Cherchell (older Cherchel, ) is a seaport town in the
Province||-Algeria is currently divided into 48 wilayas , 553 daïras and 1541 baladiyahs...
of Tipaza,
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
, 55 miles West of
AlgiersAlgiers is the capital and largest city of Algeria, and the second largest city in the Maghreb . According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630...
. It is the
district seatThe provinces of Algeria are divided into 553 districts . The capital of a district is called a district seat...
of Cherchell District. As of 1998, it had a population of 24,400.
Ancient History
The town was originally an ancient Egyptian settlement dating back to 1500 BC. In the town archaeologists have found a lower half of a seated Egyptian divinity in black basalt, bearing a cartouche of the
PharaohPharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. In antiquity this title began to be used for the ruler who was the religious and political leader of united ancient Egypt. This was true only during the New Kingdom, specifically during the middle of...
of
EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. The civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh, and...
Thutmose IThutmose I was the third Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty of Egypt. He was given the throne after the death of the previous king Amenhotep I. During his reign, he campaigned deep into the Levant and Nubia, pushing the borders of Egypt further than ever before...
.
The Phoenicians of
CarthageCarthage refers both to an ancient city in present-day Tunisia, and a modern-day suburb of Tunis. The civilization that developed within the city's sphere of influence is referred to as Punic or Carthaginian...
settled there in the 4th century BC and named the town
Iol or
Jol. The town became a part of the kingdom of
NumidiaNumidia was an ancient Berber kingdom in present-day Algeria and part of Tunisia that later alternated between being a Roman province and being a Roman client state, and is no longer in existence today...
under
JugurthaJugurtha or Jugurthen was a Libyan King of Numidia, born in Cirta . The name Jugurthen is actually a Libyan name and phrase meaning: is greater than them.-Background:...
, who died in
104 BC-Rome:* Athenion starts a slave rebellion in Segesta.* In Rome exist a state of emergency, the way to Italy lays open to the Germanic invaders. Gaius Marius, the conqueror of Jugurtha, is elected consul for the second time.* Second Servile War starts in Sicily....
. The town became very significant to the
BerberBerbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are discontinuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke various Berber languages, which together form a branch of the...
monarchy and generals of Numidia. The Berber Kings
Bocchus IBocchus was a King of Mauretania about 110 BC and designated by historians as Bocchus I. He was also the father-in-law of Jugurtha, with whom he made war against the Romans. He delivered Jugurtha to the Romans in 106 BC....
and
Bocchus IIBocchus II was king of Mauretania. Son of Sosus of Mauretania , who was dead in 49 B.C., in the early years of Bocchus reign, Mauretania was jointly ruled between Bocchus and his younger brother Bogud, with Bocchus ruling east of the Mulucha River and his brother west. As enemies of the senatorial...
lived there, as occasionally did other Kings of Numidia. Iol was situated in an area called
MauretaniaIn Antiquity, Mauretania was originally an independent Berber kingdom on the Mediterranean coast of north Africa , corresponding to western Algeria, northern Morocco and Spanish Plazas de soberanía. The Mauri people were indicated with the Greek word mauros, black...
, which was apart of the Numidian kingdom.
The last Numidian king
Juba IIJuba II or Juba II of Numidia was a king of Numidia and then later moved to Mauretania...
and his wife, the
GreekThe Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in diaspora communities around the world....
PtolemaicPtolemaic is the adjective formed from the name Ptolemy.This adjective is usually used in one of three ways:*To describe the Egyptian dynasty founded in 305 BC by Ptolemy I Soter...
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 BCYear 26 BC was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar.-Rome:* Imperator Caesar Augustus becomes Roman Consul for the eighth time...
-
20 BCYear 20 BC was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.-Rome:* Peace treaty between Rome and Parthia, in which the captured eagles of Crassus and Mark Antony are returned....
. Roman Emperor Caesar
AugustusGaius Julius Caesar Augustus was the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in AD 14.
[These are the contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian after 45 BC...]
had intervened in the situation and divided the Numidian Kingdom into two. One half of the kingdom became a part of the Roman province of Africa Nova. Western Numidia and Mauretania (the second half of the kingdom) became one kingdom.
Iol was renamed
Caesaria or
Caesarea, in honor of the emperor. Caesaria would become the capital of the Roman client kingdom of
MauretaniaIn Antiquity, Mauretania was originally an independent Berber kingdom on the Mediterranean coast of north Africa , corresponding to western Algeria, northern Morocco and Spanish Plazas de soberanía. The Mauri people were indicated with the Greek word mauros, black...
. The kingdom of Mauretania became one of the important client kingdoms in the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
, and their monarchs were one of the most loyal client monarchs that served Rome.
Juba and Cleopatra not just renamed their new capital, but in fine Roman style, rebuilt the town on a large, lavish and expensive scale. The construction and sculptural projects in Caesaria and throughout the kingdom were built on a rich mixture of
ancient EgyptianThe Nile valley has been the site of one of the most influential civilizations which developed a vast array of diverse structures encompassing ancient Egyptian architecture...
,
GreekGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
and
RomanAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
architectural styles. The monarchs were buried in their mausoleum, which can still be seen. The seaport capital and its kingdom flourished until 40, when its last monarch
Ptolemy of MauretaniaPtolemy of Mauretania, also known as Ptolemy of Morocco was a prince and the last Roman client king of Mauretania.Ptolemy was the only son to queen Cleopatra Selene II and king Juba II of Mauretania. Drusilla of Mauretania was his younger sister...
was murdered on a visit to
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
.
