DIANA VETERANORUM
(Zana) Algeria.
A vicus in Numidia, 90 km SW of Constantine, it became a municipium in A.D. 162, founded for the benefit
of veterans of the Third Augustan Legion. In the middle
of the 3d c. there was a Christian community with a
bishop. The Byzantines occupied the town.
The center covered a vast area. It is in a plain which
possesses numerous oil presses and remains of farms,
cisterns, and wells. An aqueduct brought water from
the spring of Aïn-Soltane.
Among the monuments discovered is the forum,
rectangular and paved with flagstones. On the N side
at the intersection with the cardo maximus, there still
stands a triumphal arch with three openings, built under
Macrinus (A.D. 217). The central arch, the largest, has
two small bays at the sides. The architrave and frieze
are small compared to the cornice, which has complicated moldings. The dedicatory inscription appears
on the attic. Another arch with one bay stands on the
decumanus maximus near the forum to the NE. There
is a temple, possibly dedicated to Diana, in the SE part
of the town.
Three monuments date from the Byzantine period. A
church was built on the forum. It has a rectangular plan
(33 x 17.1 m) and is orientated NW-SE. It includes a
narrow vestibule and nave with a platform at the end;
there is no apse, but the platform is flanked by two
rooms on each side. A small fort (20.2 x 16.8 m) was
attached to the Arch of Macrinus. Finally, a fort (61 x
53 m) was built about 100 m E of the forum. There are
square towers at the corners. It was built with reused
material and has produced important inscriptions; recently, a white limestone statue of a lion has been
found near the W gate.
Several mausolea are found W of the ruins.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
S. Gsell,
Les monuments antiques de
l'Algérie (1901) I 178-79; II 339-40;
Atlas archéologique de l'Algérie (1911) 27, no. 62; M. Leglay, “Diana
Veteranorum (Zana). Statue de lion,”
Libyca 1 (1953)
284-85;
Saturne africain. Monuments (1966) II 76-78.
M. LEGLAY
