Tobna
Ṭubna | |
Alternative name | Tubunae, Thubunae |
---|---|
Location | Batna Province, Algeria |
Coordinates | 35°20′54″N 5°20′45″E / 35.34846°N 5.34584°E[1] |
Altitude | 457 m (1,499 ft)[1] |
Type | Settlement |
Tobna (Ṭubna), also known by the ancient names of Tubunae or Thubunae, is a ruined former city in Batna Province of Algeria, located just south of the modern city of Barika. From this position, it once controlled the eastern part of the Hodna region, while M'Sila did the west. It flourished from the time of the Roman Empire through the Islamic Middle Ages, until it was sacked and destroyed by the Banu Hilal in the 11th century, after which it was finally abandoned.[2]
Poorly documented by archaeologists today,[2][3] Tobna's ruins occupy an extensive area and include the remains of a Byzantine fortress as well as the traces of a wall covering a 950 m by 930 m area.[2]
History
The site of Tobna is poorly studied by archaeologists as of 2019. The same is true of the surrounding
Roman Tubunae first became a
In
Byzantine Tobna lay at the border of the provinces of Numidia and Mauretania Caesariensis (aka Mauretania Sitifensis).[4] Later on, the Muslim historian Abu Bakr al-Maliki considered Tobna to be on the western limit of Ifriqiya.[3]
Tobna was an important city in the Islamic Middle Ages: the geographer
Inside the walls, the main street of Tobna ran east–west ("simaṭ", corresponding to the Roman
Beyond the walls were extensive suburbs, a cemetery
For two centuries beginning c. 700 CE, Tobna was a major strategic center for Muslim rulers,
In 906 CE, during the final years of Aghlabid power, Tobna was besieged by the forces of
Tobna then became part of the Fatimid Caliphate. The Zenata tribe to the west were enemies of the Fatimids, and in 927, in order to contain them, the Fatimids established a new regional capital further west, at Msila. Tobna thus lost much of its civic and military importance. Many of its inhabitants relocated west to Msila, and economic activity declined. The wars with the Zenata also hindered agricultural development.[5]
Under the
That ended during the mid-11th century, when the Banu Hilal invaded the region. Ibn Khaldun described the devastation they brought: after sacking and destroying both Tobna and Msila, the Banu Hilal attacked the caravanserais, towns, villages, and farms, razing them completely to the ground.[2]
Tobna never recovered. While it was repopulated, it lost its importance in favor of Biskra, and soon after it was abandoned altogether.[2]
List of known governors
- al-Aghlab (761)
- al-Muhallab ibn Yazid (date not given)
- al-Fadl ibn Rawh (until 791, when he was appointed governor of Ifriqiya)
- al-'Ala ibn Sa'id (791-794)
- Aghlabid dynasty)
- Salim ibn Jalbun (dismissed in 847)
- Yahya ibn Salim (appointed by Abu Abdallah al[5]-Shi'i in 906)
- Fulful ibn Sa'id ibn Khazrun (992-999)
Christian diocese
There were two towns called Tubunae in the territory of what is now Algeria, when it was part of the Roman Empire. One is referred to as Tubunae in Mauretania, because it was part of the Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis. The other (the modern town of Tobna) is called Tubunae in Numidia, because it was situated in the Roman province of Numidia. Writers such as Morcelli uses the spelling "Tubunae" for both of them,[8] but the Catholic Church's list of titular sees refers to the second of them (corresponding to modern Tobna) as Thubunae in Numidia.[9]
There it is even the possibility that both names are for the same settlement.
Tubunae in Mauretania
The names of none of the bishops of this town, which is mentioned by Ptolemy, have been preserved. The see was vacant when Huneric summoned the North African bishops to Carthage in 484.[8]
Tubunae/Thubunae in Numidia
It was to this town "in the depths of Numidia"[10] that Augustine of Hippo and Alypius went, probably in 421, to meet the Roman official Boniface and exhort him "to serve the Church by protecting the empire from the barbarians".[11]
In 479 Huneric exiled a large number of Catholics there. Its ruins, known as Tobna, are in the Department of Constantine, Algeria, at the gates of the Sahara, west of the Chott el Hodna, the "Salinae Tubunenses" of the Romans. They are very extensive, for three successive towns occupied different sites, under the Romans, the Byzantines, and the Arabs. Besides the remains of the fortress, the most remarkable monument is a church now used as a mosque.[12]
Bishops
Three bishops of Tubunae/Thubunae in Numidia are known. Saint
See also
- Mauretania Caesariensis
- Gemellae
- Sitifis
References
- ^ a b "Geonames.org. Tobna". Retrieved 3 September 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Côte, M. (1998). "Tubna". The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Volume 10, Issues 163-178. Brill. p. 580. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-3-11-061869-3. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-521-19677-2. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cambuzat, Paul-Louis (9 October 2018). L'évolution des cités du Tell en Ifrikya du VII au XI siècle. Algiers: Office des publications universitaires. pp. 228–236. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
- ^ The Works Of Ibn Wāḍiḥ Al Yaʿqūbī. p. 188.
- ISBN 90-04-10056-3. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
- ^ a b c Stefano Antonio Morcelli, Africa christiana, Volume I, Brescia 1816, pp. 331–332
- ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 998
- ISBN 978-0-52001411-4), p. 422
- ISBN 978-0-94563646-5), p. 86
- ^ a b Sophrone Pétridès, "Tubunae" in Catholic Encyclopedia (New York 1912)
Bibliography
- Laffi, Umberto. Colonie e municipi nello Stato romano Ed. di Storia e Letteratura. Roma, 2007 ISBN 8884983509
- Mommsen, Theodore. The Provinces of the Roman Empire Section: Roman Africa. (Leipzig 1865; London 1866; London: Macmillan 1909; reprint New York 1996) Barnes & Noble. New York, 1996
- Smyth Vereker, Charles. Scenes in the Sunny South: Including the Atlas Mountains and the Oases of the Sahara in Algeria. Volume 2. Publisher Longmans, Green, and Company. University of Wisconsin. Madison,1871 (Roman Tubunae)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. {{cite encyclopedia}}
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