M'Daourouch is a municipality in Souk Ahras

Souk Ahras Province

Souk Ahras is a province in Algeria, named after its capital, Souk Ahras. It stands on the border between Algeria and Tunisia.- Geography :Souk Ahras is situated in the extreme north east of Algeria, it is 4360 km²....

 Province, Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

, occupying the site of the former Roman town of Madauras, Madaure, or Madaura

Madaura

Madaura may refer to:*the city of Madaurus*Lucius Apuleius of Madaura...

 (see also for homonyms) which is now a Roman Catholic titular see

Titular see

A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular bishop", "titular metropolitan", or "titular archbishop"....

 in the former Roman province

Roman province

In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...

 of Numidia

Numidia

Numidia was an ancient Berber kingdom in part of present-day Eastern Algeria and Western Tunisia in North Africa. It is known today as the Chawi-land, the land of the Chawi people , the direct descendants of the historical Numidians or the Massyles The kingdom began as a sovereign state and later...

.

Demographics

As of the 1998 census, M'Daourouch has 24,919 inhabitants, which gives it 11 seats in the PMA

People's Municipal Assembly

The People's Municipal Assembly , is the political body governing the municipalities of Algeria. It is composed of an assembly elected on universal suffrage for five years. This assembly further elects a president, the president of the People's Municipal Assembly, which is the Algerian equivalent...

.

History

It was an old Numidian town which, having once belonged to the Kingdom of Syphax

Syphax

Syphax was a king of the ancient Algerian tribe Masaesyli of western Numidia during the last quarter of the 3rd century BC. His story is told in Livy's Ab Urbe Condita .-Biography:...

, was annexed to that of Massinissa at the close of the second Punic War

Second Punic War

The 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, with the participation of the Berbers on...

. It became a Roman colony about the end of the first century and was famous for its schools.

It was the native town of Apuleius

Apuleius

Apuleius was a Latin prose writer. He was a Berber, from Madaurus . He studied Platonist philosophy in Athens; travelled to Italy, Asia Minor and Egypt; and was an initiate in several cults or mysteries. The most famous incident in his life was when he was accused of using magic to gain the...

, author of The Golden Ass

The Golden Ass

The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, which St. Augustine referred to as The Golden Ass , is the only Latin novel to survive in its entirety....

, and of the grammarians Nonius Marcellus

Nonius Marcellus

Nonius Marcellus was a Roman grammarian of the 4th or 5th century AD. His only surviving work is the De compendiosa doctrina, a dictionary or encyclopedia in 20 books that shows his interests in antiquarianism and Latin literature from Plautus to Apuleius. Nonius may have come from...

 and Maximus. St. Augustine

Augustine of Hippo

Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...

 studied there; through a letter which he addressed later to the inhabitants we learn that many were still pagans.

Madaurus had many martyrs known by their epitaphs; several are named in the Roman Catholic martyrology

Martyrology

A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs , arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by names borrowed from neighbouring churches...

 on 4 July.

Three bishops are known: Antigonus, who attended the council of Carthage

Councils of Carthage

Councils of Carthage, also referred to as Synods of Carthage were church synods held during the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries in the town of Carthage in Africa...

, 349; Placentius, the council of 407 and the Conference of 411; Pudentius, sent into exile by the Vandal king Huneric

Huneric

Huneric or Honeric was King of the Vandals and the oldest son of Genseric. He dropped the imperial politics of his father and concentrated mainly on internal affairs. He was married to Eudocia, daughter of western Roman Emperor Valentinian III and Licinia Eudoxia. She left him, probably in 472...

 with the other bishops who had been present at the Conference of 484.

The ruins of Madaurus are seen near M'Daouroch. A fine Roman mausoleum

Mausoleum

A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...

, vast baths, a Byzantine fortress, a Christian basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...

are noteworthy and have furnished several Christian inscriptions.