Timgad Archaeological Site

Timgad Archaeological Site

 

Location: 35 km from Batna Map

Original name: Colonia Marciana Ulpia Traiana Thamugadi

Found: 100 AD

Entrance Fee: adult DA20, children DA10

Open: 8:30am- 12pm, 1:30-5pm Sun- Fri

Emperor Trajan

 

Timgad or Thamugadi (Marciana Traiana Thamugadi colony in Latin), nicknamed the “Pompeii of North Africa” is an ancient city located in the territory of the homonymous commune of Timgad, in the wilaya of Batna in the Aurès region, in North-East of Algeria.

It was founded by the Roman emperor Trajan in 100 and given the status of a colony. This is the last “colony deduction” in Roman Africa, that is to say a colony essentially populated by Roman citizens (often former soldiers). Built with its temples, its thermal baths, its forum and its theater, the city, initially with an area of 12 hectares, ended up occupying more than 90. Given its excellent state of conservation and the fact that it was considered as typical of a Roman city, Timgad was classified as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1982. The conservation of the site, however, raises a certain number of problems.

 

Toponymy

In the ancient name of Timgad, Marciana Trajana Thamugadi, the first part — Marciana Trajana — is Roman and refers to the name of its founder, Emperor Trajan, and his sister Marciana. The second part of the name — Thamugadi — “has nothing Latin about it”. Thamugadi is the Berber name of the place where the city was built, to read Timgad, plural of Tamgut, meaning “peak”, “summit”. Mentions of the name Timgad were found in the Table of Puisinger, within the itinerary of Antoninus the Pious and in acts of martyrs, as well as in inscriptions on site, such as at the top of the Arch of Trajan in the past. The name is in the accusative case and we can read Thamugadi, when the name was transcribed by Procopius; the final i form is widespread among Africans and in the genitive case, it is Thamugadis, in the ablative case, it is Thamugade and in the accusative case, we obtain Thamugadem.

 

History

The site at the origins of the city

Timgad was located 21 km from Lambèse on the way to Theveste in a high, narrow plain stretching between the Aurès and the Jebel Bou Arif. It is therefore an advantageous site which also controls the access routes to the Aurès via the valleys of Wadi Abdi and Wadi Abiod. At the museum, the city is 1,040 m above sea level and at the Byzantine fort, it is 1,080 m above sea level. The site is built on the slope of the reinforcement of Mount Morris, on the north side, on a large plain which is watered from east to west by the Soutze wadi which is made up of the source of Aïn Morris and the wadi Merien, in the distance also the Soutz wadi joins the Taga wadi and forms the Chemora wadi which becomes the Chemora lake (Koudiet Lamdaouar Dam). Timgad was also supplied with water by the source of the Aïn Morris three kilometers to the south and perhaps also by the source of the Aïn Cherchar 11 km to the southeast.

In the eyes of the Romans the region must then be part of Getulia. However, according to Albert Ballu, Timgad is located on the soil of Numidia. And at the time of Severus, Timgad was no longer part of the Province of Africa. However, we cannot know whether a habitat pre-existed the Roman colony or whether it was just a place name.

 

The last deduction colony in Africa

It was in 100 that Trajan had the city founded by the Third Augustus Legion and its legate Lucius Munatius Gallus. The inhabitants of Timgad therefore all had Roman citizenship and were registered in the Papiria tribe. The colony took the name colonia Marciana Traiana Thamugadi: Marciana recalls the name of Trajan's sister and Thamugadi, an indeclinable and non-Latin name, is probably the indigenous name of the place. However, we do not know if there was already an African settlement there: the Roman foundation, however, was carried out as if it were on virgin ground. The initial plan of Timgad, quadrangular and geometric, attests that this foundation follows the principles of the gromatici, the Roman surveyors. The rigor of urban space planning meant that Timgad is often cited as an example of a Roman city; however, it would be wrong to generalize from its case: the plans of Roman cities had the principle first of all of adapting to the terrain and the constraints of the place, the perfect quadrangular deployment of Timgad is not an absolute rule, and the slightly earlier colony of Cuicul presents a less regular plan. The strong regularity of the initial plan has therefore sometimes led to the belief that Timgad could have been a military camp before being a town, the colonial foundation reusing the layout of the military cantonments: this hypothesis has not been proven and there is nothing to indicate that Timgad could have served as a temporary camp for the third Augustus legion. The founding of Timgad, however, takes on its full meaning when placed in the history of the movements of the African legion. The deduction of the colony is in fact between the first installation of a legionary cohort in Lambèse, in 81, and the definitive installation of the entire legion around 115-120. If Timgad is remarkably well located, the Lambèse site must be recognized as having a better strategic position.

 

Territorial role

We have therefore often seen in the founding of Timgad a purely military objective. However, we must strongly put into perspective the military protection that a colony of veterans could provide: after the first years, the inhabitants could hardly provide a particular military force. On the other hand, the colony could have an indirect military role: it could ultimately constitute a recruiting environment for the neighboring legion and, above all, through its agrarian production - cereals and olives - ensure a significant part of its supplies. Finally, the installation of the colony of Timgad has long been designed based on an erroneous image of the Aurès massif during the Roman era. It was often thought, until the 1960s and 1970s, that the massif had not been penetrated by Rome, and that consequently it had constituted a center of rebellion and a threat, like other periods. of history, and the Roman military system was interpreted as the encirclement of the massif. Archaeological surveys and the analysis of aerial photographs carried out by Pierre Morizot refuted this image: the Aurès was cultivated, occupied by a dispersed habitat and the military presence there was weak and very occasional. Archeology therefore reveals a quiet mountain, without serious disturbances, with an essentially rural vocation, with modest wealth, but open to Romanization and later to Christianization. Part of the massif, the valley of the Wadi Taga therefore belonged to the territory of Timgad and constituted a foothills for complementary productions from the cereal regions closer to Timgad: olives, wood and small livestock. The founding of the colony of Timgad cannot therefore be explained in terms of military necessity, but rather participates in the exploitation of the provincial territory and its network through civic spaces designed as the effigy of the Roman people, within the framework of the proactive policy of an emperor concerned with expansion. Timgad, however, was the last case of collective deductions of veterans in Africa, and subsequently the new colonies were only honorary, that is to say a title conferred on a city without the contribution of a Roman population.

 

Evolution of the city

The Pax Romana in Numidia contributed to the adhesion of the Romanized indigenous populations, the Berber city dwellers could climb the ranks of the resident, the Roman citizen of the aedile and sometimes towards the cursus honorum and others were classified equestrian or sat in the Senate , thus Timgad was part of the new cities and Emperor Trajan also employed Numidian legionaries. The duumvirate's honorary sum was 2,000. Initially, the city was built by imperial will and a colony was established. Timgad is a civilian city compared to Lambèse. The absence of the name of the III Legion on the site and the names of the veterans was noted. At the beginning, the veterans numbered 200 to 400 or 900. According to Tacitus, the settlers did not have the concept of family, being military veterans, the indigenous women probably played an important role in forming the first generation of settlers of the town which has around 3,000 or 4,000 people. Additionally, there were residents and slaves.

The population is estimated by C. Courtois at 15,000 at the beginning of the 3rd century, after the construction of all the important structures of the city. Next to the four corners, at the intersection of the two main roads, the various municipal buildings are built. The city has a forum, a theater, a large market, a temple of Jupiter, a Capitol, two small secondary streams and bridges (now destroyed). To the west, the large ravine, the market and the capitol on the right. To the northeast, the Arch of Trajan. The city in total has an area of 800 m2. Under Trajan, probably the route between Timgad and Theveste was developed. The housing units are enveloped in an area of 400 m2 with permission for redevelopment.

Timgad had its bishop, after the appearance of Christianity, during the reign of Emperor Valerian, between 253 and 260, or during Diocletian, between 284 and 305, the city had martyrs. Bishop Novatus of the Church of Timgad took part in a council in Carthage in 256. Three basilicas were built during the 4th century. In addition, excavations have proven the existence of several chapels, baptisteries, oratories and a monastery. The inhabitants of Thamugadi were keen to develop art. Several utensils bear Christian symbols or artistic engravings, made in the city's workshops. Timgad had its own ceramics and metallurgy workshops as well. Timgad experienced total prosperity, far from the struggles agitating the empire, it is cited only by geographers such as Ptolemy and Procopius of Caesarea or by the clergy during rare religious quarrels, councils and persecution. The city was one of the capitals of the Donatists of Numidia. On the other hand, for a century, the Donatists and the Christians were in rivalry in Timgad.

