Cherchell شرشال | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 Cherchell's fountain place | |
 Location of Cherchell in theTipaza Province | |
  Cherchell | |
| Coordinates:36°36′27″N02°11′24″E / 36.60750°N 2.19000°E /36.60750; 2.19000 | |
| Country | Algeria |
| Province | Tipaza |
| District | Cherchell |
| Population (2008)[1] | |
• Total | 34,372 |
| Fort Joinville Lighthouse Cherchell   | |
 | |
| Coordinates | 36°36′41″N2°11′17″E / 36.61139°N 2.18806°E /36.61139; 2.18806 |
| Constructed | 1881[2] |
| Foundation | stone base |
| Construction | stone tower |
| Height | 28.60 metres (93.8 ft)[2] |
| Shape | cylindrical tower with balcony and lantern[4] |
| Markings | unpainted tower, black lantern |
| Operator | Office Nationale de Signalisation Maritime |
| Focal height | 40.10 metres (131.6 ft)[2] |
| Light source | main power |
| Intensity | 1,000 W[2] |
| Range | 25 nautical miles (46 km; 29 mi)[2] |
| Characteristic | Fl (2+1) W 15s.[3] |
Cherchell (Amazigh: ⵛⵔⵛⴰⵍ,Arabic: شرشال) is a town onAlgeria'sMediterranean coast, 89 kilometers (55 mi) west ofAlgiers. It is the seat ofCherchell District inTipaza Province. Under the namesIol andCaesarea, it was formerly aRoman colony and the capital of the kingdoms ofNumidia andMauretania.
The town was originally known by aPhoenician andPunic name that included the elementʾY (𐤀𐤉), meaning "island".[5][6] Yol is often attributed to the name of a local divinity of the sea as the word "Ilel /Yelel" in local etymology meaning sea inTamazight[7] This may have beenʾY-ḤOL,[clarification needed] meaning "Island of Sand".[8] The Punic name washellenized asIṑl (Greek language:Ἰὼλ)[9] andlatinized asIol. The modern name Cherchel and Cherchell areFrenchtranscriptions of the berber wordŠaršār (Achercher) to signify "Waterfall".[10]
The modern name may have derived from the town's oldLatin nameCaesarea (Greek language: ἡ Καισάρεια,hē Kaisáreia),[9][7] the name given by the rulerJuba II[11] to honor his benefactorAugustus,[12] who had legally borne the name "Gaius Julius Caesar" after hisposthumous adoption byJulius Caesar in 44 BC. It was later distinguished from themany other Roman towns named Caesarea by calling itCaesarea in Mauretania,Caesarea Mauretaniae[13] ("Mauretania's Caesarea"),Iol Caesarea[14] (Ἰὼλ Καισάρεια,Iṑl Kaisáreia),[9] orCaesarea Iol.[15][16] After its notional refounding as aRoman colony, it was formally namedColonia ClaudiaCaesariensium Iol after its imperial patronClaudius.[17]
Phoenicians established their first major wave ofcolonies on the coasts betweentheir homeland and theStrait of Gibraltar in the 8th century BC, but Iol was probably established around 600 BC[18] and the oldest remains so far discovered at Cherchell date from the 5th century BC.[19] By that time,Carthage had already taken control of the Phoenicians in thewestern Mediterranean. Punic Iol was one of the more important trading posts in what is now Algeria. In the 3rd century BC, it was fortified[19] and began issuingNumidia's firstcoins inbronze andsilver, bearingPunic text,Carthaginian gods, and images of local produce, particularly fish.[20]
After thePunic Wars, Carthage's holdings in northwest Africa were mostly given toRome's local allies. Iol was given toMicipsa, the king ofNumidia, who first established it as a royal court.[18] It became an important city for the kingdom and was the primary capital forBocchus I andII. The town minted its own coins and received new defensive works in the 1st century BC. Its Punic culture continued, but worship ofBaal Hammon was notionally substituted with worship ofhis Roman equivalentSaturn.[12]
Iol was annexed directly to Rome in 33 BC.[19]Augustus establishedJuba II as king ofMauretania in 25 BC, giving him the city as his capital, which Juba then renamed in his honor.[12] Juba and his wifeCleopatra (the daughter ofMark Antony andCleopatra ofEgypt) rebuilt the city on a lavish scale, combiningRoman andHellenizedEgyptian styles. The roads were relaid on a grid and amenities included atheater, an art gallery,[19] and alighthouse modeled after thePharos inAlexandria. He probably began the Roman wall that ran for about 7 kilometers (4 mi) around a space of about 400 hectares (988 acres); about 150 of that total was used for the settlement in antiquity.[17] The royal couple were buried in theRoyal Mausoleum of Mauretania. The seaport capital and its kingdom flourished during this period, with most of the population being of Greek and Phoenician origin with a minority of Berbers.
