Caesarea, Numidia

Caesarea in
Mauretania was an
ancient city and
bishopric in Roman
North Africa. It was a
Roman colonia (called
Caesarea Mauretaniae)
in Roman-Berber North
Africa.[1] It was the
capital of Mauretania
Caesariensis [2] and is
now called Cherchell, in
modern Algeria.

Contents
History
Antiquity to third
century AD
Romanization Remains of the Forum of Caesarea Mauretaniae
and Christianity
center
Titular see
See also
Notes
Sources

History

Antiquity to third century AD

Phoenicians from Carthage founded a settlement on the northern coast of Africa, 100 km west of the
present-day city of Algiers at present Cherchell around 400 BC to serve as a trading station and named the
city Iol or Jol.

It became a part of the kingdom of Numidia under Jugurtha, who died in 104 BC and it became very
significant to the Berber monarchy and generals of Numidia. The Berber Kings Bocchus I and Bocchus II
lived there.

During the 1st century BC, due to the city’s strategic location, new defences were built.
The last Numidian king Juba II and his wife, the Greek Ptolemaic princess Cleopatra Selene II, were forced
to flee the other part of Numidian kingdom because the local population disapproved of their king being too
Romanized, which caused civil unrest between 26 and 20 BC. Roman Emperor Augustus had intervened in
the situation and in 33 BC Rome and divided the Numidian Kingdom into two. One half of the kingdom
became a part of the Roman province of Africa Nova, while western Numidia and the old kingdom of
Mauretania became one kingdom in the hands of a Berber prince named Juba II. Although his father was
once an ally of Pompey, Juba had lived in Rome under the tutelage of Julius Caesar, learning to read and
write Greek and Latin. As he was considered too Roman to rule, Juba and his wife, Cleopatra Selene (the
daughter of Marcus Antonius and last Pharaonic queen Cleopatra), were at the mercy of civil unrest when
Emperor Augustus intervened. Juba II renamed Iol Caesarea or Caesarea Mauretaniae, in honor of the
emperor. Caesarea would become the capital of the Roman client kingdom of Mauretania, which became
one of the important client kingdoms in the Roman Empire, and their dynasty was among the most loyal
client Roman vassal rulers.

Juba and Cleopatra did not just rename their new capital, but rebuilt the town as a typical Graeco-Roman
city in fine Roman style on a large, lavish and expensive scale, complete with street grids, a theatre, an art
collection and a lighthouse similar to the one at Alexandria. The construction and sculptural projects in
Caesarea and throughout the kingdom were built in a rich mixture of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman
architectural styles. The monarchs are buried in their mausoleum, the Royal Mausoleum of Mauretania
which can still be seen. The seaport capital and its kingdom flourished during this period with most of the
population being of Greek and Phoenician origin with a minority of Berbers. It remained a significant power
center with a Greco-Roman civilization as a veneer, until 40 AD, when its last monarch Ptolemy of
Mauretania was murdered on a visit to Rome. The murder of Ptolemy set in motion a series of reactions
resulting in a devastating war with Rome.

In 44 AD after a four-year bloody revolt, the capital was captured and Roman Emperor Claudius divided the
Mauretanian kingdom into two provinces. The province of which Caesarea became the capital was called
Mauretania Caesariensis after it. The city itself was settled with Roman soldiers and was given the rank of a
colonia, and so was also called Colonia Claudia Caesarea.

In later centuries, the Roman population expanded, as did the Berber population, resulting in a mixed Greco-
Phoenician, Berber and Roman population. The city featured a hippodrome, amphitheatre, basilica,
numerous Greek temples and Roman civic buildings.[3] During this heyday, the city had its own school of
philosophy, academy and library. As a significant city of the Roman Empire it had trading contacts across
the Roman world.