 

Municipal politics

The city councilors planned the growth of the city, the construction of roads connecting Mascula to the east and the road to Lambèse. They developed the construction of the doors in the form of an arch so that they were visible from a good distance during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, as well as the thermal baths to the north close to the current museum and which remain in the axis of the city, near the Cirta Gate. Other thermal baths in the south-east are linked to southern themes. A large building, the Aqua Septimiana, built around the middle of the 2nd century and enlarged in 198 during the reign of Septimius Severus, located in front of the water arrival point of the city's main supply catchment. Caracalla, in 219, built the water temple, which is one of the most beautiful monuments in Africa, in the area of the Byzantine fort. In addition, the main exit from the city is to the west at the start of the axis linking Lambèse. It is the work of the architect Alexandre Lézine who made the Arch of Trajan (Timgad) oblique in relation to the city wall, a transition was thus indicated between the perspective of the intra muros Decimane Way and the avenue de Lambèse. A space was laid out in the shape of a trapezoid for several important buildings, the first for the religious function, the second for the temple of the Genius of the colony and finally one for the economic function, the Sertius market, with a large exedra opening onto a courtyard lined with portico, with sculpted corbels with volutes and acanthus leaves, in relief form. The constructions were completed around the 2nd century. Timgad extends over 60 ha after the construction of the Byzantine fort, including 800 m◊ of compact ruin.

 

Development work

The Curia had probably been built under Trajan, at the beginning of the organization of the colony, but the work would have been undertaken in a hasty manner. Under the reign of Antoninus the Pious, the city was enlarged and developed. City officials wanted a more prosperous setting, so they modified the Curia, resurfaced the Forum, and established a paving near the Temple of the Genius of the Colony. During the reign of Antoninus the Pious, the city underwent significant civic works.

 

Destruction and restoration

The city was destroyed by the Berbers, towards the end of Vandal domination, in 535. The inhabitants were chased out so that no one could settle in the city, such is the short story of 3 lines by Procopius where Timgad is mentioned. After the arrival of the Byzantines, the city was rebuilt in 539, a dedication, found in the excavations, proves the restoration of the city as well as the construction of the Byzantine fort and the citadel, during Solomon's campaign. According to an inscription, the chapel of Patrick Grégoire was built around the middle of the 7th century. The city would have been Catholic at the time of the arrival of the first Arabs.

 

The territory of the city

A Roman city is inconceivable without its countryside. Long neglected by archeology and difficult to understand before the development of large-scale prospecting techniques, the countryside of Roman towns remained poorly known for a long time. However, it was from its territory that the city drew its wealth, and the dynamism of the notables who ruled it depended on this wealth. It is possible to propose a reconstruction of the composition of the territory of Timgad in order to evaluate the distribution of agrarian property over its surface area. What emerges is the image of a territory that is ultimately quite narrow: 1,500 square kilometers, 150,000 hectares which were not all exploitable, because significant relief exists in this space. To the west, in fact, the territory was quickly limited, after about fifteen kilometers, by that of the neighbors, Lamafundi and Verecunda. To the east the situation is similar and the territory of Mascula must have been around twenty kilometers away. To the north, over approximately 25 kilometers, research revealed a system of centuriations undoubtedly linked to the founding of the colony with regular plots testifying to careful development. To the northwest the plain reveals numerous ruins and therefore a significant density of occupation. To the south, it is more difficult to locate the limit of the territory; according to Pierre Morizot it could have gone as far as the sources of the Taga to the north of Jebel Mahmel. The territory of Timgad could produce cereals and olives, productions to which must be added livestock breeding and the exploitation of forest areas. Numerous remains of oil mills and agricultural establishments are attested on the territory of the city, thus in Henchir Taga the surveys revealed a vast building which was surrounded by 7 to 8 hectares of aligned plantations. Not all of this land was privately owned. On the contrary, a significant area belonged to the emperor. The imperial domains, divided into at least three groups, were managed by one or more freed procurators who were responsible for renting the land and making it profitable. The city had around 280 decurions who must have owned a minimum surface area, if we take into account the properties of ordinary people and possible possessions by strangers to the city, we cannot imagine that the territory was dominated by numerous large properties: the inhabitants of the Timgad territory were not large farmers. However, according to Pierre Morizot, epigraphic clues suggest that a few powerful families had managed to monopolize the best lands.

 

The bastion of Donatism

In the 4th century, the city became Christianized. If we could consider that the renovation of the capitol shows the maintenance of polytheist traditions and their vivacity in the 360s, the patronage table of Aelius Iulianus, decorated with a chrism clearly shows the strong adherence of one part at least of the most important notables of the city to the new religion. The same observation can be made from the names of the clerics which appear at the end of the inscription in the municipal album. The construction, on the outskirts of the city, of Christian religious buildings, some of which are very large such as the western basilica and its outbuildings, also testifies to the establishment of the new religion. Christianization, however, first took place in the troubled context of a division between Christians: Timgad constituted one of the strongholds of the Donatist schism which upset the Christian religion in Africa in the 4th century. If from its origin Donatism was strongly linked to Numidia, Timgad stood out especially when the schismatic Church had to face increasingly strong opposition from Catholics and the imperial power. From 388, Optatus, the Donatist bishop of Timgad, rallied circumcellions and relied on them, as well as on the complicity of Count Gildon of Africa, to impose his views and to counter the emperor Flavius Honorius in 397. He was ten years, according to Saint Augustine, the groaning of Africa.

This “band leader” bishop was finally arrested upon the death of Gildon in 398 and ended his life in prison. At the Carthage conference of 411 there were two rival bishops of Timgad, the Catholic Faustinanus and the Donatist Gaudentius. But, even after this conference, the Donatists of Timgad did not give up their arms and around 418 their bishop Gaudentius locked himself in his church facing the tribune Dulcitius, threatened to set himself on fire if anyone tried to extract him from his church and controversy with Augustine by mail.

 

Vandals

The installation of a Vandal kingdom in Africa, after 429, was the starting point of a series of clashes which determined the end of Timgad. Aurès was undoubtedly occupied quite quickly by the Vandals, and it seems that Genseric wanted to reserve the region for himself. The occupation was, however, short-lived. The Aurès region was attacked by the Moors who took possession of the massif no later than 484: Timgad was taken and evacuated so that no enemy could settle there; the Moorish reconquest took place at the expense of the inhabitants of the city and the Romanized Libyans of the massif. However, we should not imagine the radical annihilation of the city and all activity: the walls were razed and the inhabitants deported according to Procopius of Caesarea, but archeology reveals that agricultural activity continued and that "in the city she herself subsisted a precarious life.” Theodosius II resigned himself to signing and Valentinian III confirmed the new partition treaty in 442 which was advantageous for the Vandals. Genseric receives part of Numidia, including Hippo. The Roman Empire is content with the poor regions of Numidia, including Cirta. The land regime was controlled by the Vandal king, the latter monopolized the land of rich Romanized African owners and charged them with taxes, which Procopius reports, but according to Victor de Vita, the rich were considered free. Which is probable, according to Charles-André Julien. The Romanized Berbers led the same previous lifestyle. After the conference of 484, Maximus and Cardelus, belonging to the clergy of the neighboring city Diana in the wilaya of Aïn Beida, were sent into exile by King Huneric. After the death of Genseric, his successors had difficulties facing the local tribes. The economy and social organization found themselves in crisis in Numidia during the reign of Thrasamund, so the Donatist heresy and the jacquerie took advantage of the unrest during the 5th century. Thrasamund retaliates strongly, the mountaineers of Aures rush to the city of Timgad and overthrow the power in place, the population abandons the city of Timgad. After the revolt, Berber kingdoms proclaimed themselves, this was the case of Masties who proclaimed himself emperor between the years 476 and 477. An inscription found around Arris makes mention of him, according to Jérôme Carcopino. His reign lasted around forty years in the Aurès region.

