Tipasa
TIPASA(Τίπασα, Ptol. 4.2.5).
1.A town in Mauretania Caesariensis, endowed with the jus Latii by the emperor Claudius (Plin. v. s. 1) and subsequently a Roman colony ( Itin. Ant. p. 15). It lay between Icosium and Caesarea ( Ib. ). Procopius ( B. V. 2.10) mentions two columns near Tipasa in the SE. of Mauretania, which had on them the following inscription in the Phoenician language: We are fugitives from the face of Joshua, the robber, and his son Nave.Now Tefessador Tefesah.
2.A town in Numidia, on the road from Sicca to Cirta ( Itin. Ant. p. 41). Now Tebessaor Tifeck. [T.H.D]
Probably Tipasa is the most beautiful ancient site on the Algerian coast. Although a village of colonists was placed on part of the ancient town, it has been possible to protect a large area on the seacoast where the combination of forest, ruins, rocks, and water make the site a paradise.
The excavation of the E and W necropoleis has proved that people lived at Tipasa as early as the 6th c. B.C. Thus, whether it owes its origin to a Phoenician depot or to a native center which entered into contact with Carthaginian seamen, the settlement is very early. These necropoleis, in particular the graves cut into the rock, have brought to light a great quantity of artifacts. These enable one to follow the increasing importance of a site which certainly was no mere port of call. As yet, however, the town, properly speaking, has not been found. One must suppose that it was placed on the plateau, which is now dominated by the lighthouse and where the forum and capitol stood in ancient times. This supposition is strengthened by the presence, some kilometers E of Tipasa, of the huge mausoleum called the Tomb of the Christian (see below) which seems to date to the 1st c. B.C. This monument and the proximity of the capital of the kingdom of Mauretania, Iol (later called Caesarea, Cherchel), make this region one of the coastal areas best integrated with the Mediterranean world. This large and precocious urban development in some way justifies the new vigor which the region enjoyed when Octavius established the colonies of Aquae and Zucchabar nearby and those of Gunugu and Cartennae farther to the E.
Tipasa became a municipium with Latin privileges under Claudius and a colony under Hadrian or Antoninus Pius. This also demonstrates the importance which the town acquired after the kingdom of Mauretania was transformed into a Roman province in A.D. 40. At this time (when the inhabitants of the city gained Roman privileges), a vast enceinte was built. It included some of the ancient necropoleis (especially those to the E), which were covered by the expanding settlement.
This enceinte has been partly cleared to the E. There one can see that it is pierced by two gates. Two other passages have been excavated to the SW and W. Only scattered districts and monuments have been excavated within the walls.
The platform of the forum extends over a rocky hillock that juts out into the sea. Porticos bordered it on three sides. On the fourth side the forum was formerly dominated by the mass of the capitol, of which only the thick foundations survive. A stairway led down to the civil basilica, a large chamber with three naves ending in an apse and two appended rooms. Tribunes must have been placed on the aisles. In its plan and elevation, this building (which dates to the end of the 2d c.) heralds the Christian basilicas of North Africa.
A district of houses is being excavated N of this plateau on the seashore. The rooms of these houses open onto peristyles and are sometimes decorated with mosaics. The decumanus passes nearby. The courts of two temples with periboli open onto it. A monumental semicircular nymphaeum was somewhat farther W, with a theater beyond. Its tiers of seats were supported by radiating arches, and only the foundations of the stage are preserved. An amphitheater and public baths were located S of the decumanus.
A colossal cathedral attests to the presence of Christianity within the walls. The cathedral matches the mass of the capitol on the other side of a small bay. The edifice has seven naves, of which the central one ends in a semicircular apse. To the NE there is a square baptistery with a circular pool, and the bishop's house is to the N.
Outside the walls, the necropoleis extended very far along the shore, both to the E (on the Algiers road) and to the W (towards Cherchel). There still is a circular mausoleum to the W, just next to the ramparts. A few hundred meters farther on, the basilica of Bishop Alexander was constructed near a space where martyrs had been buried at the beginning of the 4th c. During the 4th c. a martyry was built there, and a little later a basilica.
The ancient port is located at the foot of the cliff which bears the E necropolis. It lay between the coast and two small islands. Underwater diving has led to the discovery of dikes destroyed by storms. A large number of quarries of marine sandstone are found farther E along the shore, from which blocks must have been transported by sea.
The Tomb of the Christian is some 10 km E of Tipasa on a hill of the Sahel oveAooking the sea. The semicircular drum of this mausoleum is adorned with engaged Ionic columns, and the whole is topped by a stepped cone. On the inside, a helicoidal corridor with a cylindrical vault leads to a funerary chamber.
The artifacts found during the excavations of Tipasa are collected within a private garden (the Angelvy property) and in a museum and its storage rooms. Marble sarcophagi (the Dioscuri, the Shepherd, the Seasons) and pieces of architecture are arranged all along the walks of the garden. The museum shelters mosaics (in particular the so-called Mosaic of the Captives, which comes from the civil basilica) and part of the ceramic material found in recent excavations. Also to be noted are stelae of local manufacture and tables for funerary repasts.
BIBLIOGRAPHYIn the two guides of J. Baradez, Tipasa, ville antique de Maurétanie (1952) and S. Lancel, Tipasa de Maurétanie (1966) can be found all the earlier bibliography. Recent bibliography follows: S. Lancel, Verrerie antique de Tipasa (1967); S. Lancel, in Bulletin d'archéologie algérienne 1 (1962-1965) 41-74; 2 (1966-1967) 251-59; 3 (1968) 85-166; J. Christern, ibid. 3 (1968) 193-258; N. Duval, in XVII corso di cultura sull'arte ravennate e bizantina (1970) 127-33; P.-A. Février, ibid., 191-204; M. Bouchenaki, in Revue d'histoire et de civilisation du Maghreb 8 (Jan. 1970) 23-41.
On the Tomb of the Christian: M. Christofle, Le tombeau de la Chrétienne (1951); M. Bouchenaki, Le mausolée royal de Maurétanie (1970).
P.-A. FÉVRIER