Chapter XIII: Tebessa — Return to Constantine

The last of the Roman cities on the northern slopes of the Aures was Theveste, the modern Tebessa. Bruce has erroneously identified it as _Tipasa_, which is certainly the modern _Tifesh_, much further to the north. He visited it on two occasions, in going to and returning from Constantine. His remarks are very concise; they are as follows:—

November 21, 1765. Arrived at Tipasa, which is situated in a plain about eight miles broad from E. to W., surrounded on every side by bare mountains, except on the N., by which lies the road to Constantina. The plain is cultivated, and is the property of the Hanneisha.

Here is a most extensive scene of ruins. There is a large temple and a four-faced triumphal arch of the Corinthian order in the very best taste, the drawings of which are now in the collection of the King.

The Hanencha is a once powerful confederation, which governed an immense extent of country along the frontier of Tunis from La Calle to the desert. The name is derived from that of the first Arab chief Hanach ben Abdulla es-Sanani, a native of Sanäa in Arabia Felix. Their principal stronghold, Geläat-es-Senan, also bears the name of his birthplace. Since the French conquest this tribe has lost its former greatness, but a Kaid of the Hanencha still exists at Souk Ahras, and governs a fraction of the old tribal territory.

The subsequent entry is—

December 16, at Tebessa, the ruins extend about five miles east of the town; nothing now existing but a castle of modern date, built of old materials, and the remains of an area of a temple near the river.

This is evidently intended to be supplementary to his former note; he means that nothing remained _to the east of the town_, save the ruins of a Byzantine fortress, and what he believed to have been the area of a temple, but which has since been excavated, and proves to be a great basilica.

His illustrations consist of three sheets—

1. An Indian-ink perspective view of the Temple of Jupiter, roughly but boldly executed (Plate VIII.)

2. One double sheet containing a pencil sketch of the triumphal arch of Caracalla, with details and measurements (Plate IX.)

3. An Indian-ink perspective view of one face only of the same building.

Theveste must have been a very important town of Numidia, but it is only mentioned by later writers, and not alluded to by Strabo, Pliny or Sallust. It was probably founded immediately after the Jewish War, A.D. 71. And M. Léon Renier thinks that an inscription found in the forum, and containing the letters[88]

. . . . NO AVG

. . . . P.P COS. V

AVG . . . . . .

must have been in honour of Vespasian, and his son Titus. If it did exist at this period, it was probably a purely military post.

It very speedily rose into importance on account of its situation at the junction of the roads to Carthage, Cirta, Hippone, Lambessa and Tacape (mod. _Gabes_). It was probably also an _entrepôt_ for the commerce of Central Africa, as well as for the produce of the country.

Christianity was introduced into Carthage about A.D. 150, and Theveste was probably one of the first places to follow the example of the African metropolis. Four bishops are recorded as having ruled over the church here, of whom the first assisted at the Council of Carthage, presided over by St. Cyprian. Their names are-

A.D.

Lucius 255

Romulus 349

Urbicus 411

Felix 484

St. Maximilian and St. Crispin suffered martyrdom at Theveste, the former under the pro-consulate of Dion, the latter under Diocletian. St. Optatus records that a Donatist council assembled here in A.D. 350.[89]

The commencement of the second century was its period of greatest splendour, and it is from this time that we must date the construction of its finest monuments. It must have fallen into ruin during the Vandal occupation, and disappeared from history until restored by the Byzantine armies. Solomon was the second founder of Theveste, which he fortified, as he did many other cities in various parts of Africa. He enclosed it within ramparts and towers, the trace of which exists to the present day, while the citadel is as imposing as when built thirteen centuries ago. Here it was that Solomon himself was slain, after having for four years bravely withstood the constant insurrections which followed the departure of Belisarius from Africa.

