Sufes was a town in the late
Roman province
The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was rule ...
of
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 ...
, which became a Christian
bishopric
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
that is included in the
Catholic Church
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 ...
's list of titular sees.
The town
The
ruins
Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...
of Roman Sufes are found near
Sbiba
Sbiba ( ar, سبيبة) is a city surrounded by chains of mountains in the province of Kasserine.
Sbiba is in the Midwest of Tunisia on the latitude of 35° and 36°, about 70 km far from Kasserine, bounded on the north with Jedelienne, Sbe ...
a village in
Tunisia
)
, image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa
, image_map2 =
, capital = Tunis
, largest_city = capital
, ...
's
province of Kasserine.
[
][
][
][
] It was a small town from which
Roman roads
Roman roads ( la, viae Romanae ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, and were built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Re ...
branched out to neighboring towns.
[
]
Alt URL
/ref> It was on several hills sloped towards the plain, and covered a portion of the plain itself with a perimeter of about .[
]
There are few surviving records of Sufes.[
] It is mentioned in the Antonine Itinerary
The Antonine Itinerary ( la, Itinerarium Antonini Augusti, "The Itinerary of the Emperor Antoninus") is a famous ''itinerarium'', a register of the stations and distances along various roads. Seemingly based on official documents, possibly ...
as twenty five miles from ''Tucca Terebintha'', and Victor Guérin
Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Mino ...
discovered an inscription at the Sufes site, which described it as "" and showed further on that Hercules was the genius loci, a type of tutelary deity
A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and ...
, of Sufes.
It is not known when Sufes was founded, but it was known as a castellum
A ''castellum'' in Latin is usually:
* a small Roman fortlet or tower,C. Julius Caesar, Gallic War; 2,30 a diminutive of ('military camp'), often used as a watchtower or signal station like on Hadrian's Wall. It should be distinguished from a ...
in the history of Roman-era Tunisia
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
during the early Empire,[
] and probably became a colonia about the time of Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
, who reigned between 161 and 180, as its name ''colonia Aurelia Sufetana'' indicates. It had been a bishopric since at least AD 255 but the majority of its inhabitants were still pagan. In AD 411, both a Catholic and 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 t ...
bishopric were located there.
At the beginning of the 4th century, pagans Pagans may refer to:
* Paganism, a group of pre-Christian religions practiced in the Roman Empire
* Modern Paganism, a group of contemporary religious practices
* Order of the Vine, a druidic faction in the ''Thief'' video game series
* Pagan's ...
outnumbered Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
. Punics
The Punic people, or western Phoenicians, were a Semitic people in the Western Mediterranean who migrated from Tyre, Phoenicia to North Africa during the Early Iron Age. In modern scholarship, the term ''Punic'' – the Latin equivalent of the ...
formed the predominant population of towns and retained the Punic language
The Punic language, also called Phoenicio-Punic or Carthaginian, is an extinct variety of the Phoenician language, a Canaanite language of the Northwest Semitic branch of the Semitic languages. An offshoot of the Phoenician language of coastal We ...
until the 6th century; in certain towns the Christian bishops were obliged to know Punic, since it was the only language that the people understood.
Alexander Graham quoted Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus DIN 31635, translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label=Berber languages, Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, ...
geographer and historian Al-Bakri
Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī ( ar, أبو عبيد عبد الله بن عبد العزيز بن محمد بن أيوب بن عمرو البكري), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1 ...
, who wrote in the 11th century that, "We arrived at Sbiba, a town of great antiquity, built of stone, and containing a college and several baths. The whole country around is covered with gardens, and produces a saffron
Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma and styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly as a seasoning and colouring agent i ...
of the greatest excellence." René Louiche Desfontaines
René Louiche Desfontaines (14 February 1750 – 16 November 1833) was a French botanist.
Desfontaines was born near Tremblay, Ille-et-Vilaine , Tremblay in Brittany. He attended the Collège de Rennes and in 1773 went to Paris to study medi ...
, in 1784, wrote that for several hours he marched through a forest of pines and Phoenician juniper
''Juniperus phoenicea'', the Phoenicean juniper or Arâr, is a juniper found throughout the Mediterranean region.
Description
''Juniperus phoenicea'' is a large shrub or small tree reaching tall, with a trunk up to in diameter and a rounded ...
before descending into the verdant plain in which Sbiba is situated.[
] In 1862, Victor Guérin
Victor Guérin (15 September 1821 – 21 Septembe 1890) was a French intellectual, explorer and amateur archaeologist. He published books describing the geography, archeology and history of the areas he explored, which included Greece, Asia Mino ...
wrote that, it was long deserted and uninhabited; he commented that, on this vast site he could not find a "miserable hamlet of five or six huts", and only a "dozen tents belonging to the Madjer tribe". Robert Lambert Playfair
Sir (Robert) Lambert Playfair (21 March 1828 – 18 February 1899) was a British soldier, diplomat, naturalist and author.
