Editing Lambaesis (section)

== History ==
Lambaesa was founded by the Roman military. The camp of the third [[Roman legion|legion]] ([[Legio III Augusta|Legio III ''Augusta'']]), to which it owes its origin, appears to have been established between AD 123–129, in the time of [[Roman emperor]] [[Hadrian]], whose address to his soldiers was found inscribed on a [[column|pillar]] in a second camp to the west of the great camp still extant.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=110}} However, other evidence suggests it was formed during the [[Punic Wars]].{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

{{Blockquote|''The town is built 622 m above sea level in the plain and on the spurs of the Djebel Asker''<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Stilwell |editor-first1=Richard  | display-authors=etal| title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites |date=1976 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0006%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DL%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3Dlambaesis |access-date=May 19, 2021}}</ref>}}

By AD 166 mention is made of the [[Decurion (administrative)|decurion]]s of a ''[[Vicus (Rome)|vicus]]'', 10 ''[[curia]]e'' of which are known by name; and the ''vicus'' became a ''[[municipium]]'' probably at the time when it was made the capital of the newly founded province of [[Numidia]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=110}} Lambaesis was populated mainly by Romanized Berbers and by some Roman colonists with their descendants: Latin was the official and commonly used language (even if local Berbers spoke their own language mixed with Latinisms).

III Augusta was disbanded by [[Gordian III]] and the legionaries dispersed among the North African provinces. But the legion was restored in the AD 250s by [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerianus]] and [[Gallienus]] and from then on the legion was known as Augusta Restituta. Its final departure did not take place until after AD 392  (the town soon afterwards declined). 
[[File:Septimius Severus' African conquests1.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Roman Lambaesis was located at the centre of Berber Africa (in an AD 200 map)]]
[[File:Legion1PW.jpg|thumb|217x217px|Members of the [[French Foreign Legion]] marching through the barracks in 1958]]
Indeed, under [[Septimius Severus]] (AD 193 ), Numidia was separated from [[Africa Province#History|Africa Vetus]], and governed by an imperial [[procurator (Roman)|procurator]]. Under the new organization of the empire by [[Diocletian]], Numidia was divided in two provinces: the north became ''Numidia Cirtensis'', with capital at [[Cirta]], while the south, which included the [[Aurès Mountains]] and was threatened by raids, became ''Numidia Militiana'', "Military Numidia", with capital at the legionary base of Lambaesis.

Subsequently, however, Emperor [[Constantine the Great]] reunited the two provinces in a single one, administered from Cirta, which was now renamed ''Constantina'' (modern [[Constantine, Algeria]]) in his honour. Its governor was raised to the rank of ''[[consularis]]'' in AD 320, and the province remained one of the seven provinces of the [[diocese of Africa]] until the invasion of the [[Vandal]]s in AD 428, which began its slow decay, accompanied by [[desertification]]. The province remained under Vandal rule, but was effectively limited to the coastal areas by Berber raids. It was restored to Roman rule after the [[Vandalic War]], when it became part of the new [[praetorian prefecture of Africa]].

The Byzantines occupied Lambaesis and vicinity from the sixth century but around AD 683 the Arabs conquered the area, naming what remained of the city '''Bar-el-Molouk''' in the 10th century.