 

Byzantines

The Byzantine reconquest, from 533, changed the situation in the region again. Justinian's generals undertook the reconquest of Africa, having to first defeat the Vandals then the rebellious Moors, in particular Iabdas, the leader of the Moors of Aurès. It is the patrice Solomon who is responsible for leading a campaign against him, a campaign which is partly known to us thanks to Procopius. The region of Timgad, which Procopius describes as a destroyed city, appears to have been a base for this campaign. Solomon plunders the crops of Timgad and Lambese before defeating Iabdas. However, it was only during his second campaign, in 539, that Solomon left clear traces of his presence since he built the Byzantine fort still visible on the site. This powerful fort was part of a larger fortification operation aimed at securing the region against a new attack by the Moors. Procopius of Caesarea tells us that in addition to Timgad, four other cities were fortified in the region. The large number of Latin inscriptions taken from the town's forum to serve as building material in the fort, however, shows that Timgad had passed the age of its splendor, and that only the fortress now really mattered. It was under its walls that urban life was reorganized. It is necessary to allow for exaggerations and commonplaces in Procope's story; the land around Timgad always seems to be highlighted at this time. We then have very few sources on the history of the region, and the end of the Byzantine presence is difficult to specify. It is certain that urban life was maintained in the region, and the presence of an organized and dynamic Christianity is clearly visible: in the Batna region, relics were consecrated around 581 and in 645 the dedication of a chapel was attested at Timgad. The site does not appear to have been immediately abandoned thereafter, but the story of its complete abandonment cannot currently be written for lack of historical or archaeological sources. In view of current historical and archaeological issues and practices, we can only regret the loss of information that excavation techniques and the historical choices of archaeologists have caused by neglecting this period during the clearing of the city: "When we enter today in a house, it appears as the architect of the Historical Monuments wanted it to be. That is to say, emptied of late layers and rearrangements which could have testified to a future, let us note for the present this erasure of an entire slice of the past which was not worthy of being preserved. This obscures the long term and reduces the past to an image that cannot be trusted” and it is impossible to describe what Timgad was during the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb.

 

The institutions and notables of the city

Timgad is a Roman colony with its civic institutions reproducing the Roman system; during its foundation, the city must have received a lex coloniae establishing its institutions as in the case of the lex Ursonensis; the regulation fixes the manner of functioning of the assemblies, priesthoods and magistrates of the city; several inscriptions found on the Timgad site provided insight into the organization of the institutions. Inside the curie, a municipal album containing 68 members of the municipality was found by Émile Masqueray, the Album was brought back to the Louvre Museum, and another was found by Edmond Duthoit, but incomplete. The numerous inscriptions found in the city allow us to know quite well the ruling environment of the city, the decurions and magistrates who ruled it. In this regard Timgad has delivered an inscription of exceptional richness: the album of the decurions, that is to say the hierarchically organized list of members of the curia at a given moment: the Timgad album dates from the 4th century and allows us to observe the milieu of municipal elites in a late period.

The municipal album of Timgad, established during the second half of the 4th century, has a list of 263 people, including 55 incomplete names. Two elite groups pariahed the perpetual flamens and honored them, probably both forming the ruling mass of the city.

Another document called the ordo of greeting, it was discovered in 1940 by Charles Goudet at the Byzantine fort in Timgad, it was engraved in 282 probably in memory of Emperor Carus, It measures 1 m and 29 cm in length and 39 cm wide and has a thickness of 28 cm.

During the reign of Emperor Julian in 363, freedom of worship was proclaimed, Christians returned to the common law, which Leschi indicated about the Timgad album and which subsequently led to the civil war in Numidia involving Christians, Donatists and Circumcellians.

 

The ordo (council of decurions)

Timgad was called Respublica Thamugadensium and its council of recurions had the name of splendidissimus ordo like the Senate of Rome. The ordo of Timgad is among the best known in the Roman world due to the presence in Timgad of an exceptional document, the municipal album of Timgad, which was established by the Emperor Julian. This album lists the categories of honoratis, first appearing the clarissimis, then the perfectissimi (two only) and the priestly ones (two only). The other categories of honorati are not represented in the city of Timgad. The names do not differ according to function or confession, a religious or a pagan can have the same name in Timgad in the 4th century.

The honoratis no longer sit within the curia or in the affairs of the city; the decurions and annual magistrates are responsible for decisions and execution at the local level only.

 

Magistrates

There are seven annual and titular magistrates in the High Empire, two duumvirs, two aediles, a curator and two quaestors.

It seems that the titles as well as the number of quaestors, aediles and duumvirs remained the same until the arrival of the Vandals. Their number is small compared to other titles, it probably had less honor than the perpetual flaminats.

 

The duumvirs

Two duumvirs are mentioned on the Album having the status of Annual Magistrate. The number was not important probably because of the laws which prohibited exemptions from municipal charges to the egregii. P. Iulius Liberalis, native of Timgad, part of the Papiria tribe, adapted from the Imperial cult, he exercised the function of quaestor and high priest in the Africa province since at the time of Severus, Numidia was not more attached to the province of Africa. He seems to have had a mandate as preafectuus jure dicumdo, may have been ordinary duumvirs at times and then he obtained the post of quinquennial duumvirs. In the end, he received the title of perpetuus flamine in Thysdrus and then in Timgad, according to the inscriptions found in Thamugadi. P. Iulius Liberalis built a fountain in Timgad.

 

Aediles, quaestors and the curator

Two city councilors are registered in the Album having the status of annual Magistrate. After the list of annual magistrates, there are only two aediles and two quaestors, but after the mention of the quaestors category in the album, only one is listed Vitillius Saturninus. The Pontiffs and augurs are also aediles, but they have a less important rank than the flamenes.

A curator in the Late Empire is named Octavirus Sosinianus and at the same time, he is flamen and responsible for writing the album.

 

Priesthoods

Pontificate and augurate

These typically Roman priesthoods are normal in a colony, however in Timgad these priests did not form a college as numerous as in Rome. The Timgad album shows that there were four pontiffs and four augurs in the city. It is possible that these priesthoods were annual.

 

Flaminat

The flamine in Timgad was responsible for imperial worship. He was assisted by a flamine who was not necessarily his wife. His title of perpetual flamine was retained for life after one year of effective exercise of the function. If accession to the office “was relatively independent of the course of municipal magistrates”, it was the highest dignity in Timgad and it crowned great notoriety and strong honorability. This gave the holders of the office a certain visibility, so we know a significant number of them. Henriette Pavis d'Escurac in 1980 identified 55, as well as 6 flaminics. The cost of the office and the honor it provided undoubtedly explains why we regularly find among the flamines of Timgad, members of some of the city's great families, the Flavii and the Caelii, the Annii, the Plotii, the Pompeii. This also explains the entry of a certain number of these flamens into the equestrian order (Pavis d'Escurac lists seven), without however having made a real career. Social ascension to the higher orders of the empire could take several generations, we know that the daughter of a flamine, Arminia Paulina married a senator then the procurator Caius Annius Flavianus.

Under the High Empire, the honorary sum of the flaminat in Timgad was fixed at 10,000 sesterces, but acts of euergetism beyond this sum were also expected of them, such as the distribution of food, donations of games scenic, the erection of statues for the statues of Marcus Aurelius and Antoninus the Pious by Marcus Caelius Saturninus or the statues erected at the theater for the family of Caracalla by Pompeius Pudentianus or the realization of constructions. For this reason and because they belonged to the top of the aristocracy of Timgad, the flamines left a notable mark in the urban planning of Timgad: temple of the Genius of the colony, market of Sertius, monumental fountain of the flamine Julius Liberalis. During Late Antiquity, the function lost its religious character to become above all the expression of the loyalty of the city towards the sovereign power, there were therefore Christian flamines as the case is attested for Aelius Iulianus. In Timgad, there were women in charge of imperial worship. Manlia Pudentilla was flaminic and clarissimo and some flaminics belong to families of knights like Flavia Procilla. Cornelia Valentina Tucciana is flaminic and wife of a knight, she has the title honestae memoriae femina. Well Iulia Vic, she is too.

 

The Augustales and the ordo augustalium

Without being strictly speaking priests, the Augustales participated in the organization of the imperial cult in the city. They were often rich freedmen and the status of Augustale gave them a dignity close to that of the ordo of the decurions to which they could not claim. Only one Augustale, Valerius Carpus, is nominally known in Timgad. The Augustales were organized into an ordo augustalium which functioned as a college and had a fund (arca augustalium). The Augustales of Timgad thus financed the restoration of the temple of Ceres.

