1.jpg) Detail ofTriumph ofNeptune andAmphitrite (c. 315-325), a vast Roman mosaic from Cirta. Now in theLouvre | |
  Cirta Shown within Algeria | |
| Location | Algeria |
|---|---|
| Region | Constantine Province |
| Coordinates | 36°22′03″N6°36′43″E / 36.3675°N 6.611944°E /36.3675; 6.611944 |
Cirta, also known byvarious other names inantiquity, was the ancientBerber andRoman settlement which later becameConstantine,Algeria.
Cirta was the capital city of theBerber kingdom ofNumidia; its strategically important port city wasRussicada. Although Numidia was a key ally of the ancientRoman Republic during thePunic Wars (264–146 BC), Cirta was subject to Roman invasions during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. Eventually it fell under Roman dominion during the time ofJulius Caesar. Cirta was then repopulated with Roman colonists by Caesar andAugustus and was surrounded by the autonomous territory of a "Confederation of Four Free Roman cities" (withChullu,Russicada, andMilevum),[1] ruled initially byPublius Sittius. The city was destroyed in the beginning of the 4th century and was rebuilt by the Roman emperorConstantine the Great, who gave his name to the newly constructed city,Constantine. TheVandals damaged the city, but EmperorJustinian I reconquered and improved it. It declined in importance after theMuslim invasions, but a small community continued at the site for several centuries. Its ruins are now an archaeological site.
A number of significant archaeological finds have been found in the area, including a large corpus ofPunic inscriptions, known as theCirta steles.
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The town'sPunic namekrṭn[2][3] (𐤊𐤓𐤈𐤍, probably pronounced "Kirthan",[4] with ahard, breathy/tʰ/ sound) is probablynot the Punic word meaning "town", which was written with a Q (i.e.,qoph) rather than a K (kaph).[5] Instead, it is likely a Punic transcription of an existingBerber placename.[4] This was laterLatinized as Cirta. UnderJulius Caesar, the Sittian settlement was known asRespublica IIII Coloniarum Cirtensium;[6]Pliny also knew it asCirta Sittianorum ("Cirta of the Sittians").[7] UnderAugustus, in 27 or 30 BC, its official name wasColonia Julia Juvenalis Honoris et Virtutis Cirta;[8] this was sometimes reduced toCirta Julia ("Julian Cirta"),[9] 'Colonia Cirta or simplyCirta.[8] This name was rendered asAncient Greek:Κίρτα,romanized: Kírta by the historiansDiodorus Siculus,Polybius,Appian,Cassius Dio, andProcopius and by the geographersPtolemy andStrabo.[10]
After its refounding asConstantina (Latin:Civitas Constantina Cirtensium) byConstantine the Great after AD 312, Cirta became known asConstantine.[11] Following itsMuslim conquest, it was known asQusantina.
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Cirta was the capital of theBerber kingdom ofNumidia, an important political, economic, and military site west of themercantile empire run by thePhoenician settlement ofCarthage to its east.
During thesecond of Rome's wars against Carthage, the 203 BCBattle of Cirta was a decisive victory forScipio Africanus. The kingdom remained an independent Roman ally following the destruction of Carthage in theThird Punic War, but Roman commercial influence and political involvement grew.[13]
WhenKing Micipsa died in 118 BC, a civil war broke out between the king's natural sonAdherbal and his adoptive sonJugurtha. Adherbal appealed for Roman help and asenatorial commission brokered a seemingly successful division of the kingdom between the two heirs. Jugurtha followed this mediation, however, by besieging Cirta and killing both Adherbal and the Romans who defended him. Rome then prosecuted theJugurthine War against his reunited Numidian state[13] to assert their hegemony over the region[citation needed] and to secure the protection of itscitizens abroad.
