Thuburnica was an ancient Roman-Berber city in the Maghreb. It was located in the present-day El Kalâa, near Chemtou in western Tunisia. It may have been the ancient town of Bulla Regia.
History
For its ecclesiastical history, as former suffragan diocese of Carthage and present Latin titular bishopric, see Thuburnica (see).
The Late Roman Republican general Caius Marius started the Roman presence in Thuburnica, allowing some of his veterans (the "Conditores coloniae" or 'founders of the colonia') to settle in a small ancient Berber village just south of Tabarka, near the border between present Tunisia and Algeria.[1]
The people of Thuburnica were members of the tribal "Arnense" group. Most of the population of Thuburnica in the third century were descendants of the Roman legionaries and this fact made the city one of the most romanised in ancient Mauretania. The Christian religion became the most important only in the fourth century:[2] paganism was still practiced prominently in Emperor Hadrian's time in a local temple dedicated to Ba'al Hammon,[3] later destroyed and finally converted to church.
Thuburnica was conquered by the Vandals and reconquered a century later by Byzantine emperor Justinianus, who built a fortification.
After the Arab invasion in the second half of the seventh century, the city was destroyed and disappeared.
Archeological remains
There are today few standing edifices dating to Roman Thuburnica. However, a local Roman bridge is still working in perfect conditions.
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