TIPASA
Algeria.
Probably Tipasa is the most
beautiful ancient site on the Algerian coast. Although
a village of colonists was placed on part of the ancient
town, it has been possible to protect a large area on
the seacoast where the combination of forest, ruins,
rocks, and water make the site a paradise.
The excavation of the E and W necropoleis has proved
that people lived at Tipasa as early as the 6th c. B.C.
Thus, whether it owes its origin to a Phoenician depot
or to a native center which entered into contact with
Carthaginian seamen, the settlement is very early. These
necropoleis, in particular the graves cut into the rock,
have brought to light a great quantity of artifacts. These
enable one to follow the increasing importance of a site
which certainly was no mere port of call. As yet, however, the town, properly speaking, has not been found. One must suppose that it was placed on the plateau, which is now dominated by the lighthouse and where
the forum and capitol stood in ancient times. This supposition is strengthened by the presence, some kilometers
E of Tipasa, of the huge mausoleum called the Tomb of
the Christian (see below) which seems to date to the 1st
c. B.C. This monument and the proximity of the
capital of the kingdom of Mauretania, Iol (later called
Caesarea, Cherchel), make this region one of the coastal
areas best integrated with the Mediterranean world.
This large and precocious urban development in some
way justifies the new vigor which the region enjoyed
when Octavius established the colonies of Aquae and
Zucchabar nearby and those of Gunugu and Cartennae
farther to the E.
Tipasa became a municipium with Latin privileges under Claudius and a colony under Hadrian or Antoninus
Pius. This also demonstrates the importance which the
town acquired after the kingdom of Mauretania was
transformed into a Roman province in A.D. 40. At this
time (when the inhabitants of the city gained Roman
privileges), a vast enceinte was built. It included some
of the ancient necropoleis (especially those to the E),
which were covered by the expanding settlement.
This enceinte has been partly cleared to the E. There
one can see that it is pierced by two gates. Two other
passages have been excavated to the SW and W. Only
scattered districts and monuments have been excavated
within the walls.
The platform of the forum extends over a rocky hillock that juts out into the sea. Porticos bordered it on
three sides. On the fourth side the forum was formerly
dominated by the mass of the capitol, of which only the
thick foundations survive. A stairway led down to the
civil basilica, a large chamber with three naves ending
in an apse and two appended rooms. Tribunes must have
been placed on the aisles. In its plan and elevation, this
building (which dates to the end of the 2d c.) heralds
the Christian basilicas of North Africa.
A district of houses is being excavated N of this
plateau on the seashore. The rooms of these houses
open onto peristyles and are sometimes decorated with
mosaics. The decumanus passes nearby. The courts of
two temples with periboli open onto it. A monumental
semicircular nymphaeum was somewhat farther W, with
a theater beyond. Its tiers of seats were supported by
radiating arches, and only the foundations of the stage
are preserved. An amphitheater and public baths were
located S of the decumanus.
A colossal cathedral attests to the presence of Christianity within the walls. The cathedral matches the mass
of the capitol on the other side of a small bay. The
edifice has seven naves, of which the central one ends in
a semicircular apse. To the NE there is a square baptistery with a circular pool, and the bishop's house is to the N.
Outside the walls, the necropoleis extended very far
along the shore, both to the E (on the Algiers road)
and to the W (towards Cherchel). There still is a circular mausoleum to the W, just next to the ramparts. A
few hundred meters farther on, the basilica of Bishop
Alexander was constructed near a space where martyrs
had been buried at the beginning of the 4th c. During
the 4th c. a martyry was built there, and a little later a basilica.
The ancient port is located at the foot of the cliff
which bears the E necropolis. It lay between the coast
and two small islands. Underwater diving has led to the
discovery of dikes destroyed by storms. A large number
of quarries of marine sandstone are found farther E
along the shore, from which blocks must have been
transported by sea.
The Tomb of the Christian is some 10 km E of
Tipasa on a hill of the Sahel oveAooking the sea. The
semicircular drum of this mausoleum is adorned with
engaged Ionic columns, and the whole is topped by a
stepped cone. On the inside, a helicoidal corridor with
a cylindrical vault leads to a funerary chamber.
The artifacts found during the excavations of Tipasa
are collected within a private garden (the Angelvy property) and in a museum and its storage rooms. Marble sarcophagi (the Dioscuri, the Shepherd, the Seasons) and pieces of architecture are arranged all along the
walks of the garden. The museum shelters mosaics (in
particular the so-called Mosaic of the Captives, which
comes from the civil basilica) and part of the ceramic
material found in recent excavations. Also to be noted
are stelae of local manufacture and tables for funerary
repasts.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
In the two guides of J. Baradez,
Tipasa,
ville antique de Maurétanie (1952) and S. Lancel,
Tipasa
de Maurétanie (1966) can be found all the earlier bibliography. Recent bibliography follows: S. Lancel,
Verrerie antique de Tipasa (1967); S. Lancel, in
Bulletin d'archéologie algérienne 1 (1962-1965) 41-74; 2 (1966-1967) 251-59; 3 (1968) 85-166; J. Christern, ibid. 3 (1968) 193-258; N. Duval, in
XVII corso di cultura
sull'arte ravennate e bizantina (1970) 127-33; P.-A.
Février, ibid., 191-204; M. Bouchenaki, in
Revue d'histoire et de civilisation du Maghreb 8 (Jan. 1970) 23-41.
On the Tomb of the Christian: M. Christofle,
Le
tombeau de la Chrétienne (1951); M. Bouchenaki,
Le
mausolée royal de Maurétanie (1970).
P.-A. FÉVRIER