 

The curies

The curies, which should not be confused with the curia, a local hosting the council of decurions, were assemblies of citizens of the city who initially had an electoral role as a polling section on the model of the Roman comitia. Particularly well known in Africa, they also had an important role in civic sociability as shown by the case of the curia of Jupiter in Simitthus. So much so that they were sometimes considered as “fairly closed “plebeian clubs”, even if this did not prevent them from retaining a political role. The analysis of the list of 52 members of the Commodiana curia known in Timgad around 211 indeed shows a population belonging rather to the middle and upper strata of Timgad society. The Curia Commodiana had been created to honor the Emperor Commodus. We also know of a Marcia curia in Timgad which must date back to the origins of the colony.

 

Colleges

Without being strictly speaking official institutions of the city, the colleges participated in civic life. They placed themselves under the patronage of great local figures and participated in city festivals. We know the Dendrophore college in Timgad.

 

The city bosses

The legate D. Fonteius Frontinianus, who was stationed at Lambese from 160 to 162, was co-opted patron of Timgad; the municipal album of Timgad mentions the existence of six patrons, five of them of senatorial rank, during the first half of the year 363. The number of patrons was possibly explained by the choice of different clans at the time. inside the curia and the clans could find support to strengthen their local position.

 

Christianity in the region

Christianity appears on Timgad no later than a third century AD. The new religion was gaining strength and enjoyed relative peace in the hiding from the Roman officials. It all changed under leadership of a intelligent, energetic and very capable emperor Diocletian. He attempted to modernize political and cultural life of the huge empire after years of unrest and constant civil wars by strengthening his control over its people. Christianity obviously did not fit into this image of a perfect World. Soon persecutions started hitting all corners of the country. Timgad was no exception to that.
 
However, unlike previous pagan persecutions Diocletian understood that this monotheistic religion already settled too deep. Even emperor's own wife was a Christian. So he came up with a compromise. Christians could save their lives if they would hand over their holy books. Some refused and were took death of martyrs, some gave up their sacred texts. Yet many others chose to write fake Gospels under different names so that they could escape death. This is one of the main reasons why so many apocryphal texts date back those times. Popular journalism today likes to advertise these texts as something controversial or ground breaking. In reality, however, most of them were never used since they were created exclusively for preservation of the true books of the Bible.
 
In the end persecutions did not achieve their final goal. After death of Diocletian, emperor Constantine issued his Milan Edict of 313 AD which legalized Christianity. However it created a new problem. The complication arose with those people who gave up their religion and announced coming back to worshipping gods of the pagan pantheon. Many returned to Christianity after it became legal in an empire. Bishop Donatus Magnus along with a large Christian congregation attempted to keep "traitors" away. North Africa became the hub of zealous Christians that became known as Donatists. And Timgad had one of the largest communities in the region. This harsh treatment of those who denounced the name of Jesus Christ, however, was not widely accepted or positively viewed. Most of the Christian bishops decided that such transgression could be forgiven. This led to eventual schism of Donatists from the rest of the Church.

 

The site and its monuments

The forum

The Timgad Forum and Theater are located in the heart of the original city quadrangle, where they occupy several of the blocks defined by the grid of orthogonal streets. The construction of the forum was financed by the city. Its construction probably began shortly after the founding of the city. The forum, rectangular in plan and bordered by four porticos, delimited a closed, orderly space, hosting numerous activities, it formed the political and social heart of the city. It housed the curia where the decurional order gathered as well as a civil basilica and a single temple. The latter, of fairly modest size, is close to one of the corners of the forum and seems to have been dedicated to Victory. It is a tetrastyle building, that is to say that the facade has four columns, raised on a podium. Built in 116-117, the curia is rectangular in shape with three bays, the back is occupied by a platform including movable seats, its room was preceded by a portico, covered in marble and decorated with four statues including one dedicated to the Concord of the Ordo and one dedicated to Victory. Built a little later, the basilica faced it, occupying the eastern facade of the forum. An apse to the north gave axiality to this vast room which hosted judicial activities, a gallery occupied one of the short sides and allowed the judges to sit. The forum was decorated with numerous statues, at least thirty, the bases of which were found bearing inscriptions. This forum was perhaps never completed according to its original plan, since the Capitol was not integrated into the forum, but built outside the original walls: the expansion of the city had led to a reconsideration of its plan.

 

Theater

The theater is the main performance building in Timgad where no trace of an amphitheater has been found, but there may have been a wooden one on a temporary basis. Located south of the forum, on the side of a hill, the theater, with a cavea 63 meters in diameter, could accommodate around 3,500 people. The base of a statue of Mercury, erected for the salvation of the emperors Septimius Severus and Caracalla, celebrated the stage performances given by Lucius Germeus Silvanus, for the honor of his auspicious functions: in Timgad as elsewhere municipal life does not was not separable from festivals and shows, with more or less splendor depending on the eergetism of the notables.

Several cracks within the ancient theater are visible. A new theater was built to host the Timgad International Music Festival, between the Temple of Saturn and the Great Northern Baths and outside the boundary of the ancient site.

 

The temple of Ceres

The temple of Ceres was located near the theater. Between 139 and 161, its complete restoration was financed by the ordo augustalium, composed of the flamines, including Valerius Carpus who was influential and part of the flamines responsible for the organization of the imperial cult in Timgad and P. Actius Silvanus follower of the cult Ceres. The money for the restoration of the temple came from the college treasury; the followers of the temple, the Augustales did not depend on the municipal public fund.

 

The library

Excavations at Timgad revealed a relatively unusual building that was only identified as a public library in 1906 through the discovery of a Latin inscription. The text of the inscription specifies that in the 3rd century probably, but Paul Corbier considers that the dating is unknown. The senator Marcus Iulius Quintianus Flavius Rogatianus had bequeathed 400,000 sesterces to the city by will for the construction of a library. The city had the library built and honored the generous donor with an honorary statue.

The library was organized around a three-sided portico opening widely onto the street. Facing the street, at the back of the portico, a large semi-circular apse room was fitted out with niches intended to accommodate the works. On either side, six annex rooms opened onto the portico. We tried to estimate the number of volumes it could accommodate: thus we were able to estimate that its main room could accommodate sixteen armaria (library cabinet) and therefore perhaps 6,800 volumes; with the six secondary pieces, the total number of works is estimated between 16,000 and 28,000. These figures are, however, very questionable, because the library could also accommodate archives and the calculations on which they are based are very speculative. It is located in the heart of the city, a sign of the importance it had in urban culture.

 

The temple of the Genius of the colony

The dedication of this temple was found during excavations in 1959, reused in a small square built in the Byzantine era around a fountain. The temple was paid for by members of one of the great families of Timgad, Marcus Publicius Candidus and his brother Caius Publicius Veranus. This gift is the consequence of Candidus' accession to the office of perpetual flamine, the highest dignity in Timgad. In addition to the honorary sum of 10,000 sesterces paid by Candidus, his brother added a solicitation of 20,000 sesterces. Ultimately the cost of the temple was, with its statue, 64,500 sesterces. This act of euergetism and this expenditure attest to the prosperity of Timgad during the construction of the temple. The dedication was made by a legate of the Third Augustus Legion. His name was then hammered out, due to a damnatio memoriae. It was probably Marcus Lucceius Torquatus, which dates the dedication of the temple to 169.

The ruins of the temple could be identified thanks to other inscriptions. It is located at the western exit of the city, opposite the Sertius market. A courtyard preceded the sanctuary, overlooking the decumanus via a facade with three entrances. A wall delimited this trapezoidal space with a dimension of 32 m by 12 m. Three of the sides were occupied by a portico with 17 columns. Behind the altar was the temple proper. Its cella is 12.5 m by 7.5 m. opened onto a tetrastyle pediment of the Corinthian order and was preceded by a staircase with 16 steps. The construction of the temple also corresponds to a moment of extension of Timgad outside the initial enclosure of the colony.