Early life
Lambert Playfair was a grandson of James Playfair, principal of the University of St Andrews, and son of Geo ...
, while travelling the same route taken by Desfontaines in 1877, wrote the forests which Desfontaines alluded to have disappeared. By 1886, Graham wrote, the site was an abandoned village
An abandoned village is a village that has, for some reason, been deserted. In many countries, and throughout history, thousands of villages have been deserted for a variety of causes. Abandonment of villages is often related to epidemic, f ...
, with no settlement within , in an old field wilderness.
Although, in Latin, Sufetula is a diminutive of Sufes. Sufes should not to be confused with Sufetula, both a different titular see, Sufetula ( la, Sufetulensis), and a different site further south near Subaytilah.[
] It was there that in AD 647, a major battle, between the Byzantine and Berber army led by Gregory the Patrician
Gregory the Patrician ( el, Γρηγόριος, Grēgórios; la, Flavius Gregorius, died 647) was a Byzantine Exarch of Africa (modern Tunisia, eastern Algeria and western Libya). A relative of the ruling Heraclian dynasty, Gregory was fiercely ...
and the Rashidun Caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate ( ar, اَلْخِلَافَةُ ٱلرَّاشِدَةُ, al-Khilāfah ar-Rāšidah) was the first caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was ruled by the first four successive caliphs of Muhammad after his ...
army led by Abdullah ibn Saad
Abd Allah ibn Sa'd ibn Abi al-Sarh ( ar, عبد الله ابن سعد ابن أبي السرح, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿd ibn Abī al-Sarḥ) was an Arab administrator and commander.
During his time as governor of Egypt (646 CE to 656 CE), Abd A ...
, ended in a decisive Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
victory.
Ruins
The ruins of Sufes consist of a basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...
, converted after the seventh century into a mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
; a Roman temple
Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete state. Today they remain "the most obvious symbol of Ro ...
, of which only the foundation
Foundation may refer to:
* Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization
** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S.
** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
survives; a Byzantine fort, built by Solomon
Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...
, a praetorian prefect of Africa
The praetorian prefecture of Africa ( la, praefectura praetorio Africae) was an administrative division of the Eastern Roman Empire in the Maghreb. With its seat at Carthage, it was established after the reconquest of northwestern Africa from the ...
under Justinian I
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
, of which only one wall survives and was built on a former Roman fort; and, a town wall. The fort, measured by ,[
] had four corner towers, and was, like the other ancient ruins, dismantled
Dismantled (born Gary Zon) is an electronic music artist from the United States.
History
Dismantled is the product of an experiment that began in late 2000 by Gary Zon, who was attempting to create something similar to Front Line Assembly's s ...
for recycled construction material used in the rebuilding of the modern village.
Graham wrote that the Byzantine citadel
A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core.
In ...
, or walled enclosure, was constructed entirely of the stones of the Roman city.
A huge mass of rubble is all that remains of a large thermae
In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large Roman Empire, imperial public bath, bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed i ...
; and, a large semicircular nymphaeum
A ''nymphaeum'' or ''nymphaion'' ( grc, νυμφαῖον), in ancient Greece and Rome, was a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs.
These monuments were originally natural grottoes, which tradition assigned as habit ...
, decorated with columns and statues, is only represented by the stone blocks which formed the base of the superstructure.
The whole site is strewn with blocks of cut stone, fragments of moldings, and sculptured ornament. The nymphaeum was supplied with water drawn from wadi Sbiba through a aqueduct.
As part of a systematic survey, during the French protectorate of Tunisia
The French protectorate of Tunisia (french: Protectorat français de Tunisie; ar, الحماية الفرنسية في تونس '), commonly referred to as simply French Tunisia, was established in 1881, during the French colonial Empire era, ...
, five location were listed on a 8 May 1895 state protection decree as three items for the site: the Sidi Okba mosque; rectangular enclosures A, B, C; and, the semicircular nymphaeum. There are more unexcavated ruins.
Massacre of sixty Christians
Sufes is known for sixty Christian martyrs
In Christianity, a martyr is a person considered to have died because of their testimony for Jesus or faith in Jesus. In years of the early church, stories depict this often occurring through death by sawing, stoning, crucifixion, burning at th ...
commemorated, in the ''Roman Martyrology
The ''Roman Martyrology'' ( la, Martyrologium Romanum) is the official martyrology of the Catholic Church. Its use is obligatory in matters regarding the Roman Rite liturgy, but dioceses, countries and religious institutes may add duly approved ...
'', on 30 August, an event related to the legal persecution of pagans by the Christian Roman Empire. In 399, Honorius, through edicts to oppress pagan religion in ancient Rome
Religion in ancient Rome consisted of varying imperial and provincial religious practices, which were followed both by the people of Rome as well as those who were brought under its rule.
The Romans thought of themselves as highly religious, ...
