Calama (Numidia)

Calama

Calama: Roman theatre
Shown within Algeria
Location	Algeria
Region	Guelma Province
Coordinates	36°28′02″N 7°25′48″E / 36.467313°N 7.430052°E / 36.467313; 7.430052

Calama was a colonia in the Roman province of Numidia situated where Guelma in Algeria now stands.^[1]

G. Mokhtar places it just within the Roman province of

Whether Calama is identical with the town of Suthul which the Roman general Aulus Postumius Albinus unsuccessfully tried to take in 110 BC,^[10] (cf. Battle of Suthul) is disputed, with some denying^[11] and others cautiously affirming.^[12][13]

In the 1st century AD, Calama, then part of the

• Donatus (not to be confused with
  handed over the sacred scriptures during the Decian persecution
• Megalius gave episcopal ordination to
  Saint Augustine
  in 395 and died in 397
• Donatist
  bishops
• Carthage in 484 and then exiled.^[15][16][17]

After the conquest of Numidia by the Byzantine Empire, Solomon (a general of Justinian I) built a fortress there between 539 and 554. Calama's population was fully Christian in the 6th and 7th century.

With the spread of Islam, Byzantine rule of Calama ended (some Christians survived until the 9th century) and slowly Calama disappeared around the 11th century (see Guelma).

Archeological remains

• Theatre.^[22] It is difficult to reconstruct the plan and general appearance of the Roman theatre. The only other important monument discovered are the public baths. The theatre was built in the first or second year of the 3rd century AD through the generosity of a certain Annia Aelia Restituta, who spent 400,000 sesterces on it. It was restored, indeed virtually rebuilt, from 1902 to 1918, after having served as a quarry. It is on a slope and measures 58.05 m in width. It was built with a rubble core revetted with ashlar. The tiers of seats had virtually all disappeared; they must have numbered 10 in the lower zone and 12 in the second. The orchestra was paved in marble. Behind the stage, which was flanked by two rectangular chambers, a portico with columns formed a facade.

• Baths. The public
  Roman baths
  were built of rubble and revetted with ashlar and brick. These "thermae" may date as early as the 2nd century AD. Only one large rectangular chamber (22 x 14 m), undoubtedly the tepidarium, can be described; it gave onto other rooms and onto the exterior by 11 passages. These baths were included within the Byzantine fortress, no doubt built on an earlier enclosure and defended by 13 towers. It measured 278 x 219 m.
• Forum. The existence of a forum is attested by a single inscription. There are also remains of arcades, a small shrine of Neptune, cisterns and, outside the town, a Christian church. In 1953 a hoard of 7,499 coins was discovered; virtually all of them came from the mint at Rome; the most recent dated to the beginning of AD 257.^{[citation needed]} Presumably the hoard was buried because of local disturbances. Most of the ancient objects recovered at Calama and from the region are preserved in the Guelma Museum.
• Citadel and walls. Among its ruins are also a Byzantine citadel and walls built by the Byzantine patricius Solomon during the Byzantine reoccupation.^[12][23]

36°28′2.33″N 7°25′48.19″E / 36.4673139°N 7.4300528°E / 36.4673139; 7.4300528

References

Citations