In 44 after a four year bloody revolt, the Roman Emperor
ClaudiusTiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was the fourth Roman Emperor, a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from 24 January AD 41 to his death in AD 54...
divided the Mauretanian kingdom into two provinces. Caesaria became the capital of
Mauretania CaesariensisMauretania Caesariensis was a Roman province located in northwestern Africa. It was the easternmost of the North African Roman provinces, mainly in present Algeria, with its capital at Caesaria , now Cherchell.-Historical background:In the first century AD, Roman...
, one of the two provinces. Claudius gave Caesaria two names: the capital
Caesariensis while the town became the a Roman colony
Colonia Claudia Caesarea. The town was the birthplace to the Roman Emperor
MacrinusMarcus Opellius Macrinus was Roman emperor for fourteen months in 217 and 218. Macrinus was the first emperor to become so without membership in the senatorial class...
and Greek grammarian
PriscianPriscianus Caesariensis , commonly known as Priscian, was a Latin grammarian. He wrote the Institutiones grammaticae on the subject...
. From 314 to 484, four titulars and one
DonatistThe Donatists were followers of a belief considered a schism by the broader churches of the Catholic tradition, and most particularly within the context of the religious milieu of the provinces of Roman North Africa in Late Antiquity...
served the local Christian community. Caesaria was also the birthplace of Catholic Saint,
MarcianaMarciana is venerated as a martyr and saint. Her legend states that she was a virgin from Mauretania Caesariensis. During the persecutions of Christians by Roman Emperor Diocletian, she was accused of having smashed a statue of Diana. Marciana was thrown to the wild beasts in the amphitheatre of...
(her feastday is on 9 January). This virgin martyr was accused of vandalizing a statue of the goddess
DianaDiana may refer to:*Diana, Princess of Wales, first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales*Diana , ancient Roman goddess of the moon, the hunt, and chastity*Diana , for people with the given name DianaIn music:...
. After being tormented, Marciana was gored by a bull and mauled by a leopard in the amphitheatre at Caesaria. In the 5th century, the
VandalsThe Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Goth Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths and regent of the Visigoths, was allied by marriage with the Vandals as well as with the Burgundians and the Franks under .The Vandals are perhaps...
burnt the town, but it was recaptured under the Byzantine Emperor
Justinian IFlavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus ; AD 483 – 13 or 14 November 565, known in English as Justinian I or Justinian the Great, was the second member of the Justinian Dynasty and Eastern Roman Emperor from 527 until his death...
, restored, and returned to a previously level of importance.
Modern History
The Arabs in the 8th century conquered
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
and introduced Islam to the country. In the local Berber dialect, gradually replaced by Arabic, the original name of the town, Caesaria, evolved into
Sharshal.
Cherchell is the French spelling of the contemporary Arabic/Berber name of the town.
Under Turkish occupation the town, became infested by pirate invasions, but this was gradually brought under control by European navies (particularly the
French NavyThe French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military...
). In 1520, Hayreddin Barbarossa captured the town and annexed the Algerian
PashalicPashalic or Pashalik is the abstract word derived from pasha, denoting the quality, office or jurisdiction of a pasha or the territory administered by him.- Sources and references :*...
. His elder brother Oruç Reis had built a fort over the town, and this fort was completely destroyed during the French occupation.
In 1738, a terrible earthquake shook the town. In 1840, the French had captured and occupied the town. The French built monuments in the town. During archaeological excavations, many ancient statues were either left in Cherchell, or taken to museums in
AlgiersAlgiers is the capital and largest city of Algeria, and the second largest city in the Maghreb . According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630...
or
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
. From the building projects of the French, ancient buildings have been damaged. Dress stones from the Roman
amphitheatreAn amphitheatre is an open-air venue for spectator sports, concerts, rallies, or theatrical performances. There are two similar, but distinct, types of structure for which the word 'amphitheatre' is used: Ancient amphitheatres, built by the ancient Romans, were large central performance spaces...
were used to the build the barracks and materials from the Hippodrome were used to build the church. The steps of the Hippodrome were partly destroyed by Cardinal
Charles LavigerieCharles Martial Allemand Lavigerie was a French cardinal, archbishop of Carthage and Algiers and primate of Africa.Born at Bayonne, he was educated at St Sulpice, Paris...
in a search for the tomb of Saint Marciana.
During World War II, Cherchell served as a base for the US army, hosting a
summit conference between the US and UK in 1943. Cherchell has around 60,000 inhabitants. Cherchell has industries in marble, plaster quarries and iron mines. The town trades in oils, tobacco and earthenware. The ancient cistern still supplies water to the town.
Cherchell is one of the most popular tourist places in Algeria. Cherchell has various splendid temples and monuments from the Punic, Numidian and
RomanAncient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, it became one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
periods. Fragments remain of a white marble temple. The former Roman port is no longer in commercial use and has been partly filled by alluvial deposits and has been affected by earthquakes. The former local mosque of the Hundred Columns contains 89 columns of
dioriteDiorite is a grey to dark grey intermediate intrusive igneous rock composed principally of plagioclase feldspar , biotite, hornblende, and/or pyroxene. It may contain small amounts of quartz, microcline and olivine. Zircon, apatite, sphene, magnetite, ilmenite and sulfides occur as accessory...
. This remarkable building now serves as a hospital. The local museum displays some of the finest ancient Greek and Roman antiquities found in Africa. Cherchell is the birthplace of writer and movie director
Assia DjebarAssia Djebar is the pen-name of Fatima-Zohra Imalayen , an Algerian novelist, translator and filmmaker. Most of her works deal with the obstacles faced by women, and she is noted for her feminist stance...
.
Historical population
| Year | Population |
|---|
| 1901 |
9,000 |
| 1926 |
11,900 |
| 1931 |
12,700 |
| 1936 |
12,700 |
| 1954 |
16,900 |
| 1966 |
11,700 |
| 1987 |
18,700 |
| 1998 |
24,400 |
External links
- Various ancient ruins of Cherchell: