Zaraï was a

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( la, Carthaginiensis ) usually refers to a citizen of Ancient Carthage. It can also refer to: * Carthaginian (ship), a three-masted schooner built in 1921 * Insurgent privateers; nineteenth-century South American privateers, ...

, and

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 ...

town at the site of present-day Aïn Oulmene,

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. Under the Romans, it formed part of 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 ...

Numidia Numidia ( Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunis ...

Name

The

Punic 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 ...

name for the town was (). Zarai 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 ...

'' and in the ''

Tabula Peutingeriana ' (Latin Language, Latin for "The Peutinger Map"), also referred to as Peutinger's Tabula or Peutinger Table, is an illustrated ' (ancient Roman road map) showing the layout of the ''cursus publicus'', the road network of the Roman Empire. The m ...

''.

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

calls it Zaratha and wrongly places it in

Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Caesariensis (Latin for "Caesarean Mauretania") was a Roman province located in what is now Algeria in the Maghreb. The full name refers to its capital Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell). The province had been part of the Kingd ...

. It is probably the

Apuleius Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern-day ...

's Zaratha. These two forms and the term "Zaraitani" found in an inscription seem to indicate that the name Zaraï which appears on another inscriptionCorp. Inscript. 2532. must have lost a final letter.

Geography

The ruins of Zaraï are called "Henshir Zraïa" and are found inside the municipality of Ain Oulmene. They lie to the south-east of Setif in Algeria, crowning an eminence which overlooks all the country on the left bank of the Oued Taourlatent, known to the medieval Arabs as Oued Zaraoua.Zarai
at Catholic encyclopedia.org.

History

Zarai was protected after emperor

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...

started the construction of a wall similar to the one with his name in

Roman Britannia Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under Roman conquest of Britain, occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, ...

, by one of the sections of the

Fossatum Africae ''Fossatum Africae'' ("African ditch") is one or more linear defensive structures (sometimes called ''limes'') claimed to extend over or more in northern Africa constructed during the Roman Empire to defend and control the southern borders of th ...

: the Hodna or Bou Taleb section. This section begins near the north-east slopes of the Hodna Mountains, heads south following the foothills then east towards Zaraï, and doubles back westward to enclose the eastern end of the Hodna mountains, standing between them and the Roman settlements of Cellas and Macri. The length of this segment is about 100 km. It probably criss-crossed the ancient border between Numidia and Mauretania Sitifensis. The Byzantines fortified the city as the western border town of their possessions in Africa. The small city of Zarai disappeared.

Ruins

Remains of a Byzantine citadel and of two Christian basilicas are still visible.

Religion

Zarai was 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 a

Christian 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 ...

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 ...

. It was one of the key cities of the

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 ...

controversy. The remains of a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

citadel and of two

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 ...

s are still visible. Three bishops of Zaraï are known from antiquity. The see fell into abeyance after the Islamic conquest of the Maghreb but was later revived by the

Roman 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 ...

as 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 archbish ...

List of bishops

* Cresconius, present at the

Conference of Carthage (411) 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 Cyprian ...

, where he had as a rival the

Rogatus; * Adeodatus, one of the Catholic bishops whom

Huneric Huneric, Hunneric or Honeric (died December 23, 484) was King of the (North African) Vandal Kingdom (477–484) and the oldest son of Gaiseric. He abandoned the imperial politics of his father and concentrated mainly on internal affairs. He was m ...

summoned to a conference in Carthage in February 484 and then exiled. * Edmond Alfred Dardel (23 Aug 1889 Appointed – 21 Mar 1890) * Esteban Sánchez de las Heras (15 Jan 1895 Appointed – 21 Jun 1896) * Jerome-Josse Van Aertselaer (7 May 1898 Appointed – 12 Jan 1924) * Félix Bilbao y Ugarriza (23 Apr 1924 Appointed – 14 Dec 1925) * Enrique María Dubuc Moreno (10 May 1926 Appointed – 26 Sep 1926) * Jan Stavel (29 Apr 1927 Appointed – 6 Nov 1938) * Vince Kovács (20 Jul 1940 Appointed – 15 Mar 1974) *

Benito Cocchi Benito Cocchi (5 November 1934 – 5 May 2016) was a Roman Catholic archbishop. Ordained to the priesthood in 1959, Cocchi served auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bologna, Italy from 1974 until 1982. He then served as bish ...

(12 Dec 1974 Appointed – 22 May 1982) * José Sebastián Laboa Gallego (18 Dec 1982 Appointed – 24 Oct 2002) *

Assis Lopes Assis is a city and a municipality in the southwestern part of the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 105,087 (2020 est.) in an area of 460.61 km. The town was founded on July 5, 1905, and became a municipali ...

(22 Jan 2003 Appointed – )

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * . * Reid, James. ''The Municipalities of the Roman Empire.'' University of London. London, 1913 (reprint. ) * P. Trousset (2002). ' v. 10, p. 143–150. *

Caesarea Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesare ...

Mesarfelta Mesarfelta was a Roman– Berber town in the province of Numidia. It was also a bishopric that is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ), p. 929 History The his ...

Thamugadi Timgad ( ar, تيمقاد, links=, lit=, translit=Tīmgād, known as Marciana Traiana Thamugadi) was a Roman city in the Aurès Mountains of Algeria. It was founded by the Roman Emperor Trajan around 100 AD. The full name of the city was ''Colo ...

Lambaesis Lambaesis (Lambæsis), Lambaisis or Lambaesa (''Lambèse'' in colonial French), is a Roman archaeological site in Algeria, southeast of Batna and west of Timgad, located next to the modern village of Tazoult. The former bishopric is also a La ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zarai Archaeological sites in Algeria Roman towns and cities in Algeria Ancient Berber cities Catholic titular sees in Africa Buildings and structures in Sétif Province