Graham, Alexander: Roman Africa: an outline of the history of the Roman occupation of North Africa ; based chiefly upon inscriptions and monumental remains in that country (London [u.a.], 1902)

proaches to cities and towns, are very numerous in North Africa.
It would be safe to assert that one or more are to be found in
every town, however remote or little known. At Lambaesis
for instance, no less than forty arches were traced by Peysonnel
150 years ago, and fourteen were then still standing. There is
no reason to suppose that they formed part of the enclosure of
a walled town. Those that have been discovered in Africa are
all isolated structures, though in some instances the defensive
walls built during the Byzantine occupation have been brought
close up to them on both sides. This remark is equally
applicable to triumphal arches generally in the various provinces
of the Empire. The cost of their erection was sometimes de-
frayed by the inhabitants of a town who wished to honour a
victorious emperor, and sometimes by private individuals. At
Seressitanum, for instance, a small town in the interior, long
forgotten and now a mass of ruins, there are the remains of
four triumphal arches. One of these, according to an inscription
found some fifty years ago, was the gift of a citizen, the cost
being borne by himself, his mother, and his sister ; and the
edifice, when completed, was surmounted, as the two last lines
inform us, by a quadriga at the public expense.1

• ...............TESTAMENTO

C • M.........FELICIS ARMENIANI

EQVO • PVBLICO • ADLECTI ■ OPTIMAE

.............IAE • CIVIS • ARCVS

............AD • CVIVS • ORNAMENTA

ARMENIA • AVGE ■ MATER • ET ■ BEBJNIA ■ PAVLIANA
SOROR • LIBERALITATE ■ SVA HS XXV MIL N
EROGAVERVNT • ET • DIE • DEDIC • SPORTVLAS ■ DECV
RIONIS • ET • EPVLVM • ET • GVMNASIVM • MVNICIPIB

DEDERVNT

ITEM ■ MVNICIPIVM ■ SERESSITANVM • AD • AMPLIANDA
ORNAMENTA • QVADRIGAM ■ PVBLICA ■ PEC ■ FEC

Another edifice at Theveste worthy of a notice is a little
tetrastyle temple, apparently dedicated to Minerva or Jupiter.
The date of its erection is about A.D. 300. Although in a
ruinous condition externally, its portico being kept standing by
the aid of iron straps and rods, modern ingenuity has utilised the
building for a variety of purposes never dreamt of by its pious

1 C. I. L. No. 937. Victor Guerin, Voyage archeologique dans la Regence de
Tunis, Paris, 1862, vol. ii. p. 354.