Madghacen

Madracen

Imdghasn
Photo in 2010
Shown within Algeria
Location	Batna Province, Algeria
Region	Numidia
Coordinates	35°42′26″N 6°26′04″E

Madghacen (Berber languages: imedɣasen), also spelled Medracen or Medghassen or Medrassen or Madghis is a royal mausoleum-temple of the Berber Numidian Kings which stands near Batna city in Aurasius Mons in Numidia, Algeria.^[1]

Though independent, the Numidian kingdom was increasingly involved in Mediterranean power politics, and an architect familiar with classical architecture has surrounded the vertical section of wall at the base with engaged columns in the Doric order, "heavily proportioned and with smooth shafts, beneath a cavetto cornice". The whole exterior was, and very largely still is, covered with a stone facing, the straight cone of the upper part (except for a flat top) formed into steps, like the Pyramids of Egypt.^[2]

History

Madghis was a king^[3] of the independent kingdom of Numidia, between 300 and 200 BC. Numidia bordered Ptolomeic Egypt and was involved in the Second Punic War, switching sides from the Carthaginians to Rome.

Near the time of neighbor King Masinissa and their earliest Roman contacts. Ibn Khaldun said: Madghis is an ancestor of the Berbers of the branch Botr Zenata, Banu Ifran, Maghrawa (Aimgharen), Marinid, Ziyyanid, and Wattasid.^[4][5]

Threats

From above in 2015, showing the stepped sides

Aerial view

One of the Doric order columns

As ICOMOS noted in their 2006/2007 Heritage at Risk report, the mausoleum has become "the victim of major 'repair work' without respect for the value of th[e] monument and its authenticity."^[6][7]

See also

• List of cultural assets of Algeria

References

1. Ibn Khaldun and Yassine Bouharrou, History of the Berbers ^{[ISBN missing][page needed]}
2. Lawrence, A. W., Greek Architecture, p. 189, 1957, Penguin, Pelican history of art
3. Gautier, Émile Félix (1952). Le passé de l'Afrique du Nord: les siècles obscurs (in French). Payot.
4. Ibn Khaldoun, History of the Berbers
5. Gautier, É. F. (1937)
6. Algeria Mausoleum of Medracen in Danger
7. "Algeria Mausoleum of Medracen in Danger" (PDF). ICOMOS. 2006–2007. Retrieved 8 August 2016.

Further reading

• Gabriel Camps, Nouvelles observations sur l'architecture et l'âge du Medracen, mausolée royal de Numidie, CRAI, 1973, 117–3, pp. 470–517.
• Yvon Thébert & Filippo Coarelli, Architecture funéraire et pouvoir : réflexions sur l'hellénisme numide, MEFRA, Année 1988 * Serge Lancel, L'Algérie antique, édition Mengès, Paris 2003.

External links

• Images of Medracen in Manar al-Athar digital heritage photo archive