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{{short description|Province of the Roman Empire in northwest Africa}}
{{Short description|Roman province in northwest Africa}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2017}}{{Infobox Former Subdivision
{{more citations needed|date=July 2017}}{{Infobox Former Subdivision
|native_name = {{aut|Provincia Mauretania Caesariensis}}
|native_name = {{aut|Provincia Mauretania Caesariensis}}
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|subdivision = [[Roman province|Province]]
|subdivision = [[Roman province|Province]]
|nation = the [[Roman Empire]]
|nation = the [[Roman Empire]]
|era = [[Classical antiquity]]
|era = [[Classical antiquity]], [[Late Antiquity]]
|capital = [[Cherchell|Caesarea]]
|capital = [[Caesarea in Mauretania|Caesarea]]
|title_leader =
|title_leader =
|image_map = Roman Empire - Mauretania Caesariensis (125 AD).svg
|image_map = Roman Empire - Mauretania Caesariensis (125 AD).svg
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|life_span =
|life_span =
|year_start = 42 AD
|year_start = 42 AD
|event_start = Established
|event_start = Incorporated into the Roman Empire as a full province
|event1 =
|event1 = Vandal Conquest
|year_event1 =
|date_event1 = 430s AD
|event2 = Byzantine partial reconquest by [[Vandalic War]]
⚫
|year_end = 7th century
|date_event2 = 534 AD
⚫
|year_end = Late 7th Century
|event_end = [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb|Muslim conquest]]
|event_end = [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb|Muslim conquest]]
|today = {{ALG}}
|today = [[Algeria]]
|p1 = Mauretania
|p1 = Mauretania
|s1 = Umayyad Caliphate
|flag_p1 = Mauretania_et_Numidia.jpg
|s1 = Vandal Kingdom
|flag_s1 = Vandales.png
|p2 = Vandal Kingdom
|flag_p2 = Vandales.png
|s2 = Umayyad Caliphate
|flag_s2 = Umayyad750ADloc.png
}}
}}
[[File:Mauretania et Numidia.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Roman territories in the [[Maghreb]] showing the extent of Mauretania Caesariensis.]]
{{history of Algeria}}
{{history of Algeria}}


'''Mauretania Caesariensis''' ([[Latin]] for "[[Caesarea, Numidia|Caesarea]]n Mauretania") was a [[Roman province]] located in what is now [[Algeria]] in the [[Maghreb]]. The full name refers to its capital [[Caesarea, Numidia|Caesarea Mauretaniae]] (modern [[Cherchell]]).
'''Mauretania Caesariensis''' ([[Latin]] for "[[Caesarea, Numidia|Caesarea]]n Mauretania") was a [[Roman province]] located in present-day [[Algeria]].<ref name="Michael Brett">{{cite book|author=Michael Brett|title=Approaching African History |year=2013|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd |isbn=978-1-84701-063-6|page=120}}</ref> The full name refers to its capital [[Caesarea, Numidia|Caesarea Mauretaniae]] (modern [[Cherchell]]).


The province had been part of the Kingdom of [[Mauretania]] and named for the [[Mauri people]] who lived there. Formerly an independent kingdom, and later a [[client state]] of Rome, it was annexed into the Empire formally during the reign of [[Claudius]] and divided into two provinces about 42 AD. A third province, named [[Mauretania Sitifensis]], was later split off from the eastern portion during the reign of [[Diocletian]] in 293 AD. During and after the [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire]] in the 5th century, most of the [[hinterland]] area was lost, first to the [[Vandal Kingdom]] and later to the [[Mauro-Roman Kingdom]], with Roman administration limited to the capital of Caesarea. The land was reconquered by Rome during the reign of [[Justinian]]. In the late 580s, under the emperor [[Maurice (emperor)|Maurice]], all of the Maghreb was granted to the [[Exarchate of Africa]], and Mauretania Caesariensis became part of a new province, '''Mauretania Prima'''. The [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb]] brought an end to Roman rule in Mauretania, which became ruled by the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] as part of [[Medieval Muslim Algeria]].
The province had been part of the Kingdom of [[Mauretania]] and named for the [[Mauri people]] who lived there. Formerly an independent kingdom, and later a [[client state]] of Rome, it was annexed into the Empire formally during the reign of [[Claudius]] and divided into two provinces about 42 AD. A third province, named [[Mauretania Sitifensis]], was later split off from the eastern portion during the reign of [[Diocletian]] in 293 AD. During and after the [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire]] in the 5th century, most of the [[hinterland]] area was lost, first to the [[Vandal Kingdom]] and later to the [[Mauro-Roman Kingdom]], with Roman administration limited to the capital of Caesarea. The land was reconquered by Rome during the reign of [[Justinian]]. This province was a part of [[Praetorian prefecture of Africa]], later [[Exarchate of Africa]]. The [[Muslim conquest of the Maghreb]] brought an end to Roman rule in Mauretania, permanently this time, which became ruled by the [[Umayyad Caliphate]] as part of [[Medieval Muslim Algeria]].


