RUSUBBICARI

 

RUSUBBICARI

 

This is Mers el Hajaje, 17 km west of Cape Djinet on the Algerian coast in the vicinity of Zemmouri El Bahri. In Phoenician it is called R ’ š  h b q r. The first word is Rus = Cape. The second part biqar = cattle.  In Hebrew baqar = cattle as well. The word bicari comes also forward in the Libyco-berber language. Combined it means Cape of the cattle.

Ptolemeus (IV 2,2) and the Itineraria Antoninus (16,2) : Ρουσίβικαρ.

In latin it becomes: Rusubbicar(i), Rusibricari Matidiae, Rusuvicaris.

Itin.Ant.p 16: the place would be 24 millien from Rusguniae in the west.

 

The remains of the ancient settlement on the hill have never been excavated. No wonder no relics are found so far on this spot. We can absolutely say nothing about the age or character of the settlement in the Phoenician/Punic period, except that the name might be of Punic origin.

 

There are hardly any messages from the Roman period, except That the place was in the 2^nd century BC in possession of the empress Matidia and some Christian bishops in 411 and 484 AD. The Vandals came. The Byzantines restored order. Finally the Arabs came. But there are no shocking events to memorize here from those last period.

 

In the fabulous Phoenician and Punic Dictionary from Ch.R.Krahmalkov (OLA 90, Leuven 2000) there is nevertheless complete diffusion on page 437. Krahmalkov mentions here R ’ š  k b r  as the Cape grand at Mers al Hajaja. Mention the sequence of the consonants: k b r! Krahmalkov continues to mention Ptolemeus (IV 2.6) with: Ρουσίβικαρ. Mention the sequence of the consonants: b k r! Then comes the latin: Rusubbicari. Mention the sequence of the consonants: b c r! Conclusion: a good book can have mistakes as well, or I understood something very wrong.