Template:Short description Template:Infobox ancient site Hadrumetum,Template:Sfnp also known by many variant spellings and names, was a Phoenician colony that pre-dated Carthage. It subsequently became one of the most important cities in Roman Africa before Vandal and Umayyad conquerors left it ruined. In the early modern period, it was the village of Hammeim, now part of Sousse, Tunisia.
A number of punic steles were found during excavations at the site of the modern day Template:Ill.
NamesEdit
The Phoenician and Punic name for the place was Template:Sc ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), "Southern", or Template:Sc ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), "The Southern".Template:Sfnp A similar structure appears in the Phoenician name for old Cadiz, which appears as Gadir ("Stronghold") or Agadir ("The Stronghold").
The ancient transcriptions of the name show a great deal of variation. Different Greeks hellenized the name as Adrýmē ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}),<ref name=NCD>Template:Harvp.</ref> Adrýmēs ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Adrýmēton ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}),Template:Sfnp Adrýmētos ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Adramýtēs ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Adrámētós ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})Template:Sfnp and Adrumetum (Ἀδρούμητον).<ref>Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898), Hadrumētum</ref> Surviving Roman inscriptions and coinage standardized its latinization as HadrumetumTemplate:Sfnp but it appears in other sources as Adrumetum,<ref name=NCD/> Adrumetus,Template:Sfnp Adrimetum, Hadrymetum, etc.Template:Sfnp Upon its notional refounding as a Roman colony, its formal name was emended to Template:Nowrap Ulpia Trajana Augusta Template:Nowrap to honor its imperial sponsor.Template:Sfnp
It was renamed Honoriopolis after the emperor Honorius in the early 5th century,Template:Citation needed then Hunericopolis after the Vandal king Huneric<ref>O. Maenchen-Helfen, The World of the Huns. IX. footnote 113.</ref> and Justinianopolis<ref name=NCD/> after the first few years of occupation from emperor Justinian I.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
GeographyEdit
Hadrumetum controlled the mouth of a small river<ref name=nori/> on the Gulf of Hammamet (Template:Langx), an inlet of the Mediterranean along the Tunisian coast.Template:Sfnp
HistoryEdit
Phoenician colonyEdit
In the 9th centuryTemplate:NbspBC,Template:Citation needed Tyrians established HadrumetumTemplate:Sfnp as a trading post and waypoint along their trade routes to Italy and the Strait of Gibraltar. Its establishment preceded Carthage's<ref>Sallust, Jug., 19.</ref> but, like other western Phoenician colonies, it became part of the Carthaginian EmpireTemplate:Sfnp following Template:Nowrap's long siege of Tyre in the 580s and 570sTemplate:NbspBC.
Carthaginian cityEdit
Agathocles of Syracuse captured the town in 310Template:NbspBCTemplate:Sfnp during the Seventh Sicilian War, as part of his failed attempt to move the conflict to Africa. Hadrumetum later provided refuge to Hannibal and other Carthaginian survivors after their [[Battle of Zama|202Template:NbspBC defeat at Zama]],Template:Sfnp which decided the outcome of the Second Punic War. The total length of the Punic fortifications was apparently Template:Convert; some ruins survive.Template:Sfnp
Roman cityEdit
During the Third Punic War, the government of Hadrumetum supported the Romans against Carthage<ref>Appian, The Punic Wars, §94.</ref> and, after [[Battle of Carthage (c. 149 BC)|Carthage's destruction in 146Template:NbspBC]], it received additional territory and the status of a free city in thanks.<ref>CIL, Vol.Template:NbspI, p.Template:Nbsp84.</ref> During this period, it chose its own shufets (Template:Langx) and minted its own bronze coins with the head of "Neptune" or the Sun.Template:Sfnp
During the civil war between Pompey and Julius Caesar, G. Considius Longus secured Hadrumetum for the Optimates with forces equivalent to two legions. Despite being reinforced by Gn. Calpurnius Piso's Berber cavalry and footmen from Clupea, however, he was obliged to allow Caesar to land nearby on 28 December 47Template:NbspBC.<ref>Caesar & al., Afr. War, Ch.Template:Nbspiii.</ref> According to Suetonius, this landing was the occasion of the famously deft recovery, when Caesar tripped while coming ashore but dealt with the poor omen by grabbing handfuls of dirt and proclaiming "I have you now, Africa!" (Template:Langx)<ref>Suetonius, Div. Jul., §59. Template:In langTemplate:Nbsp& Template:In lang</ref> Caesar's attempts to negotiate with Longus were rejected but the campaign subsequently led to his victory over Metellus Scipio and Juba at Thapsus, after which Longus was killed by his own men for the money he was carrying<ref>Caesar & al., Afr. War, §76.</ref> and the town went over to Caesar.<ref>Caesar & al., Afr. War, §89.</ref>
Hadrumetum was one of the most important communities in Roman North Africa because of the fertility of its hinterland (modern Tunisia's Sahel), which made it an important source of Rome's grain supply. It quarreled with its neighbor Thysdrus over the temple of a goddess equated to Minerva, which stood on their shared border.Template:Sfnp
Under Augustus, Hadrumetum's coins bore his face obverse and the name (and often face) of Africa's proconsul reverse; after Augustus, the mint was closed.Template:Sfnp Hadrumetum revolted while Vespasian was proconsul of Africa.<ref>Suetonius, Vesp., Ch. iv.</ref> It nonetheless continued to prosper; Trajan gave it the rank of a Roman colony, giving its residents Roman citizenship.<ref name=NCD/> A breathtaking legacy of intricate mosaics survives from this era, together with many early Christian objects from the catacombs. It was the second city in Roman Africa after Carthage and the birthplace of Clodius Albinus, who attempted to become emperor in the 190s.Template:Sfnp At the end of the 3rd century, it became the capital of the new province of ByzacenaTemplate:Sfnp (modern Sahel, Tunisia).