 

Capitol

The capitol, which housed the essential religious triad of traditional Roman religion, was in theory one of the essential elements of any urban foundation. In the 1st century BC. The writings of Vitruvius on town planning, referring to an old tradition, that of the science of haruspices, and thus echoing Servius, advise placing the sanctuaries of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva in the place higher, from where we can discover the most of the walls. But if African cities like Cuicul and Thugga have a capitol in a central position (at least initially for Cuicul), that of Timgad is in a more surprising position. It is in fact far from the forum and even from the alignment of the initial orthonormal plan and is not even located on a hilltop. In fact, it was above all its size, its exceptional monumentality which distinguished it and made it visible to all. This strange location, however, had the merit of making it particularly attractive for those coming from Lambèse. Built in the 2nd century, it was restored in the 4th.

How to explain this eccentric position? We must think that it was in fact initially planned within the forum in the initial layout of the city, but the forum was never really completed, and the capitol was ultimately built much larger and in an off-centered position, a sign of a radical modification of the notion of urban space and perhaps a change in the relations between citizens and those in power: the city had grown, its space was perceived differently and was symbolically reorganized by this massive construction. Furthermore, the off-centering of the Timgad capitol is not so exceptional from a chronological point of view: the majority of African capitols are of relatively late date. Finally, if the exact date of its construction around the 2nd century escapes us (perhaps the Severian period, its renovation in the 4th century is better known to us. It was under the joint reign of Valentinian I and Valens, between 364 and 367 that Aelius Iulianus financed the restoration of the porticos. According to Paul-Albert Février, this restoration could testify, fifty years after the conversion of Constantine, and in a well-Christianized city, to the preserved vitality of traditional polytheism. However Claude Lepelley challenged this interpretation, the person responsible for the operation, Aelius Iulianus was curator of the city and Christian and the restoration concerned the portico square and not the religious building itself. By its monumentality and its surface area - greater than that of the forum - the Place with portico of the Capitol constituted a "second forum" in the city. Its porticos were therefore seen, at the time of Aelius "as public monuments belonging to the monumental heritage of the city, without reference to the religious function of these buildings ".

 

The Arc de Triomphe

The broad avenue which passes in front of the capitol ends to the north at the triumphal arch erected at the west entrance of the decumanus maximus. Shortly before the end of the 2nd century, the utility door was replaced by a triumphal arch improperly called "Trajan's arch" which, with a minimum of restoration, has come down to us almost intact.

The large central bay, six meters high, allowed the passage of vehicles which left deep ruts on the track slabs. The two side bays, three meters and seventy-five meters high, were reserved for pedestrians. Above the latter, on the two main faces, are hollowed out rectangular niches decorated with columns intended to receive statues, dominated by arched vaults seated on detached Corinthian columns. Four columns mounted on pedestals for each main face. The whole was crowned at the top of the building with a group probably including a chariot.

Other reliefs were subsequently added to the base of the east face: the statues of Mars and the goddess of Concord, erected during the reign of Septimius Severus (193-211) by a certain L. Licinius Optatianus in recognition of his election to the perpetual flaminat of the colony.

 

Plotius Faustus Sertius

Plotius Faustus Sertius was a wealthy personage of equestrian rank.

His family was linked to a Roman knight, son of a veteran, as well as to the Flavii family who entered the senate. He was perpetual flame of the city. His wealth, as well as that of his wife, came from the lands he owned within the territory of the colony, but also from other income such as the rental of shops.

Various epigraphic and archaeological clues allow us to identify the land holdings of Sertius and his wife: a dedication alludes to the latter on an inscription found in the Wadi Taga valley. Likewise, about sixty kilometers from Timgad, in the Aurès massif, a mosaic was found bearing the same motifs as those of the house of Sertius, an indication of one of its properties and the influence of the character .

 

Sertius Market

Plotius and his wife financed during the Severan era the construction of a market located to the west of the original city, not far from his house. The city undoubtedly already had a market, today called the Eastern Market, it was located near the forum and extended over two semi-circular courtyards. No doubt it proved insufficient with the growth of the city. The market paid for by Sertius faces the temple of the Genius of the colony, it is an oblong square, lined with porticos, having the necessary facilities to accommodate the merchants' stalls, and ending in an apse. The market had an opening which overlooked the thermal baths. These are often considered as an annex to the market, but their construction is not necessarily linked to the same real estate transaction and their relationship with neighboring constructions is not clear. Subsequently, another small market, undoubtedly intended for the clothing trade, was built in the district. Building a market was an important act of ergetism, but this gift made to the city was undoubtedly also a “self-serving gift”: contemporary with the construction of his house, it undoubtedly constitutes its counterpart: the act of ergetism responding to the private appropriation of a significant part of public land: behind Sertius' gift lies a fruitful real estate operation while his market proclaimed his generosity and liberality towards his city.

The western district of Timgad therefore illustrates well, through the Sertius file, the impact of the wealth of municipal notables on the city both through evangelism and through more interested investments – shops – or intended to provide them with a living environment whose splendor corresponded to their dignitas.

 

The Sertius district

With the development of the city and its extension to the west, the original wall found itself in a central position in this part of the city, it became useless in an available, interesting and undoubtedly coveted space. The disappearance of the wall in favor of buildings, however, was for the benefit of wealthy residents and gave rise to significant "real estate operations" as Jean Lassus has shown. The new district is not in fact occupied continuously with the original fabric of the city: the existing streets are not extended over the freed space, this on the contrary is occupied by the constructions of very wealthy people who thus appropriate a strip of land 22 meters wide. The extension of the city is therefore accompanied by a “social differentiation of neighborhoods”: the space taken from the wall makes it possible to overcome the constraints of the blocks of the initial plan, with a size of approximately 400 square meters. This redevelopment could not be done without a set of legal measures: the place belonged to the public land of the city, its alienation required at least a decree from the order of the decurions, and in the case of a wall, res sacra, a imperial decision.

It is true, however, that the usurpation of public land by private constructions was not rare in ancient cities and that the Roman power had to intervene on several occasions against such cases: behind the houses built in this place, it is necessary therefore imagine a set of procedures, and undoubtedly bribes. The epigraphic documentation available allows us to know this real estate context a little more precisely through the person of Marcus Plautius Faustus, known as Sertius, who had a house built on the site of the wall.

 

House of Marcus Plotius Faustus Sertius

The house of Sertius was built on the route of the wall. Rectangular in plan, measuring 62 meters by 36.5 meters, it occupies an area of 2,263 m2, it is one of the most luxurious residences in Timgad. Its main access, preceded by a small portico, and which perhaps originally had a tripartite entrance, overlooks the cardo maximus. The plan presents the classic succession of a vestibule and peristyles which open onto reception rooms. The vestibule, paved, had a central colonnade, it opened onto a first peristyle which itself opened onto a large room, probably a dining room (triclinium). The second peristyle houses a pool with complex arrangements: two superimposed tanks are connected by two openings. Vases fixed horizontally were intended to provide shelter for fish and probably to collect them fresh: it is therefore a fishpond. A room with an antechamber with two columns overlooked the peristyle, it is undoubtedly again a triclinium, a dining room. The ponds had both an aesthetic and economic function: the fish raised could be used for the master's meals. Rare, luxurious products, they attested to Sertius' wealth and allowed him to show off his splendor to his guests. The second peristyle is, however, a space undoubtedly more intimate than the first: “on one side welcome, reception, ostentation, on the other side more withdrawn life”. The house of Faustus also had private baths. These were located near its entrance – they opened onto the first peristyle – and also had their own access to the street. The accesses to the baths show that Sertius could open them to people outside his house, friends, clients, neighbors. The thermal baths had a frigidarium of 35 square meters and a bathing complex of approximately 150 square meters with four heated rooms. Marble statues of Aesculapius and Hygeia, health deities commonly associated with baths, were placed there. An inscription appearing on the base of one of the statues and naming a Faustus and a Valentina allows both the attribution of the house to Marcus Plotius Faustus Sertius and his wife Cornelia Valentina Tucciana Sertia and its dating. Built under the Severians, the house of Sertius illustrates a key moment in the evolution of the plan of Timgad as well as “one of the very first dated examples of private urban baths from the imperial period”. Shops were attached to the house.

 

The temple of Dea Patria and Aqua septimiana felix

The Aqua Septimiana Felix was a spring near Timgad which supplied water to a pool around which an important sanctuary was built. The sanctuary was built in the 2nd century 300 meters south of the city, along a north-south axis. A colonnaded avenue connected the sanctuary to the city and in particular to the southern thermal baths. With more than 150 meters long and 44 meters wide, it is the largest religious building in Roman Africa.