== History ==
== History ==

[[File:Roman Empire 125.png|thumb|left|400px|The [[Roman Empire]] in the time of [[Hadrian]] (ruled 117–138), showing the [[imperial province]] of Mauretania Caesariensis (roughly modern [[Algeria]], in the [[Maghreb]])]]
[[File:Roman Empire 125.png|thumb|left|400px|The [[Roman Empire]] in the time of [[Hadrian]] (ruled 117–138), showing the [[imperial province]] of Mauretania Caesariensis (roughly modern [[Algeria]], in the [[Maghreb]])]]


In the middle of 1st century AD, [[Roman emperor]] [[Claudius]] divided the westernmost [[Roman province]] in [[Africa]], named [[Mauretania]] (land of the [[Mauri people]], hence the word [[Moors]]), into Mauretania Caesariensis (named after its capital, one of many cities simply named [[Caesarea, Numidia|Caesarea]] after the imperial cognomen that had become a title) and [[Mauretania Tingitana]].
In the middle of 1st century AD, [[Roman emperor]] [[Claudius]] divided the westernmost [[Roman province]] in [[Africa]], named [[Mauretania]] (land of the [[Mauri people]], hence the word [[Moors]]), into Mauretania Caesariensis (named after its capital, one of many cities simply named [[Caesarea, Numidia|Caesarea]] after the imperial cognomen that had become a title) and [[Mauretania Tingitana]].


Mauretania Caesariensis included eight colonies founded by the Emperor [[Augustus]] : [[Cartennas]], [[Gunugu]], [[Igilgili]], [[Rusguniae]], [[Rusazu]], [[Saldae]], [[Zuccabar]], [[Tubusuctu]]; two by the Emperor [[Claudius]]: [[Caesarea in Mauretania|Caesarea]] formerly the capital of Juba, who gave it this name in honour of his patron Augustus, and [[Oppidum Novum]]; one by the Emperor [[Nerva]]: [[Setifis]]; and in later times, [[Arsenaria]], [[Bida (North Africa)|Bida]], [[Siga]], [[Aquae Calidae, Algeria|Aquae Calidae]], [[Quiza Xenitana]], [[Rusucurru]], [[Auzia]], [[Gilva, Numidia|Gilva]], [[Icosium]] and [[Tipasa]] in all 21 well-known colonies, besides several ''municipia'' and ''oppida Latina''.
Mauretania Caesariensis included eight colonies founded by the Emperor [[Augustus]]: [[Cartennas]], [[Gunugu]], [[Igilgili]], [[Rusguniae]], [[Rusazu]], [[Saldae]], [[Zuccabar]], [[Tubusuctu]]; two by the Emperor [[Claudius]]: [[Caesarea in Mauretania|Caesarea]] formerly the capital of Juba, who gave it this name in honour of his patron Augustus, and [[Aïn Defla|Oppidum Novum]]; one by the Emperor [[Nerva]]: [[Setifis]]; and in later times, [[Arsenaria]], [[Bida (North Africa)|Bida]], [[Siga]], [[Aquae Calidae, Algeria|Aquae Calidae]], [[Quiza Xenitana]], [[Rusucurru]], [[Auzia]], [[Gilva, Numidia|Gilva]], [[Icosium]] and [[Tipasa]] in all 21 well-known colonies, besides several ''municipia'' and ''oppida Latina''.


