Igilgili
IGILGILI(Ἰγιλγιλί, Ptol.: Jijeli), a sea-port of Mauretania Caesariensis, on the Sinus Numidicus, made a Roman colony by Augustus. It stands on a headland, on the E. side of which a natural roadstead is formed by a reef of rocks running parallel to the shore; and it was probably in ancient times the emporium of the surrounding country. ( Itin. Ant. p. 18; Plin. Nat. 5.2. s. 1; Ptol. 4.2.11; Ammian. Marc. 29.5; Tab. Peut.;Shaw. Travels, p. 45; Barth, Wanderungen, &c., p. 66.)
[P.S]First a Carthaginian trading post and then a Roman colony in Mauretania Caesariensis, the site is on a low peninsula and a small coastal plain enclosed by a ring of hills, about half-way between Bône and Algiers. The Roman colony, founded by Augustus (Plin. HN 5.21), is mentioned by Ptolemy (4.2.2), in the Antonine Itinerary, the Peutinger Table, and the Ravenna Geographer. It was a fairly important port until the Byzantine period. Six roads went out from it.
The monuments found date mostly to the Punic period. Essentially, these consist of necropoleis cut into the rock coastline up to 2 km to the W of the peninsula. There are graves at ground level and rock-cut tombs. The vaults average 2 x 1.50 x 1.25 m. Entries are shut by slabs. The varied grave goods which they contain (amphorae, jewelry, pottery) were once attributed to the 6th and 5th c. B.C., but now have been brought forward to the 4th c.
The remains of town walls (which have now disappeared) belonged to the Roman period. An aqueduct comes from the S. To the SE of the knoll of St. Ferdinand were public baths. They have produced Dionysiac and ornamental mosaics, now at the Skikda Museum (formerly Philippeville), and sculptures (a satyr's head at the Algiers Museum). Other artifacts include statuettes, lamps, and votive stelae (at the Skikda Museum and the Louvre).
BIBLIOGRAPHYS. Gsell, Atlas archéologique de l'Algérie (1911) 7, no. 77; J. and P. Alquier, “Tombes phéniciennes à Djidjelli (Algérie),” RA 31 (1930) 1-17; M. Astruc, “Nouvelles fouilles à Djidjelli,” Revue Africaine 80 (1937); M. Leglay, Saturne Africain. Monuments (1966)
II. M. LEGLAY