Their sonPtolemy was assassinated byCaligula during a trip toRome in AD 40. Rome proclaimed the annexation of Mauretania, which was resisted by Ptolemy's former slaveAedemon and byBerber leaders such asSabalus. Caligula himself was murdered before Rome's response could be made, but his successorClaudius sentlegions underGn. Hosidius Geta andG. Suetonius Paulinus to complete the conquest. By 44, most resistance had been ended and the former kingdom was divided into twoRoman provinces,one governed from Tingis (present-dayTangiers) and another governed from Caesarea.Mauretania Caesariensis extended along what is now the Algerian coast and included most of the hinterland as far as theAtlas Mountains.
Roman colonies of veteran soldiers were established in the new provinces to maintain order. Caesarea itself was made a colony, with its residents gainingRoman citizenship. It prospered as a provincial capital during the 1st and 2nd centuries, reaching a population of over 20,000[19] and possibly as many as 30,000.[21] It was defended byauxiliary units and was the harbor of Rome'sMauretanian Fleet,[17] which was established as a permanent force after Berber raids in the early 170s. The city featured ahippodrome,amphitheater, numeroustemples, and civic buildings like abasilica.[22] It was surrounded by suburbanvillas whose agriculturalmosaics are now celebrated.[19] It had its own school of philosophy, academy, and library.[citation needed] It received a newforum and further patronage from the African emperorSeptimius Severus andhis dynasty, possibly reaching as many as 100,000 inhabitants.[23][dubious –discuss] Its native sonMacrinus and his sonDiadumenian became the first Berber andlower-class emperors, reigning in 217 and 218. (Their predecessor's wastefulness and wars required unpopular financial adjustments that led to their overthrow in favor ofElagabalus.) Juba's theater was converted into an amphitheater sometime after the year 300.[17]
The city was sacked by a Berber revolt in 371 and 372. It largely recovered, but was ravaged again by theVandals after they were invited intoRoman North Africa byCount Boniface in 429. Parts of the town received new fortifications. After theVandal Kingdom conqueredCarthage in 439, they also acquired a large part of Rome's Mediterranean fleet which they used to carry out raids all over the sea. Caesarea's port was sometimes used as a base for these raiders, and the city prospered from their plunder. Its schools produced the famous grammarianPriscian, who emigrated to the Byzantine east.
In 533, theVandal Kingdomwas conquered byByzantine forces underJustinian's generalBelisarius. Caesarea was among the areas to return to imperial rule. It was the seat of Mauretania's duke (Latin:dux),[24] but it went into decline and its city center was given over to ramshackle housing for the poor.[19] The first duke was named John; that he was given an infantry unit rather than cavalry implies that he was meant to hold the port without much concern about controlling its surrounding hinterland.[24]
The town remained under Byzantine control untilits Muslim conquest in the late 7th century. Successive waves of Umayyad attacks into Byzantine North African territory over 15 years wore down the smaller and less motivated imperial forces, until finally Umayyad troops laid siege to the city of Caesarea and, although the defenders were resupplied by Byzantine fleets, finally overwhelmed it. Much of the Byzantine nobility and officials fled to other parts of the Empire, while most of the remaining Roman and semi-Roman Berber population accepted Islamic rule which granted them protected status.
Some remained Christians.[25] For two generations what remained of the Roman population and RomanizedBerbers launched several revolts often in conjunction with reinforcements from the Empire. As a result, by the ninth century down much of the city's defences were damaged beyond repair, and resulting in its political loss of importance, leaving the former city little more than a smallvillage.
