Bilta also known as Balta or Balţah, is an antique

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

in northern

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

, close to

Mateur Mateur ( aeb, ماطر ') is a town in northern Tunisia. It is located at around , close to the Lac Ichkeul National Park. Overview Located in the southwest of the governorate of Bizerte, Mateur is the county seat of a delegation of 61,919 ...

in today's

Bizerte governorate Bizerte Governorate ( ar, ولاية بنزرت ' ) is the northernmost of the 24 governorates of Tunisia. It is in northern Tunisia, approximately rectangular and having a long north coast. It covers an area of 3,750 km² including two lar ...

. Its name comes from the

Numidian language Numidian was a language spoken in ancient Numidia, a territory covering much of northern Africa. The script in which it was written, the Libyco-Berber alphabet (from which Tifinagh descended), has been almost fully deciphered and most characters ...

(Lybico-Berber) root ''BLT,'' meaning, filled with water. An inscription in the nearby ''fundus Aufidianus'' contains the name of the place: ''Agricolae in spl(endida)'' (vel ''spl(endidissima)/re p(ublica) Bihensi Bilt '(vel ''Belt '.'' During Vandal and Byzantine times, bishops are attested: in 256 AD, a Caecilius is ''episcopus'' in ''Bilta (''or ''Biltha,'' or ''Belta),'' in 411, a

donatist Donatism was a Christian sect leading to a schism in the Church, in the region of the Church of Carthage, from the fourth to the sixth centuries. Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and the ...

named Felicianus is in ''Viltensis'' and in 646, a bishop Theodorus in ''Biltensis'' signs a letter sent to the

Lateran Council of 649 The Lateran Council of 649 was a synod held in the Basilica of St. John Lateran to condemn Monothelitism, a Christology espoused by many Eastern Christians. The Council did not achieve ecumenical status in either East or West, but represented the ...

. The town is a

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...

of the Roman Catholic church.Cheney, D. M.
Bilta (Titular See)
''The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church'', accessed 30 October 2022 It is not to be mistaken for the modern town of Balta-Bou Aouene in the

Jendouba governorate Jendouba Governorate ( ' ) is one of the twenty-four governorates of Tunisia. It is predominantly in the high hills of the Tell Atlas north-western Tunisia, bordering Algeria and the Mediterranean Sea. It covers an area of 3,102 km2 and h ...

References

{{Tunisia-geo-stub Populated places in Tunisia Catholic titular sees in Africa