Lambaesis
Coordinates: 35 ° 29 ′ 10 ″ N , 6 ° 15 ′ 10 ″ E
Lambaesis is an ancient Roman site in what is now Algeria . Along with Timgad, which is only about 20 kilometers away, it was the most important Roman city in Numidia. Lambaesis is located near the modern Tazoult-Lambèse at the foot of the Aurès Mountains in northeast Algeria, 10 kilometers south of Batna on the road from Batna to Timgad.
On the site of two smaller camps from Flavian times, the large legionary camp of Legio III Augusta was established here and completed in AD 129. Lambaesis was the military capital of the Roman province of Africa .
Under Emperor Septimius Severus , the Municipium Lambaesis became the capital of the Province of Numidia . The city of Colonia became under Philip Arabs . Excavations revealed, among other things, a camp with a praetorium , barracks and amphitheater as well as a civil town with a capitol , temples and theater . In the late 3rd century the camp was abandoned.
Christianity gained importance from the 3rd century. A first bishop is mentioned in 256. The titular bishopric of Lambaesis is named after the diocese .
Attractions
The layout of the facility has largely been preserved. A monumental two-storey gate building measuring 23 x 36 meters was later converted into the headquarters building ( principia ) of the Legion. The entrance hall has been preserved, there is an amphitheater outside the complex.
literature
- René Cagnat : Lambèse. Lerous, Paris 1893 ( full text ).
- René Cagnat: Musée de Lambèse. Leroux, Paris 1895 ( full text ).
- Yvette Duval : Lambèse chrétienne, la gloire et l'oubli, de la Numidie romaine à l'Ifrîqiya. Institute d'Etudes Augustiniennes, Paris 1995, ISBN 2-85121-148-X .
- Werner Huss : Lambaesis. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 6, Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-476-01476-2 , Sp. 1076-1078 (with map).
- Marietta Horster : building inscriptions of Roman emperors . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-515-07951-3 , pp. 424-429 ( A: Civitas / Municipum / Colonia Lambaesis (Google) ).
- Christian Witschel : On the situation in Roman Africa during the 3rd century. In: Klaus-Peter Johne, Thomas Gerhardt, Udo Hartmann (eds.): Deleto paene imperio Romano. Transformation processes of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century and their reception in modern times . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-515-08941-1 , pp. 145–222, especially pp. 199–201 ( The South of Numidia (Google) ).
- Agnès Groslambert: Lambèse sous le Haut-Empire (Ier-IIIe siècles). You camp à la cité. Ed. CEROR, Lyon, Paris 2010, ISBN 978-2-904974-39-7 .
