Mauretania Caesariensis

Provincia Mauretania Caesariensis
Province of the Roman Empire
42–7th Century
The province of Mauretania Caesariensis within the Roman Empire, c. 120 AD
Capital		Caesarea
Historical era		Classical Antiquity
-	Established	42
-	Muslim conquest	7th Century
Today part of		Algeria

Mauretania Caesariensis was a Roman province located in northwestern Africa, in present Algeria, with its capital at Caesarea (hence the name Caesariensis; one of many cities simply named after the imperial cognomen that had become a title), now Cherchell.

Historical background

The Roman empire in the time of Hadrian (ruled 117–138 AD), showing, in northwestern Africa, the imperial province of Mauretania Caesariensis (Algeria)

In the first century AD, Roman Emperor Claudius divided the westernmost Roman province in Africa, named Mauretania (land of the people of the Mauri, hence the word Moors), into Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana.

At the time of Diocletian and Constantine the Great, both provinces were assigned to the administrative Diocese of Africa, in the praetorian prefecture of Italy, while Tingitana was an outpost of the Diocese of Spain. Caesarea was a major center of Jewry before 330, Sitifis one of the centres of the soldier cult of Mithras. Christianity was spread throughout in the 4th and 5th century.

Under Diocletian's Tetrarchy reform, the easternmost part was broken off as a tiny separate province, Sitifensis, called after its inland capital Sitifis (Sétif) with a significant port at Saldae (presently Béjaïa).

Religion

Among the ruling class, Trinitarian Christianity was replaced by Arianism under the Germanic kingdom of the Vandals, which was established in 430, when the Vandals crossed the Strait of Gibraltar. The Vandal kingdom was extinguished by the Byzantine armies circa 533, but most of Mauretania Caesariensis remained under the control of local Moorish rulers such as Mastigas, and it was not until the 560s and 570s that Byzantine control was established in the interior. The Byzantine Exarchate of Africa was in its turn overrun by the Muslim caliphate under the Umayyad dynasty, ending Late Antique Roman culture there; most of former Mauretania Caesariensis became part of the westernmost Islamic province, henceforth called (al-)Maghrib.

Episcopal sees

Ancient episcopal sees of Mauretania Caesariensis listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees:^[1]

Economy

Northern Africa under Roman rule.

The principal exports from Caesariensis were purple dyes and valuable woods; and the Amazigh or Mauri were highly regarded by the Romans as soldiers, especially light cavalry. They produced one of Trajan's best generals, Lusius Quietus, and the emperor Macrinus.

See also

• Notitia Dignitatum
• Pauly-Wissowa

References

Sources

• Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgschichte (in German)

Provinces of the Roman Empire at its greatest extent (117 AD) Achaea Aegyptus Africa Alpes Cottiae Alpes Maritimae Alpes Poeninae Arabia Petraea Armenia Asia Assyria Bithynia et Pontus Britannia Cappadocia Cilicia Corsica et Sardinia Creta et Cyrenaica Cyprus Dacia Dalmatia Epirus Galatia Gallia Aquitania Gallia Belgica Gallia Lugdunensis Gallia Narbonensis Germania Inferior Germania Superior Hispania Baetica Hispania Tarraconensis Italia † Iudaea Lusitania Lycia et Pamphylia Macedonia Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Tingitana Mesopotamia Moesia Inferior Moesia Superior Noricum Pannonia Inferior Pannonia Superior Raetia Sicilia Syria Thracia † Italy was never constituted as a province, instead retaining a special juridical status