Romanization and Christianity center

Considered to be one of the more loyal of Roman provincial capitals, Caesarea grew under Roman rule in
the 1st and 2nd century AD, soon reaching a population of over 30,000 inhabitants.[4] In 44 AD, dng the
reign of Emperor Claudius it became the capital of the imperial province of Mauretania Caesarensis. Later,
the emperor made it a colonia, “Colonia Claudia Caesarea”. As with many other cities throughout the
empire, he and his successors further Romanised the area, building monuments, enlarging the bath houses,
adding an amphitheatre, and improving the aqueducts. Later, under the Severan dynasty, a new forum was
added. The city was sacked by Berber tribes during a revolt in 371/372 AD, but recovered.

In later centuries, the Roman population expanded, as did the Berber population, resulting in a mixed Berber
and Roman population. The city was mostly Romanized under Septimius Severus and it grew to be a very
rich city with nearly 100,000 inhabitants, according to historian Gsell. In about 165 AD, it was the
birthplace to the future Roman Emperor Macrinus.
From an early stage, the city had a small but growing population of Christians, Roman and Berber and was
noted for the religious debates and tumults which featured the hostility of Roman public religion toward
Christians. By the 4th century, the conversion of the population from pagan to Christian beliefs resulted in
nearly all of the population being Christianised.

By the 5th century the capital of Mauretania Caesariensis was totally Romanised, according to Theodor
Mommsen, one of the 80 cities in the Maghreb populated (and sometimes even created) by Roman colonists
from Italy. It remained an extremely loyalist force for the Roman Empire. Additionally, the Romanized city's
elite held considerable control of international trade. Although it stagnated for over a hundred years and
even lost population, as did most cities in the Roman Empire, it still remained much as it had been since it
was founded. Consequently, the Roman Empire largely relied on its North African dominion for essential
grain supply and some elite rulers.

It became a target of the Vandals and was finally taken over by them in 429 AD. The Vandal army and fleet
burnt the town and turned many of its old magnificent Roman era buildings into Vandal citadels. Although
this devastation was significant, the Vandal era saw restoration of much of the damage, an expansion in
population, and the creation of a vibrant Romanised Germanic community.

The area and remained in Vandal hands until 533 AD, when the city was captured by the Byzantine Emperor
Justinian I. The new rulers used the Greek language (along with Latin), but the Neo-Latin local dialect
remained in use by the inhabitants. The city declined. The Roman and the semi-Romanised Vandal
population held a stratified position over the growing numbers of Berbers it allowed to settle in return for
cheap labor.[5] This reduced the economic status of small freeholders and urban dwellers, especially what
remained of the Vandal population, who provided most of the local military forces. Furthermore, the
increasing use of Berber workers ground down the Roman population of free peasants. By the 8th century,
the city and surrounding area had neither a strong urban middle class of free citizens, nor a rural population
of freehold farmers, nor a crack military aristocracy of Vandal warriors and their retinue. It thus succumbed
to an Arab Moslem jihad.

Titular see
There was Caesarea in Mauretania[6], but also a small city called Caesarea in Numidia (near the actual
border between Algeria and Tunisia). The second was one of over 120 cities in the Roman province of
Numidia that were important enough to become a suffragan bishopric of the Metropolitan of Carthage, but
would fade away, plausibly at the seventh century advent of Islam. The ruins of this small Numidian city
ruins are in Hammamet (French: Youks-les-Bains) in modern Algeria, but remains a Latin Catholic titular
see.

Its only historically documented incumbent, Dominicus, was among the Catholic bishops
convoked to a Council of Carthage in 484 by king Huneric of the Vandal Kingdom and like
most of them (unlike the Donatist schismatics) was exiled, in his case to Corsica.
Morcelli also attributes to this see the Donatist heretic Cresconius, who probably was bishop in
Caesariana (Numidia).

