Tiddis
| Tiddis | |
|---|---|
| Castellum Tidditanorum; Tiddi | |
 Ruins of Tiddis | |
  Location within Algeria | |
| 36°27′48″N 6°29′02″E / 36.463333°N 6.483889°E | |
| Type | Ancient settlement |
| Periods | Numidian, Roman, Late Antique |
| Satellite of | Cirta |
| Location | Algeria |
| Region | Constantine Province |
| Part of | Territory of Cirta in the Roman period |
| Site notes | |
| Excavation dates | 19th century; systematic excavations from 1941 |
| Archaeologists | André Berthier |
| Condition | Ruins |
Tiddis (also known in antiquity as Castellum Tidditanorum and later as Tiddi) was an ancient settlement in Numidia, in what is now Constantine Province in eastern Algeria. It lies above the gorges of the Rhumel, about 16 kilometres northwest of ancient Cirta (modern Constantine). In the Roman period Tiddis belonged to the communities dependent on Cirta. Inscriptions refer to its community as Castellum Tidditanorum, res publica Tidditanorum and, later, res publica Castelli Tidditanorum.[1]
Occupation of the site predates Roman rule. The cemeteries preserve evidence of protohistoric burial traditions and hand-modelled ceramics, while imported material indicates contacts beyond the immediate region. During the Roman imperial period the steep eastern slope was densely occupied, with streets, terraces and buildings adapted to the terrain. Tiddis remained occupied into Late Antiquity, when it was also the seat of a Christian bishopric.
History
[edit]| History of Algeria |
|---|
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Pre-Roman occupation is known particularly from the cemeteries surrounding the settlement. In the eastern necropolis, archaeologists have identified several forms of protohistoric burial, including funerary circles, cave burials, rectangular pit graves and bazinas.[2] Four excavated pit graves contained about forty hand-modelled vessels, among them a painted caliciform vessel and a tripod whose feet were modelled as human heads.[3]
The finds also document contacts beyond the immediate region before Roman rule. Rhodian amphorae found at Tiddis, used for transporting wine from Rhodes, have been dated to the last quarter of the 3rd and the first half of the 2nd century BC.[4] Punic stelae and Campanian or Arretine pottery are likewise represented among the finds from the site.[5]
Under Roman rule Tiddis formed part of the territory dependent on Cirta. In this context, Jacques Gascou places the castella of the Cirtan confederation within the administrative organization of its pagi.[1] The designation res publica, also found in inscriptions from Tiddis, does not by itself establish the juridical rank of the community.[6]
Under Septimius Severus, inscriptions refer to the res publica Tidditanorum, while an inscription from the reign of Severus Alexander names the Castellum Tidditanorum.[1] A dedication to Gordian III from AD 239 uses the fuller form res publica Castelli Tidditanorum and records that it was erected from public funds by decree of the decurions.[7]
Periodic markets (nundinae) are also attested under Severus Alexander. They were held twice each month, on the day before the Kalends and the day before the Ides, with the authorization of the provincial governor Publius Iulius Iunianus Martialianus.[8]
The Roman settlement occupied the steep eastern slope of the Kheneg plateau, at elevations of roughly 455 to 575 metres. The main street, conventionally called the cardo, winds uphill from the northern entrance towards the forum. A large stairway with 38 steps and five landings linked different levels of the settlement. Much of the western and southern plateau remains comparatively little explored.[9]
Among the better identified public structures are the forum, street arches, baths and the large cistern complex. Other traditional identifications of buildings and sanctuaries are less certain, in part because later occupation altered earlier structures.[10]
The appearance of the excavated Roman settlement was summarized in the 1976 Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites:
The native town became Romanized just like the other towns near Cirta. Today one can cross it by following the main street as it goes from a monumental portal up between the houses, passing by the forum, a small square, and the curia. [...] Also among the public monuments cleared thus far are the public baths and cisterns.[11]
Industrial activity is represented by about ten workshops identified as fullonicae, or fulleries, dating between the 3rd and 5th centuries AD.[12] No wells are reported in the Tiddis workshops. At least two retained evidence of water supply: one had a terracotta pipe, while another was supplied by a lead pipe from an adjacent cistern.[13]
