Kasserine ( ar, القصرين, al-Qasrīn, Tunisian Arabic: ڨصرين ') is the capital city of the Kasserine Governorate, in west-central Tunisia. It is situated below Jebel ech Chambi ( جبل الشعانبي), Tunisia's highest mountain. Its population is 114.463 (2020).

History

In classical antiquity Kasserine was a Roman colony, known as Cillium. Under Roman Emperor Vespasian (69–79) or Titus (79-81), it was elevated to the rank of '' municipium'', and under the Severan dynasty (193-235) to that of ''colonia'' (Cillilana). It became Roman territory following the defeat of Carthage in 146 BC, belonging to the provinces of Africa, Africa Vetus, Africa Proconsularus, and finally

Africa Byzacena Byzacena (or Byzacium) ( grc, Βυζάκιον, ''Byzakion'') was a Late Roman province in the central part of Roman North Africa, which is now roughly Tunisia, split off from Africa Proconsularis. History At the end of the 3rd century AD, the ...

following the reforms of

Diocletian Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...

in 314 AD. Archaeological evidence remains on site: mausoleums, triumphal arches, thermae, a theatre and a Christian basilica. Tomb_of_the_Flavii_at_Cillium

One noted monument is the ''Tomb of the Flavii'', built for local landowner Titus Flavius Secundus in the late second century AD. The Tomb contains a 110-line poem memorializing Flavius, and is the "longest extant Latin funerary epitaph from antiquity." The theater was built at the end of the first century AD, probably to celebrate elevation of the town to a municipium, It was restored, and reopened for performances in 2018. In 544 the Byzantines were defeated by the

Berbers , image = File:Berber_flag.svg , caption = The Berber ethnic flag , population = 36 million , region1 = Morocco , pop1 = 14 million to 18 million , region2 = Algeria , pop2 ...

in the Battle of Cillium. The town was renamed Kasserine, meaning "The Two Palaces", which is a reference to the two Roman mausoleums. In 1906, an attack by local bedouin on isolated settler farms near Kasserine, and the French civil administration offices during the

Thala-Kasserine Disturbances The Thala-Kasserine Disturbances were an episode of unrest in April 1906 in western Tunisia, the first violent resistance against authority under the French protectorate since its establishment in 1881. Inspired by an Algerian marabout, insurgents ...

was the first violent resistance to French authority under the protectorate.

Ecclesiastical history

Cillium was important enough in the Roman province of Byzacena to become a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

of the Metropolitan of Hadrumetum. Cillium was represented at the Conference of Carthage (411) between Catholic and Donatist bishops by the Catholic Tertiolus and the Donatist Donatus. In 484, Fortunatianus of Cillium was one of the Catholic bishops whom 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 ...

Vandal king Huneric summoned to Carthage and then exiled.

Titular see of Cillium

No longer a residential bishopric, Cillium is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see. Since its nominal restoration in 1925, the Latin titular bishopric has had the following incumbents, both of the lowest (episcopal) rank: * Boleslavs Sloskāns (1926.05.05 – 1981.04.18), Apostolic Administrator of Mohilev (Belarus) (1926.08.13 – 1981.04.18) and Apostolic Administrator of Mi(e)nsk (Belarus) (1926.08.13 – 1981.04.18) * Louis Anthony DeSimone, (1981.06.27 – 2018.10.05), Auxiliary Bishop emeritus of Philadelphia

Geography

Kasserine is located in western central Tunisia. By road it is 200 kilometres west of Sfax, 246 kilometres (180 mi) south-west of Tunis, 166 kilometres (141 mi) south-west of

Sousse Sousse or Soussa ( ar, سوسة, ; Berber:''Susa'') is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf ...

. Kasserine is divided into 11 districts: * El Arich * Ennour District * Essalem District * Ezzouhour District * El Bassatine District * El Fath District * El Karma District * El Khadhra District * El Manar District * Olympic District * Zouhour District

Climate

Sports

220px, Haggui in action for Bayer Leverkusen in 2007. Kasserine's most popular sport club is the AS Kasserine (football, soccer).

Notable people

Faouzia Aloui Faouzia Aloui ( ar, فوزية العلوي) (born in 1957 in Kasserine) is a Tunisian poet and fiction writer. She is a teacher of Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the ...

(born in 1958), a poet and fiction writer.Faouzia Aloui
at Diwanalarab * Karim Haggui (born January 20, 1984), a football defender

References

Notes

Sources and external links

GigaCatolic, with titular ncumbent biography links