Babba Iulia Campestris
Babba Iulia campestris ( Greek Βάβα or Βάβαι ) is the traditional name in several ancient sources of the Roman Emperor Augustus in honor of the Julier (that ultimately Caesars ) established veterans colony in Mauritania . Coins from the town originally called Babba were given the abbreviation “C. C. I. B. " (colonia Campestris Iulia Babba) .
location
The exact geographical location of the city, 40 Roman miles from Lixus according to ancient sources , has not yet been clarified. Archaeologists and historians locate it in western Morocco between the ancient Tingis ( Tangier ) and the Loukos river . Today's Sidi Slimane , located significantly further south between Kénitra and Sidi Kacem , has also been mentioned several times , but no archaeological finds have been made there.
history
Like Banasa , the colony was probably founded around 30 BC. Founded by Augustus. According to Leo Africanus , however, it was founded around 40 AD by Emperor Claudius . The city seems to have been abandoned a century after its foundation at the latest. Perhaps the colonists have moved to the also newly founded Oppidum Novum , which is identified with today's Ksar-el-Kebir .
literature
- Hermann Dessau : Babba . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 2, Stuttgart 1896, Col. 2653 f.
- René Rebuffat : Les ereurs de Pline et la position de Babba Iulia Campestris. In: Antiquités Africaines , 1, 1967, pp. 31–57.
- Maurice Euzennat : Babba Iulia Campestris . in: The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Stillwell, Princeton 1976.