LAMBAESIS
(Lambèse or Tazzoult) Algeria.
Eleven km SE of Batna and 140 km from Constantine,
the settlement was the headquarters of the legate of the
Third Augustan Legion from the 2d c. A.D. When the
province of Numidia was officially created in 197-198, it
became the capital. Its name is known from inscriptions, from secular texts (
Antonine Itinerary, Julius
Honorius), and from religious texts (the Hieronymian
Martyrologist, the Acts of the Synod of Carthage in
256, and St. Cyprian). The town is built 622 m above
sea level in the plain and on the spurs of the Djebel
Asker. To the E a road went out towards Thamugadi,
Mascula, and Theveste; to the N in the direction of
Cirta; to the NW to Sitifis; and to the W and S to the
Saharan regions. Two km to the NW was found the
inscription recording excerpts of addresses delivered
by the emperor Hadrian when he reviewed the troops in
July 128. This camp is scarcely visible except by aerial
photography. It has been wrongly called the “camp of
the auxiliaries.” Probably it was a camp built by the
soldiers for the imperial visit. We know now that an
earlier camp, dating to A.D. 81, existed in the district
called the civilian town, S of the modern built-up area.
The N district was mainly occupied by the large camp
(500 x 420 m). This camp was greatly damaged when
in 1851 a penitentiary was built in the SW part; the
village built later on was also constructed on the ruins.
Two streets, one running E-W, the other N-S, divided
the large camp into four parts of unequal size. At the
intersection is a rectangular building (36.6 x 23 m)
called the praetorium. It forms a sort of quadruple arch
of triumph. On the outside it is adorned with pilasters
and Corinthian columns; it has large arched openings.
South of this building extended a flagged court (65 x
37 m) surrounded on three sides by a portico onto
which a series of rooms opened. To the S, a supporting
wall circumscribes a basilica of Hellenistic type (52 x
30 m). This is divided into three naves by two colonnades of 12 columns each. The large S wall of the
basilica is bounded by apses used for cult purposes.
In addition, there are several cellars below ground.
Barracks and dwellings are placed along the streets.
From the E gate of the camp a street passes under an
arch with one bay, built under Commodus, and continues to the amphitheater. The tiers of seats have disappeared, but the major entryways and the foundations
have survived, with a system of counterbalancing machinery for letting the beasts into the arena. The monument dates to A.D. 169 and was restored during the ten
years following. Another street leaving the camp passed
under an arch with three bays of the Severan period
and went by the large baths with their vast public latrines. Continuing S one reaches, on one side, industrial
buildings of late date and, on the other side, the camp
of A.D. 81, remodeled at various times and only partially
excavated. One continues on a long avenue bordered by
square chapels, dedicated to various Latin and oriental
deities, and each with an apse at the end. The avenue
reaches a semicircular temple with two chapels beside
it. This group of buildings was built in 162 and was
consecrated to Aesculapius and Salus, as well as to
Jupiter Valens and Silvanus. Behind and in the vicinity
were swimming pools and baths, probably devoted to
the care of the invalids who came to supplicate the
deities. There was also a mithraeum with benches.
To the S, a capitol, enclosed by a rectangular porticoed court (mistakenly identified as a forum), was built
around 246 and restored in 364-67. This temple is distinctive in having two instead of three cellae. To the E
another temple is enclosed by a court which adjoins the
court of the capitol. North of this temple are the so-called Chasseurs baths, named after the soldiers who
began to excavate them. To the E are two monumental
gates. The nearer one has three bays and is built in
large part of reused inscriptions. The farther one, dating
to the time of Commodus, has one bay and leads to the
nearby market town of Verecunda. South of this district are the spring of Ain Drinn and the sanctuary of
Neptune, god of springs. The dwellings of the ancient
city are covered by the modern village and the gardens
that extend from the camp to the district of the temples.
Recent work has brought to light fine mosaics at several
places. A small Byzantine fort was placed on a hillock
about 700 m E of the modern village. The town was
completely surrounded by cemeteries. The one on the
hill overlooking the camp from the E was undoubtedly
the largest. That necropolis covered more than 15 ha, and
one can still see there two mausolea with second stories.