It received a sumptuous layout under the Severians. Three temples were built at the back of the sanctuary. The largest of these places of worship occupied the middle square and was dedicated to the Dea Patria, that is to say to the goddess of Africa recognizable by her headdress made of the remains of an elephant (proboscis). Decorated with white and green marble and mosaics, the temple measured 7.5 by 9.8 meters. A large bench at the bottom of the cella was to accommodate the cult statues.

On either side was a smaller temple (5.1 by 7.1 meters). The western one was dedicated to Aesculapius while the eastern one was undoubtedly dedicated to Sarapis, if we are to believe the cult objects found during the excavations. The association of Africa with Aesculapius and Sarapis is unique, placed under the sign of fertility, abundance and health, the sanctuary celebrated the beneficial waters in association with the imperial cult. The three temples, quite small, were erected on a terrace which overlooked a vast swimming pool measuring 27 by 7 meters. Entirely covered in marble, it was bordered by a bronze balustrade. The sanctuary was surrounded by painted porticos (viridarium). Their extension opened onto a vast paved square towards the town and its thermal baths.

Four identical inscriptions date these sumptuous arrangements from 213. They illustrate the donations that the notables of Timgad devoted to the sanctuary, undoubtedly from the start of its construction. Inscriptions discovered in the sanctuary, but whose publication is still incomplete, testify to the donations of Publius Flavius Pudens Pomponianus, a Roman senator from Timgad, and his family. His mother in particular dedicated, with other inhabitants of Timgad, an elephant tusk to the Genius patriae (Genius of the homeland). This involvement of the powerful notables of the city in the sanctuary shows its important role: it undoubtedly contributed in part to defining the identity of Timgad, as shown by the dedications to the Genius of the Fatherland or to the goddess of the Fatherland, but also the inscription of the forum which celebrates Flavius Pudens Pomponianus and which compares his eloquence to a source and recalls that Timgad is located near a source: this is an allusion to the Aqua Septimiana where Flavius and his family had distinguished themselves through numerous donations, the connection was made by L. Leschi. The goddess Africa of the sanctuary was also celebrated on ceramics produced in Timgad.

If the sanctuary reached its peak during the Severan era, perhaps in relation to the African journey of Septimius Severus, we can think that the cult of the source dates back to pre-Roman times and testifies to a survival of religiosity local within the life of the Roman colony, “it is obviously an ancient miraculous source, whose powers the Romans captured, by installing around it a temple comprising statues of Roman healing deities. ". At the end of antiquity, the sanctuary was covered by the Byzantine fortress. Discovered and excavated during the excavations of this fortress, the sanctuary of Aqua Septimiana Felix has not been the subject of a particular publication and many of the discoveries made there are still unpublished.

 

Spas

The Roman baths were one of the essential places of daily life in the Roman Empire, a symbol and a factor of Romanization. For the inhabitants of a city, the thermal baths are seen as something essential, one of the necessary amenities that the city must provide to its inhabitants, a sign and an instrument of civilization and well-being. In Timgad, on a forum slab, a famous inscription sums up this conception of urban life well: “Venari, lavari, ludere, ridere, occ est vivere” (hunting, going to the bath, playing, laughing, that’s live). The thermal baths are therefore a fundamental place of sociability which constructs civic and municipal identity at the same time as they make manifest the principles of the ancient city: naked and sharing the same bath, the citizens rub shoulders in an undifferentiated manner: the baths are often inexpensive, and occasionally free. Their decoration and maintenance are also the occasion for acts of euergetism. However, from the 2nd century onwards, we witnessed the development of private baths, built in the richest residences, a development which increased during Late Antiquity. We can see in this evolution both the concern for greater privacy and the search for social distance: the notable now distinguishes himself from the common man and can receive his intimates in the chosen setting of his personal baths. By the vast clearance to which it was subject, Timgad offers an almost unique image of the place of the baths in the city, even if all the baths cleared were not necessarily in service simultaneously and if their excavations were often - in view of current criteria - carried out too quickly: the stratigraphies are lacking, the plans are not always sure. The fact remains that the importance and diversity of the seaside facilities stand out and that, from this point of view, Timgad can compete with a town like Ostia. The baths of Timgad therefore offer a remarkable image of the prosperity of Roman Africa and its insertion into the cultural community that formed the ancient Mediterranean. The thermal baths of Timgad provided a significant number of mosaics: 85 out of the 235 in the inventory made by Suzanne Germain Warot in 1969. Of the fourteen thermal baths listed in her study, twelve had preserved at least part of their pavement. The decor is essentially geometric, sometimes embellished with paintings such as the representation of Neptune for the large eastern baths or the representation of Jupiter for the Philadelphi baths. The annexed rooms of these thermal baths could also have significant decorations.

 

Individual housing

Despite the extent of the clearances, the individual habitat in Timgad is not as well known as one might hope: the initial excavations were little concerned with protecting the various states of the buildings and observing the stratigraphy. However, distinctions can be made. We can thus contrast the district of the initial city and the suburbs. In the first, the habitat remained very strongly constrained by the division of plots carried out during the founding of the colony; these 132 islets of 400 m2 were in fact rarely the subject of regrouping. The largest of these houses, which occupy an island, exceptionally two as for the house extending on insulae 73 and 82, only have a porticoed courtyard and rarely a real peristyle, we commonly find 2 to 4 houses per block. Despite this land constraint, the aristocracy of the city did not completely abandon the city center, an inscription left by the perpetual flamen Corfidius tells us that he had bought a house "made sad for a long time already by its state of shapeless ruins » and had rebuilt it “more happily than it had been founded for himself and the joyful posterity of the Corfidii”. Likewise L. Iulius Ianuarius owned a house occupying an entire island and equipped with private baths.

 

Residences of the aristocracy

However, the largest residences of the aristocracy of Timgad are only found outside the original perimeter, on the ancient boundary itself for the house of Sertius and the so-called house of the Hermaphrodite, both nearly 2,200 meters high. square, a considerable area and yet exceeded by a large residence in the northern district, neighboring the thermal baths of Philadelphi, at the limits of the largest extension of the city and occupying 2,500 square meters. However, these areas do not necessarily refer to the inhabited space: the large residences included shops which could be rented, service spaces, as much surface area which was not occupied by the master's habitat, the latter however could develop upstairs, but we then know nothing about it.

Corfidius Crementius, a high-ranking priest and follower of the imperial cult, was the owner of the house of gardens. The floors of his house are not mosaic, but tiled. His home is located in the heart of the city. At the west corner of his house and annexed to his vestibule, a building used as a latrine which notes the encroachment on the small cardo which served his house, very symmetrical and axial, to which the troughs with sinuous contours adorn the courtyard central and gave its name to the garden house. Near the Arch of Trajan (Timgad), the house of the Piscina, one enters through the cardinal route, one accesses the living room which includes floral mosaics with heart-shaped patterns of pink acanthus. The house of Pompeian, whose owner was Plotius Sertius, the latter had offered a good deal to his fellow citizens. He chose the southeast side of the city to build a house of 2,600 m◊, the vestibule is paved containing four pillars and with access to the baths.

 

Decoration

Internal decoration can also help distinguish different neighborhoods. Thus the study of the mosaics revealed that all the houses in the part of the decumanus between the forum and the Mascula gate were decorated, an area which contrasts with the west of the decumanus, which is much less decorated. The suburbs also have some large, richly decorated houses, particularly between the Capitole and Avenue de Lambèse. Thus wealthy residential neighborhoods would emerge: the northern cardo, the eastern decumanus, the southern gate, the western suburb, the northeastern neighborhood on the other hand where the ruins have not yielded mosaics should be more modest. This northeastern district brought together seventeen of the twenty-two establishments in Timgad having a textile activity, for production which was probably not intended solely for the city.