A Byzantine inscription, built into one of the openings of the triumphal arch, has thus been completed by M. Renier:—

✠Nuto divino feliciss_imis_ temporib_us_

piissimor_um_ dominor_um_

nostror_um_ Justiniani et Theodorae

Aug_ustorum_ post abscisos ex Africa

Vandalos extinctamque par Solomonem

gloriosiss_imo_ magistro militum ex

consult_e_ Praefect_o_ Libyae ac patricio

universam Maurusiam gentem

provi_dentia_ ej_us_dem aeminentissimi

viri Theveste _civitas_ a _f_undamen_tis_

aedificata est.[90]

This is the only inscription found in Africa making any direct allusion to the expulsion of the Vandals. Then came the Arab invasion, which destroyed the last trace of Greek supremacy, and converted Mauritania and Numidia to the religion of El-Islam. During the Mohammedan domination Tebessa partook of the vicissitudes of the dynasties, which at various times held the district, and finally submitted to a French column under General Randon in 1842, although it was not until 1851 that it was permanently occupied.

Tebessa is built in one of the most advantageous positions which it is possible to conceive, about eleven miles from the Tunisian frontier. It is situated to the north of the mountains of Bou Rouman, which enclose the basin of the Oued Chabrou, an affluent of the Oued Meskiana. It has an abundant water supply and is surrounded by most beautiful gardens. In front is an immense plain watered by numerous streams flowing into the Oued Chabrou, which winds along the bottom of the valley.

The modern town is contained within the walls of the Byzantine citadel, which however occupies but a small portion of the ancient city. Its high walls flanked with towers are still in a tolerably good state of preservation, and are evidently built of still older materials.[91]

The French have repaired the walls of Solomon’s citadel, now the outer line of fortification, and have added a modern Kasba containing barracks and other subsidiary military buildings, which latter serves as the present citadel.

It is almost square in form, the perimeter being about 1,170 yards in extent; the walls are built of large cut stones, and it is strengthened by fourteen square towers, four of which are at the angles, and the rest irregularly distributed between them. The height of the walls varies from sixteen to thirty-three feet, that of the towers from thirty to forty, and the thickness of the masonry from six to eight feet. It has three gates, the _Bab el-Kedim_, or old gate, formed by the arch of Caracalla; the _Bab el-Djedid_, or new gate, sometimes called that of Solomon; and the _Bab el-Kasba_, or gate of the citadel, which forms the entrance to the new quarter occupied by the troops.

The Temple of Jupiter (Plate VIII.), situated within the present _enceinte_, is of the Corinthian order, forty-five feet nine inches long, including the pronaos, by twenty-six feet three inches broad. The material of the main building is compact limestone. Each side is strengthened by four pilasters, and in front is the portico supported by six monolithic columns of marble, four of which are in front. It is raised on a basement or podium twelve feet high, in which are three vaults now filled up, and access to the temple is attained by a handsome flight of cut stone steps.

The entablature is not of a regular form, the architrave and frieze forming one height; over the columns and pilasters are panels ornamented by _bucranes_ or ox skulls. The intermediate spaces are occupied by panels highly sculptured. This is immediately crowned by the cornice, above which is a highly ornamented attic, now about equal in height to the entablature. No doubt, it had a cornice, which has disappeared. In the panels between the _bucranes_ are eagles holding thunderbolts, on either side of which are serpents and branches with trilobate leaves. On the attic, the vertical panels over the columns and pilasters have trophies of armour, and the oblong ones alternately garlands and double horns of plenty.

The attic on the front has no sculpture, and this was doubtless intended to receive marble slabs with a dedicatory inscription. The soffits between the columns are everywhere richly decorated, and between the two central columns is the head of Jupiter Tonans. It was originally surrounded by an enclosure wall, the gate of which now actually serves as the front door of the mosque opposite.

This building has been put to many uses since the French occupation; at first it was a soap manufactory; then the _Bureau du Génie_; subsequently a prison, and a canteen: and finally it was converted into the parish church, a dome being added, a bell perched on the top, and the interior supplied with ecclesiastical fittings in the worst style of the _génie militaire_. Happily the dome fell in, and the building is now unused for any purpose; it is greatly to be desired that the hideous modern additions may be removed, and the temple restored to its original beauty.

J. LEITCH &. Co. Sc.

TEMPLE OF JUPITER AT THEBESTE (TEBESSA)

FAC-SIMILE OF INDIAN INK DRAWING BY BRUCE.

