RUSICADE
Name:
-------
Rousikada
(Ptol.IV 3,1)
Rusic(c)ade
(Lat) and others like: Rusicadis, Rusicadem. Rusicadensis.
(See:
Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft).
Philippeville
(during French protectorate).
Skikda
(nowadays).
It looks
like it is the same name as we encounters in the Libanon: Raškida and Raškiddi.
This could mean there “Cape of the stone
bottle, jar, pitcher”. Is this a reference to a place where there is water? A
reconstruction of the Punic name could therefore be: R(’)š-(h)kd, although the
Punic name as such has never been attested.
Pomp.Mela I
33: “The area from Cape
Metagonium to the altars of the
Philaenae is called Africa . Here are located
the towns of Hippo Regius, Rusiccade and Thabraca.”
Livius
(XXIX 30,5) refers however to Thapsus
Much later
Vibius Sequester mentions Thapsus and Rusiccade
together (‘Thapsus
The name Thapsus Cape of the
Fire”, because r’š = cape, ikada (yqd) = burning, fire. Is there even a
connection with the Punic word q d ḥ = light a lamp? à Cape of the
signal fire?
But there
is a third possibility, which is brought to us by Albert Apréa in his writing
“Les origins de Rusicade” (2004). About Rus there can’t be any doubt. That
stands for “Cape ”, but the rest of the name
could be different. In Philippeville there is a hill that is called, the
Skikda, near the “Lycée Luciani”. The hill is covered with pines and in the
high season it is populated with myriads of (house)-crickets. In Arab the name
for this cricket is “boubziz, which is an onomatopoeia. In Arabic literature
the word for cricket is “skik” (another onomatopoeia). So, the hill Skikda can
be called the hill of the crickets (Sicada). And in Latin the word Cicada means
also cricket. Around 700 AD the Arabs took over the town and called, as the
natives still said Rusicade as Ras Skikda, but they had no idea, what the name
really meant. Perhaps they kept the old name by accident.
This third
possibility is not that unlikely, because The Phoenicians loved to put quit ordinary
names to geographical points. So Cape of the
Crickets could well fit in this picture.
We have
three solutions:
What seems certain
is, that we have to deal with at least two settlements and maybe three, because
we find another name close to Skikda: Stora. That could refer to Aštoret, Aštarte!
Stora is
located to the west of Skikda and it was the only reasonable harbour in
antiquity on this bay.
Location.
-----------
Nowadays Skikda
is situated at the bottom of a vast gulf open to the north in the eastern part
of Algeria cape
Skikda
The name
could apply first of all to the cape
Skikda Thapsa
Simplified
map:
---------
|
\
\
\
/ Cape Skikda
|
|
\
O Stora
|
\
\
------------------------------------------------------
O Thapsa | |
O Rusicade | |
| |
Oued
Saf Saf
History.
---------
Phoenician/Punic
commercial port.
Carthaginian
sailors certainly knew Cape Rusicade and most likely have used the bay as an
anchorage or port of call, but the city and harbour of Thapsa
See: Louis Bertrand, La nécropole phénicienne de Stora, BCTH, 1901,
p.75-80.
It was
certain, that Stora was a Phoenician stronghold. At some time in the 6th
or 5th century BC the Carthaginians must have taken over this
position.
Numidian
town.
The harbour
of Thapsa/Rusicade was connected with the Numidian inland centre of Cirta
(Constantine) situated 87 km south of Skikda. Cirta was one of Syphax’
residences at the end of the 3rd century BC. The ‘tripolis’
Stora/Thapsa/Rusicade was the natural seaport and outlet to the sea of Cirta
Roman
colony.
The Roman colony
was founded probably in 45 BC by Sittius. In the beginning the town is governed
by a prefect, Iure Dicundo, ancient triumvir, delegated by Cirtha in 45 BC
Vibius
Sequester speaks of the town with the name “Thapsus
Out of the
year 187 AD comes an inscription with amongst others a list of gladiators
(CL.VIII 7969):
Pro salute
Imperatoris
caecaris marci aureli
Commodi antonini
augusti pii sarmatici germanici
Brittannici
felicia patris patriae pontificis maximi tribunicia potestate XII imperatoris
VII
Consulis V munus
gladiatorium et venatorium vani generis
Dentatarum ferarum et mansuetarum item herbaticarum
Marcus
cosinus marci filius quirina centerinus
In colonia
veneria rusicade de sua pecunia
Promisit
edidit
The
Peutinger map gives the place also the name: ‘colonia Veneria Rusicade” by the
end of the 3rd century AD. The town is now governed by an imperial
delegate: the Curator. The town is now part of a confederation of four colonies
of Cirta: Rusicade, Chullu, Cirta and Milieu.
The colony
Rusicade is dedicated to Venus and that refers again to Astarte (Stora). It was
an import harbour for grain, oil, wood and precious stones to Ostia
and Pouzzoles in Italy
The
inscription CIL VI 2384 mentions a soldier Num.Rusicas.
Along the
road to Cirta rise splendid villas and majestic graves.
In 303 AD
the town has his own bishop and curator.
The town
has now been enriched with temples, theatre, amphitheatre, baths.
In the meantime
there is a message saying that the town is threatened by a rebel Firmus.
In 415 AD
the town is mentioned as a centre, where there are levies on toll.
In the 5th
century AD the town was destroyed by the Vandals.
Findings.
-----------
-
Phoenician necropolis at Stora.
- two stelae
without an inscription, but the signs of so-called Tinnit, a caduceus and a
palm-tree.
- a cellar
for burials.
- a
sandstone sculpture (marble head of Sarapis).
