Altava
Altava was a Roman fort in the province of Mauretania Caesariensis and became the capital of a small Roman Berber state after the invasion of the Vandals around 430 AD . The place is now in the area of the city of Ouled Mimoun in north-western Algeria , in the Tlemcen province .
history
After the Vandals founded their empire in the course of the Great Migration in 435/39 in the province of Africa (North Africa), not all Roman areas came under vandalism. Several regions in Mauritania and Numidia continued their Roman-Berber coexistence and survived the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 as remnants of Roman rule , similar to the areas of Julius Nepos in Dalmatia and Syagrius in Gaul. At the beginning of the 6th century, Altava became the residence of a king named Masuna , who had himself described on an inscription as "King of the Moors and Romans" ( rex gentium Maurorum et Romanorum ; see also Masties ).
When the Vandal Empire was smashed in 533 and Byzantine rule began in North Africa, small states were so well established in North Africa that the local rulers were unwilling to submit to the Byzantine emperor. This also applied to the Altava Empire. Presumably, uprisings were supported by Vandals and Byzantine soldiers under Stotzas from Altava. The last time the empire of Altava was mentioned in connection with a campaign by Gennadios, magister militum per Africam , who defeated Garmules , the ruler of Altava in 578 and possibly incorporated his small empire into the Byzantine Empire. It is also conceivable, however, that the Altava Empire lasted until the conquest by the Arabs around 700.
Altava has been a bishopric since late antiquity, and the titular bishopric of Altava goes back to this.
literature
- Jean Marcillet-Jaubert: Les inscriptions d'Altava. (= Annales de la Faculté des Lettres d'Aix NS 65) Ophrys, Aix-en-Provence 1969.
- Andy H. Merrills (Ed.): Vandals, Romans and Berbers. New Perspectives on Late Antique North Africa . Aldershot 2004.
Remarks
Coordinates: 34 ° 53 '11 " N , 1 ° 1' 29.2" W.