Water management was important on the steep and elevated site. In the upper part of Tiddis is a complex measuring about 20 by 13 metres and consisting of three interconnected cisterns; channels and small settling basins collected water descending the slope.[14] Smaller cisterns and other water-supply installations are known elsewhere in the settlement.[15]
An inscription dated to AD 251–253 records works in which debris was cleared and rock was cut so that water could be collected ad salutem populi, for the welfare of the population. The works were directed by Marcus Cocceius Anicius Faustus Flavianus.[16] Vannesse interprets the inscription as referring to the collection of rainwater and associates the works with three neighbouring cisterns with a combined capacity of about 350 m³, rather than with the construction of an aqueduct.[16]
The senator and military commander Quintus Lollius Urbicus was closely associated with Tiddis. Its decurions honoured him as patronus of the community.[17][18] At El Héri, north of Tiddis, a mausoleum bears an inscription naming his father Marcus Lollius Senecio, his mother Grania Honorata, his brothers Lucius Lollius Senecio and Marcus Lollius Honoratus, and his uncle Publius Granius Paulus.[19][20] Older literature sometimes described Tiddis as Urbicus's birthplace, but this is not securely established; Gascou also considered a possible origin in the vicinity of El Héri.[21]
Religious remains include a substantial group of Punic, Neo-Punic and Roman votive stelae associated with Baal Hammon and the Romano-African cult of Saturn.[22] A ladder is a particularly frequent motif: of 33 Neo-Punic or Roman stelae with this image examined by Werner Huß, 26 came from Tiddis. Huß interpreted it as a symbol of passage or ascent between the earthly and celestial spheres and favoured a Punic or Neo-Punic background, whereas Marcel Le Glay had earlier suggested possible Campanian influence.[23]
The cult of Mithras is attested by an inscription referring to cultores who built a structure from the ground up at their own expense; the abbreviation I. M. has been expanded as I(nvicto) M(ithrae) (ILAlg II 3576).[24] The traditional identification of a rock-cut structure near the northern gate as a Mithraeum has been re-examined because of features of its architecture and uncertainty over the provenance of some associated finds.[25]
The site remained occupied in Late Antiquity. Christian remains include a three-aisled basilica, two baptisteries and Christian burials.[26] A later fortification phase, assigned to the Byzantine period, has been dated from seven coins to approximately AD 535–645.[27]
Ecclesiastical history
[edit]Tiddis was the seat of a Christian bishopric in Late Antiquity. A bishop named Abundius Tidditanus is recorded among the bishops attending the Council of Carthage convened in 484 under the Vandal king Huneric.[28]
Older ecclesiastical literature attributed several bishops to Tiddis.[29] Mesnage and Jaubert, however, considered several of these bishops to have belonged instead to Tisedi, leaving Abundius as the bishop securely attested for Tiddis.[30]
Titular see
[edit]A Roman Catholic titular episcopal see of Tiddi was established in 1925.[31]
Research history
[edit]During the 19th century the ruins were usually known as Kreneg or Kheneg. In 1852 Léon Renier and the French officer Creuly identified the ruins with ancient Tiddis from inscriptions found at the site.[32] The identification was published in 1853 but was later largely forgotten.[33]
Auguste Cherbonneau carried out further work in the early 1860s. His investigations included the eastern gate, parts of the enclosure and the necropolis outside it.[34]
Systematic large-scale excavation under André Berthier began on 7 January 1941.[35] His work at Tiddis subsequently continued, with interruptions, over roughly three decades.[36] In the spring of 1966 Roger Guéry carried out localized deep stratigraphic soundings that provided additional evidence for the development of the settlement.[33]
Berthier published a comprehensive synthesis of his investigations in the 2000 monograph Tiddis. Cité antique de Numidie.[37] Claudia Kleinwächter later drew attention to problems including the insufficient distinction of different building phases, uncertain identifications of some buildings and sanctuaries, and dates that in some cases depended on hypothetical associations with individuals known from inscriptions.[38]
Associated people
[edit]- Quintus Lollius Urbicus – Roman senator and governor, honoured as patron of Tiddis
- Lollia (gens) – members of the family are named on the mausoleum at El Héri
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 Gascou, Jacques (1983). "Pagus et castellum dans la Confédération Cirtéenne". Antiquités africaines (in French). 19: 180–181, 197. doi:10.3406/antaf.1983.1096.
