Caesarea Mauretaniae

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Caesarea Mauretaniae (originally Iol or Jol, in modern times Cherchell ) was an ancient city ​​on the Mediterranean coast of present-day Algeria near the present-day city of Cherchell.

Overview

Caesarea Mauretaniae was originally named Iol by the Phoenicians in the 5th century BC. It was founded as a trading center as a trading center because there was an offshore island and a cheap natural harbor. During the 3rd century BC New defenses were built due to its strategic location, and in 33 BC new defenses were built. BC Rome annexed the area and placed it in the hands of the Nubian prince Juba II , who made the city a center of Hellenism in North Africa. Since 44 AD it was the capital of the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis ; under Claudius it received the right of a colonia . Christianity was also represented in Caesarea since the 2nd century . In late antiquity the city was a center of Donatism . Caesarea Mauretaniae was also the main base of the Mauritanian fleet ( Classis Mauretanica ) from the end of the 2nd century AD .

Kings Juba I. and Juba II.

In the Roman civil war between Caesar and Pompey , the Numidian king Juba I had sided with Pompey, and when he was 46 BC. Lost to Caesar at Thapsus , Juba I committed suicide. Emperor Augustus united the western part of Numidia with Mauritania and set his son Juba II. In 25 BC. Chr. There as a client king. The small, up to then rather insignificant trading post Iol was chosen as the residential town and renamed Caesarea Mauretaniae in honor of Augustus .

The city's infrastructure was created in quick succession - initially the streets. Juba made the city a typical Greco-Roman city, complete with street grid, a theater, an art collection and a lighthouse similar to the Pharos of Alexandria . The city is at the intersection of the coastal road (from Algiers, the ancient Icosium , to the west) and the trade route from the port directly inland to the south / south-east. With a 7 km long city ​​wall , Juba II had the city protected from external enemies. The wall can also be detected in sparse remains on the lake side and includes a chain of hills in the south.

For the water supply, a 45 km long aqueduct led from the interior of the country into the city, several large cisterns ensured the year-round supply of the city as well as several thermal baths . A theater, an amphitheater and a hippodrome / circus were used for entertainment and education .

Nothing is left of the palace, but finds of sculptures and architectural parts of exquisite quality indicate a location in the center of today's town near the central main square of the city, directly above the harbor. Gradually, several sanctuaries were founded - in addition to the usual ancient gods, a Cybele cult and an Isis sanctuary can be proven including a canopus with crocodiles and Egyptian statues. But also the usual cult for the Roman rulers was cultivated and temples of other deities were built. Some of these buildings are still in the cityscape today, at least clearly visible from the air, others were heavily built over, many are now in inaccessible military areas and one has to rely on earlier photographs.

The city under Ptolemy

Juba II ruled for almost 50 years and his son Ptolemy for another 15 years. During this time the city flourished. The good and safe harbor remained of great importance for centuries. From here, grain and wild animals were exported for the amphitheater of the Roman Empire and imported goods reached the interior of the country via the port. Caesarea became one of the largest and most important cities in North Africa (next to Alexandria and Leptis Magna ), with over 20,000 inhabitants the most important city in Africa after Carthage .

After the murder of Ptolemaeus by Caligula in AD 44, the former kingdom was divided into two provinces, Mauretania Tingitana in the west and Mauretania Caesariensis in the east, and Caesarea Mauretaniae became the capital of the latter and the official seat of the provincial curator. The city became a caput provinciae and a privileged colonia and received a veteran settlement under Claudius .

Late antiquity to modern times

Until late antiquity, the city remained an important and prosperous, rich port in the southwestern Mediterranean region. But then it was plundered and burned to the ground in 371 AD during religious wars ( Donatists ) after the attack by the Firmus . Approx. 60 years later, the Vandals took over the entire region for about 100 years before they were recaptured by Byzantine troops in 533/4, with Caesarea being elevated to the capital of the province of Mauretania secunda . A little later under the Ottomans , the place was gradually depopulated and became a rather insignificant small fishing village, which, however, was recorded on maps (as Sargel, Serseli, Cercelli and Shershel) due to the port.

Cherchell from 1840

The ruins of the historic city lie outside the present-day city of Cherchell. In 1840 the French captured Cherchell from the ruling Ottoman pirates and held the city until Algerian independence in 1966. During World War II , it served as a base for US troops, and in 1942 a secret Allied conference was held here.

Cherchell is located in the Tipasa province about 80 km west of the capital Algiers . It has about 48,056 inhabitants. The coastal strip there is extremely fertile, as the foothills of the Atlas Mountains rising in the south offer sufficient water.

Coordinates: 36 ° 36 '  N , 2 ° 12'  E

Sons of the city

literature

  • Jean Lassus :  Iol, later Caesarea (Cherchel) Algeria . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
  • Philippe Leveau , Jean-Louis Paillet: L'alimentation en eau de Caesarea de Maurétanie et l'aqueduc de Cherchel. Ed. L'Harmattan, Paris 1976.
  • Philippe Leveau: Caesarea de Maurétanie. Une ville romaine et ses campagnes. École française de Rome, Rome 1984 ( online ).
  • Christa Landwehr: The Roman sculptures of Caesarea Mauretaniae. Monuments made of stone and bronze. 4 volumes. Mann, Berlin / Zabern, Mainz 1993–2008
  • Christa Landwehr, Roman sculptures by Caesarea Mauretaniae I – IV , Berlin and Mainz, 1993–2008
  • Ortwin Dally : Archeology Worldwide, 6, 2, pp. 18-21. 55 f., 2018
  • Ortwin Dally, Ulla Kreilinger ; Algeria. National Museum Cherchell , in: Foreign Office (ed.), Kulturwelten. Foreign policy for cultural heritage (n.d., 2018) pp. 24–31
  • Ulla Kreilinger, N. Atif Hamza: Le Musée Public National de Cherchell ( The National Museum of Cherchell ), will be released in 2019

Web links

Commons : Cherchell  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Caesarea (North Africa). Retrieved September 4, 2019 .
  2. ^ Jean-Claude Golvin, Philippe Leveau: L'amphithéâtre et le théâtre-amphithéâtre de Cherchel: Monuments à spectacles et histoire urbaine à Caesarea de Maurétanie . In: Mélanges de l'école française de Rome . tape 91 , no. 2 , 1979, p. 817–843 , doi : 10.3406 / mefr.1979.1213 ( persee.fr [accessed September 4, 2019]).
  3. ↑ CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Caesarea Mauretaniae. Retrieved September 4, 2019 .
  4. ↑ World War II Plus 55 - November 8, 1942. June 5, 2009, accessed September 4, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Cherchell, Cherchell, Tipaza, Algeria - cities and villages of the world. Retrieved September 4, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Birgit Agada, Adolf Schuster: Algeria: Culture and nature between the Mediterranean and the Sahara . Trescher Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-89794-155-7 ( google.de [accessed September 4, 2019]).