, then is briefly divided in two: Numidia militana and Numidia cirtensis.

In 428, the Vandals begin their incursions in the African provinces. They eventually managed to create the Vandal Kingdom that lasted between 432 and 534, date on which the African provinces pass under the authority of the Byzantine and form the Exarchate of Africa.

Between 696 and 708, the region is conquered by the Muslim armies and becomes part of Ifriqiya.[2]

Major cities

Numidia as the other African provinces became highly Romanized and was studded with numerous towns. The chief towns of Roman Numidia were: in the north, Cirta or modern Constantine, the capital, with its port Russicada (Modern Skikda); and Hippo Regius (near Bône), well known as the see of St. Augustine. To the south in the interior military roads led to Theveste (Tebessa) and Lambaesis (Lambessa) with extensive Roman remains, connected by military roads with Cirta and Hippo, respectively.[3]

Lambaesis was the seat of the Legio III Augusta, and the most important strategic centre. It commanded the passes of the Aurès Mountains (Mons Aurasius), a mountain block that separated Numidia from the Gaetuli Berber tribes of the desert, and which was gradually occupied in its whole extent by the Romans under the Empire. Including these towns, there were altogether twenty that are known to have received at one time or another the title and status of Roman colonies; and in the 5th century, the Notitia Dignitatum enumerates no fewer than 123 sees whose bishops assembled at Carthage in 479.

Episcopal sees

Ancient episcopal sees of Numidia listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees:[4]

Bibliography

  • Filippo Coarelli and Yvon Thébert, "Architecture funéraire et pouvoir : réflexions sur l'hellénisme numide", Mélanges de l'École française de Rome. Antiquité, Année 1988, 2, p. 761-818
  • Nacéra Benseddik, « Jugurtha-Cirta-Lambèse-Timgad » in Dictionnaire du Monde antique, PUF, Paris 2005.
  • Yann Le Bohec, L’Afrique romaine (146 avant J.-C. - 439 après J.-C.), éd. Picard, 2005 (Paris), 600 p. ISBN 2-7084-0751-1
  • François Décret and Mhamed Fantar, L’Afrique du Nord dans l’Antiquité. Histoire et civilisation - des Origines au Ve siècle, Paris, 1981.
  • "Propriétés impériales et cités en Numidie Méridionale". Cahiers du Centre Gustave Glotz (3): 123–139. 1992. .

References

  1. ↑ J. D. Fage; Roland Anthony Oliver (1975). The Cambridge History of Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 199. ISBN 978-0-521-21592-3.
  2. ↑ (in French) Article « Ifriqiya » (Larousse.fr).
  3. ↑ Detailed map of Roman Numidia
  4. ↑ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), "Sedi titolari", pp. 819–1013

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