Iulia Campestris Babba
Iulia Campestris Babba is a Mauretanian city created as Roman colony around 30 BC by emperor Augustus. Its actual location is currently unknown, though its existence is confirmed by the literature.[1]
Characteristics
Colonia Iulia Campestris Babba was one of the three
The city of Babba in Mauritania Tingitana was probably situated on or near the river Lixus (El Haratel); and was made a colony in honor of Julius Caesar, as its name Iulia indicated. It was also called Campestris because away from the sea[3] The city was populated by Roman colonists and their descendants and by romanised berbers.
The exact location of Babba has been debated by many scholars,[1] but one of the most probable possibilities is that Babba was the "Oppidum Novum" (actual Ksar el-Kebir) of the "Itineraries of Antonius Augustus". Indeed, historian Euzennat believe that "can not be excluded in these circumstances that it was the colonia Iulia, which might have disappeared in the troubles of the second century AD before being reborn as Oppidum novum".[4] But some researchers argue that Babba can be the old Roman city of "Tremulae" (actual Basra) and even the city of Thamusida.
.png)
The city was probably abandoned at the end of the third century, by orders of emperor
).Notes
- ^ a b Plinius and Babba
- ^ Dictionnaire de l'Antiquité. 2005
- ^ Encyclopedie berbere: Babba (in French)
- ^ Euzennat M. Babba Iulia Campestris p.133
Bibliography
- Boube J. A propos de Babba Iulia Campestris Bull. Archéo. Maroc, t. 15, 1983-1984 (1986), p. 131-137.
- Euzennat M. Babba Iulia Campestris, in The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, R. Stillwell éd., Princeton, 1976
See also
- Roman 'Coloniae' in Berber Africa
- Iulia Valentia Banasa
- Iulia Constantia Zilil
- Lixus
- Tingis
- Septem
- Sala (Roman colonia)
,_Algeria_04966r.jpg)