.jpg) A coin with the Punic name of Icosium | |
  Icosium Shown within Algeria | |
| Location | Algeria |
|---|---|
| Region | Algiers Province |
| Coordinates | 36°46′35″N3°03′31″E / 36.7763°N 3.0585°E /36.7763; 3.0585 |
Icosium (Punic:ʾY KSM, "Island of the Owls";Ancient Greek:Ἰκόσιον,Ikósion) was aPhoenician andPunic settlement[1] in modern-dayAlgeria. It was part ofNumidia and later became an importantRomancolony[2] and an early medieval bishopric (now a Latintitular see) in thecasbah area of modernAlgiers.[3]
A 'Roman veterans' colony was founded at Icosium during the reign of Juba II (Plin. HN 3,19; 5,20). Under Vespasian, the city became a "Colonia Latina" (CIL VIII Suppl. 3, 20853).Brills N.P.[4]
The history of Icosium goes back to around 400 BC when a small Berber village was created by some local fishermen. Only when 3000 Roman veterans settled there as colonists during the times ofAugustus, Icosium grew in importance.
Icosium's Greek nameIkósion was later explained as deriving from the Greek word for "twenty" (εἴκοσι,eíkosi),supposedly because it had been founded by twenty companions ofHeracles when he visited theAtlas Mountains duringhis labors.[5]
However, the berber settlement was also occupied by somePunic settlers from at least as early as the 3rd century BC. They called ity-ksm orʾy-ksm,[1] which is believed to have meant "seagull's island", and which was eventually transcribed asIcosium in Latin.[5] The original Punic name is reflected in the modern Arabic name for Algiers (Arabic:الجزائر, pronouncedAl Jaza'ir), which means "the islands".[6][7][8][9]
In 146 BC, Icosium became part of theRoman Empire.[10]Tacfarinas's revolt damaged the city, but Icosium was revived by the introduction of a colony of veteran Roman soldiers during the reign ofJuba II.[11] The city was given Latin rights (colonia Latina) by the emperorVespasian.[12][13] Roman Icosium existed on what was the "marine quarter" of the city of Algiers until 1940.[14] The Rue de la Marine followed the lines of what used to be a Roman street,[15] and a ruined aqueduct was visible by Algiers's "Gate of Victory" as late as 1845.[16] Roman cemeteries existed nearBab-el-Oued andBab Azoun.[17] Under the Romans, there were also other settlements nearby on the banks of the Haratob (the classical Savus).[18]
Many Roman colonists settled in Icosium underAugustus and -after was promoted toRoman colonia byVespasian- thelatin was the language spoken in the city in the first century AD. The city -of nearly 15000 inhabitants, according to historianTheodore Mommsen- was given full Latin rights byRoman emperor Vespasian.
By the 2nd century, an influx of Berbers from the countryside changed the settlement's demographics, so that Latin-speakers became a minority elite.
Algiers presents but few Roman remains; and it is still uncertain what name it bore under Latin sway, some thinking it "Icosium", and others Jomnium. Mr. Blofeld says that there are Roman ruins on the banks of the Savus (Haratob), south-east of Algiers; and he thinks this more probably the site of Icosium than Algiers. Mr. Berbrugger mentions the remains of a Roman via, Rue de la Marine, near the port of the capital, which he thinks must have corresponded in most respects with the old Moorish harbour before 1830. Mr. S. Marie informs us that at the quarter of the Gate of Victory, in the old town, there stood on one side of the gate, in 1845, a fountain of white marble, constructed among the ruins of a Roman aqueduct. — John Reynell Morell
Christianity started to be practiced in the late 2nd century, and in the early 4th century was the main religion of the localRomanised Berbers in the city. The bishops of Icosium are mentioned as late as the 5th century.[19] At the Christian council of Carthage in AD 419 (promoted bySaint Aurelius) went the bishop Laurentius "Icositanus", as representative of Mauretania Caesariensis:Saint Augustine wrote about him in a letter toPope Celestine I.[20]
Icosium remained part of the Roman Empire until it was conquered byVandals in 430. In 442, an agreement between the Roman Empire and the Vandals allowed Icosium to be occupied by the Romans during the Vandal control of northernMauretania Caesariensis. Someberber tribes took control of the city at the beginning of the 6th century, but the town was later reconquered by theByzantine Empire. This happened just before the Arab conquest in the late 7th century.
Icosium was then destroyed by the Arabs and reduced to a very small village in the 8th century. Most of the romanized inhabitants were killed or sent as slaves toDamascus. However this claim is not supported by strong historical evidence. Until 950, only ruins remained of the Roman Icosium.
The Roman town stretched out along the coast with the hill behind it. It was protected by a rampart with towers. Parts survive today in several places...the fortifications enclosed part of the modern kasbah to the SW and the Bab-el-Oued district (of Algiers) to the NE. They extended as far as the former Bresson square to the SE. Outside, villas surrounded by gardens were located on the coastal plain and, more often, on the sides of the hills. The villas have produced sculptures: two female heads, a statue of Pomona, another statue of a female deity, a head of the emperor Hadrian; all are in the Algiers Museum. Inside the lower town, which was densely populated, a network of streets at right angles to each other formed insulae. Their plan can often be traced in the modern urban grid. The decumanus maximus followed the modern Bab-Azoun street...Of the monuments discovered or noted inside the town, the public baths are of particular importance. Four cisterns placed side by side and two ornamental mosaics indicate that a first bath building was under the old cathedral. A second was located under the former church of Notre Dame des Victoires. A third has been discovered in the suburbs to the SE, near the Jardin d'Essai. According to the inscription (CIL VIII, 9256), a mithraeum no doubt existed. No church is known, but t capitals and a fenestella confessionis (at the Algiers Museum) indicate the presence of an edifice for Christian worship.
— M. Leglay
Only in the 10th century started to be again developed byBuluggin ibn Ziri, aBerber who founded Algiers under theZirid dynasty, to what is now the capital of modern Algeria. Indeed, theCasbah of Algiers (aUNESCO world heritage site) is founded mainly on the ruins of old Icosium. It is a mid-sized city which, built on a hill, goes down towards the sea and is divided in two: the High city and the Low city, that now are dangerously crumbling[21]
Around 400, adiocese of Icosium was established underRoman rule, which was suppressed around 500, presumably by theArianVandals. In 1700, the diocese was nominally restored astitular bishopric of Icosium (Italian:Icosio). On 10 August 1838 the titular see ceased to exist as the residential diocese was restored under the city's modern name asRoman Catholic Diocese of Algiers, which was promoted on 25 July 1866 as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Algiers.
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Threebishops are known fromantiquity:
The titular bishops, all of the episcopal (lowest) rank, were:
Romano-Berber cities in Roman North Africa | ||
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