Thignica
Thignica was a town in the Roman province of Africa Proconsularis. It served as a Latin Catholic titular see.
The town
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7a/Peutinger-Bida.jpg/220px-Peutinger-Bida.jpg)
Thignica's stone ruins are called Aïn Tounga, located southwest of Testour, Tunisia. They are very extensive and cover the summit and slopes of a series of hills. One inscription calls the town "Civitas Thignicensis" (the city of Thignica) and states that it was divided into three parts, another that it became a municipium at the beginning of the 3rd century under the name of "municipium Septimium Aurelium Antoninianum Herculeum Frugiferum Thignica". Towards the centre of the ruins is a Byzantine fortress, trapezoidal in shape, flanked by five square towers. Here an inscription makes mention of the proconsul Domitius Zenophilus (326-32), famous in the annals of Christian Africa. Among the other ruins are a small triumphal arch, a temple, a Christian church, the remains of the enclosure, etc.,[1] as well as an amphitheatre.
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Byzantine fortress
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Aïn Tounga
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Roman thermae
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Roman-era temple
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Roman theater
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Street in Aïn Tounga
The bishopric
[edit]Despite the splendour and importance of this town we know only one bishop, Aufidius, who assisted at the Conference of Carthage (411), where he had a Donatist rival.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
Further reading
[edit]- Ben Hassen, Habib (2006). Thignica (Aïn Tounga), son histoire et ses monuments. Ortacesus, ISBN 88-89061-24-3.
- Scheding, Paul (2019). Urbaner Ballungsraum im römischen Nordafrika. Zum Einfluss von mikroregionalen Wirtschafts- und Sozialstrukturen auf den Städtebau in der Africa Proconsularis [Urban agglomeration in Roman North Africa. On the influence of micro-regional economic and social structures on urban development in Africa Proconsularis]. Wiesbaden: Reichert, ISBN 978-3-95490-313-9 (with Thignica as one of five case studies).