 

Urban society

It would nevertheless be incorrect to think that the social scale was only reproduced in the fabric of the neighborhoods: the rich houses of the aristocracy sheltered the master's slaves, and their shops were rented to modest, sometimes poor, people. The fact remains that in Timgad the growth of the city was accompanied by “a social differentiation of the neighborhoods”. The residence is a fundamental issue for the aristocracies of the cities, in Timgad, as in most cities of the empire in the 2nd century, the atrium was replaced by a peristyle. It is accessed through a vestibule and overlooks reception areas: triclinium, oecus. The splendor of the owner can be expressed according to his means and the space available: the two peristyles of the house of Sertius, the columned antechamber of the second, their ornaments with fish tanks refer to the practices of the great Roman aristocracy . The mosaics, the frescoes, the furnishings also participate in the construction of a framework capable of showing the power of the owner and of establishing, as we saw with the residence of Corfidius, a dynastic anchorage within the notables of the quoted. We noted, moreover, a concern of the owners to preserve the decorations, at least as far as the mosaics are concerned. The private thermal baths, those of the house of Sertius are among the oldest, also make it possible to receive clients and friends, or can be opened for a modest fee to the inhabitants of the neighborhood, but they also allow the master of the house to take his bath in an intimate setting, a device reflecting “the aristocratic need to stay away from the crowd and a new way of understanding one's body characterized by the affirmation of modesty”.

 

Christian buildings

As in most ancient cities in Africa, Christian buildings are found mainly on the outskirts of the town due to their late character, but also sometimes to their association with necropolises. Only one Christian building has been identified in the city center, it is a chapel built from the atrium of the house of Lucius Julius Januarius, not far from the forum. The largest Christian ensemble is located around the western basilica, separated from the city by a ravine. This building and its outbuildings are often assimilated to the Donatist district due to the presence, in one of the houses of the religious complex, on a commemorative mosaic, of the name of Optat, identified with Bishop Optat. The basilica has a classic three-nave plan with considerable dimensions: 23 meters wide by 63 long. The central nave ends in an apse and is preceded by an atrium. The latter was decorated with columns with Corinthian capitals, perhaps reused. To the northwest was a baptistery whose tank was found in good condition, still partially covered with polychrome mosaics with geometric patterns on the steps and floral motifs around the tank. At least one thermal complex also existed in these buildings. A sarcophagus found in the basilica bears witness to arrangements allowing the realization of food libations, thus presenting a remarkable continuity with the polytheist funeral rites, a survival which could be explained, according to Henri-Irénée Marrou, by the Donatism of the faithful of the basilica. An annex chapel, 26 meters long, is attached to the left side of the basilica. The fact that other equally important basilical buildings also have baptisteries undoubtedly testifies to the religious division of the city between Donatists and Catholics: the baptistery usually refers to the presence of the bishop. According to Courtois, the Catholic building corresponded to the church on the Lambèse road. In fact, in the absence of an inscription, it is impossible to distinguish a Donatist building from a Catholic building and the attributions of the three large basilicas of Timgad, the center, the northwest and the west remain uncertain. The city has other more modest Christian buildings, but difficult to date between the 5th century and the 7th. A large part of these buildings were built with reused and recovered materials: this is particularly the case with a very ruined chapel found near the Capitol. The southern necropolis of the city, where nearly 10,000 tombs were found, unfortunately most of them very modest and anonymous, was dominated by two churches, one of them having been built between 641 and 642 by John, Duke of Tigisi. The Byzantine fort also had, of course, its own chapel.

 

The necropolises

Like any Roman city, Timgad was surrounded by its necropolises: burials could only take place outside the urban enclosure. The tomb of the mime Vincentius recalls precisely this rule in Timgad: “Vincentius is there, honor of pantomimes, etc. he lives forever in the mouths of the people, etc. Here now underground, he remains in front of the ramparts. Twenty-three years, he lived his prime. Their exploration, however, was only late and incomplete: it was only from 1932 that archaeologists really began to excavate them, after the excavation of the quadrilateral of the Trajanian city. Even today, the necropolises are therefore very incompletely known, and if some have suffered from erosion, it is possible to believe that interesting discoveries remain to be made[ref. necessary]. In the current state of knowledge, one of the best-known necropolises remains that of the Porte de Lambèse which was excavated from 1932 and gave rise to a brief publication. The necropolis in question is located 150 meters from the Lambèse gate, and approximately 500 meters from the so-called Trajan's arch. Its clearing revealed a great diversity of tombs which the excavators grouped into five main types.

1 these are the most modest tombs, but also, and by far, the most numerous, they are made up of tiles buttressed against each other and covering the tomb, a large stone in front of the tomb distinguishing it and sealing the tile formwork. These graves are generally anonymous.
2 it is in fact an embellishment of the previous type, the stone being replaced by a block of stone and sometimes by an inscribed stele which may be framed in a mensa, a funerary table intended to receive offerings and accommodate funeral meals.
3 these are box tombs (cupulae), one or two semi-cylindrical stone boxes on a stone base cover the tomb.
4 this is also an embellishment of the previous type, the monument being on two tiers, the body being lower than the tiers, placed under tiles.
5 This is a tomb which belonged to a large funerary monument resting on a base. The Porte de Lambèse necropolis has yielded only one tomb of this type, it is a type of burial which corresponds to the richest part of the population.

The graves are generally cremation burials. Although most of the time modest tombs do not contain inscriptions, various observations have been made on the distribution of epitaphs: the graves seemed grouped by family, in the broad sense, thus the Caecilii were neighbors like the Valerii or the Terentii. However, within the same family, the tombs could be very disparate, very modest or more luxurious: this could correspond to several branches of the family, but also to the tombs of the master's family and the tombs of his freedmen. The necropolises were the place of ceremonies and offerings to the deceased, these offerings were often placed on dishes, sometimes poured into the tomb through an opening. These offerings were also the occasion for banquets, a custom which was continued in the Christian era, despite the disagreement of the clergy, as Saint Augustine attests.

 

The Byzantine fortress

The Byzantine fort of Timgad, located about 250 meters south of the city, above the site of the Aqua septimiana sanctuary, many elements of which were reused to make a water tower. The results of the excavations were published by Jean Lassus in 1981. Rectangular in plan which tends towards a trapezoid and protected by powerful corner towers, its enclosure was built in 539 by Patrice Solomon. Preserved at a height of 14 meters, it frames a perimeter of 120 meters by 80 meters. The construction of the fort used numerous reused inscriptions. The fort housed barracks in its eastern part. The western part brought together common facilities, a water reservoir, a reused sanctuary swimming pool, a chapel built on the podium of the previous temples, thermal baths for the garrison. The latter with a surface area of 200 square meters opened directly onto the fortress square. The excavation of these interior arrangements proved very rich, because a thick layer of earth had protected them from the ravages of time. The fortress wall is reinforced by eight towers and the main entrance is near the central northern tower. The fort is made up of a chapel, a swimming pool, a headquarters building which is located between the bath and the chapel and a main courtyard. The swimming pool has been transformed into a water tower.

 

Latin inscriptions

During the excavations of the year 1941, in the western part of the Byzantine Fort, a dedication to Jupiter was found, the other was inscribed on a blue limestone stone, it was located along a small wall parallel to the old Museum on the south side. At the Byzantine Fort, the dedication to Mercury Augustus was located during excavations between 1945 and 1946, on the central east-west road, east side. Inside the Old Museum was a small altar of blue limestone which bears the dedication to Mercury Silvanus. In Africa, religious dedications honor Mercury and Silvanus together. The dedication to Caelestis is among the fragments identified at the deposit of the North Gate of Timgad. On the west face of the Byzantine Fort, the dedication to the Dea Patria was found, the letters are painted in red. Another would have been located at the location of the main sanctuary of the fort during the excavations of 1942 in the form of a hexagonal base of white limestone, containing a rounded part which probably serves as a support for a statue. Another inscription is found, it would represent a commemoration of an offering by citizens of Timgad to Dea Patria. In the representation, we see an elephant tusk, a terracotta medallion. This medallion would resemble a figure in the Timgad Museum, this figure represents a woman crowned with the remains of an elephant and she holds a cornucopia in her left arm and a vexillum on her right hand. The base fragment dedicated to the Genius of the Colony was found during the 1941 excavations at the Byzantine Fort on the west face. And in 1942, another was detected east of the Byzantine fort basin. One of the last dedications to the Genius of the Colony was located at the entrance to the curia during the excavations of 1945 and 1946. Several ex-votos were found at the old museum on the north wall and on one of the display cases . The dedication to Fortune Venus Aug was traced to the west in the house of Gorfidius, towards the west, near the north gate. The Curia Commodiana of Timgad, which included fifty-two curials, addressed Diana Augustus in 211 to 212. Several imperial inscriptions were recovered in fragment form during excavations at the Byzantine fort, on the south wall of the Old Museum , near the chapel of Patrice Grégoire in 1937, at the Forum, at the lapidary deposit of the North Gate and in houses surrounding the Timgad site.

