Editing Tangier (section)

===Ancient===
{{main|Tingis}}
[[File:Ruines de Tingis 1.jpg|thumb|right|Surviving parts of the wall of Roman [[Tingis]]]]
[[File:Prima Affrice Tabula.jpg|thumb|right|[[Claudius Ptolemy|Ptolemy]]'s 1st African map, showing Roman [[Mauretania Tingitana]]]]

Tangier was founded as a [[Phoenicia]]n [[Phoenician colonies|colony]], possibly as early as the 10th century{{nbsp}}BCE{{sfnp|Hartley|2007|p=345}}<ref name=brad>{{harvp|Davies|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=H4QeOGV_zl4C&pg=PA119 119]}}.</ref> and almost certainly by the 8th century{{nbsp}}BCE.<ref name=sweethomealabama>{{harvp|Roller|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=AFpzZfm7WdYC&pg=PT57 34]}}.</ref> The majority of [[Berbers|Berber]] tombs around Tangier had [[Punics|Punic]] jewelry by the 6th century{{nbsp}}BCE, speaking to abundant trade by that time.<ref>{{citation |last=Gómez Bellard |first=Carlos |contribution=Rural Landscapes of the Punic World |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tkwiAQAAIAAJ |date=January 2008 |title=Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology |number=11 |author2=Peter van Dommelen |display-authors=1 |ref={{harvid|Gómez Bellard et al.|2008}} |location=London |publisher=Equinox |at=Ch. 5, p. 17 }}.</ref> The [[Ancient Carthage|Carthaginians]] developed it as an important port of [[Carthaginian Empire|their empire]] by the 5th century{{nbsp}}BCE.{{sfnp|Hartley|2007|p=345}}<ref name=brad/> It was probably involved with the expeditions of [[Hanno the Navigator]] along the [[West Africa]]n coast.{{sfnp|Hartley|2007|p=345}}<ref name=sweethomealabama/> The city long preserved its [[Phoenicia]]n traditions, issuing bronze coins under the [[Mauretania]]n kings with [[Punic script]]. Under the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] other coins were issued, bearing [[Augustus]] and [[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa|Agrippa]]'s heads and Latin script [[obverse]] but an image of the [[Canaanite religion|Canaanite god]] [[Baal]] [[obverse and reverse|reverse]].{{sfnp|Head et al.|1911}} Some editions of [[Procopius]] place his Punic [[Stele|stelae]] in Tingis rather than [[Tigisis in Numidia|Tigisis]];{{sfnp|Meakin|1899|p=[https://archive.org/details/moorishempireah02meakgoog/page/n40 10]}} in either case, however, their existence is highly dubious.{{sfnp|Amitay|2011}}

The Greeks knew this town as [[Tingis]] and, with [[interpretatio graeca|some modification]], record the [[Berber mythology|Berber legends]] of its founding. Supposedly [[Tinjis]], daughter of [[Atlas (mythology)|Atlas]] and widow of [[Antaeus]], slept with [[Hercules]] and bore him the son [[Sufax|Syphax]]. After Tinjis' death, Syphax then founded the port and named it in her honour.<ref name=plu>{{citation |author=L. Mestrius Plutarchus |author-link=Plutarch |title=Parallel Lives |contribution=15: Sertorius |contribution-url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Sertorius*.html |at=§9 |title-link=Parallel Lives }}.</ref> The gigantic skeleton and tomb of Antaeus were tourist attractions for ancient visitors.<ref name=plu/> The [[Caves of Hercules]], where he supposedly rested on [[Cape Spartel]] during [[Labors of Hercules|his labors]], remain one today.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}

Tingis came under the control of the [[Roman Republic|Roman]] ally [[Mauretania]] during the [[Punic Wars]]. [[Quintus Sertorius|Q. Sertorius]], in [[Sertorian War|his war]] against [[Lucius Cornelius Sulla|Sulla]]'s [[Constitutional reforms of Sulla|regime in Rome]], took and held Tingis for several years in the 70s{{nbsp}}BCE. It was subsequently returned to the Mauretanians but established as a [[republic]]an [[Free city (classical antiquity)|free city]] during the reign of [[Bocchus III of Mauretania|Bocchus{{nbsp}}III]] in 38{{nbsp}}BCE.{{sfnp|Lévi-Provençal|1936|p=650}}

Tingis received certain municipal privileges under [[Augustus]] and became a [[Roman Empire|Roman]] [[Roman colonia|colony]] under [[Claudius]], who made it the provincial capital of [[Mauretania Tingitana]].{{sfnp|''Encyclopædia Britannica''|1888}}{{sfnp|''Cath. Enc.''|1913}} Under [[Diocletian]]'s [[Diocletian Reforms|291 reforms]], it became the seat of a [[comes|count]] (''{{lang|la|comes}}'') and Tingitana's [[praeses|governor]] (''{{lang|la|praeses}}'').{{sfnp|Lévi-Provençal|1936|p=650}} At the same time, the province itself shrank to little more than the ports along the coast and, owing to the [[Great Persecution]], Tingis was also the scene of the [[Christian martyrdom|martyrdoms]] by [[decapitation|beheading]] of [[Marcellus of Tangier|Saints{{nbsp}}Marcellus]] and [[Cassian of Tangier|Cassian]] in 298.{{sfnp|Hartley|2007|p=345}} Tingis remained the largest settlement in its province in the 4th century and was greatly developed.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}