SITIFI
Eth.
SITIFI (
Σίτιφι,
Ptol. 4.2.34), a town in the interior of Mauretania Caesariensis, situated in an extensive plain not far from the borders of Numidia, and on the road from Carthage to Cirta. (
Itin. Ant. pp. 24, 29, 31, &c.; comp.
Amm. Marc. 28.6.)
At first, under the Numidian kings. it was but an unimportant place; but under the Roman dominion it became the frontier town of the new province of Numidia, was greatly enlarged and elevated to be a colony; so that on the subsequent division of Mauretania Caesar. into two smaller provinces it became the capital of Mauretania Sitifensis. Under the dominion of the Vandals, it was the capital of the district Zabé. (
Ζάβη, Procop.
B. Vand. 2.20.)
It is still called
Setif, and lies upon an eminence in a delightful neighbourhood. Some ruins of the ancient town are still to be seen. (Shaw's
Travels, p. 49.)
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T.H.D]