Under [[Diocletian]]'s [[Tetrarchy]] reform, the easternmost part was broken off from Mauretania Caesariensis as a separate small province, ''[[Mauretania Sitifensis]]'', called after its inland capital [[Sitifis]] (now [[Sétif]]) with a significant port at [[Saldae]] (presently [[Béjaïa]]).<ref>[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c5tOqieVi0c/S-Bo2JVYNjI/AAAAAAAAAKA/zYBM442SpRk/s1600/RomanAfrica4.jpg Map of Mauretania Sitifensis (in blue color) & Mauretania Caesariensis (in light brown color)]</ref>
Under [[Diocletian]]'s [[Tetrarchy]] reform, the easternmost part was broken off from Mauretania Caesariensis as a separate small province, [[Mauretania Sitifensis]], called after its inland capital [[Sitifis]] (now [[Sétif]]) with a significant port at [[Saldae]] (presently [[Béjaïa]]).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c5tOqieVi0c/S-Bo2JVYNjI/AAAAAAAAAKA/zYBM442SpRk/s1600/RomanAfrica4.jpg |title=Map of Mauretania Sitifensis (in blue color) and Mauretania Caesariensis (in light brown color) |access-date=2017-10-11 |archive-date=2017-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202003427/http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_c5tOqieVi0c/S-Bo2JVYNjI/AAAAAAAAAKA/zYBM442SpRk/s1600/RomanAfrica4.jpg |url-status=live }}</ref>


At the time of [[Diocletian]] and [[Constantine the Great]], both Sitifensis and Caesariensis were assigned to the administrative [[Diocese of Africa]], in the [[praetorian prefecture of Italy]], while Tingitana was an outpost of the [[Hispania#The Hispaniae|Diocese of Spain]].
At the time of Diocletian and [[Constantine the Great]], both Sitifensis and Caesariensis were assigned to the administrative [[Diocese of Africa]], under the [[Praetorian prefecture of Italy]], while Tingitana belonged to the [[Diocese of Hispania]] under the [[Praetorian prefecture of Gaul]], so it was an enclave separate from the European territory of Diocese and Prefecture it belonged to.


After the fall of the Western part of the Roman Empire, a Germanic [[Vandal Kingdom]] was founded, but the remaining Eastern Empire (now known to historians as the [[Byzantine Empire]]) recaptured the area around 533, but most of Mauretania Caesariensis remained under the control of local Moorish rulers such as [[Mastigas]], and it was not until the 560s and 570s that Byzantine control was established in the interior.
After the [[fall of the Western Roman Empire]], a Germanic [[Vandal Kingdom]] was founded, but the remaining Eastern Empire (now known to historians as the [[Byzantine Empire]]) recaptured the area around 533, but most of Mauretania Caesariensis remained under the control of local Moorish rulers such as [[Mastigas]], and it was not until the 560s and 570s that Byzantine control was established inland.


During the reign of [[Maurice (emperor)|Maurice]], the empire was reorganized and a number of [[Exarchate]]s were founded, among them the [[Exarchate of Africa]] which included Mauretania, among other territories. Mauretania Sitifensis was re-merged back into this province, and was granted the name "Mauretania Prima".
During the reign of [[Maurice (emperor)|Maurice]], the empire was reorganized and a number of [[Exarchate]]s were founded, among them the [[Exarchate of Africa]] which included Mauretania, among other territories. Mauretania Sitifensis was re-merged back into this province, and was granted the name "Mauretania Prima".
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== Economy ==
== Economy ==
[[File:Travail de la vigne Cherchell.jpg|thumb|Mosaic of vineyard workers from [[Caesarea in Mauretania|Caesarea]]]]
The principal exports from Caesariensis were purple dyes and valuable woods; and the [[Amazigh]] or [[Mauri (people)|Mauri]] were highly regarded by the Romans as soldiers, especially light cavalry. They produced one of [[Trajan]]'s best generals, [[Lusius Quietus]], and the emperor [[Macrinus]].
The principal exports from Caesariensis were purple dyes and valuable woods; and the [[Amazigh]] or [[Mauri (people)|Mauri]] were highly regarded by the Romans as soldiers, especially light cavalry. They produced one of [[Trajan]]'s best generals, [[Lusius Quietus]], and the emperor [[Macrinus]].
[[File:Roman Ruins of Djemila in Sétif, Algeria.jpg|thumb|Ruins of the Roman town of Cuicul in [[Djémila|Djemila]]]]