 

Mosaics

235 mosaic pavements were listed in the Timgad site by Suzzane Germain and were the subject of study. All of the geometric and floral mosaics were probably created in a workshop in Timgad from the early years of the 3rd century. This set was used to decorate the houses of the rich and the thermal baths during the 3rd and 4th centuries. The mosaics in Byzantine churches were made between the 4th and 6th centuries.

 

History of excavations

Rediscovery of the site

It was in 1765 that the English traveler James Bruce first reported the existence of significant Roman ruins in Timgad. In fact, only the most important monuments emerged (the top of Trajan's arch, the capitol, the theater and the fortress). Bruce's drawings of the site, however, were not distributed until 1877. The site was subsequently visited by Louis Renier in 1851 as part of an epigraphic mission. He collected seventy registrations and located the forum. Renier's mission established lasting historiographical directions, in particular the idea that the veterans of Timgad must have had a military role against the natives: the rediscovery of Timgad now took place in the French colonial context and was deeply marked by it. Émile Masqueray visited Timgad in 1875, giving a long report the following year in the Revue Africaine. He described the city in detail, pointing out numerous monuments and publishing a number of new inscriptions, in particular the album of the decurions. A few years later, in 1880, a real archaeological exploration of the ruins began.

 

French excavations

It was by decision of the Ministry of Public Education and Fine Arts that excavations began in the 1880s in Timgad, thus a position of chief architect of historical monuments of Algeria was created, with the aim to manage the historic monuments of Algeria service and to take care of excavation and restoration sites.

Each year, the chief architect makes a tour of a few weeks to write a report and was to send it to the Ministry of Public Education and Fine Arts and to the Governor General in Algiers. From Paris come instructions on the work to be undertaken and information concerning the excavations is stored. The Chair of History and Antiquities of Africa at the École supérieure des Lettres of Algiers has a second authority over intervention at the level of the organization of excavation sites and museums.

Edmond Duthoit, who lives in France, is the first to take charge of the work for the clearing of Timgad. Albert Ballu succeeded him after his death in 1889, he remained thirty-eight years at the head of the Historical Monuments Service of Algeria, during which he undertook the restoration of several Roman monuments and organized the most important excavation sites of the Algeria (Timgad, and Djemila). He then writes each year a report detailing the progress of the work published in the Official Journal of the French Republic for the Ministry of Public Education and Fine Arts.

In 1927, Marcel Christofle became chief architect. He was appointed by the governor general of Algiers. His son, Marcel-Henri Christofle works with him. In Timgad, in 1938, they built the museum, with the help of the Perret Company. Marcel-Henri Christofle in turn became the chief architect of Algeria's monuments.

The excavations undertaken towards the periphery of the site, in the region of the Byzantine fort and the southern necropolis, were directed by Charles Godet, inspector of Historical Monuments in Timgad for thirty years. Research was slowed down by his death in 1945. Subsequently, René Godet succeeded his father at the head of excavations at the site. After his appointment, he died in a helicopter crash at the start of the Algerian War of Independence. The death of René Godet left a huge void for research; it was necessary to resume Louis Leschi's project to publish the research of the Byzantine fort. Leglay was then responsible for publishing the research for the Byzantine fort and Jean Lassus was responsible for the study of the fortress, according to the report published in 1955.

From 1948, the need to protect the archaeological site and best accommodate the inhabitants of Timgad led to the project of building a new town, designed according to the standards of contemporary architecture. The Algerian Urban Planning and Antiquities Services decide to create a new city in order to safeguard the site spread over 60 ha of ruins and also to bring together an agricultural population in a modern urban network.

After the failure of a first project, the design and construction of the new city were entrusted to Roland Simounet in 1957, the new city was to be built 1,000 m north of the ruins of the Roman city. Simounet proposed a city with narrow streets occupying an area of 6 ha, using architecture with simple forms adapted to the local environment and modern designs for the well-being of the inhabitants. The construction was carried out successfully despite the Algerian war and its restrictions thanks to the use of several techniques using local materials.

 

Excavations since 1962 and preservation of the site

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city of Timgad has not been the subject of excavations since 1962. The conservation and restoration of the site are not without problems. Timgad is exposed to climatic and human degradation. Conservation and development of the site raise concerns and debates.

Criticisms were repeatedly formulated on the occasion of the organization of the annual festival which took place in the ruins and could degrade them, because of the numerous visitors, who exert great pressure on the soil of the city due to the climbing and trampling on fragile structures, repeated passage of machinery and service vehicles over vulnerable structures, graffiti and waste.

In 2001, as part of a general assessment of the conservation of ancient mosaics in Algeria, Ferdi Sabah noted a satisfactory state of conservation for the mosaics of Timgad, unlike other Algerian heritage sites such as Lambèse, Sétif or Tébessa. . Among the causes of damage, not counting the causes of natural phenomena, such as earthquakes or bad weather which have never had an impact on the site, there is the insecurity of rural regions, the lack of restoration specialists, the lack of cultural interest in antiquities, the difficulties of an emerging country.

A new theater was erected near the site, imitating the plan of the Roman theater, with a capacity of 5,000 seats, carried out on a plot of 6,497 m2, this project, registered in 2007 in the code of the culture sector for an initial envelope of 10 million Algerian dinars, will be completed through financing which can reach 240 million dinars, it was also specified. This will be the first time that the evenings of this prestigious festival will be held outside the remains of the Roman theater. It is intended to host the international festival and must therefore participate in the preservation of the site. Funded from 2007 and corresponding to works worth 251 million Algerian dinars, it has been operational since the 2010 edition of the International Festival 6. However, criticism has been made regarding its location and its relevance so close of the site.

On a legal level there are three laws, the first is law no. 90-29 of December 1, 1990 relating to development and town planning, which targets a particular provision applicable to certain parts of the territory, such as the method of enclosure , the development, preservation and enhancement of the natural, cultural and historical heritage environment. The 2nd law no. 90-30 of December 1, 1990 (Containing state law) which classifies public monuments, museums and archaeological sites as being an artificial public domain. The third is Law No. 98-04 of June 15, 1998 relating to the protection of cultural heritage, which defines cultural heritage, and the rules for its protection, safeguarding and enhancement, and the master plan for development and town planning of the municipality of Timgad.

The archaeological site is placed under the plan for the protection and development of archaeological sites (abbreviated: PPMVSA), a legal and technical instrument which determines all conservation and management actions for the property. Executive Decree No. 03-323 appeared in the official journal and was signed by Ahmed Ouyahia.

The Office for the Management and Exploitation of Cultural Property is the site management body in collaboration with the cultural directorate of the wilaya of Batna. Its aim is to carry out all public service missions of protection, maintenance, inventory and develops valorization and promotion programs.

 

Timgad Museum

Located at the entrance to the site, the museum preserves and presents numerous sculptures, mosaics, inscriptions as well as small objects (pottery, lamps, glassware, bronze utensils, coins, fibulae) found in the excavation of the site or its surroundings. . It is accessed through a vast courtyard, decorated with columns and statues.

You can admire sculptures of Greco-Roman deities, such as the busts of Mercury and Apollo, the statue of Fortune, the heads of Serapis and Aesculapius from the Byzantine fort. Bas-reliefs, steles dedicated to Saturn (Baal Hammon of the Numidians) from the surroundings of Timgad and Lambafundi, are on display. The museum has a statue of Emperor Lucius Verus, nymphs holding shells found in the Southern Baths. Inside the museum, a colossal vase represents the sacrifice and the Love of Psyche and finally there are numerous inscriptions.

A door, which was that of the chapel of Patrice Gréoire, gives access to rooms, where numerous mosaics are exhibited which served as decoration and which were often found in thermal baths or in rich private residences, such as the Neptune mosaic on her chariot, Venus, Diana bathing, etc. The museum is an important element in the preservation of the site and its riches, however it had to face a theft on the night of September 27, 1993. In 2001, another theft was reported by the Algerian National Gendarmerie following of the disappearance of the portrait of Emperor Hadrian.