Ṭubna | |
  Shown within Algeria | |
| Alternative name | Tubunae, Thubunae |
|---|---|
| Location | Batna Province,Algeria |
| Coordinates | 35°20′54″N5°20′45″E / 35.34846°N 5.34584°E /35.34846; 5.34584[1] |
| Altitude | 457 m (1,499 ft)[1] |
| Type | Settlement |
Tobna (Ṭubna), also known by the ancient names ofTubunae orThubunae, is a ruined former city inBatna Province ofAlgeria, located just south of the modern city ofBarika. From this position, it once controlled the eastern part of theHodna region, whileM'Sila did the west. It flourished from the time of theRoman Empire through the Islamic Middle Ages until it was sacked and destroyed by theBanu Hilal in the 11th century, after which it was finally abandoned.[2]
Poorly documented by archaeologists today,[2][3] Tobna's ruins occupy an extensive area and include the remains of aByzantine fortress as well as the traces of a wall covering a 950 m by 930 m area.[2]
The site of Tobna is poorly studied by archaeologists as of 2019. The same is true of the surroundingHodna region in general.Jean Baradez's aerial surveys in Algeria, published in 1949, provided the first aerial images of the site. From this data, he worked on reconstructing the Roman road network surrounding the city. Only a single milestone appearing to mention Tobna by name has been found; it was located on the ancient road to Nicivibus (Ngaous) and carries the inscription "[a Thu]bonis". Reconstruction of the surrounding road network has mostly been deduced from the distances recorded on other milestones in the area as well as their locations.[3]
Roman Tubunae first became amunicipium underSeptimius Severus. In 427 CE,Count Boniface met withAugustine of Hippo during his stay in the city.[2]
InLate Antiquity, Tobna was the seat of a military district called thelimes Tubuniensis, which is listed in theNotitia Dignitatum as one of the sixteenpraepositi limitis under the jurisdiction of theComes of Africa and later a part ofByzantine North Africa. A fortress was built here during the reign ofJustinian.[3] This fortress has survived to the present day; it is moderately sized, located at a point somewhat higher than the surrounding plain. By the 680s, it had become a base for the Berber kingKasila, with the Byzantine officials acquiescing. Tobna had formerly been the seat of the Comes of Africa, but that office had fallen out of use by the mid-600s.[4]
Byzantine Tobna lay at the border of the provinces of Numidia and Mauretania Caesariensis (akaMauretania Sitifensis).[4] Later on, the Muslim historianAbu Bakr al-Maliki considered Tobna to be on the western limit ofIfriqiya.[3]
Tobna was an important city in the Islamic Middle Ages: the geographeral-Bakri called it the most important city of the Maghreb betweenKairouan andSijilmassa.[2][3] Al-Bakri described the city as being surrounded by a brick wall, with monumental gateways.[2] Tobna had five gates: to the west, the Bāb Khakān; to the east, the Bāb Fatḥ (with vents); to the south, the Bāb Tāhūdha (made of iron) and the Bāb al-Jadīd; and to the north, the Bāb Kurāma.[5] On the south side of the city was the fortress,[2] which featured vaulted chambers, a cistern dating to the Byzantine period, aJami mosque, and the governor's palace (dār al-'imāra).[5]
Inside the walls, the main street of Tobna ran east–west ("simaṭ", corresponding to the RomanDecumanus Maximus)[5] and was lined with shops and markets.[2] More markets lay outside the city walls in the extensive suburbs, of which the most important was to the west. There was also ahammam. Tobna had an eclectic population includingArabs,Persians serving in the army,Berbers, andRoman Africans who were mostly of Berber descent with some Roman ancestry.Ibn Hawqal and al-Bakri both remarked on the bitter rivalry between the Arabs and the Roman Africans in the city, with the Arabs seeking allies in the Arabs ofTahudha andSétif and the Roman Africans seeking allies in theBiskra region.[5]
Beyond the walls were extensive suburbs, a cemetery[2] (to the east),[5] and irrigated gardens and farms.[2] The city was irrigated by the waters of theOued Bitham; according to al-Bakri, "Every time it overflows, it waters all the gardens and fields in the suburbs and provides the inhabitants with abundant harvests."[5] Major crops includedwheat,barley,flax, andcotton. Orchards grewdates, among other fruits, and there wascattle andsheep breeding until the 10th century.[5]
For two centuries beginning c. 700 CE, Tobna was a major strategic center for Muslim rulers,[2] serving as capital of the Zab region.[5][6] It had a garrison (jund) and newly built walls, and it served as the mainpoint d'appui for campaigns against rebellious Berbers, including members of theKhawarij and, later, theKutama tribe. One military governor of Tobna,Ibrahim I ibn al-Aghlab, went on to found theAghlabid dynasty, which would rule Ifriqiya for a century.[2]
