Obba

Obba was a town in the Roman province of Africa and a Christian bishopric, a suffragan of Carthage, the metropolitan see of the province, and so is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees.^[1]

Location

Obba was near Carthage,^[2] and is placed in the Roman province of Africa by the Annuario Pontificio. Sophrone Pétridès is a lone voice in placing it in the Roman province of Byzacena,^[3] further south.

Pétridès says the town was situated on the highway from Carthage to Theveste (modern Tebessa), seven miles from Lares (now Lorbeus) and sixteen miles from Altiburus (Henshir Medina).

Werner Huß sees as the most likely location modern Henchir Bou Djaoua or Henchir Merkeb en-Nabi.^[4]

History

Polybius mentions the town, under the name of Abba, as the place Syphax retreated to after Massinissa and the Romans burned his camp near Utica,^[5] and Titus Livius mentions it as where Syphax linked up with a body of 4000 Celtiberian mercenaries raised by Hasdrubal.^[6]

, it is the modern Ebba. (Ebba?)

Its history is largely unknown, although

Bishopric

Three bishops are known, Paul, present at the Council of Carthage in 225, probably the Paul mentioned in the Martyrology for 19 January; Felicissimus, a Donatist, present at the conference at Carthage in 411; and Valerianus, at the Second Council of Constantinople in 553.^[3]

See also

• Joseph William Tobin

Source