Uthina

Uthina is also a spider genus (Pholcidae).

Uthina was a Roman colony in Tunisia.

It was the site of the Oudna airbase. It was also a titular see in the Roman Catholic Church.

Uthina is mentioned by Ptolemy (IV, 3, 34), Pliny (V, 4), and the Peutinger Tables. Pliny and an inscription call it a colony. From the accounts given by geographers the site seems to be the ruins known as Henshir Oudna, near a station on the railway from Tunis to Kef, Tunisia. These ruins occupy a surface nearly three miles in circumference, covering a hilly plateau, and commanding the left bank of the Milian wâdys; there are the remains of a fortress, cisterns, an aqueduct, triumphal arch, theatre, amphitheatre, basilica with a circular crypt, bridge, etc. Many beautiful mosaics are to be found there.

Uthina amphitheatre

In the north of the former city. The building is half dug into the hill and the seats were adorsed to the slope, only upper part of the building with the arcs is above ground. The building measures 113x90 m and seated about 16,000. The amphiteatre as undergone restoration and excavation work since the start of excavation in 1993. The central arena measures 58mx35m. An underground vaulted galleries aligned in a major axis provides access to the amphiteatre basement with symmetrical vaults and rooms under the central arena. It dates from the reign of Hadrian.

References

Catholic Encyclopedia article