- ↑ Bussière, Jean (1998). "Quatre sépultures berbères protohistoriques de la nécropole orientale de Tiddis (Algérie)". Antiquités africaines (in French). 34: 31. doi:10.3406/antaf.1998.1281.
- ↑ Bussière 1998, p. 32.
- ↑ Bennour, Khaoula (2023). "The Numidian Country and Its Commercial and Economic Opening on the Mediterranean Basin and Its Southern Prolongation". In Bentz, Martin; Heinzelmann, Michael (eds.). Archaeology and Economy in the Ancient World. Vol. 55. Heidelberg: Propylaeum. p. 280. doi:10.11588/propylaeum.1035.c14078.
- ↑ Février, Paul-Albert (1967). "Les Origines de l'habitat urbain en Maurétanie césarienne". Journal des Savants (in French): 120.
- ↑ Gascou, Jacques (1979). "L'emploi du terme respublica dans l'épigraphie latine d'Afrique". Mélanges de l'École française de Rome: Antiquité (in French). 91 (1): 395. doi:10.3406/mefr.1979.1193.
- ↑ Marcillet-Jaubert, Jean (1969). "Quelques inscriptions latines d'Algérie". Antiquités africaines (in French). 3: 145–146. doi:10.3406/antaf.1969.902.
- ↑ Shaw, Brent D. (1981). "Rural Markets in North Africa and the Political Economy of the Roman Empire". Antiquités africaines. 17: 66. doi:10.3406/antaf.1981.1072.
- ↑ Siada, Salima (2024). "Réexamen du mithraeum nord de Tiddis et essai d'identification de la structure sur la terrasse supérieure". La Revue d'études archéologiques (in French). 22 (1): 451–452.
- ↑ Kleinwächter, Claudia (2002). "Review of André Berthier, Tiddis, cité antique de Numidie". Gnomon (in German). 74 (6): 542.
- ↑ Février, Paul-Albert (1976). "Castellum Tidditanorum (Tiddis), Algeria". In Stillwell, Richard (ed.). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites.
- ↑ Amraoui, Touatia (2018). "Alimentation et gestion de l'eau dans les ateliers antiques de Numidie : le cas des fullonicae". In Brouquier-Reddé, Véronique; Hurlet, Frédéric (eds.). L'eau dans les villes du Maghreb et leur territoire à l'époque romaine. Mémoires (in French). Vol. 54. Bordeaux: Ausonius. pp. 215, 219–220.
- ↑ Amraoui 2018, pp. 219–220.
- ↑ Amraoui 2018, pp. 217–218.
- ↑ Amraoui 2018, pp. 217–220.
- 1 2 Vannesse, Michaël (2012). "Les usages de l'eau courante dans les villes romaines : le témoignage de l'épigraphie". Latomus (in French). 71 (2): 474–475. The inscription, AE 1946, 61 = ILAlg II 3596, includes the words ad salutem populi aquam excipi providit.
- ↑ CIL VIII, 6706; ILAlg II 3605.
- ↑ Gascou 1983, p. 180 n. 31.
- ↑ CIL VIII, 6705
- ↑ Tissot, Charles (1888). Géographie comparée de la province romaine d'Afrique (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: Imprimerie nationale. p. 397.
