|
Description:
|
Along the African coast of the Mediterranean Sea, very near the port city of present-day Annaba (formerly Bône) in northeastern Algeria, lie the remnants of Hippone or Hippo, also known as Hippo Regius. Carthaginians (originally, Phoenicians) founded Hippo probably not later than the 4th century B.C.E. at the base of a fertile plain at the mouth of the Seybouse River, ensuring agricultural and commercial prosperity. Because Hippo was home to Numidian kings during their control of the territory (ca. 2nd century B.C.E), the city came to be called Hippo Regius. Though Rome defeated the Carthaginians of North Africa in the second Punic War (late 3rd century, B.C.E.), Hippo and its environs continued to be ruled by Numidian princes until Julius Caesar defeated Juba I in 46 B.C.E. Once the Roman army established itself in the region, Hippo eventually became a colonia of the empire, granting inhabitants full status as Roman citizens. The large forum with Corinthian columns dates from the first century, C.E.Excavations of the site are chiefly the work of Erwan Marec, a French naval officer, whose studies were published in the mid-20th C. In this image, the forum is viewed in the shadow of St. Augustine Basilica, built during the French colonial period (1881-1900) in a style similar to the cathedral at Carthage and Sacre Coeur in Paris. The site for the basilica marked sacred territory in Punic times with a shrine to Tanit. When the Romans took over the city, they eradicated the Carthaginian holy place and built cisterns to hold the community’s water supply.ca. June 1983
|
