DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0175
Africa under Hadrian
117
86 feet long, was paved with large flat stones. The spring
flowed under this area, the water passing into a basin of the
form of a double horseshoe, to which there was access by a
flight of steps at each end. Here commenced the conduits
which served to irrigate the adjacent land and to supply the
great aqueduct. This ruined structure, originally designed with
much care, has beauty of its own apart from its charming
position, and, like many other monumental remains in North
Africa, is a pleasant memorial of a great people long since
passed away. The columns are overthrown, the niches are
empty, and the carved capitals have been removed. They may
be found, as usual in this country, in some neighbouring mosque,
misapplied, wedged up to support a flimsy Arab roof and coated
with inevitable whitewash. Modern Tunis, it may be observed,
is still supplied with water from the same source, but through a
more prosaic channel than the stately duct which once led to
Roman Carthage.
Among other cities in North Africa favoured by the Emperor's
notice was Leptis Magna. An inscription on a block of marble
discovered by Hebenstreit in 1732 records his name in connec-
tion with an aqueduct to the city from the river Cinyphus, at
the expense of Q. Servilius Candidus.1 The date would be
A.D. 119 or 121.
IMP • CAES • DIVI • TRAIANI
PARTHICI • FIL • DIVI ■ NERVAE . NEPOTE ■ TRAIANO
HADRIANO ' AVG ■ PONT ■ MAX ■ TRIB • POT ■ • ■ COS III
Q ■ SERVILIVS • CANDIDVS • SVA
IMPENSA • AQVAM ■ QVAESITAM ■ ET ■ ELEVATAM
IN • COLONIAM • PERDVXIT
The comparative paucity of inscriptions in Roman Africa,
bearing the name of Hadrian, is somewhat remarkable. With
the exception of Septimius Severus, an African by birth, no
emperor devoted so much personal attention to the needs of
the Roman colonists, or strove by such peaceful methods to
attract the native populations to the ways of civilisation, as
Hadrian. And yet the records of his active career in Africa
are few, and monumental remains bearing his name are not
numerous. No period of the Empire was more favourable to
1 C.I.L. No. 11.
117
86 feet long, was paved with large flat stones. The spring
flowed under this area, the water passing into a basin of the
form of a double horseshoe, to which there was access by a
flight of steps at each end. Here commenced the conduits
which served to irrigate the adjacent land and to supply the
great aqueduct. This ruined structure, originally designed with
much care, has beauty of its own apart from its charming
position, and, like many other monumental remains in North
Africa, is a pleasant memorial of a great people long since
passed away. The columns are overthrown, the niches are
empty, and the carved capitals have been removed. They may
be found, as usual in this country, in some neighbouring mosque,
misapplied, wedged up to support a flimsy Arab roof and coated
with inevitable whitewash. Modern Tunis, it may be observed,
is still supplied with water from the same source, but through a
more prosaic channel than the stately duct which once led to
Roman Carthage.
Among other cities in North Africa favoured by the Emperor's
notice was Leptis Magna. An inscription on a block of marble
discovered by Hebenstreit in 1732 records his name in connec-
tion with an aqueduct to the city from the river Cinyphus, at
the expense of Q. Servilius Candidus.1 The date would be
A.D. 119 or 121.
IMP • CAES • DIVI • TRAIANI
PARTHICI • FIL • DIVI ■ NERVAE . NEPOTE ■ TRAIANO
HADRIANO ' AVG ■ PONT ■ MAX ■ TRIB • POT ■ • ■ COS III
Q ■ SERVILIVS • CANDIDVS • SVA
IMPENSA • AQVAM ■ QVAESITAM ■ ET ■ ELEVATAM
IN • COLONIAM • PERDVXIT
The comparative paucity of inscriptions in Roman Africa,
bearing the name of Hadrian, is somewhat remarkable. With
the exception of Septimius Severus, an African by birth, no
emperor devoted so much personal attention to the needs of
the Roman colonists, or strove by such peaceful methods to
attract the native populations to the ways of civilisation, as
Hadrian. And yet the records of his active career in Africa
are few, and monumental remains bearing his name are not
numerous. No period of the Empire was more favourable to
1 C.I.L. No. 11.