HENRY S. KING Co. LONDON.]

The triumphal arch of Caracalla is a really magnificent monument of the description called _quadrifrons_, each face representing an ordinary single arch of triumph. The only other known specimens of the kind are the arch of Janus Quadrifrons, at Rome, much inferior to this both in size and beauty, and the great arch at Tripoli, which forms the subject of the finest of Bruce’s illustrations. There is also an Imperial medal in existence containing a similar arch, dedicated to Domitian. This monument is built of large blocks of cut stone. A pair of Corinthian monolithic disengaged columns flank each arch, behind which are pilasters. Each column stands upon its own pedestal, and not, as is usually the case in African monuments, upon one common to each pair of columns.

The soffits supported by these, and also the central ceiling, were richly decorated. The entablature is composed of a highly ornate architrave, with rounded leaves at the angles, above which is a cornice. There is also a lofty frieze, as though for the reception of an inscription, and this also is surmounted by a cornice.

Above the north façade is a small building, intended as a niche to contain a bust or statue; the semicircular base is still in place. It is fronted by two isolated columns, with corresponding pilasters on the right and left of the niche. The whole is covered with a flat roof, with a plain architrave and cornice on the outside. Another was probably built on the south side; indeed, but for the inscription on the inside, one would be tempted to believe that there must have been one above each façade. The head of a bust, evidently belonging to this niche, and supposed to be that of Septimius Severus, was found in the neighbourhood, and is now preserved in the Engineers’ office at Constantine.

From the inscriptions on the interior we learn the history of the building. There was a rich family of Tebessa represented by three brothers, Cornelius Fortunatus, Cornelius Quintus, and Cornelius Egrilianus. The last of these commanded the 14th legion, Gemina, and died leaving all his property to his two brothers on certain conditions.

The first was that they should erect a triumphal arch surmounted by two tetrastyles, enclosing statues of the two Augusti. In the forum also were to be placed statues of the divine Severus and of the goddess Minerva. 250,000 sesterces were to be expended on these works. A further sum of 250,000 sesterces was to be devoted to affording gratuitous baths to the inhabitants in the public _thermæ_; and lastly 170 lbs. of silver and 14 lbs. of gold were to be deposited in the Capitol for a purpose which is not clear from the inscription. The following is a restoration of this interesting record proposed by M. Léon Renier:—

_Ex test_amento C_aii_ Cornelii

Egriliani praef_ecti_ leg_ionis_ XIIII

Geminae quo testament_o_ ex sestertium

ducentis et quinquaginta mil_libus_

n_ummum_, arcum cum statuis

_augustorum i_n tetrastylis duobus

cum statuis _divi Severi e_t

Minervae, quae in foro fieri

prae_cepit pra_eter alia sestertium

ducenta et quinquaginta mil_lia_

n_ummum_, quae rei p_ublicae_

ita ut . . . _gy_mnasia populo

publice in thermis prae_herentur_

. . . _a_d Kapitol_ium_ arg_enti_

lib_ras_ centum et septuaginta,

id est lances quatuor . . .

_et au_ri lib_ras_ quatuordecim

id est pihal_as_ (_sic_) tres, scyphos

duo . . . secundum voluntatem

ejus in con . . . Cornelii

Fortunatus et Quint fratres et

_heredes ejus_ . . . dignaverunt

et opus perfecerunt.[92]

On the opposite side, namely the right hand on leaving the town, is a tabular statement, very much defaced, but of which the heading is quite distinct:

Dies Gymnas_iorum_ ex

test_amento_ Cornelii Egriliani.

On each façade, above the arch, was a tablet containing a dedicatory inscription. The western one was in honour of Julia Domna, wife of the Emperor Septimius Severus, and mother of the two Emperors Caracalla and Geta.

This inscription is as follows:—

IVLIAE . DOMNAE . AVG. MATRI

CASTRORVM . ET . AVG. ET . SEN

ET . PATRIAE.[93]

The key of the arch below is decorated with an eagle holding thunderbolts, supporting a medallion out of which rises a female bust, wearing a high mural crown, typical, perhaps, of Julia Domna herself or of Rome.

