LAMBIRIDI
(Kherbet Ouled Arif) Algeria.
This Roman town in Numidia is mentioned in the
Peutinger Table and by the Ravenna Geographer and Julius
Honorius. It became a municipium in the 3d c. and
had a Christian community. Bishops are known in the
5th c.
The ruins cover 21 ha on both sides of the wadi
Chaba, 10 km SW of Batna. On the site remains once
existed of an arch, several oil presses, and a church
(46.3 x 19.3 m). In front of the church was a portico
with columns. There were three naves ending in an apse
flanked by two sacristies. In addition, a small fort of
late date has survived; it was connected to a large enclosure. There are also several mausolea, near which
have been found statues of persons in togas. Particularly
noteworthy are a large room with an Invidus mosaic
and a tomb containing three sarcophagi (one with an
inscription) standing on a very curious mosaic. At the
corners of it four snake-footed spirits hold up an emblema in which are depicted two personages seated on
stools. One looks like a skeleton; the other is in full
health. The latter feels the former's pulse and touches
his feet. This scene was first interpreted as hermetical
(Asklepios ensuring the health of the deceased), and
then as historical (Hippokrates attending to the Macedonian prince Perdiccas).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
S. Gsell,
Les monuments antiques de
l'Algérie (1901) I 172; II 244-45;
Atlas archéologique
de l'Algérie (1911) 27, no. 120; J. Carcopino, “Sur les
traces de l'hermétisme africain,”
Aspects mystiques de
la Rome païenne (1942) 207-314; F. Chamoux, “Perdiccas,”
Hommages à A. Grenier (1962) I 386-96.
M. LEGLAY