Later historyEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In 434, it was largely destroyed by the Vandals;Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp their fervent Arianism produced a number of orthodox martyrs in the remaining community, including [[Felix of Hadrumetum|SSTemplate:NbspFelix]] and Victorian. A century later, Hadrumetum was retaken and rebuilt by the Byzantines during the Vandal War.<ref>Procop., Build., Book VI, §6.</ref> It was conquered by the Umayyad Caliphate in the 7th century.
The ruins of Hadrumetum stood in the village of Hammeim,<ref name=NCD/> Template:Convert from the later Sousse,<ref name=nori>Template:Harvp.</ref> which grew up to include them in its outskirts.
Under colonial rule, the French engineer A. DauxTemplate:Which rediscovered the jetties and moles of the Roman town's commercial harbor and the line of its military harbor; both had been mostly artificial and have silted up since antiquity.Template:Sfnp Louis Carton and AbbéTemplate:NbspLeynaudTemplate:Which rediscovered the Christian catacombs in 1904; the tunnels extend for miles through small subterranean galleries filled with Roman and Byzantine sarcophagi and inscriptions.Template:Sfnp
RuinsEdit
In addition to the Punic walls, Roman harbors, and Byzantine catacombs, there are ruins of the Byzantine acropolis and basilica; the Roman horse track, cisterns, the theater; and a Punic necropolis.Template:Sfnp
ReligionEdit
As a major Roman city, Hadrumetum produced a number of Christian saints, including Mavilus during the regional persecutions of Caracalla's reign and the Bishop Felix and proconsul Victorian during the Vandals' efforts to forcibly convert their subjects to Arianism. From 255 to 551, the city was the seat of a Christian bishopric. The see was revived in the 17th century as a Catholic titular see.
List of bishopsEdit
{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B=Template:AmboxTemplate:Main other }} There were nine ancient bishops of Hadrumetum who are still known.Template:Sfnp
- Polycarp, who appeared at the 256 Council of Carthage<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- [[Felix of Hadrumetum|StTemplate:NbspFelix]], martyred by Gaiseric
- [[Primasius of Hadrumetum|StTemplate:NbspPrimasius]]
- Raphael de Figueredo (1681.05.14 – 1695.10.12)
- Salvator-Alexandre-Félix-Carmel Brincat (1889.05.12 – 1909.04.02)
- Giacinto Gaggia (1909.04.29 – 1913.10.28)
- Jean-Marie Bourchany (1914.01.13 – 1931.11.27)
- Carlo Re, IMC (1931.12.14 – 1951.12.29)
- Jorge Manrique Hurtado (1952.02.23 – 1956.07.28)
- Celestin Bezmalinovic, OP (1956.08.07 – 1967)
- Mijo Škvorc, SJ (1970.06.16 – 1989.02.15)
- Marian Błażej Kruszyłowicz, OFM Conv (1989.12.09 – present)
ReferencesEdit
CitationsEdit
BibliographyEdit
- Template:Citation.
- Template:Cite EB1911
- Template:Citation. Template:In lang
- Template:Citation.
- Template:Citation.
External linksEdit
- Sousse (Sūsa) Template:Webarchive Encyclopaedia of the Orient
- Adventures of Tunisia: A virtual tour of the historic sites of Sousse Template:Webarchive
- GigaCatholic, with titular incumbents lists and linked biographies
Template:Romano-Berber cities in Roman Africa Template:Phoenician cities and colonies navbox Template:Coord