== Religion ==
== Religion ==


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* [[Benepota]]
* [[Benepota]]
* [[Bida (North Africa)|Bida]] (ruins of Djemâa-Sahridj?)
* [[Bida (North Africa)|Bida]] (ruins of Djemâa-Sahridj?)
* '''[[Caesarea, Numidia|Caesarea in Mauretania]] (now [[Cherchell]]), the Metropolitan Archbishopric
* '''[[Caesarea, Numidia|Caesarea in Mauretania]] (now [[Cherchell]]), the Metropolitan Archbishopric'''
* [[Caltadria]]
* [[Caltadria]]
* [[Capra (Mauretania Caesariensis)|Capra]]
* [[Capra (Mauretania Caesariensis)|Capra]]
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* [[Obbi, Mauretania]]
* [[Obbi, Mauretania]]
* [[Obori]] ([[Sidi Fredj]])
* [[Obori]] ([[Sidi Fredj]])
* [[Oppidum Novum]] ([[Aïn Defla]])
* [[Aïn Defla|Oppidum Novum]] ([[Aïn Defla]])
* [[Panatoria]]
* [[Panatoria]]
* [[Tlemcen|Pomaria]] ([[Tlemcen]])
* [[Tlemcen|Pomaria]] ([[Tlemcen]])
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* [[Sereddeli]]
* [[Sereddeli]]
* {{ill|Diocese of Serta|lt=Serta|it|Diocesi di Serta}}
* {{ill|Diocese of Serta|lt=Serta|it|Diocesi di Serta}}
* [[Diocese of Sesta|Sesta]]
* {{ill|Diocese of Sesta|lt=Sesta|it|Diocesi di Sesta}}
* [[Sfasferia]]
* [[Sfasferia]]
* [[Siccesi]] (ruins of [[Siccesi|Takembrit]])
* [[Siccesi]] (ruins of [[Siccesi|Takembrit]])
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== See also ==
== See also ==
* [[Notitia Dignitatum]]
* [[Notitia Dignitatum]]
* [[Pauly-Wissowa]]


== References ==
== References ==
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{{Roman history by territory}}
{{Roman history by territory}}
{{Romano-Berber cities in Roman Africa}}
{{Romano-Berber cities in Roman Africa}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Mauretania Caesariensis| ]]
[[Category:Mauretania Caesariensis| ]]
[[Category:Roman provinces in Africa]]
[[Category:Roman provinces in Africa]]
[[Category:Ancient Algeria]]
[[Category:Algeria in the Roman era]]
[[Category:Late Roman provinces]]
[[Category:Late Roman provinces]]
[[Category:Provinces of the Byzantine Empire]]
[[Category:Provinces of the Byzantine Empire]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 1st century]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 40s]]
[[Category:40s establishments in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:40s establishments in the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:40s establishments]]
[[Category:7th-century disestablishments in the Exarchate of Africa]]
[[Category:7th-century disestablishments in the Exarchate of Africa]]

Latest revision as of 11:01, 3 November 2024

Provincia Mauretania Caesariensis
Province of the Roman Empire
42 AD–Late 7th Century

The province of Mauretania Caesariensis within the Roman Empire, c. AD 125
CapitalCaesarea
Historical eraClassical antiquity, Late Antiquity
• Incorporated into the Roman Empire as a full province
42 AD
• Vandal Conquest
430s AD
• Byzantine partial reconquest by Vandalic War
534 AD
Late 7th Century
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Mauretania
Vandal Kingdom
Vandal Kingdom
Umayyad Caliphate
Today part ofAlgeria
Part of a series on the
History of Algeria
Prehistory
Antiquity
Middle Ages
Modern times
Regency of Algiers (16th–19th centuries)

French Algeria (19th–20th centuries)

Algerian War (1954–1962)

Contemporary era
1960s–80s

1990s–2000s

2010s to present

Related topics

Mauretania Caesariensis (Latin for "Caesarean Mauretania") was a Roman province located in present-day Algeria.[1] The full name refers to its capital Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell).