As Cirta rebuilt in the 1st century BC, its population was quite diverse: nativeNumidians alongsideCarthaginian refugees and Greek, Roman, and Italian merchants, bankers,[14] settlers, and army veterans.[15] This expatriate community made it an important business hub of Rome's African holdings, even while it remained technically outside the lands of theRoman Republic.[14]
Cirta fell under direct Roman rule in 46 BC, followingJulius Caesar's conquest of North Africa.[16]P. Sittius Nucerinus was chosen by Caesar toromanize the locals.[17] His men, the "Sittians" (Sittiani), wereCampanian legionaries who controlled Cirta's lands on Rome's behalf.[6]
Together with the colonies atRusicade,Milevum, andChullu, their Cirta formed an autonomous territory within"New Africa": theConfederatio Cirtense. Its magistrates and municipal assembly were those of the confederation. Cirta administered fortifications (castella) in the High Plains and at the north end of the colonies: Castellum Mastarense, Elephantum,Tidditanorum, Cletianis,Thibilis, Sigus, and others.
In 27 and 26 BC,[17] the area's administration was restructured underAugustus, who split Cirta intocommunities (Latin:pagi) separating the Numidians from the Sittiani and other newly settled Romans.[18]
With the expansion of theRoman limes, this colony at Cirta was at the center of the most Romanized area ofRoman Africa. It was protected by theFossatum Africae stretching fromSitifis andIcosium (present-day Algiers) toCapsa on theGulf of Gabès.Robin Daniel estimates that by the end of the 2nd century, Cirta had nearly 50,000 inhabitants.[19]
Cirta in 303 AD was the administrative capital of the newly createdNumidia Cirtense, a small province -named from Cirta- made by emperorDiocletian in Roman Numidia in the last years of the third century.[20] Numidia was divided in two: Numidia Cirtensis (or Cirtense), with capital at Cirta, and Numidia Militiana ("Military Numidia"), with capital at the legionary base ofLambaesis.
The newly created province was enlarged in 310 AD by the emperor Constantine.
Christianity arrived early on: while little remains of African Christianity before AD 200, records ofChristians martyred at Cirta existed by the mid-3rd century.[21] It became the chief town of an ecclesiastical district.[clarification needed] Around 305, theFirst Council of Cirta was held to elect a new bishop, accidentally precipitating theDonatist movement. After the dissolution of its confederation of colonies in the 4th century, Cirta recovered its role as a capital when it headed the territory ofNumidia Cirtensis created underDiocletian: however, after some decades, EmperorConstantine the Great reunited the two provinces created in 303 (Cirtensis & Militiana) in a single one, administered from Cirta, which was renamedConstantina(modern Constantine).
Indeed, the city was destroyed after a siege byRufius Volusianus, thepraefectus praetorio of theaugustusMaxentius; Maxentius's forces defeated the imperial claimantDomitius Alexander in 310.[11]Constantine the Great rebuilt under his own name after 312 and his own victory over Maxentius in theBattle of the Milvian Bridge.[11] Constantine made Constantina the capital of all Roman Numidia.[22] In 320 the bishop of Cirta was accused of having handed over (Latin:traditio) Christian texts to the authorities during theDiocletianic Persecution, which had begun in 303 in Cirta.[23] The bishop Silvanus was aDonatist and was prosecuted in December 320 byDomitius Zenophilus, theconsularis andproconsul ofAfrica; the records of the proceedings (commentarii) are preserved in the Latin:Gesta apud Zenophilum,lit. 'Deeds of Zenophilus', a text collected in theOptatan Appendix.[23][11][24] A cave for the practice ofMithraism also existed in the 4th century.[11]
In 412, Cirta was host to theSecond Council of Cirta, overseen bySt Augustine. According toMommsen, Cirta was fullyLatin-speaking andChristian by the time theVandals arrived in AD 430.[25]
Under the emperorJustinian I, the city walls were reinforced and the city was named capital of its region with a resident commander (dux). Cirta was part of theByzantine Africa from 534 to 697.
During theMuslim conquest of the Maghreb, Constantine was unsuccessfully defended by the Berber queenKahina.[citation needed] Although many Roman, Byzantine, and Vandal cities were destroyed during the expansion of theCaliphate, Constantine survived in reduced form[26] with a small Christian community as late as the 10th century. The town's further development is detailed under the articleConstantine.
The bishopric of Cirta was venerable and prominent in the African church. Several of its bishops are known:
Today the town of Constantine is again the seat of adiocese.[32]
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Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Diocese of Constantine (Cirta)".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.36°22′03″N6°36′43″E / 36.36750°N 6.61194°E /36.36750; 6.61194
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