Chebba (La Chebba, Ash Shabbah, aš-Šābbah, Sheba) is a small city in the

Mahdia Governorate Mahdia Governorate () is in central-eastern Tunisia, named after its largest town and administrative centre. It comprises an area of coastal relative lowland, but extends further inland than its coastal length. It is one of the twenty-four gover ...

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

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

on the coast of the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

.Jacobs, Daniel and Morris, Peter (2001) ''The rough guide to Tunisia'' Rough Guides, London
page 235

History

The city of Chebba derives its name from the

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, J ...

to the east, which was classically known as Caput Vada (''headland above the shoals'').Hannezo, G. (1905
"Chebba et Ras-Kapoudia: Notes Historique"
''Bulletin de la Société archéologique de Sousse'' 3(5): pp. 135–140; in French The Byzantine general

Belisarius Belisarius (; el, Βελισάριος; The exact date of his birth is unknown. – 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under the emperor Justinian I. He was instrumental in the reconquest of much of the Mediterranean terr ...

landed here in 533 and went on to inflict a devastating defeat on the

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

. The town of Chebba was founded by Justinian about 534 CE after the defeat of the

, and named Justinianopolis. The headland (Caput Vada) is now known as Ras Kaboudia and is site of the ruins of the ''bordj'' (harbor fortress) of Bordj Khadidja, which was built upon

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 ...

foundations. The fortress guarded the harbor entrance and was one of a chain of similar forts built by the

Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

along the coast of

in the 8th century. It was later renamed after Khadija Ben Kalthoum, a poet of the eleventh century, who was born in Chebba.Sadiqi, Fatima ''et al.'' (2009) ''Women writing Africa: The Northern region'' Feminist Press at The City University of New York, New York
page 89

Notes

External links

"Chebba Map — Satellite Images of Chebba"
Maplandia World Gazetteer * {{Communes of Tunisia Populated places in Mahdia Governorate Communes of Tunisia