Mauretania Caesariensis

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Mauretania Caesariensis (

Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell
).

The province had been part of the Kingdom 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

imperial province of Mauretania Caesariensis (roughly modern Algeria, in the Maghreb
)

In the middle of 1st century AD,

Caesarea after the imperial cognomen that had become a title) and Mauretania Tingitana
.

Mauretania Caesariensis included eight colonies founded by the Emperor

in all 21 well-known colonies, besides several municipia and oppida Latina.

Under

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

The principal exports from Caesariensis were purple dyes and valuable woods; and the

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
.

Religion

Caesarea was a major center of

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

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

See also

References

Sources

  • Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgschichte (in German)