Chebba

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Chebba

Chebba
Location in Tunisia
 Chebba

Chebba
Location in Tunisia

Coordinates: 35°14′14″N 11°06′54″E

Country
Tunisia
Governorate Mahdia Governorate

Population (2014)[1]
 • Total 22,232
Time zone UTC1 (CET)
 Coordinates: 35°14′14″N 11°06′54″E

Country
Tunisia
Governorate Mahdia Governorate

Population (2014)[1]
 • Total 22,232
Time zone UTC1 (CET)
Chebba (La Chebba, Ash Shabbah, aš-Šābbah, Sheba) is a small city in
the Mahdia Governorate of Tunisia in North Africa on the coast of the
Mediterranean Sea.[2]
History[edit]

Ruined tower of Bordj Khadidja at Ras Kaboudia.

The city of Chebba derives its name from the headland 3 kilometres
(1.9 mi) to the east, which was classically known as Caput Vada (headland
above the shoals).[3][4][5]
The Byzantine general Belisarius landed here in 533 and went on to inflict a
devastating defeat on the Vandals.[6] The town of Chebba was founded by
Justinian about 534 CE after the defeat of the Vandals,[3] and named
Justinianopolis.[7]
The headland (Caput Vada) is now known as Ras Kaboudia[3] and is site of
the ruins of the bordj (harbor fortress) of Bordj Khadidja, which was built
upon Byzantine foundations.[8] The fortress guarded the harbor entrance
and was one of a chain of similar forts built by the Abbasids along the coast
of North Africa in the 8th century. It was later renamed after Khadija Ben
Kalthoum, a poet of the eleventh century, who was born in Chebba.[9]
Notes[edit]
1 ^ "Tunisia: largest cities and towns and statistics of their population".
Archived from the original on 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2011-03-09. World
Gazetteer
2 ^ Jacobs, Daniel and Morris, Peter (2001) The rough guide to Tunisia Rough
Guides, London, page 235, ISBN 1-85828-748-0
3 ^ Jump up to:
a b c Hannezo, G. (1905) "Chebba et Ras-Kapoudia: Notes Historique"

Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Sousse 3(5): pp. 135–140; in French

4 ^ The shoals (Latin vada) refer to the shallows between the headland and the
Kerkennah Islands, see Hannezo (1905)
5 ^ In a footnote Gibbons says The Caput Vada of Procopius (where Justinian
afterwards founded a city - Da Ædific. l. vi. c.6) is the promontory of Ammon
in Strabo, the Brachodes of Ptolemy, the Capaudia of the moderns, a long
narrow slip that runs into the sea (Shaw's Travels, p. 111). Gibbons, Edward
(1854) The history of the decline and fall of the Roman empire John Murry,
London, volume 5 page 105,
6 ^ Bury, J. B. (John Bagnell) (1923) "Chapter XVII: The Reconquest of Africa"
History of the Later Roman Empire: From the Death of Theodosius I. to the
death of Justinian: Volume 2 Macmillan, New York, page 130,
OCLC 499411636
7 ^ Guérin, Victor (1862) Voyage archéologique dans la Régence de Tunis,
Volume 1 Henri Plon, Paris, page 150, OCLC 23427230; in French
8 ^ Carton, Louis Benjamin Charles (1905) "Le Bordj Khadidja (Chebba)"
Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Sousse 3(5): pp. 127–134; in French
9 ^ Sadiqi, Fatima et al. (2009) Women writing Africa: The Northern region
Feminist Press at The City University of New York, New York, page 89,
ISBN 978-1-55861-588-5