J. LEITCH &. Co. Sc.

QUADRIFRONTAL ARCH OF CARACALLA AT THEVESTE (TEBESSA)

FAC SIMILE OF INDIAN INK SKETCH BY BRUCE.

HENRY S. KING Co. LONDON.]

Septimius Severus died in A.D. 211, and the two Augusti mentioned in the testament were evidently Caracalla and Geta. Caracalla murdered his brother in 212, consequently the date of the testament is fixed between those two years, though the execution of the work may have been a little later. The east façade bears a dedication to Septimius Severus himself. It has a medallion similar to the W. front, of a warrior in armour, resting on a head of the Medusa, representing probably Septimius Severus himself, and the terror which his countenance was supposed to inspire. It runs as follows:—

DIVO . PIO . SEVERO . PATRI

IMP. CAES. M. AVRELI . SEVERI . ANTONINI .

PII. FELICIS . AVG. ARAB. ADIAB. PARTH. MAX. BRIT.

MAX. GERM. MAX. PONT. MAX. TRIB. POT. XVII. IMP. II.

COS. IIII. PROCOS. P.P.[94]

The southern inscription is illegible; it is believed to have been in honour of Caracalla; and the northern one is wanting and, if ever executed at all, was probably in honour of Geta to complete the series. The two other medallions are obliterated.

The partial destruction of this arch may date from the fifth century, when the city was deserted by its inhabitants and sacked by the Numidians; but its preservation at all was undoubtedly due to Solomon having so traced the walls of the citadel as to adopt it as the principal entrance gate.

One of the most interesting ruins in Algeria is that of the great basilica of Theveste; this was so much buried in its own _débris_ during Bruce’s visit, that he was unaware of its existence, and alludes to it as the area of a temple. It is situated about 600 yards N.E. of the modern town, and consists of a vast edifice, 213 feet long by 72 broad, enclosed within a wall 588 feet long by 127 broad, strengthened at intervals by square towers, only two of which remain.

The principal entrance to the enclosure is to the S.W. The arch is quite entire, but the numerous subsidiary buildings in the court are razed to the ground, except where they seem to form actually part of the main structure.

The masonry throughout is of immense blocks of stone, carefully cut and adjusted almost without the use of mortar; nevertheless it bears unmistakable evidence of having been constructed at various epochs. The original building, however, was evidently the Roman basilica, pretty exactly as Vitruvius describes it with a nave and two aisles, the further end being furnished with a semicircular apse.

The reader need hardly be reminded that the ancient Basilica was a court of justice; the prætor or principal judge was seated in the apse, with assessors on either side. A railing separated this from the nave, and according to Vitruvius, the lateral aisles were surmounted by galleries looking into the nave. This peculiar form was so perfectly adapted for Christian worship that it was at once adopted by the Western Church. The bishop took the place of the præetor _in cathedrâ_, and his subordinates in the hierarchy those of the assessors. The altar, like the pedestal and statue of the god among the ancients, was situated before him, separating him from the congregation collected in the nave and aisles; the gallery above the latter became the clerestory, and the open court in front the narthex, in which the unbaptised remained during the performance of religious ceremonies.

The access to this building is by a flight of thirteen steps of unequal width, the greater number of which are destroyed, leading into the peristyle by three doors, a large one in the middle and a smaller one on each side. This court must have been most imposing. It was surrounded by an arcade, each side supported by four columns, between which were pedestals, probably destined for statues; the central portion was open to the sky, and in it was an elevated basin or fountain, the whole resembling very much in design the court of a Moorish house of the present day.

From the right or east wall of this were doors leading into two small chambers, one of which was the baptistery, the font being still tolerably perfect in the centre of the floor. The other chamber is of irregular shape, having been added to at a subsequent period.