, ordered the closing of pagan temples and the destruction of idols,
a cult statue
In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated or worshipped for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents. In several traditions, including the ancient religions of Egypt, Greece and Rom ...
of Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the Gr ...
had been destroyed, and in retaliation the pagan inhabitants massacred sixty Christians. The cult of Hercules at Sufes is attested by an inscription to that god found among the ruins. Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...
wrote a letter to the leaders of the colonia after the massacre.
The bishopric
The names of a few of the bishops of Sufes are recorded:[Stefano Antonio Morcelli]
''Africa christiana''
Volume I, Brescia 1816, pp. 287–288
* Privatus (mentioned in 255)
* Maximinus (mentioned in 411)
** Peregrin (mentioned 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 t ...
* Eustratius (mentioned in 484)
Synod of Sufes
Sufes is also known for a church council that took place there in 525.[
] The Synod of Sufes was related to the preceding Synod of Junca.[
] Karl Josef von Hefele
Karl Josef von Hefele (March 15, 1809 – June 6, 1893) was a Roman Catholic bishop and theologian of Germany.
Biography
Hefele was born at Unterkochen in Württemberg and was educated at Tübingen, where in 1839 he became professor-ordinary o ...
wrote that Giovanni Domenico Mansi
Gian (Giovanni) Domenico Mansi (16 February 1692 – 27 September 1769) was an Italian prelate, theologian, scholar and historian, known for his massive works on the Church councils.
Biography
He was born at Lucca, of a patrician family, and di ...
assigned the year 523 to the (Junca) in the ecclesiastical province
An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction
Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...
of Byzacena in Africa, which was previously assigned to the following year.[
] Hefele wrote that Liberatus, primate of the ecclesiastical province of Byzacena and president of the Synod of Junca, wrote a letter to Archbishop Boniface of Carthage, in which Liberatus said that the peace of the Church was restored at the Synod of Junca and he assured that full ecclesiastical liberty prevailed in the ecclesiastical province of Byzacena. What was further necessary, he wrote, would be conveyed through verbal messages by the bishops who were entrusted with the letter. The peace of the Church had been disturbed partly by a conflict between Liberatus and a monastery and partly by Bishop Vincentius' of Girba () invasion of the ecclesiastical province of Byzacena, although he belonged to the ecclesiastical province of Tripolis, and consequently exercised his authority over people outside his ecclesiastical jurisdiction
Ecclesiastical jurisdiction signifies jurisdiction by church leaders over other church leaders and over the laity.
Jurisdiction is a word borrowed from the legal system which has acquired a wide extension in theology, wherein, for example, it is ...
. When there was no bishop in Carthage, because of 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 ...
persecution, the monks had requested the primate of the ecclesiastical province of Byzacena, who was near to them, to ordain
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform var ...
one of them into the priesthood for the needs of the monastery. This was done. Liberatus inferred that the monastery was now subject to him but the monks recognized the archbishop of Carthage as their superior. At the 525 Synod of Carthage, held after the Synod of Sufes, their abbot accused Liberatus of endeavoring to ruin their monastery and of excommunicating
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the Koinonia, communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The ...
them. They asserted that the monastery should neither be subjected to one single bishop nor the monks be treated by Liberatus as his own clergy.
After the African bishops returned from exile and been freed from persecution, contests about their order of precedence broke out among them and some sought to get rid of their subordination to the archbishop of Carthage.
Fulgentius Ferrandus Fulgentius Ferrandus or Ferrand of Carthage (died 546/547) was a Christian theologian of the Roman province of Africa, modern day Tunisia.
Biography
Little is known of his early life. At the end of his life, he was a deacon of the Church of Cartha ...
in his ''Bremarium Canonicum'' gives us a canon of the Synod of Junca, which runs thus: . Finally, we learn from the biography of Fulgentius of Ruspe
Fabius Claudius Gordianus Fulgentius, also known as Fulgentius of Ruspe (462 or 467 – 1 January 527 or 533) was North African Christian prelate who served as Bishop of Ruspe, in modern-day Tunisia, during the 5th and 6th century. He has been ca ...
that he was also present at the Synod of Junca (identified, by a transcription error
A transcription error is a specific type of data entry error that is commonly made by human operators or by optical character recognition (OCR) programs. Human transcription errors are commonly the result of typographical mistakes; putting one’ ...
, as instead of ), and that the Synod gave him precedence over another bishop named Quodvultdeus
Quodvultdeus (Latin for "what God wills", died 450 AD) was a fifth-century Church Father and Bishop of Carthage who was exiled to Naples. He was known to have been living in Carthage around 407 and became a deacon in 421 AD. He corresponded wi ...
. Quodvultdeus felt hurt by this, so Fulgentius of Ruspe requested at the next synod, the Synod of Sufes, also belonging to the province of Byzacena, that Quodvultdeus should again be given his previous precedence. No more is known of the Synod of Sufes.
See also
* Titular see of Rucuma
Notes and references
Notes
References
{{Reflist
Catholic titular sees in Africa
Episcopacy in the Catholic Church