The most famous is 3 km N of the large camp. It is the
mausoleum of a prefect of the Third Legion and was
built under Alexander Severus. As an inscription from
1849 testifies, the building was restored by the French
army. A similar mausoleum is W of the village. To the
S is a necropolis where one can still see rock-cut tombs.
Although it is poorly organized, the museum in the
village is extremely rich. The visitor will remark statues
of Aesculapius and Hygieia, as well as a fine head of the
child Commodus. There are mosaics with geometric and
floral designs. Another, depicting Venus and her retinue
on the sea, was signed by a Greek artist, Aspasios. There
is also a Dionysiac mosaic. A fragment depicting a
female figure at a spring is of very unusual workmanship. Flat tints were used to render the foliage in the
style of fresco painting. Above all, the museum contains an exceptional epigraphic collection. In spite of
the lack of systematic excavations at the site, the inscriptions permit one to understand Lambaesis' history and
are an important contribution to the history of Roman
institutions.
The history of the Third Augustan Legion, appearing
in the inscriptions preserved in the epigraphic garden,
provides information on changes in the recruitment of
soldiers. Oriental predominance in Hadrian's time gave
way, little by little, to African elements from the Proconsular province and Numidia, until these provided all
the legionaries. Inscriptions tell us of the campaigns in
which the legion took part. Others inform us of the reestablishment of the legion at Lambaesis in 257, after
it was condemned and disbanded for its support of the
emperor Maximian against the Gordians in 238. The
punishment was put into effect by the chiseling away of
the name of the legion. Other texts elucidate numerous
obscure aspects of the army and its hierarchy. The rules
of an association of noncommissioned officers have shed
new light on military social life. This text was inscribed
in hemicycles flanked by pilasters. In the middle, after a
dedication to the reigning emperors, the establishment
of a schola and of a college is indicated; there follow
the rules of the association. The founding members are
listed on the pilasters. This foreshadows the mutual security increasingly sought from the time of Septimius Severus on. Inscriptions also tell us what divinities were
worshiped at Lambaesis, not merely the deities of the
official Pantheon (the Capitoline trinity, Janus, Mars,
Mercury, Aesculapius and Salus, Apollo, Diana, Pluto,
Neptune, Ceres, Venus, or Hercules), but also (apart
from the deified abstractions) foreign gods (Jupiter Depulsor, Dolichenus, or Heliopolitanus, Isis, Serapis, Liber
and Libera, Cybele, Iorhobol, Malagbel, Medauros, or
Mithra) and the African gods (the dii Mauri, Caelestis,
Africa, and above all Saturn). A series of stelae found in
different parts of the ruins and kept at the museum show
how important Saturn must have been in African surroundings. The rarity of Christian remains is notable: a
piece of an inscription, some Christian symbols, a sarcophagus depicting the Good Shepherd. It is to be hoped
that one day the monuments known only from inscriptions (Temple of Jupiter Dolichenus, septizonium, nymphaeum, market, curia, various aqueducts) will actually
be found.
Certain monuments from Lambaesis, first kept at the
Louvre, are now deposited in Algiers: the monument of
Hadrian's speech and the rules for the college of the
legionary non-coins. At the Algiers Museum are a bronze
statuette of the Child with the Eaglet, a bronze inkwell
with a silver inlay depicting a retinue of Bacchus, and
a cast of an inscription on the main square at Bougie
(Saldae). In this text an engineer of the legion proudly
tells how he set up and brought to fruition the project
of piercing a mountain in order to bring water to Saldae
as ordered by the governor procurator of Mauretania
Caesariensis. The work began in 137 and ended in 152.
Other monuments were included in the wall of the
penitentiary and are no longer visible.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
S. Gsell,
Atlas archeéologique de l'Algérie (1911) 27, nos. 222-24
M; Cagnat, Musée de Lambèse (1895)
P; L. Leschi,
Algérie antique (1952) 88-101
P; M. Leglay,
Saturne Africain. Monuments (1966)
II 80-113 and pls. XXIII-XXIV
P; M. Janon, “Recherches à
Lambèse,”
Antiquités Africaines 7 (1973) 193-254
MP.
J. MARCILLET-JAUBERT
