Cirta
Coordinates: 36 ° 22 ′ 3 ″ N , 6 ° 36 ′ 43 ″ E
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Cirta was an ancient city in North Africa (now Constantine / Algeria ).
The picture shows the city (red circle) on a map of Numidia from the Atlas Antiquus of Heinrich Kiepert of the 1869th
location
Cirta was located in the same place as today's Constantine on an extensive limestone plateau that rises in the middle of a basin made of fertile marl rock . The city lay at 650 meters above sea level and was only accessible via a narrow ridge in the southwest. In the other cardinal directions, the steep slopes of the plateau drop down to 250 meters into the surrounding land. In addition, the rock is divided from south to west over a length of approx. 5 km by the gorge of the Ampsaga river, known today as Oued Rhumel . This location offered the residents of the time excellent protection from possible attackers. Due to its strategically excellent location, the place has always served the changing inhabitants ( Romans , Arabs , Turks or French ) as a natural fortress .
founding
The founding of Cirta probably goes back to the Numidians . However, the city got under way in the 3rd century BC at the latest. Under Phoenician influence. Therefore, there are also assumptions that connect the name of the settlement with the Phoenician word for city QRT and, based on this, see the Phoenicians as the actual founders.
Cirta, which may also have been called Carta, has a certain similarity in name to the name QRT (Qart - for city), which is used in many Punic city names, as in the following example for Carthage (no vowels were used to represent the writing; see consonant writing ):
 Q K |
 A A |
 R R |
 T T |
 H H |
A A |
 D G |
A O |
 Sh |
A. |
T |
However, the following inscription can be found on coins from Cirta:
 K |
 I. |
R. |
T |
A. |
 N |
- for Kirthan. |
A toponymic assessment of the finds shows the difference in the spelling. While the Phoenician term QRT begins with a letter called Koph , the word KRTN is written on the coins with a Kaph . Cirta is therefore probably not a Phoenician or Punic foundation.
history
Numidian rule
The first written mention of Cirta comes from the end of the third century BC (Titus Livius XXTX, 32). It was the capital of the Massesylian King Syphax , who ruled the western part of the Kingdom of Numidia from here and was considered the strongest ally of Carthage. In 203 BC He was defeated in the Battle of Cirta by his Massylian opponent Massinissa , who had allied himself with the Romans under Scipio Africanus against Carthage . Cirta then became the capital of the entire Numider Empire.
During his long reign and that of his successors, especially Micipsa (148-117 AD), Cirta gained more and more influence and wealth, not least due to the steadily growing exports of grain to the Roman Empire.
As Micipsa 118 BC Died, a dispute broke out between the heirs to the throne Jugurtha , Hiempsal and Adherbal , which subsequently led to the conquest of Cirta by Jugurtha. The Roman historian Sallust mentions that the city could not be conquered by force of arms ("neque propter naturam loci Cirtam armis expugnare poterat Jugurtha"), but had to be starved. Furthermore, this conflict led to the Jugurthin War . After the victory of Gaius Marius Western Numidia was annexed to Rome via Jugurtha in 105 BC The rest of the Numidic Empire was divided between Gauda , a half-brother of Jugurtha, and Bocchus of Mauritania .
Roman rule
In 46 BC After the victory of Caesar in the battle of Thapsus , the kingdom of the Numid king Juba I was smashed, as he was an ally of the defeated Pompey in the Roman civil war .
The eastern part of Numidia was added to the Africa nova province newly created by Caesar . The western part of d. H. the area around Cirta fell to the adventurer Publius Sittius , who distributed the land to his soldiers and established a Roman colony , the Colonia Cirta Sittianorum with Cirta as the capital.
From now on Numidia developed into Rome's granary and was considered one of the richest provinces of the Roman Empire. The prosperity gave rise to palaces and theaters everywhere. However, the plateau on which the original city was built did not offer enough space. Therefore, the surrounding heights, El Mansoura in the south and El Koudia in the west, were settled. Around the old Cirta a new outer city was built, which was connected to the old town by numerous bridges over the Oued Rhumel.
This bloom lasted until 311 AD, when Cirta was completely destroyed in the war between Emperor Maxentius and the governor of the province of Africa Domitius Alexander , who had proclaimed himself emperor. However, Emperor Constantine had the city rebuilt in 313 AD and named it Civitas Constantina Cirtensium .
After the fall of Rome
This is where the story of old Cirta ends. Constantina became an important center of the early Christian community at the beginning of the third century and, according to the historian Theodor Mommsen, was completely Christianized when the city was conquered by the Vandals in 430 AD and incorporated into the Vandal Empire.
This era ended with the Vandal War and the end of the Vandal Empire in 533 AD, after which it was part of the Byzantine Empire until 697 AD .
From the end of the 7th century the region was Islamized and Berber and Arab rulers ruled until the 16th century. In 1529 the region came under the control of the Ottoman Empire and the city was the seat of a Turkish governor .
On October 13, 1837, Constantine was captured by French troops. In the Second French Republic from 1848, the northern part of today's state of Algeria, divided into the departments of Algiers, Oran and Constantine, became part of mainland France . The city of Constantine was the capital of the Department de Constantine . Like the entire north of what is now Algeria, it was incorporated into the French customs area in 1851 and, politically and economically, into French territory in 1865.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Encyclopedic Berbère - Cirta : "Il est douteux que le nom de Cirta soit un mot d'origine phénicienne signifiant" ville ". Sur les monnaies de Cirta, à légend néo puniques et datées de la fin du iie siècle avant notre ère, on lit, en effet, KRTN (Kirthan) avec un kaph. Or le terme phénicien QRT (Qart) débute par un qoph (Mazard, Corpus, n ° 523-529). Il faut donc plutôt attribuer à ce nom une origine libyque. "
- ↑ Werner Huss : History of the Carthaginians (= Handbook of Classical Science . Department 3, Volume 8). CH Beck, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-406-30654-3 , p. 72. (online)
- ↑ a b Bernhard Schwarz: Algeria. Reprint of the original edition from 1881, TP Verone, Nicosia 2015, p. 174 ff. (Online)
- ↑ General View, Constantine, Algeria. World Digital Library , 1899, accessed September 25, 2013 .
- ^ Theodor Mommsen : Roman history . Volume 5: The Provinces from Caesar to Diocletian. Chapter "The African Provinces" (online)