Altava was an ancient Romano-

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 ...

city in present-day

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. It served as the capital of the ancient Berber

Kingdom of Altava The Kingdom of Altava was an independent Christian Berber kingdom centered on the city of Altava in present-day northern Algeria. The Kingdom of Altava was a successor state of the previous Mauro-Roman Kingdom which had controlled much of the an ...

. During the French presence, the town was called ''Lamoriciere''. It was situated in the modern Ouled Mimoun near

Tlemcen Tlemcen (; ) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran and is the capital of Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the port of Rachgoun. It had a population of ...

History

Altava was located in western

Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Caesariensis (Latin for "Caesarea, Numidia, Caesarean Mauretania") was a Roman province located in present-day Algeria. The full name refers to its capital Caesarea, Numidia, Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell). The province had ...

on the Roman road from strategic

Theveste Theveste was a Roman colony situated in what is now Tébessa, Algeria. History In 146 BC, the Romans conquered the region, where existed an old city called " Tbessa". Theveste was founded by the Romans in 75 AD near an old Berber village locat ...

to Numerus Syrorum (current Maghnia). Altava was a city populated mainly by Berbers under

Septimius Severus Lucius Septimius Severus (; ; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through cursus honorum, the ...

, with a small Roman garrison. The garrison—according to historian M. Ruiu—was the ''Cohors II Sardorum'' and protected the new lines of the Roman empire moved south from the Mediterranean shores to a military road called ''Nova Praetentura''. This road went from Rapidum in

Numidia Numidia was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunisia and Libya. The polity was originally divided between ...

to Altava and Numerus Syrorum at the border of

Mauretania Tingitana Mauretania Tingitana (Latin for "Tangerine Mauretania") was a Roman province, coinciding roughly with the northern part of present-day Morocco. The territory stretched from the northern peninsula opposite Gibraltar, to Sala Colonia (or Chellah ...

. Altava, according to historian Lawless, was a

vicus In Ancient Rome, the Latin term (plural ) designated a village within a rural area () or the neighbourhood of a larger settlement. During the Republican era, the four of the city of Rome were subdivided into . In the 1st century BC, Augustus ...

that achieved independent status from the castrum-fort of the garrison and had a huge Forum and an important pagan temple, later converted into a Christian church (showing the growing presence of Christianity in Roman Africa). The Roman settlement had an area of nearly 13 hectares and was surrounded by farms. Emperor

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

reorganized the Roman Empire in 298 AD and later withdrew from the area of

Volubilis Volubilis (; ; ) is a partly excavated Berber-Roman city in Morocco, situated near the city of Meknes, that may have been the capital of the Kingdom of Mauretania, at least from the time of King Juba II. Before Volubilis, the capital of the kin ...

, the

Rif Mountains The Rif (, ), also called Rif Mountains, is a geographic region in northern Morocco. It is bordered on the north by the Mediterranean Sea and Spain and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, and is the homeland of the Rifians and the Jebala people. ...

in northern Morocco and the western Algerian

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. They separate the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around through M ...

after the Crisis of the 3rd Century. Berber rulers created a small independent kingdom there, centered on the capital Altava and the fully Romanised city of

. From the 7th century

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

historians usually called it the

. After the

Vandal The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vandal ...

invasion in 429 AD, Altava became the capital of an independent Berber state. This

Mauro-Roman kingdom The Mauro-Roman Kingdom (Latin: ), also described as the Kingdom of Masuna, was a Christianity, Christian Berbers, Berber kingdom which dominated much of the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman province of Mauretania Caesariensis from the capital city o ...

was situated near Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana, at some distance from the Vandal nucleus. Although a Berber polity, it borrowed the sociocultural, military and religious structure of the Roman Empire. Between 550 and 578 AD, Altava served as the capital of the independent Christian Berber kingdom of Garmul. The last time the kingdom of Altava was cited historically was in connection with a campaign of Gennadius, a ''

magister militum (Latin for "master of soldiers"; : ) was a top-level military command used in the late Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, the e ...

'' sent by the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

. He defeated the Berbers and the ruler of Altava in 578 AD and his small kingdom was probably incorporated to the Byzantine Empire. There are no historical records about Altava in the seventh century, but it is also conceivable that the kingdom of Altava (or at least a small section of it) lasted until its conquest by the Arabs around 700 AD.Philippe Sénac et Patrice Cressier : "''Histoire du Maghreb médiéval VII - XI ème siècle''" Armand Colin. Paris. France. 2012

Notes

Bibliography

Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800
* Bowna, Alan. ''The Cambridge Ancient History: Volume 12, The Crisis of Empire, AD 193-337''. Cambridge university Press. Cambridge, 2005 * * Lawless, R. ''Mauretania Caesartiensis: an archeological and geographical survey''. Durham University. Durham, 196
Altava
* * Ruiu, Maria Antonietta. ''La Cohors II Sardorum ad Altava (Ouled-Mimoun, Algeria)''. Universita' degli Studi di Sassari. Sassari, 2012 * Villaverde Noé, Vega. ''Tingitana en la antigüedad tardía, siglos III-VII: autoctonía y romanidad en el extremo occidente mediterráneo''. Ed. Real Academia de la Historia. Madrid, 2001 , 9788489512948 {{Romano-Berber cities in Roman Africa Roman towns and cities in Mauretania Caesariensis Ancient Berber cities

History

See also

Notes

Bibliography