- a Ionian
capital, dating from the time of the Numidian
Kingdom
-
custom-stamp seals (tessera frumenteria).
Most of the
findings are coming from the Roman period, but the Punic influence stays
visible until the end of the 1st century AD with many stelae
dedicated to Baal Hamon (the African Saturn). There were no buildings found
from before the Numidian period with the exception of possibly a wall near the
sea at Rusicade.
In the
Roman times many buildings rise: temples, theatre, amphitheatre, baths, an
office Portorium, stockyards, villas. The Theatre is the biggest of North Africa . The amphitheatre was still visible in the
time, that S.Gsell visited the place, but is now vanished. It was demolished in
1945.
Literature.
------------
Enige vroege LITERATUUR :
BCTH 1899 : HERON DE VILLEFOSSE (A.), Note
sur un buste en marbre blanc découvert à Philippeville (Algérie), fig., p. 166.
Tribalet (cne),
Gauckler et Berger (Philippe), Recherches archéologiques aux environs du poste
de Tatatouine (Tunisie), BCTH, 1901, p. 284-298, fig. et pl.
Cagnat,
Inscriptions romaines du musée de Philippeville, BCTH, 1902, p. CXXXIII.
Bertrand (Louis),
Fouilles dans la propriété Lesueur, près de Philippeville, BCTH, 1903,
p. 524-537, fig.
Bertrand (Louis),
Inscriptions et antiquités romaines découvertes à Philippeville, BCTH,
1904, p. CXC et CXCIII.
Bertrand, Inscriptions
et antiquités romaines découvertes dans les environs de Philippeville, BCTH,
1905, p. CLXXVI.
Bertrand (Louis),
Un tronçon de voie romaine découvert près de Philippeville, BCTH, 1905,
p. 366-367, fig.
Bertrand,
Inscriptions romaines entrées au Musée de Philippeville, BCTH, 1906, p.
CCXIII, CCXLIV, CCLIX.
Bertrand (L.),
Inscriptions découvertes à Philippeville, BCTH, 1907, p. CCIX.
Bertrand (Louis),
Ruines au bord de la voie romaine de Philippeville à Stora, BCTH, 1907,
p. 459.
Bertrand,
Antiquités découvertes à Philippeville, BCTH, 1908, p. CCXIV.
Bertrand, Objets
entrés au Musée de Philippeville, BCTH, 1909, p. CLV, CLXXXIII.
Bertrand,
Antiquités entrées au musée de Philippeville, BCTH, 1910, p.CLXVIII.
Bertrand,
Épitaphes romaines trouvées à Philippeville, BCTH, 1911, p.
ccxvii-ccxviii.
Bertrand,
Entrée au musée de Philippeville de divers objets, BCTH,
1912, p. CCLII-CCLVIII.
Bertrand,
Inscription romaine sur stèle de grès pointue, trouvée à Philippeville, BCTH,
1913, fig., p. CLXXIV-CLXXV.
Bertrand,
Inscriptions romaines entrées au Musé de Philippeville, BCTH,
1913, p. CXCVI-CXCVII.
Bertrand,
Objets entrés au musée de Philippeville, BCTH, 1913, p.
CCXXVI-CCXXVII.
Babelon,
Miroir étrusque de bronze, provenant de Philippeville (Algérie), BCTH, 1915, fig., p. CXVI-CXVIII.
Toutain,
Stèles
romaines du musée de Philippeville, BCTH, 1915, p. ccxxxix-ccxL.
Héron
de Villefosse, Fragment de mosaïque provenant de
Philippeville, BCTH, 1917, p. CCI.
Albertini, Mosaïque romaine de Philippeville; épitaphe
trouvée à Duperré (Oppidum novum), BCTH, 1927, p. 74-76.
Zeiller (Jacques), Note sur une inscription
de Philippeville, BCTH, 1941-2, p. 57-61.
LE BLANT (Edmond), Découverte d'une inscription
chrétienne à Philippeville (Algérie). Rapport sur une communication de M.
Gouilly, fig., p. 370.
L.Vars, Rusicade
et Stora ou Philippeville dans l’antiquité, Constantine, 1896.
S.Gsell, Histoire
ancienne de l’Afrique du Nord, Paris, 1913-1928.
M.Leglay, Saturne
Africain, Monuments II, Paris, 1966, p.13-18.
J.Désanges, Pline
l’ancien, Histoire Naturelle, Paris, 1980, p.192.
Cl.Lepeley, les
Cités de l’Afrique romaine II, Paris 1979-1981.
A.Apréa, Les
origines de Rusicade, 2004.
‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑‑
L'Afrique du nord
F.Decret/M.Fantar Payot Paris 1981
dans
L'Antiquité
Bibliothèque Historique
Histoire et
Civilisation
des origines
au Ve siècle
ITINERARIA PHOENICIA
Edward
Lipinski. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta nr 127. Studia Phoenicia Paris
– Dudley , MA
Als STORA:
Héron de
Villefosse (A.) (A.), Les recherches archéologiques de M. L. Bertrand aux
environs de Stora, BCTH, 1901, p. CXCIX-CC.
Bertrand (Louis),
La nécropole phénicienne de Stora, BCTH, 1901, p. 75-80, pl.
Saladin (H.),
Note sur un chapiteau d'ordre composite trouvé à Stora, BCTH, 1904, p. 336-338, fig.
Bertrand (Louis),
Ruines au bord de la voie romaine de Philippeville à Stora, BCTH, 1907,
p. 459.
Het is vooral Louis Bertrand, die hier in het museum vele
zaken heeft verzameld heeft.
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