For the following few centuries, the city remained a power center ofArabs and Berbers with a small but significant population ofChristians who were fully assimilated by the beginning of the Early Modern period. Similarly, by the 10th century the city's name had transformed in the local dialect from aLatin to a Berber and ultimately into the Arabised formSharshal (inFrenchorthography, Cherchell).
TheNorman Kingdom of Africa raided Berreshk, near Cherchell, in 1144.[26]
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Eventually, Ottoman Turks managed to successfully reconquer the city from Spanish occupation in the 16th century, using the city primarily as a fortified port. In 1520,Hayreddin Barbarossa captured the town and annexed the AlgerianPashalic. His elder brotherOruç Reis built a fort over the town. Under Turkish occupation, the city's importance as a port and fort led to it being inhabited by Moslems of many nationalities, some engaging in privateering and piracy on the Mediterranean.
In reply, European navies and especially theFrench Navy and theKnights Hospitaller (self-proclaimed descendants of the Crusaders) laid siege to the city and occasionally captured it for limited periods of time. For a century in the 1600s and for a brief period in the 1700s the city either was under Spanish or Hospitallar control. During this period a number of palaces were built, but the overwhelming edifice of Hayreddin Barbarossa's citadel, was considered too militarily valuable to destroy and uncover the previous ancient buildings of old Caesarea.
After the end of theNapoleonic Wars andRevolutions of the early 19th century, the French under both British, American, and other European powers were encouraged to attack and destroy the Barbary Pirates. From 1836 to 1840 various allied navies, but mostly French hunted down the Barbary pirates and conquered the Barbary ports while threatening the Ottoman Empire with war if it intervened. In 1840, the French after a significant siege captured and occupied the town. The Frenchlynched the Barbary Pirates including the localpasha forCrimes against the laws of nations.[citation needed]
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In turn, many ancient statues and buildings were either restored and left in Cherchell, or taken to museums inAlgiers or Paris, for further study. However, not all building projects were successful in uncovering and restoring the ancient town. The Roman amphitheatre was considered mostly unsalvageable and unnecessary to rebuild. Its dress stones were used to the build a new French fort and barracks. Materials from the Hippodrome were used to build a new church. The steps of the Hippodrome were partly destroyed by CardinalCharles Lavigerie in a search for the tomb of Saint Marciana.
French occupation also brought new European settlement, to join the city's long-established communities of semi-Arabized Christians of local origin and old European merchant families, in addition to Berbers and Arab Muslims. Under French rule, European and Christians became a majority of the population again until World War II.
In the immediate years before World War II, losses to the French national population from World War I, and a declining birthrate in general among Europeans kept further colonial settlement to a trickle. Arab and Berber populations started seeing an increase in growth. French-Algerian colonial officials and landowners encouraged larger numbers of surrounding Berber tribesmen to move into the surrounding region to work the farms and groves cheaply. In turn, more and more Berbers and Arabs moved into the city seeking employment. By 1930 the combined Berbo-Arab Algerian population represented nearly 40% of the city's population.
The changing demographics within the city were disguised by the large numbers of French military personnel based there and the numbers of European tourists visiting what had become known as theAlgerian Riviera. Additionally, during World War II, Cherchell, with its libraries, cafes, restaurants, and hotels served as a base for theUnited States Army andAllied War effort, hosting asummit conference between the US and UK in October 1942.
The end of the war with its departure of Allied forces and a reduction of French naval personnel due to rebasing saw an actual decline in Europeans living in the city. Additionally, the general austerity of the post-war years dried up the tourism industry and caused financial stagnation and losses to the local Franco-Algerian community. In 1952, a census recorded that the Frenco-Algerian population had declined to 50% of the population.
For the remaining 1950s, Cherchell was only slightly caught up by theAlgerian War of Independence. With its large proportion of Europeans, French control and influence was strong enough to discourage all but the most daring attacks by anti-French insurgents. By 1966, after independence from the French, Cherchell had lost nearly half of its population and all of its Franco-Algerian population.
