Zaghouan (or Zaghwan; , ) is a town in the northern half of

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. Situated on a low ridge of the Dorsale Mountains, the town has a mild climate and presents a green aspect. Cold water from here was taken by the

Zaghouan Aqueduct The Zaghouan Aqueduct or Aqueduct of Carthage is an ancient Roman aqueduct, which supplied the city of Carthage, Tunisia with water. From its source in Zaghouan it flows a total of 132 km, making it among the longest aqueducts in the Roman E ...

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 ...

. The town is famous for its

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

s, originally cultivated by

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

refugees from Spain in the seventeenth century. The town is located around 60 km due south of

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

and around 50 km inland (west) from the Gulf of Hammamet and has an estimated population of around 20,837 (2014). It is the capital of the Zaghouan Governorate. On the mountain south of the city is the Roman Water Temple Djebel Zaghouan (Temple de Eaux), source of an aqueduct which used to take water to the city of

over 100 km away. The ruins here are illustrated in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1840, as 'Temple and Fountain of Zagwhan', the painting being by Sir Greenville Temple with a poetical illustration by

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. Landon's writings are emblematic of the transition from Romanticism to Victorian literature. Her first major b ...

Ecclesiastical history

Etymology

The etymology of "Zaghouan" is thought to derive from the

Andalusian Arabic Andalusi Arabic or Andalusian Arabic () was a variety or varieties of Arabic spoken mainly from the 8th to the 15th century in Al-Andalus, the regions of the Iberian Peninsula under the Muslim rule. Arabic spread gradually over the centuries ...

إِسْطِوَان (istawán), which in turn comes from the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

أُسْطُوَانَة (usṭuwān h meaning "pillar." This origin is linked to the settlement of Andalusian Moors in the area at the beginning of the 17th century. In Spanish, the term " zaguán" refers to a hallway or vestibule, typically serving as a transitional space between the exterior and interior of a building. Zagwan is the presumed site of the Ancient city of Zica (or Ziqva). The city was among the many of sufficient importance in the

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Africa Proconsularis Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

to become a

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandr ...

of the Metropolitan of

, in the papal sway, yet was to fade completely, probably at the seventh century advent of Islam. Its historically documented bishops were : * ''

Donatist Donatism was a schism from the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Carthage from the fourth to the sixth centuries. Donatists argued that Christian clergy must be faultless for their ministry to be effective and their prayers and sacraments to ...

schismatic Donatus attended the Council of Carthage in 411, where his heresy was condemned as such by the Catholic bishops, among whom Zica had no counterpart * Vincentius intervened at the Council of Carthage in 484 called by king

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 ma ...

of the

Vandal Kingdom The Vandal Kingdom () or Kingdom of the Vandals and Alans () was a confederation of Vandals and Alans, which was a barbarian kingdoms, barbarian kingdom established under Gaiseric, a Vandals, Vandalic warlord. It ruled parts of North Africa and th ...

, and was afterwards exiled like most Catholic bishops.

Climate

Gallery

File:Zaghouan 1900.jpg, Postcard of Zaghouan in 1900 Image:TUNISIE ZAGHOUAN 01.JPG, Zaghouan in Tunisia Image:Tunisie_Parc_de_Djebel_Zaghouan.jpg, Tunisie Parc on Djebel Zaghouan

Notes

References

Sources and external links

GCatholic - (former &) titular see of Zica
; Bibliography - Zica bishopric * J. Mesnage, ''L'Afrique chrétienne'', Paris 1912, pp. 237–238 {{Authority control Populated places in Zaghouan Governorate Communes of Tunisia Roman towns and cities in Africa (Roman province)