The diocese was nominally restored in 1933 as Latin titular bishopric of Caesarea in Numidia. It has had the
following incumbents, partially of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank, with two archiepiscopal exceptions:

Giuseppe Della Cioppa (1953.04.01 – death 1958.10.18) as emeritate; previously Titular

Bishop of Tiberias (1943.07.17 – 1947.12.02) as Bishop-Prelate of Territorial Prelature of
Acquaviva delle Fonti (Italy) (1943.07.17 – 1947.12.02), and Bishop-Prelate of Territorial
Prelature of Altamura (Italy) (1943.07.17 – 1947.12.02), Bishop of Alife (Italy) (1947.12.02 –
retired 1953.04.01)
 Wacław Wycisk (1958.11.16 – death 1984.03.22) as Auxiliary Bishop of Diocese of Opole
(Poland) (1958.11.16 – 1984.03.22)
Titular Archbishop: Alberto Bovone (Italian) (1984.04.05 – 1998.02.21) as Roman Curia
official : first Secretary of Roman Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (1984.04.08 –
1995.06.13), then Pro-Prefect of Congregation for the Causes of Saints (1995.06.13 –
1998.02.23); previously Undersecretary of above Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
(1973.05.21 – 1984.05.12); later created Cardinal-Deacon of Ognissanti in Via Appia Nuova
(1998.02.21 – death 1998.04.17), Prefect of above Rolan Congregation for the Causes of
Saints (1998.02.23 – 1998.04.17)
Titular Archbishop: Augustine Kasujja (born Uganada) (1998.05.26 – ...), as papal diplomat :
Apostolic Nuncio (ambassador) to Algeria (1998.05.26 – 2004.04.22), Apostolic Nuncio to
Tunisia (1998.05.26 – 2004.04.22), Apostolic Nuncio to Madagascar (2004.04.22 –
2010.02.02) and Apostolic Nuncio to Seychelles (2004.04.22 – 2010.02.02) and Apostolic
Delegate to Comoro Islands (2004.04.22 – 2010.02.02) and Apostolic Nuncio to Mauritius
(2004.06.09 – 2010.02.02), Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria (2010.02.02 – 2016.10.12), Permanent
Observer to Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) (2013.12.13 –
2016.10.12), Apostolic Nuncio to Luxembourg (1998.05.26 – ...) and Apostolic Nuncio to
Belgium (1998.05.26 – ...).

See also
List of Catholic dioceses in Algeria
Mauretania Caesariensis
Icosium

Notes
1. Detailed map of Roman Berber Africa, showing the location of Iol-Caesarea on the
Mediterranean coast (https://jahiliyyah.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/afrique-du-nord-romanisati
on-de-la-numidie1.jpg)
2. Leveau, Ph (1991-04-01). Camps, Gabriel (ed.). Encyclopédie berbère (http://encyclopedieber
bere.revues.org/1899) (in French). Éditions Peeters. pp. 1698–1706. ISBN 2857445814.
3. Leveau Philipe: "L'amphithéâtre et le théâtre-amphithéâtre de Cherchel" (in French) (http://ww
w.persee.fr/doc/mefr_0223-5102_1979_num_91_2_1213)
4. Leveau, Philippe. "Caesarea de Maurétanie, une ville romaine et ses campagnes" first chapter
5. Leveau, Philippe. "Caesarea de Maurétanie, une ville romaine et ses campagnes" third
chapter
6. Caesarea Mauretaniae diocese (http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t0484.htm)

Sources
GCatholic (http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/former/t0485.htm)

Gams, Pius Bonifacius (1957). Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae (in German). Graz:
Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt. p. 464. OCLC 222366386 (https://www.worldcat.org/ocl
c/222366386).
Landwehr, Christa; Kleinefenn, Florian (2006). Die römischen Skulpturen von Caesarea
Mauretaniae. Denkmäler aus Stein und Bronze: Idealplastik : Bacchus und Gefolge ; Masken ;
Fabelwesen ; Tiere ; Bukranien ; nicht benennbare Figuren 3 3 (in German). ISBN 978-3-8053-
3441-9. OCLC 929104128 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/929104128).
 Morcelli, Steph. Antonius (1816). Africa christiana (in Latin). Brixiae. pp. 406–407.
OCLC 68636597 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/68636597).
De Meyer, A; Van Cauwenbergh, Étienne (1953). 'Césarée de Numidie', in Dictionnaire
d'Histoire et de Géographie ecclésiastiques, vol. XII (in French). Paris: Letouzey et Ané.
ISBN 978-2-7063-0181-0. OCLC 491325043 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/491325043).
J. Mesnage, L'Afrique chrétienne, Paris 1912, pp. 406–407

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