Roman Empire - Africa Proconsularis (125 AD)

Aeliae or Æliæ was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

-era

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of Byzacena. The town must have been of some importance as it was made a bishopric early after the Council of Nicaea and it was a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

diocese throughout

antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

. Its exact location is tentatively given as ruins near Henchir-Mraba southeast of

Ouled Chamekh Ouled Chamekh is a town and commune in the Mahdia Governorate, Tunisia. As of 2004 it had a population of 5,093.

, between lake

Sebkhet Cherita The Sebkhet Cherita is a salt lake wetland in the Sousse Governorate of Tunisia, 25 kilometers southwest of the city of Sousse and 25 kilometers southeast of the city of Kairouan. It covers an area of 11600hectares and is 17 by 9 kilometers wide. ...

and

Sebkhet de Sidi El Hani The Sebkha Sidi El Hani () is a salt lake in the Sousse Governorate of Tunisia, southwest of the city of Sousse and southeast of the city of Kairouan. It covers an area of 36,000 hectares and consists of three depressions: the Sidi El Hani sebk ...

in the central part of what is today Mahdia Governorate,

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. Aeliae was also the

seat A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense. Types of seat The following are examples of different kinds of seat: * Armchair (furniture), ...

of an ancient Christian bishopric. There are three

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

s documented as residing in Aeliae during antiquity. *The

Fascinullo intervened at the Conference of Carthage of 411, between Catholic and Donatist bishops of

Roman North Africa Africa Proconsularis was a Roman province on the northern African coast that was established in 146 BC following the defeat of Carthage in the Third Punic War. It roughly comprised the territory of present-day Tunisia, the northeast of Algeria, ...

*The Bishop Donaziano participated in the synod assembled in Carthage in 484 by the

arian Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by God t ...

King Huneric the

Vandal The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area betw ...

, after which Donaziano was exiled. *Bishop Constantine took part in the anti-monotheistic

Council of Carthage (641) The Councils of Carthage were church synods held during the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries in the city of Carthage in Africa. The most important of these are described below. Synod of 251 In May 251 a synod, assembled under the presidency of Cypria ...

. Since 1933 Aeliae has been a

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

ric. Since 2019 the title has been held by Ricardo Augusto Rodríguez Álvarez, Auxiliary Bishop of Lima, Peru.

References

{{coord missing, Tunisia Roman towns and cities in Africa (Roman province) Archaeological sites in Tunisia Former populated places in Tunisia Catholic titular sees in Africa