DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0095
Africa under the Csesars
53
the name of Mauritania Sitifensis to the eastern portion, with
Sitifis for a capital, and retained the old name for the western
portion, with Csesarea for its capital as heretofore. But the
separation must have been more nominal than real, for the two
provinces had the same troops, and sometimes they were both
administered by the same governor. Sitifis suffered during the
insurrection of Firmus, the chief of a powerful Moorish tribe,
A.D. 369, and was partly destroyed by an earthquake, A.D. 419.
Like most of the cities and towns in North Africa, it fell a
victim to the Vandal and Arab invasions, but recovered its
position at a later period. In the Middle Ages it was still
prosperous, for El Bekri speaks of Sitifis as in a flourishing
condition and thickly populated. But in his time the city walls,
which had been noted for great solidity and thoroughly restored
during the Byzantine occupation, no longer existed.
The history of the rise, progress, and decline of a people is
generally divided into periods, sometimes dynastic, at other
times tribal or accidental. Roman history, after the fall of the
Republic, is divisible into several periods. We have the Empire
under the Csesars, including the Flavian epoch, which covers
twenty-seven years under the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and
Domitian. The line of the so-called twelve Caesars terminates
with Domitian, but Nero, as the last representative of the Julian
family, should be the sixth and last of the Csesars, his successors,
Galba and Otho, who preceded the Flavian family, being created
emperors for their services to the State, and not for dynastic or
family reasons. After the twelve Caesars we have the rule of
the Emperors Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian, all raised to the
purple for distinguished services, civil or military. Then came
the age of the Antonines under the imperial rule of Antoninus
Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, and Commodus. And
lastly a long line of emperors, selected sometimes on the score
of distinction in the Senate or on the field of battle, but
generally as nominees of party factions. This last period covers
more than 263 years, commencing with the death of Commodus
and terminating with the occupation of Carthage by Genseric,
A.D. 439, and the sacking of Rome, A.D. 455.
In the first chapter of this outline of North African history,
an attempt has been made to trace the causes which contributed
to the invasion of the country and its occupation by the Romans.
53
the name of Mauritania Sitifensis to the eastern portion, with
Sitifis for a capital, and retained the old name for the western
portion, with Csesarea for its capital as heretofore. But the
separation must have been more nominal than real, for the two
provinces had the same troops, and sometimes they were both
administered by the same governor. Sitifis suffered during the
insurrection of Firmus, the chief of a powerful Moorish tribe,
A.D. 369, and was partly destroyed by an earthquake, A.D. 419.
Like most of the cities and towns in North Africa, it fell a
victim to the Vandal and Arab invasions, but recovered its
position at a later period. In the Middle Ages it was still
prosperous, for El Bekri speaks of Sitifis as in a flourishing
condition and thickly populated. But in his time the city walls,
which had been noted for great solidity and thoroughly restored
during the Byzantine occupation, no longer existed.
The history of the rise, progress, and decline of a people is
generally divided into periods, sometimes dynastic, at other
times tribal or accidental. Roman history, after the fall of the
Republic, is divisible into several periods. We have the Empire
under the Csesars, including the Flavian epoch, which covers
twenty-seven years under the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and
Domitian. The line of the so-called twelve Caesars terminates
with Domitian, but Nero, as the last representative of the Julian
family, should be the sixth and last of the Csesars, his successors,
Galba and Otho, who preceded the Flavian family, being created
emperors for their services to the State, and not for dynastic or
family reasons. After the twelve Caesars we have the rule of
the Emperors Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian, all raised to the
purple for distinguished services, civil or military. Then came
the age of the Antonines under the imperial rule of Antoninus
Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Lucius Verus, and Commodus. And
lastly a long line of emperors, selected sometimes on the score
of distinction in the Senate or on the field of battle, but
generally as nominees of party factions. This last period covers
more than 263 years, commencing with the death of Commodus
and terminating with the occupation of Carthage by Genseric,
A.D. 439, and the sacking of Rome, A.D. 455.
In the first chapter of this outline of North African history,
an attempt has been made to trace the causes which contributed
to the invasion of the country and its occupation by the Romans.