- ↑ Gascou 1983, p. 180 n. 31.
- ↑ Berthier, André; Le Glay, Marcel (1958). "Le sanctuaire du sommet et les stèles à Baal-Saturne de Tiddis". Libyca. Archéologie-Épigraphie (in French). 6: 23–58.
- ↑ Huß, Werner (1990). "Die Leiter als Symbol im punischen und neupunischen Bereich". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins (in German). 106: 172–173.
- ↑ Siada 2024, p. 456.
- ↑ Siada 2024, pp. 454–460.
- ↑ Hamida Fourali, تيديس في الفترة المسيحية القديمة, 2021, pp. 220–221; Siada 2024, p. 468.
- ↑ Hamida Fourali, تيديس في الفترة المسيحية القديمة, 2021, p. 231.
- ↑ Fourali, Hamida (2021). "تيديس في الفترة المسيحية القديمة" [Tiddis in the ancient Christian era]. المجلة التاريخية الجزائرية (in Arabic). 5 (2): 218.
- ↑ Stefano Antonio Morcelli, Africa christiana, vol. 1, Brescia, 1816, pp. 320–321.
- ↑ J. Mesnage, L'Afrique chrétienne, Paris, 1912, p. 315; H. Jaubert, "Anciens évêchés et ruines chrétiennes de la Numidie et de la Sitifienne", Recueil des Notices et Mémoires de la Société archéologique de Constantine, vol. 46, 1913, p. 93.
- ↑ "Tiddi (Titular See)". GCatholic.org. Retrieved 11 August 2026.
- ↑ Marchand, J. (1854–1855). "Inscriptions latines trouvées à Kreneg (province de Constantine)". Annuaire de la Société archéologique de la province de Constantine (in French): 129. Marchand describes the ancient name as having been "découvert en 1852 par deux archéologues distingués, MM. Léon Renier et Creuly".
- 1 2 Kleinwächter 2002, p. 540.
- ↑ Cherbonneau, Auguste (1863). "Rapport sur les fouilles du Kreneg (Tiddi et Calda). Inscriptions romaines inédites". Recueil des notices et mémoires de la Société archéologique de la province de Constantine (in French). 7: 170–173.
- ↑ Kleinwächter 2002, p. 539.
- ↑ Kleinwächter 2002, pp. 539–540; Siada 2024, p. 451.
- ↑ Kleinwächter 2002, pp. 539–540.
- ↑ Kleinwächter, Claudia (2002). "Review of André Berthier, Tiddis, cité antique de Numidie". Gnomon (in German). 74 (6): 542–543.
Bibliography
[edit]- Berthier, André (2000). Tiddis. Cité antique de Numidie. Mémoires de l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres (in French). Vol. 20. Paris: De Boccard.
- Berthier, André; Le Glay, Marcel (1958). "Le sanctuaire du sommet et les stèles à Baal-Saturne de Tiddis". Libyca. Archéologie-Épigraphie (in French). 6: 23–58.
- Bussière, Jean (1998). "Quatre sépultures berbères protohistoriques de la nécropole orientale de Tiddis (Algérie)". Antiquités africaines (in French). 34: 31–43. doi:10.3406/antaf.1998.1281.
- Gascou, Jacques (1983). "Pagus et castellum dans la Confédération Cirtéenne". Antiquités africaines (in French). 19: 175–207. doi:10.3406/antaf.1983.1096.
- Kleinwächter, Claudia (2002). "Review of André Berthier, Tiddis, cité antique de Numidie". Gnomon (in German). 74 (6): 539–543.
- Siada, Salima (2024). "Réexamen du mithraeum nord de Tiddis et essai d'identification de la structure sur la terrasse supérieure". La Revue d'études archéologiques (in French). 22 (1): 450–476.
- Février, Paul-Albert (1976). "Castellum Tidditanorum (Tiddis), Algeria". In Stillwell, Richard (ed.). The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites.
External links
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