Beyond this comes the main body of the building, entered by three doors. It is separated by ranges of double columns into nave and two aisles. These columns are of grey granite, white marble, and blue limestone; they are broken for the most part into numerous fragments; the shafts of some are entire, as are most of the capitals, and the bases of all remain in their original position. These show that there was a double range; a large shaft with a square base, and a smaller one with a round base touching it, towards the aisles; the one no doubt supported the roof of the nave, the other that over the aisles.

It is easy to recognise the period of the Pagan Emperors; a later epoch, with a certain amount of Christian art, and ultimately a period of absolute decadence, probably the last time that Christians worked in this country. The first is marked by Corinthian columns, the capitals of which are in the most correct form, and the shafts of polished marble and granite, and of a beauty which would only have been marred by fluting. The second is represented by fragments of fluted and spiral columns, the capitals of which were richly decorated with foliage; and lastly, there are rough productions in stone, out of all keeping with the rest of the building, the capitals of which bear grotesque representations of fishes, perhaps used as the symbol of Christ.

At the extreme north end is an apse, raised above the level of the nave, with three steps on which to mount to it. On either side is a square chamber, corresponding to the termination of the aisles. From the first to the fourth pillars on each side, and again across from the fourth on one side to the fourth on the other, are grooves to receive a railing, showing that this part was divided off with the apse to form, perhaps, at first the prætor’s court, and subsequently the sacrarium; in the centre of this space is an oblong vault, or cavity. The whole of the floor is covered with tesselated pavements of very elegant designs and admirable execution. These are almost perfect in condition, and have been judiciously covered over with a layer of earth to protect them from injury.

Descending from the east side aisle by a flight of about thirteen steps is a chapel of the form of a trefoil inscribed within a square.

From the north and south apses are communications with small lateral chambers right and left, and from the south one there is access through a small ante-room to a sepulchral chamber beyond; the front of each apse was arched, the arches supported on each side by columns of green marble.

In the centre of the square contained between them was what appears to be the foundation of an altar; the walls were covered, for a part at least of their height, with a mosaic of the richest marbles, porphyry, and serpentine, so disposed as to form either pictorial designs or geometric patterns, while the ceiling was a mosaic of glass, quantities of tesseræ, both coloured and gilt, having been found amongst the _débris_.

This building was probably an addition, subsequent to the erection of the main body of the basilica. It is also certain that it must have replaced a still older structure, as traces of tesselated pavement were found four feet below the actual floor.

A large sarcophagus of marble, with Christian figures rudely sculptured, was found at the bottom of the stairs.

In the sepulchral chamber above mentioned was found a tesselated pavement, containing four inscriptions recording the interment of individuals beneath them. One is that of Palladius, Bishop of Idicra, near Cirta (Constantine), who died here on his return from the Council of Carthage, under Huneric, in A.D. 484. This inscription was headed by a cross, having in the lower right hand angle the letter _Omega_. It is curious to observe that the corresponding one on the left hand does not contain the _Alpha_, as is usually the case. It has been said that this was owing to the fact of the bishop having died out of his own diocese. The tomb was opened, thus destroying the inscription, but the bishop’s skeleton was found perfectly preserved after fourteen centuries. It rested on a bed of laurel leaves, and its brown hair was undecayed. These venerable remains are preserved in the church of Tebessa, or rather in the curé’s house, which serves as such.

Another tomb was opened, that of Marcella, and in it were found perfectly preserved bones, and light hair. The inscription was also necessarily destroyed, but the others (three in number) were allowed to remain intact.

There were various buildings, probably cells or shops, outside and against the main structure, and the whole was surrounded by a strong wall, flanked at intervals with towers, like a vast fortified convent. This it doubtless was during the later years of its existence, but unfortunately its history is entirely unknown, and its original destination, or at least the destination of the older portion of it, must remain a matter of conjecture.

From a careful study of the architecture of this building however, the grand simplicity of its design and the richness of its materials, it is difficult to believe that the earlier portions of it could have been built after the introduction of Christianity into Theveste, when art was already in its decadence. The presumption is strong, that it could not have been commenced later than the end of the first, or beginning of the second century; this would make it older than almost any of the Roman monuments of Algeria, as it certainly was superior to most of them in elegance and simplicity, though less florid in decoration.

