Portus Magnus (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: "Great Port") was a Roman port and

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

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 ...

near Portus Divinus. Its ruins are now under and around

Bethioua Bethioua (), formerly Arsenaria, Portus Magnus, Arzew (, ), Vieil Arzew ("Old Arzew"), and Saint Leu, is a port town and district near Arzew in Oran Province in northwestern Algeria. It has a gas port, petrochemical facilities and desalination pla ...

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 ...

Oran Province Oran Province (, ) is a provinces of Algeria, province (''Wilayas of Algeria, wilayah'') in Algeria whose seat is the Oran, city of the same name. Geography It is located in the northwestern part of the country. Its population is 1,584,607 and i ...

. In the early modern period, Bethioua still housed several notable Roman mosaics and other artwork, most of which have since been removed to the museum at the provincial capital

Oran Oran () is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is w ...

History

The city is located in a ruins of the ancient

Phoenicians Phoenicians were an ancient Semitic group of people who lived in the Phoenician city-states along a coastal strip in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily modern Lebanon and the Syrian coast. They developed a maritime civi ...

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

and stood on a hill overlooking the ancient port. The city was named Portus Magnus after coming the Romans. The inhabitants were mostly Roman citizens, whose main exports were grain and salt. The settlement covered approximately , paved or leveled by landfills. In present Bethioua, there remain some walls and buildings, rainwater

cistern A cistern (; , ; ) is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. To prevent leakage, the interior of the cistern is often lined with hydraulic plaster. Cisterns are disti ...

s, bits of Roman streets, and a small forum (). Off one side of the forum was a small building with marble countertops and a statue. Behind this was a temple of unknown dedication and, about west of the forum, there was another very large temple dedicated to

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

. The colonnades () and spa near some of the Roman villas probably constituted a palatial resort of the 3rd century. During their invasion of North Africa, the

Vandals 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 Vand ...

destroyed Portus Magnus in AD 429 or 430. There is some evidence of Byzantine Christian worship, showing some port activity continued after the area's 6th-century Byzantine reconquest, during which it was involved in repeated wars against local

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 ...

kingdoms. The settlement was fully abandoned after the Islamic conquest of North Africa in the 7th century, the location of "Arzao" noted by

El Bekri Abū ʿUbayd ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Muḥammad ibn Ayyūb ibn ʿAmr al-Bakrī (), or simply al-Bakrī (c. 1040–1094) was an Arab Andalusian historian and a geographer of the Muslim West. Life Al-Bakri was born in Huelva, the ...

as only bearing the remains of an abandoned Roman port . The

Almohads The Almohad Caliphate (; or or from ) or Almohad Empire was a North African Berber Muslim empire founded in the 12th century. At its height, it controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) and North Africa (the Maghreb). The Almohad ...

refounded the city and reopened the port in 1162 under the name

. The French later conflated its history with their own larger nearby settlement at

Arzew Arzew or Arzeu (, ) is a seaport, port city in Algeria, 25 miles (40 km) from Oran. It is the capital of Arzew District, Oran Province. History Antiquity Like the rest of the Maghreb, the site of modern-day Arzew was originally in ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Mommsen, Theodore. ''The Provinces of the Roman Empire'' Section: Roman Africa. (Leipzig 1865; London 1866; London: Macmillan 1909; reprint New York 1996) Barnes & Noble. New York, 1996 * Reynell Morell, John. ''Algeria: The Topography and History, Political, Social, and Natural, of French Africa''. Publisher N. Cooke. London, 1854 {{Romano-Berber cities in Roman Africa Archaeological sites in Algeria Roman towns and cities in Mauretania Caesariensis Ancient Berber cities

History

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography