CILLIUM
(Kasserine) Tunisia.
On the great
highway from Gafsa toward the N, 40 km W of Sbeitla,
Kasserine is fortunate in rather rich soil and provision
of water and in its strategic location at the opening
between the two great mountain ranges, Semmama
and Chambi, which block all the region from E to W.
This gap, controlled by
Cillium in antiquity, permits
passage between the south, an arid zone amenable to
nomadism, and the north, both grain-producing and rich
in pasture.
Since ancient times, this region has belonged to great
tribes of nomads: Mussulmen and Fraxii. It was to conquer them that Rome sent her troops, which after victory settled down in this strategic location. This explains the great number of epitaphs of legionaries bearing the
name of the Flavii found in this town, for
Cillium must
have been precisely that Flavian settlement created after
the pacification of the tribes. Provided with municipal
status and connected with the colony of Thelepte, it was
elevated in its turn to the rank of colonia probably in the 3d c.
The ruins of the ancient town essentially cover a
plateau which extends down to the wadi Derb. The
modern village, extending from the other side of the
wadi, has thus preserved the majority of the archaeological site. Little excavation has been done, but the
interest of extant monuments suffices to class the site
among the most important of the region. Among those
monuments are two great mausolea: the one, of the
Petronii, in part destroyed; and the other, of the Flavii,
which bears a long inscription in verse. The triumphal
arch with one bay, dating from the 3d c., restored in
the 4th, has a dedication which gives the ancient name
of the town. The great dam on the wadi Derb, a long,
thick, winding barrier, probably served for irrigation of
the plain. There are also a fortress and small Byzantine
forts among buildings of the earlier era still poorly
identified.
The most important excavation on the site revealed
the theater, traces of which, discovered at the end of
the 19th c., had been lost. It is an edifice of average proportions, situated on the edge of the town plateau and
against the flank which goes down to the wadi; inundations have preserved it in large part; the cavea and the
platform have also been found; the proscenium and
the scaena wall have been destroyed, probably by stone
robbers. Despite the absence of inscriptions and the
scarcity of decoration (only a corbel and a theater mask
of terracotta have been found), the edifice was probably
built at the end of the 1st c. A.D. to commemorate the
founding of the municipium.
On the summit of the plateau, excavation uncovered
a flat, paved space with a base in the center carrying a
dedication consecrated to Jupiter and Ceres. It marked
the location of a temple. A group of houses with peristyles, paved with mosaics, stood 100 in W of the arch.
Several of these, remarkable for their decor and their
arrangement, have also been excavated but remain unpublished. Certain of the mosaics have been transported
to the Bardo Museum in Tunis.
Numerous inscriptions, especially epitaphs and stelae,
have been discovered and marked. In 1958-60, during
the construction of a tourist hotel, an important necropolis was laid waste.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
H. Desparmet, “Le theâtre de
Cillium,”
Karthago 15 (1969-70) 13-66
PI.
A. ENNABLI