There are many other Roman ruins of interest in the circle of Tebessa, and on Djebel Mestiri, west of the town, and extending as far as Djebel Youkous, are a number of megalithic tombs of a circular form. They are about 100 in number, situated in a single line, the right of which rests on the ruins of a Byzantine tower. The largest is about eleven feet three inches high, and from twelve to thirty feet in diameter. They differ from those of Foum Kosentina by being built in successive and gradually decreasing courses, without any single covering stone; they rather resemble the Medrassen and the tombs in its vicinity.

We left Tebessa for Constantine on May 12, by diligence, following pretty much the same route as that taken by Bruce—whose notes are as follows:—

_November_ 24, 1765.—Passed Ain Shabrou this day. Lay the night of the 24th (fourteen miles) in the mountains without inhabitants, the Hanneisha having fled the country as being in rebellion, and afraid of the Bey of Constantine. They were then in the Sahara, south of Gaffsa. Killed a wild boar of extraordinary size at Ain Shabrou, which served us for meat.

The 25th, arrived at the encampment of the Welled Esa, at Bucowash, where we met the Kaid of Tibberq (?), about twenty-four miles.

There crossed the river Miskiana, on the 26th, and continuing through one of the most beautiful and best cultivated countries in the world, I entered the Eastern province of Algiers now called Constantina, anciently the Mauritania Cæsariensis, whose capital Constantina was the ancient capital of Syphax.

The 27th and 28th, to the east of Sidi Bougeise, a high mountain about twenty miles. The 28th, at Ziganiah, about eighteen miles. The 29th, at Boomarzook, about ten miles from Constantina, where we arrived November 30 (see _ante_, p. 50).

The _Ain Shabrou_ or _Chabrou_ mentioned here is a large spring on the left of the present road, about six and a quarter miles from Tebessa, near which are the ruins of the Roman city Ad Mercuriam. A little to the west of it is Ain Youkous, more correctly _Okes_, وكيس or _Bou Okes_, from the Latin word _Aquæ_. This stream rises in a beautiful cave in the mountains; it is of great depth, and has often served as an impregnable retreat to the Arabs in time of war. The Welled Esa, or _Oulad Aissa_, is a collective name given to the tribes in the circle of Ain Beida, including the Haracta. In the time of the Turks these formed a great command called the Kaidat of the Aouassi, or descendants of Aissa. Ain Beida did not of course exist in Bruce’s time; it is entirely a French town, the chief place of the Haractas.

This route is especially interesting, as showing that the frontiers of Algeria in Bruce’s time were actually west of Tebessa and of the Miskiana, both of which belonged to Tunis.

_Ziganiah_ is the Roman Sigus, twenty-four miles from Constantine. This was an ancient and celebrated city, memorable as the residence during various epochs of several Numidian kings. The destruction of this place appears to have been very violent, and little remains save the foundations of a few buildings and a considerable necropolis, not only of Roman, but of the so-called pre-historic tombs, dolmens, cromlechs, and menhirs. At Bou-Merzoug also there is an immense number of these megalithic remains, which were first explored by Mr. Christy and M. Féraud in 1863.[95]

We returned to Constantine on May 13, and here my explorations in the footsteps of Bruce may be said to have ended for the season. All that remained to be done was to return to Algiers; but, instead of doing so by railway and steamer, or by diligence, I determined to adopt a more interesting and less known route, on which I will ask the reader to accompany me.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 88: L. Renier, Insc. No. 3,078.]

[Footnote 89: Morcelli, _Afr. Chris._ i. 308.]

[Footnote 90: L. Renier, Insc. No. 3,089.]

[Footnote 91: Consult the interesting papers on the exploration of Tebessa, by MM. Moll and Girol in _Ann. Arch. Constantine_, 1862-1870.]

[Footnote 92: L. Renier, Insc. No. 3,085.]

[Footnote 93: Ibid. No. 3,088.]

[Footnote 94: L. Renier, Insc. No. 3,087.]

[Footnote 95: Féraud, _Ann. Arch. Const._ viii. p. 108.]