DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0093
Africa under the Caesars
5i
founders. It was at one time a soap factory, then converted into
a prison, and at a subsequent date did duty as a canteen.
Lastly, as a bit of irony that could not be exceeded, this temple
of the gods was converted into a parish church, and fitted up
for that purpose in the worst possible taste. Little wonder that,
after undergoing so many vicissitudes, a doubt has been ex-
pressed as to the name of the deity in whose honour this
sanctuary was founded ! But it is an interesting edifice, and,
like the triumphal arch of Caracalla, shows a departure from
the recognised proportions and treatment of a Classic order.
It stands on a podium, twelve feet high, and is approached by a
broad flight of stone steps. Originally there was an enclosing
wall, the space in front of the temple being about 80 feet and
at the sides 50 feet.
Like other large Roman towns, Theveste had a forum civile
and a forum venule. The former, according to Vitruvius, was
usually surrounded by public buildings, such as the basilica, the
curia, the mint, or the prison. At Theveste the open court on
the south of the basilica, measuring about 180 feet by 165 feet,
was undoubtedly the forum civile, but all traces of buildings at
the southern end have disappeared. The other forum was
probably removed by Solomon, on account of its obstructing
his lines of defence. It occupied the open space, now planted
with trees, in front of the modern citadel.
The beneficent rule of the aged Nerva, who succeeded the
last and worst of the twelve Csesars, was too short for the
display of any activity in the African provinces. But it was
marked by the establishment of a colony of veterans in a town
of old Numidia, which has retained to the present day its name
and prosperity. The ancient Sitifis (Setif), as Ptolemy the
geographer informs us, was an important mercantile town long
before the arrival of the Romans. Its admirable situation on
high table-land, 3,570 feet above the sea-level, in the midst of
fertile plains, with a soil capable of producing cereals and fruit
and oil in abundance, and at the junction of no less than nine
highways communicating with every part of the country, made
Sitifis a commercial centre at a very early period. The dis-
covery of more than 250 inscribed stones on the site of the old
town gives an insight into its long career of prosperity and the
lives of its inhabitants. The very few memorials of soldiers or
5i
founders. It was at one time a soap factory, then converted into
a prison, and at a subsequent date did duty as a canteen.
Lastly, as a bit of irony that could not be exceeded, this temple
of the gods was converted into a parish church, and fitted up
for that purpose in the worst possible taste. Little wonder that,
after undergoing so many vicissitudes, a doubt has been ex-
pressed as to the name of the deity in whose honour this
sanctuary was founded ! But it is an interesting edifice, and,
like the triumphal arch of Caracalla, shows a departure from
the recognised proportions and treatment of a Classic order.
It stands on a podium, twelve feet high, and is approached by a
broad flight of stone steps. Originally there was an enclosing
wall, the space in front of the temple being about 80 feet and
at the sides 50 feet.
Like other large Roman towns, Theveste had a forum civile
and a forum venule. The former, according to Vitruvius, was
usually surrounded by public buildings, such as the basilica, the
curia, the mint, or the prison. At Theveste the open court on
the south of the basilica, measuring about 180 feet by 165 feet,
was undoubtedly the forum civile, but all traces of buildings at
the southern end have disappeared. The other forum was
probably removed by Solomon, on account of its obstructing
his lines of defence. It occupied the open space, now planted
with trees, in front of the modern citadel.
The beneficent rule of the aged Nerva, who succeeded the
last and worst of the twelve Csesars, was too short for the
display of any activity in the African provinces. But it was
marked by the establishment of a colony of veterans in a town
of old Numidia, which has retained to the present day its name
and prosperity. The ancient Sitifis (Setif), as Ptolemy the
geographer informs us, was an important mercantile town long
before the arrival of the Romans. Its admirable situation on
high table-land, 3,570 feet above the sea-level, in the midst of
fertile plains, with a soil capable of producing cereals and fruit
and oil in abundance, and at the junction of no less than nine
highways communicating with every part of the country, made
Sitifis a commercial centre at a very early period. The dis-
covery of more than 250 inscribed stones on the site of the old
town gives an insight into its long career of prosperity and the
lives of its inhabitants. The very few memorials of soldiers or