Hadrumetum
- a city of Africa propria, the capital of the province Byzacene, Mel. 1, 7, 2; Plin. 5, 4, 3, § 25; Caes. B. C. 2, 23; Liv. 30, 29.—
- II Deriv. Hadrūmētīnus (Adr-), a, um, adj., of or belonging to Hadrumetum, Hadrumetine: Clodius Albinus, of Hadrumetum, Capitol. Albin. 1: navis, Vulg. Act. 27, 2.—Subst.: Hadrūmētī-ni, ōrum, m. plur., the inhabitants of Hadrumetum, Hadrumetines, Auct. B. Afr. 97, 2.
HADRUME´TUMor ADRUME´TUM, and in late writers (Mart. Cap. 6.216) ADRUME´TUS (ἡ Ἀδρύμη, ὁ Ἀδρύμης, -ητος, Strab. 13. p. 834, Plb. 15.5.3, 15.3, Steph. B. s.v.;ἡ Ἀδρύμητος, Scyl. p. 49, Steph. B.; Ἀδρυμητός, Appian, App. Pun. 33, 47; Ἀδρούμητοςor Ἀδρούμιττος, Ptol. 4.3. § § 9, 37, 8.14.6; Ἀδρούμητον, Stadiasm., &c.; Ἀδράμητος, Procop. B. V. 1.17, 2.23; see, on the various forms of the name, Groskurd's note to his translation of Strabo, vol. 3. p. 435: Eth. Ἀδρυμητινός, and sometimes also Ἀδρυμήσιοςand Ἀδρυμήτιος, Steph. B.; Hadrumetinus: Susa, Ru.), one of the chief cities of Africa Propria, and, after the division of the province, the capital of Byzacena, stood on the sea-coast, a little within the S. extremity of the Sinus Neapolitanus ( Gulf of Hammamet). It was a Phoenician colony, older than Carthage (Sal. Jug. 19), under the dominion of which city it fell to the extent described under CARTHAGO. Pliny mentions it among the oppida liberaof Byzacium (5.4. s. 3; comp. Mela, 1.7.2). Trajan made it a colony, and its full name is found on inscriptions as COL. CONCORDIA ULPIA TRAJANA AUGUSTA FRUGIFERA HADRUMETINA,and on coins as COLONIA CONCORDIA JULIA HADRUMETINA PIA.(Gruter, p. 362; Eckhel, vol. 4. p. 134.) It stood in a very fertile district, as one of the above titles denotes, and was one of the chief sea-ports for the great corn-producing country of Byzacium. Its site formed an amphitheatre overlooking the sea, and surrounded by strong walls, which did not, however, enclose its harbour (Cothon), which lay immediately below it. ( Bell. Afr. 3,5, 62, 63; Ruins; the statement of the Periplus, that it was ἀλίμενος, does not prove that its harbour was at a distance, but simply that it had been choked up by the sands which are always encroaching on this coast.) It is often mentioned in the Punic and Civil Wars. (Polyb., Appian, ll. cc.;Liv. 30.29; Nep. Hann. 6; Caes. B.C. 2.28; Bell. Afr. ll. cc. ) Having shared the fate which so many other cities of Africa suffered from the Vandals, it was restored by Justinian, and named JUSTINIANAor JUSTINIANOPOLIS(Procop. l. c.:Forbiger, vol. 2. p. 845, asserts, without giving his authority, that it was afterwards named HERACLEA,after the emperor Heraclius, and on this ground he follows Shaw in placing it at Herklah, 10 miles higher up along the coast; but the distances in the Itinerary, pp. 52, 53, 56, clearly show the identity of Susawith Hadrumetum, and of Herklahwith HORREA COELIA:the name of the latter place suggests that it was a great depot for the agricultural produce which formed the staple of the commerce of Hadrumetum. The conjecture of Barth deserves notice, that the name Susamay be the representative of ἡ σώζουσα, as we know to be the case with Apollonia on the Cyrenaic coast.) This city was the native place of the Caesar Clodius Albinus. (Capitolin. Clod. Alb. 1.) It is one of Ptolemy's points of recorded astronomical observations, having 14 hrs. 12 min. in its longest day, and being 1 hr. 35 min. W. of Alexandria (8.14.6).
Extensive ruins were still to be seen at Susain the time of the Arabian geographer Abou Obeyd Bekri of Cordova, who describes, among the remains of many other great ancient buildings, two in particular: the one, which he calls Mela'b, an immense building of light volcanic stone from Etna, with arched galleries, appears to have been a theatre or amphitheatre; and the other, which he calls El Kubtas, was a temple on an enormous basement four steps high, of which a quadrangular mass of masonry still in existence, and called the Makluba, i. e. fallen, is supposed by Barth to be the remains. At the present time, however, the ruins are of little magnitude; consisting of some remains of a mole which formed a part of the ancient harbour, some traces of the walls, chiefly on the SW., eight great reservoirs lying parallel to one another, scattered fragments of pillars, a few inscriptions, and, at a short distance from the city, a few mosaics, which seem to mark the site of the villas of the wealthy citizens. (Shaw, Travels in Barbary, &c. p. 105, 2nd ed.; Barth, Wanderungen durch dus Punische und Kyrenäische Küstenland, pp. 152, foll.: it seems worth while to correct Dr. Barth's extraordinary error in making the ship of Adramyttium in which St. Paul sailed, Acts, 27.2, a ship of Hadrumetum; for the position, see the map on p. 532.)
[P.S]or Adrumētum (Ἀδρούμητον). A flourishing city founded by the Phoenicians in North Africa, and the capital of Bycazena under the Romans.
An ancient coastal city, situated on the bay of Hammamet and at the edge of the fertile region of Sahel, Hadrumetum drew its fortune from the advantages its position provided: the agriculture of its hinterland and Mediterranean commerce.
A town constantly inhabited and always lively, to judge from the vestiges of antiquity buried under the accumulation of strata, it offers to the visitor today only a few ancient monuments: some paved with mosaics, especially the catacombs, as well as some traces brought to light by chance.
Few of the ruins have survived but the objects (ceramics, statues, inscriptions, and especially the mosaics) have been preserved in the Bardo Museum at Tunis and principally the Sousse Museum.
A Punic settlement, the city developed along the edge of its harbor; only the tophet has been located. It was partially excavated in 1944; the stelae and funerary urns are exhibited in a room of the museum. Several Punic tombs have also been discovered.
Having abandoned Carthage at the time of the last Punic war, Hadrumetum was rewarded by Rome with the status of free town. For its support of Pompey, it was heavily fined by Caesar after his victory at Thapsus. With the Empire, it experienced great economic development, evidence of which is found in the richness of its houses and more particularly in its mosaics. The Vergil mosaic is the most famous. This prosperity is explained by the elevation of the town to the status of colony under Trajan.
BIBLIOGRAPHYL. Foucher, Hadrumetum (1964) PI; La maison des masques à Sousse (1965) PI; Guide du musée de Sousse 2(1967) I.
A. ENNABLI