| Provincia Byzacena ἐπαρχία Βυζακινῆς | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Province of theLate Roman Empire -Byzantine Empire | |||||||||||||
| 293–439 534–698 | |||||||||||||
 Map of Roman Africa and Egypt; Byzacena shown in top right. | |||||||||||||
 The Province of Byzacena, showing its territorial extent, capital and major cities. | |||||||||||||
| Capital | Hadrumetum | ||||||||||||
| Historical era | Late Antiquity -Early Middle Ages | ||||||||||||
• Division byDiocletian | c. 293 | ||||||||||||
| 439 | |||||||||||||
• Byzantine reconquest byVandalic War | 534 | ||||||||||||
• Reorganization into theExarchate | 591 | ||||||||||||
| 698 | |||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Today part of | Tunisia | ||||||||||||
Byzacena (orByzacium) (Ancient Greek:Βυζάκιον,Byzakion)[1] was a LateRoman province in the central part ofRoman North Africa, which is now roughlyTunisia, split off fromAfrica Proconsularis.
At the end of the 3rd century AD, the Roman emperorDiocletian divided the great Roman province ofAfrica Proconsularis into three smaller provinces: Zeugitana in the north, still governed by aproconsul and referred to as Proconsularis; Byzacena to its adjacent south, andTripolitania to its adjacent south, roughly corresponding to southeastTunisia and northwestLibya. Byzacena corresponded roughly to eastern Tunisia or the modern Tunisian region ofSahel.
Hadrumetum (modernSousse) became the capital of the newly made province, whose governor had the rank ofconsularis. At this period the Metropolitan Archbishopric of Byzacena was, after the great metropolisCarthage, the most important city in Roman (North) Africa west ofEgypt and itsPatriarch of Alexandria.
Ancient episcopal sees of Byzacena listed in theAnnuario Pontificio astitular sees:[2]