In 906 CE, during the final years of Aghlabid power, Tobna was besieged by the forces ofAbu Abdallah al-Shi'i, anIsma'ili missionary who had gathered a large following among the Kutama tribe. Tobna was fortified with structures dating back to theByzantine Empire, as well as a large Aghlabid garrison which defended itself withmangonels during the siege. Abu Abdallah's Kutama army sentsappers to the wall, protected by adabbāba (literally "crawler") orbattering ram with a protective roof. The sappers succeeded in collapsing one of the towers along the city wall, and the Kutama were able to enter the city through the breach. The defenders soon surrendered;Ibn Idhari recorded this as taking place at the end ofDhu al-Hijjah, 293 AH (905-906 CE).[7]
Tobna then became part of theFatimid Caliphate. TheZenata tribe to the west were enemies of the Fatimids, and in 927, in order to contain them, the Fatimids established a new regional capital further west, at Msila. Tobna thus lost much of its civic and military importance. Many of its inhabitants relocated west to Msila, and economic activity declined. The wars with the Zenata also hindered agricultural development.[5]
Under theZirid dynasty, Tobna had a Zenata governor namedFulful ibn Sa'id ibn Khazrun, who was appointed byal-Mansur ibn Buluggin in 992 and reconfirmed by his successorBadis ibn Mansur in 996. However, in 999, Fulful rebelled, and in retaliation, Badis pillaged the city. In 1017, a peace treaty between Badis's successor,al-Mu'izz, andHammad ibn Buluggin, al-Mansur's brother and founder of theHammadid dynasty, gave control of Tobna to the Hammadids, and Hammad's sonal-Qa'id was made its governor. Under Hammadid rule, Tobna briefly enjoyed a renewed prosperity.[5]
That ended during the mid-11th century, when theBanu Hilal invaded the region.Ibn Khaldun described the devastation they brought: after sacking and destroying both Tobna and Msila, the Banu Hilal attacked thecaravanserais, towns, villages, and farms, razing them completely to the ground.[2]
Tobna never recovered. While it was repopulated, it lost its importance in favor ofBiskra, and soon after it was abandoned altogether.[2]
There were two towns calledTubunae in the territory of what is nowAlgeria, when it was part of theRoman Empire. One is referred to asTubunae in Mauretania, because it was part of theRoman province ofMauretania Caesariensis. The other (the modern town of Tobna) is calledTubunae in Numidia, because it was situated in the Roman province ofNumidia. Writers such as Morcelli uses the spelling "Tubunae" for both of them,[8] but theCatholic Church's list oftitular sees refers to the second of them (corresponding to modern Tobna) asThubunae in Numidia.[9]
There it is even the possibility that both names are for the same settlement.
The names of none of the bishops of this town, which is mentioned byPtolemy, have been preserved. The see wasvacant whenHuneric summoned the North African bishops toCarthage in 484.[8]
It was to this town "in the depths of Numidia"[10] thatAugustine of Hippo andAlypius went, probably in 421, to meet the Roman official Boniface and exhort him "to serve the Church by protecting the empire from the barbarians".[11]
In 479Huneric exiled a large number of Catholics there. Its ruins, known as Tobna, are in the Department of Constantine,Algeria, at the gates of the Sahara, west of theChott el Hodna, the "Salinae Tubunenses" of the Romans. They are very extensive, for three successive towns occupied different sites, under the Romans, the Byzantines, and the Arabs. Besides the remains of the fortress, the most remarkable monument is a church now used as a mosque.[12]
Three bishops of Tubunae/Thubunae in Numidia are known. SaintNemesianus assisted at theCouncil of Carthage (256). Saint Cyprian often speaks of him in his letters, and one letter survives which he wrote to Cyprian in his own name and in the name of those who were condemned with him to the mines. An inscription testifies to his cult atTixter in 360, and theRoman Martyrology mentions him on 10 September. Another bishop wasCresconius, who usurped the see after quitting that ofBulla Regia, and who assisted at theCouncil of Carthage (411), where his rival was theDonatist Protasius. A third, Reparatus, was exiled by Huneric in 484.[8][12]
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Tubunae".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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