Cherchell has continued to grow post-independence, recovering to peak colonial-era population by the 1980s. Cherchell currently has industries in marble, plaster quarries and iron mines. The town trades in oils, tobacco and earthenware. Additionally, the ancient cistern first developed by Juba and Cleopatra Selene II was restored and expanded under recent French rule and still supplies water to the town.
Although theAlgerian Riviera ended with the war, Cherchell is still a popular tourist place in Algeria. Cherchell has various splendid temples and monuments from thePunic, Numidian andRoman periods, and the works of art found there, including statues of Neptune and Venus, are now in theMuseum of Antiquities in Algiers. The former Roman port is no longer in commercial use and has been partly filled by alluvial deposits and has been affected by earthquakes. The former local mosque of the Hundred Columns contains 89 columns ofdiorite. This remarkable building now serves as a hospital. The local museum displays some of the finest ancient Greek and Roman antiquities found in Africa. Cherchell is the birthplace of writer and movie directorAssia Djebar.
| Year | Population[1] |
|---|---|
| 1901 | 9,000 |
| 1926 | 11,900 |
| 1931 | 12,700 |
| 1936 | 12,700 |
| 1954 | 16,900 |
| 1966 | 11,700 |
| 1987 | 18,700 |
| 1998 | 24,400 |
| 2015 | 30,000 |
Earthquakes, wars and plunder have ravaged many of the ancient remains.
The town (of Caesarea) remains insufficiently known....The town walls, studied in 1946, pose more problems; and the monuments are more often simply marked than completely known. The amphitheater, which has been excavated, remains unpublished; the very large hippodrome, which appears clearly on aerial photographs, is known only through old borings. The temples, which have been found on a spur of the mountain to the East of the central esplanade, on the edge of the route from Ténès to the West of the modern town, are too much destroyed to warrant publication even of plans. The baths along the edge of the sea, rather majestic, are also badly preserved. One would scarcely recognize several houses recently excavated. Grouped around peristyles with vast trichinia, they are readily adapted to the terrain and are constructed on terraces on the lower slopes or on the edge of cliffs with views over the sea. They often are preserved for us only in a late form—4th c. A.D.—and traces of the era of Juba are found only in the lower strata. The theater is an exception; still well preserved in 1840, it has since served as a quarry. It was set against the slope of the mountain. At the back of the scaena towards the N was a portico, covered over today by a street, where Gsell saw the S side of the forum. Of the rich scaenae frons there remain only traces and several statues, of which two are colossal muses. The orchestra had later undergone great modification which had resulted in the disappearance of the platform of the stage: an oval arena had been built, intended for hunting spectacles, and a wall was raised between the first row of seats and the cavea to protect spectators from the wild beasts. The sumptuously decorated monument is consequently very much mutilated, but is of interest specifically because of its complex history. The amphitheater, in the E part of the town, was erected in flat open country. It was not oval but rectangular, with the short sides rounded. The tiers of seats, for the most part missing, were carried on ramping vaults, and the arena floor was cut by two perpendicular passages intended for beasts. It is in this arena that St. Marciana was martyred.[27]
Some remains can be seen in the localArcheological Museum of Chercell-Caesarea.
Christianity arrived in Caesarea early enough to producemartyrs during theDiocletianic Persecution. For vandalizing anidol ofDiana,St Marciana was supposedly tortured and killed in Caesarea's arena, gored by abull and mauled by aleopard for the amusement of the crowd. St Theodota and her sons were also supposedly martyred in the city.[13]
Caesarea was abishopric from about 314 to 484, although not all of its bishops are known. Fortunatus took part in the314 Council of Arles, which condemnedDonatism. Clemens was mentioned in one ofSymmachus's letters and would have served in the 370s. During the411 synod at Carthage, Caesarea was represented by the Donatist Emeritus and the orthodox Deuterius.St Augustine accosted Emeritus at Caesarea in the autumn of 418 and secured his exile. Apocorius was an orthodox bishop whomHunericsummoned to Carthage in 484 and then exiled. An early 8th-centuryNotitia Episcopatuum still included this see.[28][29]
Caesarea was revived by theRoman Catholic Church as atitular see in the 19th century. It was distinguished as "Caesarea in Mauretania" in 1933.[30] Its bishops have included:
Capital:Tipaza | ||
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| Fort Joinville Lighthouse | |
