Cirta was the capital city 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...
in northern Africa in modern
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...
. Although Numidia was a key ally of the ancient
Roman RepublicThe Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, c...
during the
Punic WarsThe Punic Wars are a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 to 146 BC. They were probably the largest wars yet of the ancient world...
, Cirta was subject to Roman invasions during the first and second centuries B.C., eventually falling under Roman domain during the rule of
Julius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar , , was a Roman military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
.
The city was destroyed in the beginning of the 4th century and was rebuilt by Constantine I of the Roman Empire, who gave his name to the newly constructed city,
ConstantineConstantine is the capital of Constantine Province in north-eastern Algeria. Slightly inland, it is about 80 kilometers from the Mediterranean coast....
.
Cirta's populace was as diverse as the Roman Republic itself — alongside native Numidians were
CarthaginiansCarthage 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...
displaced by the
SecondThe Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the second major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic, who had three warring conflicts against each...
and
Third Punic WarThe Third Punic War was the third and last of the Punic Wars fought between the former Phoenician colony of Carthage, and the Roman Republic...
s, as well as Greeks, Romans, and Italians.
Cirta was the capital city 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...
in northern Africa in modern
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...
. Although Numidia was a key ally of the ancient
Roman RepublicThe Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a republican form of government. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, c...
during the
Punic WarsThe Punic Wars are a series of three wars fought between Rome and Carthage from 264 to 146 BC. They were probably the largest wars yet of the ancient world...
, Cirta was subject to Roman invasions during the first and second centuries B.C., eventually falling under Roman domain during the rule of
Julius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar , , was a Roman military and political leader. He played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
.
The city was destroyed in the beginning of the 4th century and was rebuilt by Constantine I of the Roman Empire, who gave his name to the newly constructed city,
ConstantineConstantine is the capital of Constantine Province in north-eastern Algeria. Slightly inland, it is about 80 kilometers from the Mediterranean coast....
.
Roman influence before 46 B.C.
Cirta's populace was as diverse as the Roman Republic itself — alongside native Numidians were
CarthaginiansCarthage 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...
displaced by the
SecondThe Second Punic War, also referred to as The Hannibalic War and The War Against Hannibal, lasted from 218 to 201 BC and involved combatants in the western and eastern Mediterranean. This was the second major war between Carthage and the Roman Republic, who had three warring conflicts against each...
and
Third Punic WarThe Third Punic War was the third and last of the Punic Wars fought between the former Phoenician colony of Carthage, and the Roman Republic...
s, as well as Greeks, Romans, and Italians. It served as an economic hub for Rome’s African empire, as it was inhabited by Roman and Italian merchants, bankers, and businessmen. Even prior to Cirta’s fall to Julius Caesar, these economic elites constituted an important segment of the city's population, as they kept it within Rome’s sphere of influence without having been directly controlled.
Not only was Cirta an important economic site, it was also a key political and military spot within the African kingdoms. During the Second Punic War, the
Battle of CirtaThe Battle of Cirta was a battle during the Second Punic War between the forces of the Roman Republic under Publius Cornelius Scipio and Carthage's main ally, Syphax....
marked a decisive Roman victory for
Scipio AfricanusPublius Cornelius Scipio Africanus also known as Scipio Africanus, Scipio the Elder, and Africanus the Elder was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...
against Rome's most formidable rival in the Mediterranean, Carthage in 203 BC. Morevoer, Rome illustrated its willingness to defend its interests in Cirta into the late 2nd century BC following the death of
MicipsaMicipsa was the eldest legitimate son of Masinissa, king of Numidia.-Early life:In 151 BC Masinissa sent Micipsa and his brother Gulussa to Carthage to demand that exiled pro-Numidian politicians be allowed to return, but they were refused entry at the city gates...
, King of Numidia in 118 BC. A power struggle ensued between his adopted son
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:...
and his natural son
AdherbalAdherbal, son of Micipsa and grandson of Masinissa, was a king of Numidia between 118 BC and 112 BC. He inherited the throne after the death of his father, and ruled jointly with his younger brother Hiempsal, and Jugurtha, the nephew of Masinissa...
. Adherbal appealed to Rome to help broker a truce and to help evenly split the kingdom between the two heirs. Despite a senatorial commission’s seemingly successful mediation, Jugurtha besieged Cirta, killing Adherbal and Italian elites who defended him. Subsequently, Rome declared war on the kingdom to assert its hegemony in the region and to defend those citizens who lived outside of the homeland. Jugurtha’s defeat at Cirta at the hands of the Roman army is commonly referred to as the
Jugurthine WarThe Jugurthine War takes its name from Jugurtha, nephew and later adopted son of Micipsa, King of Numidia.-Jugurtha and Numidia:Numidia was a kingdom located in North Africa not far from Rome's arch enemy, Carthage. King Micipsa died in 118 BC. He was survived by two natural sons, Adherbal and...
.
46 B.C. and after
Caesar's conquest of Northern Africa officially brought Cirta under Roman rule in 46 B.C. It was during the rule of
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...]
, however, when Cirta's territory expanded and assimilated into the empire. Augustus split Cirta into communities, or
pagis, dividing Numidians and newly settled Romans. In 26 B.C., the emperor attempted to increase Roman settlement in the city by supplementing the Sittiani - that is, those who were followers of Sittius, the man whom Julius Caesar's personally appointed to "Romanize" the city. That is, to help facilitate Cirta's assumption into the Roman realm, culturally and economically. These settlers, of course, were augmenting those Romans who had inhabited the city since the earlier periods of the Punic Wars, namely the Italian business elites.
In the first two centuries A.D., the spread of
ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
began to take root in Cirta. While little remains of African Christianity before 200, records of martyred Christians at Cirta existed by mid-century. Civil war in 311 marked the destruction of the city, however, the first Christian emperor Constantine rebuilt it in his own name in 313, calling it Constantine.
See also
- Constantine, Algeria
Constantine is the capital of Constantine Province in north-eastern Algeria. Slightly inland, it is about 80 kilometers from the Mediterranean coast....