The province had been part of the Kingdom of Mauretania and named for the Mauri people who lived there. Formerly an independent kingdom, and later a client state of Rome, it was annexed into the Empire formally during the reign of Claudius and divided into two provinces about 42 AD. A third province, named Mauretania Sitifensis, was later split off from the eastern portion during the reign of Diocletian in 293 AD. During and after the Fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century, most of the hinterland area was lost, first to the Vandal Kingdom and later to the Mauro-Roman Kingdom, with Roman administration limited to the capital of Caesarea. The land was reconquered by Rome during the reign of Justinian. This province was a part of Praetorian prefecture of Africa, later Exarchate of Africa. The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb brought an end to Roman rule in Mauretania, permanently this time, which became ruled by the Umayyad Caliphate as part of Medieval Muslim Algeria.

History

[edit]
The Roman Empire in the time of Hadrian (ruled 117–138), showing the imperial province of Mauretania Caesariensis (roughly modern Algeria, in the Maghreb)

In the middle of 1st century AD, Roman emperor Claudius divided the westernmost Roman province in Africa, named Mauretania (land of the Mauri people, hence the word Moors), into Mauretania Caesariensis (named after its capital, one of many cities simply named Caesarea after the imperial cognomen that had become a title) and Mauretania Tingitana.

Mauretania Caesariensis included eight colonies founded by the Emperor Augustus: Cartennas, Gunugu, Igilgili, Rusguniae, Rusazu, Saldae, Zuccabar, Tubusuctu; two by the Emperor Claudius: Caesarea formerly the capital of Juba, who gave it this name in honour of his patron Augustus, and Oppidum Novum; one by the Emperor Nerva: Setifis; and in later times, Arsenaria, Bida, Siga, Aquae Calidae, Quiza Xenitana, Rusucurru, Auzia, Gilva, Icosium and Tipasa in all 21 well-known colonies, besides several municipia and oppida Latina.

Under Diocletian's Tetrarchy reform, the easternmost part was broken off from Mauretania Caesariensis as a separate small province, Mauretania Sitifensis, called after its inland capital Sitifis (now Sétif) with a significant port at Saldae (presently Béjaïa).[2]

At the time of Diocletian and Constantine the Great, both Sitifensis and Caesariensis were assigned to the administrative Diocese of Africa, under the Praetorian prefecture of Italy, while Tingitana belonged to the Diocese of Hispania under the Praetorian prefecture of Gaul, so it was an enclave separate from the European territory of Diocese and Prefecture it belonged to.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, a Germanic Vandal Kingdom was founded, but the remaining Eastern Empire (now known to historians as the Byzantine Empire) recaptured the area around 533, but most of Mauretania Caesariensis remained under the control of local Moorish rulers such as Mastigas, and it was not until the 560s and 570s that Byzantine control was established inland.

During the reign of Maurice, the empire was reorganized and a number of Exarchates were founded, among them the Exarchate of Africa which included Mauretania, among other territories. Mauretania Sitifensis was re-merged back into this province, and was granted the name "Mauretania Prima".

The Muslim conquest of the Maghreb for the caliphate under the Umayyad dynasty meant the end of the Byzantine Exarchate of Africa and Late Antique Roman culture there and Mauretania Caesariensis became part of the westernmost Islamic province called Maghreb.[citation needed]

Economy

[edit]
Mosaic of vineyard workers from Caesarea

The principal exports from Caesariensis were purple dyes and valuable woods; and the Amazigh or Mauri were highly regarded by the Romans as soldiers, especially light cavalry. They produced one of Trajan's best generals, Lusius Quietus, and the emperor Macrinus.

Ruins of the Roman town of Cuicul in Djemila

Religion

[edit]

Caesarea was a major center of Judaism before 330, and Sitifis was one of the centres of the soldier cult of Mithraic mysteries. Christianity spread throughout in the 4th and 5th centuries.

Among the ruling class, Trinitarian Christianity was replaced by Arianism under the Germanic kingdom of the Vandals, which was established in 430, when the Vandals crossed the Strait of Gibraltar.

Episcopal sees

[edit]

Ancient episcopal sees of Mauretania Caesariensis listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees:[3]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Michael Brett (2013). Approaching African History. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. p. 120. ISBN 978-1-84701-063-6.
  2. ^ "Map of Mauretania Sitifensis (in blue color) and Mauretania Caesariensis (in light brown color)". Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
  3. ^ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), "Sedi titolari", pp. 819-1013

Sources

[edit]
  • Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgschichte (in German)
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