Thapsus, also known as Tampsus and as Thapsus Minor to distinguish it from Thapsus in Sicily, was a Carthaginian and Roman port near present-day

Bekalta Bekalta, ( ar, البقالطة, ''al-Biqāliṭa''), is a Tunisian coastal town, around 30 km. south of Monastir and around 14 km. northeast of Mahdia. The main activities of the local population are agriculture and fishing. It gives i ...

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

Geography

Thapsus was established on Ras ed-Dimas, an easily defended promontory on Tunisia's

Mediterranean 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 th ...

coast. It was near a

salt lake A salt lake or saline lake is a landlocked body of water that has a concentration of salts (typically sodium chloride) and other dissolved minerals significantly higher than most lakes (often defined as at least three grams of salt per litre). ...

. It was about from the island of

Lampedusa Lampedusa ( , , ; scn, Lampidusa ; grc, Λοπαδοῦσσα and Λοπαδοῦσα and Λοπαδυῦσσα, Lopadoûssa; mt, Lampeduża) is the largest island of the Italian Pelagie Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The ''comune'' of ...

and approximately southeast of

Carthage Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, 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 clas ...

History

Thapsus was founded by the

Phoenicians Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their hist ...

. It served as a waypoint on the trade routes between the

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaism, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their his ...

and as a market for the inland products of the area.

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which ...

write that Agathocles of Syracuse conquered the city. During his civil war, Julius Caesar defeated Metellus Scipio and the

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 Tuni ...

n king JubaI at the costly 46BC Battle of Thapsus. Caesar exacted a payment of

sesterces The ''sestertius'' (plural ''sestertii''), or sesterce (plural sesterces), was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin. The na ...

from the vanquished. The victory marked the end of opposition against him in Africa. Thapsus subsequently became a

Roman colony A Roman (plural ) was originally a Roman outpost established in conquered territory to secure it. Eventually, however, the term came to denote the highest status of a Roman city. It is also the origin of the modern term '' colony''. Characte ...

in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

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, t ...

. The town's enormous mole may have been begun by the local emperors , II, and

III III or iii may refer to: Companies * Information International, Inc., a computer technology company * Innovative Interfaces, Inc., a library-software company * 3i, formerly Investors in Industry, a British investment company Other uses * Ins ...

, but their reigns were too brief to have finished the work. The construction may have been abandoned partway through; Thapsus was never known as a world-class port and, after the collapse of

Thysdrus Thysdrus was a Carthaginian town and Roman colony near present-day El Djem, Tunisia. Under the Romans, it was the center of olive oil production in the provinces of Africa and Byzacena and was quite prosperous. The surviving amphitheater is a Worl ...

in the 3rd century, all the area's maritime trade is known to have occurred through the harbors at

Sullecthum Salakta is a small Tunisian village situated by the sea. Salakta has been occupied or ruled by many civilisations, including the Phoenicians, Byzantine Empire, Byzantines, Ancient Rome, Romans, and Muslim Oubéidines. The attractions include a be ...

, Thaenae, Leptis, and Gummi.

Remains

Thapsus's surviving ruins include an

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

and various mosaics. Thapsus was the site of one of the Roman Empire's greatest

harbor mole A mole is a massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater, or a causeway separating two bodies of water. The word comes from Middle French ''mole'', ultimately from Latin ''mōlēs'', meaning a large mass, especially of rock ...

s, a huge

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most ...

and stone breakwater extending almost a kilometer from shore; only the first hundred or so meters, however, remain above water.

Religion

antiquity Antiquity or Antiquities may refer to: Historical objects or periods Artifacts *Antiquities, objects or artifacts surviving from ancient cultures Eras Any period before the European Middle Ages (5th to 15th centuries) but still within the histo ...

, Thapsus was 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'' (Χρ ...

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 probably a

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...

but no

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

is known. The only known bishop was

Vigilius Vigilius may refer to: * Pope Vigilius (died 555), Pope 537-555 * Vigilius of Trent (-405), bishop, martyr and saint ** Church of Saint Vigilius of Trent (Pinzolo) * Vigilius of Thapsus, 5th-century bishop and writer * Vigilius Eriksen (1722-1782), ...

, the author of several controversial works against the

Arians Arianism ( grc-x-koine, Ἀρειανισμός, ) is a Christological doctrine first attributed to Arius (), a Christian presbyter from Alexandria, Egypt. Arian theology holds that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who was begotten by Go ...

and the Eutychians. He was one of the Catholic bishops whom king

Hunneric 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 ...

of the

Vandals 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 be ...

summoned to his court in

in 484 and then exiled. 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 ...

reëstablished it in 1914 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 archbis ...

.''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ), p. 983 It is a Latin title of the lowest rank, with one archiepiscopal exception. * Valentín García y Barros (1914.12.10 – 1916.08.26) * Arturo Celestino Alvarez (1919.12.18 – 1921.05.09) * Andrew James Louis Brennan (1923.02.23 – 1926.05.28) * Vincenzo Celli (1927.04.08 – 1951.10.17) * Antonio Torasso, I.M.C. (1952.01.10 – 1960.10.22) * Paul-Émile Charbonneau (1960.11.15 – 1963.05.21) * Tomás Enrique Márquez Gómez (1963.06.25 – 1966.11.30) * Alfredo Cifuentes Gómez (1967.03.10 – 1970.12.02), as titular Archbishop *

Ludwig Averkamp Ludwig Averkamp (16 February 1927 – 29 July 2013) was a German prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Osnabrück from 1987 to 1994, and Archbishop of Hamburg from 1994 to 2002. Biography Born in Velen, Averkamp was ordained to th ...

(1973.01.18 – 1985.11.07) *

Vladas Michelevičius Vladislovas Michelevičius (8 June 1924 – 12 November 2008) was a Lithuanian bishop for the Catholic Church. Born in 1924 he was ordained as a priest on 31 October 1948. On 13 November 1986 he was appointed as the Auxiliary Bishop of Kauna ...

(1986.11.13 – 2008.11.12) *

Ignacio Carrasco de Paula Ignacio Carrasco de Paula (born 25 October 1937) is a Spanish prelate of the Catholic Church. He has been a bishop since 2010. He was the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life from 2010 to 2016. Life Early life and priesthood Carrasco de ...

(2010.09.15 – ...), president-for-life of the Pontifical Academy

References

Citations

Bibliography

* . * .

External links

GigaCatholic, linking to titular see incumbent biographies

Mosaics of Thapsus

Amphitheatre of Thapsus
* {{Romano-Berber cities in Roman Africa Phoenician colonies in Tunisia Catholic titular sees in Africa Roman towns and cities in Tunisia