Cartagine. Studi e Ricerche

African Christians and Their Anti-Pagan "Cold War": The End of the Pax Deorum and the Beginning of the Christiana Tempora in Late Roman Africa

Mohamed-Arbi Nsiri — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 21:28:18 +0100

Between the 4th and 5th centuries, Roman North Africa underwent one of the most significant and decisive religious changes in its history. Slowly, society as conceived by the founding fathers of the Principate system is cracking, giving way to a new model, that of a Christian world in the making. At the end of the political crises of the 3rd century, North Africa, like the rest of the Roman world, was seeking inspiration in Eastern cults, of which Christianity was just one. Its distinctive feature, however, is that it has emerged as the religion capable of giving new impetus and a new lease of life to a North African society in the throes of metamorphosis. Although the Edict of Thessalonica, promulgated by Emperor Theodosius I, is traditionally regarded by posterity as the great turning point in the relationship between pagans and Christians, it was only the culmination of a long and slow gestation period, in favor of a religion that was in turn persecuted, tolerated and then finally adopted and imposed. The anti-pagan violence that took place in North Africa of the Late Antiquity period was part of this dynamic, which involved both advances and retreats, sometimes federating in the name of a common thought that was gradually spreading, sometimes causing social disorder and the religious unrest so feared by the emperors and their high provincial officials.

Once again about Mastia Tarsêion and African toponymy

Pierre Moret — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 22:22:14 +0200

This paper discusses recent contributions to the long-lasting debate on the location of the place names Mastia and Tarsêion, mentioned in the second Roman-Carthaginian treaty of 348 BC, from three points of view: the uniqueness or duality of the toponym; the reliability of Late-Antiquity texts that relate it to the region of the Strait of Gibraltar; and the alleged involvement of Massalia in setting the exclusion clauses of the treaty. Our second aim is to present new toponymic and palaeographic evidence that supports the location of Mastia Tarsêion, as a single place, in North Africa.

The roman theatre of Thignica. Preliminary investigations and first reconstructive hypotheses.

Roberto Busonera, Ilaria Trivelloni — Sat, 28 Jun 2025 21:39:16 +0200

As part of the archaeological excavation campaign at ancient Thignica (October 2024), preliminary investigations were carried out at the city’s Roman theater. The opportunity was a first contact with the building and the definition of some useful issues for its reconstruction. Starting with the recovery and analysis of documentation related to previous research activities, the paper proposes some essential themes for understanding the building’s construction principles and the distribution of its interior space.

The venatio picta of Campester and Marsinus in the amphitheatre of Uthina: new reflections

Alessandro Teatini, Antonio Ibba — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 17:42:18 +0100

In the amphitheater of Uthina (now Oudhna, Tunisia), the excavation of the room adjacent to the main west entrance has uncovered a large portion of the collapsed vault, on which a crowded scene of venatio with bears and venatores is painted. The new interpretations proposed in this article closely relate the pictorial subject to the inscriptions that enrich it, thus placing the venatio within the context of the sodalitates active in the colony. The relationship with the spectacle building remains in the background as an essential guiding thread along which to develop working hypotheses.

Amilcare - the last partisan in Italy?

Miron Wolny — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 17:43:53 +0100

The article focuses on the events in Italy that are the aftermath of the Second Punic War, which has already ended. The author points out that with the conclusion of peace in 201 BCE, the Carthaginian actions against Rome did not end definitively. An exemplification of this situation is the activity of one of the Carthaginian commanders – Hamilcar, whose identification is considered as part of prosopographic research. The author organizes the seemingly inconsistent source messages and proposes a new identification of this person. He argues that Hamilcar was one of Mago’s subordinates in Spain and accompanied him on an expedition to Liguria in April 205, still remaining there as a “secret” revolutionary agent. He continued to work in this area, even after Mago’s defeat in Insubria and after his return to Africa in 203. The nature of these actions clearly indicates that Hamilcar was waging a guerrilla war against Rome. This Carthaginian, as the “last partisan”, rebelled the tribes of Cisalpine Gaul and Liguria against the Romans (200-197). This took place in the context of not indifferent for the whole matter Roman preparations for the Second Macedonian War.

Notes to Hdt. III, 19: the failed Persian expedition against Carthage

Renato Ramirez — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 17:45:00 +0100

The purpose of this article is to comment on Hdt. III, 19, which narrates a failed Persian expedition against Carthage, with the aim of providing useful information to understand not only the positioning of this anecdote within Herodotus' Histories, but also to give clues about the situation of Carthage during the late 6th century BC and the reason for the interest of the Achaemenid Empire and Cambyses in taking possession of this civilisation.

Africa in the context of the central Mediterranean (Tunisia-Eastern Algeria): relations with Sardinia from the Republican to the Julio-Claudian era (2nd century BC-1st century AD). Trade and milling tools after the crisis of the Punic world

Ernesto Insinna — Sat, 29 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0100

The strong connection between Africa and Sardinia in the Punic period was perpetuated even after the Tyrrhenian conquests and Roman expansion. This is evident from the presence of African artefacts on the Island, especially amphorae, but also from the Sardinian millstones made in Mulargia and spread throughout North Africa. After the fall of Carthage, perhaps it was the Italic negotiatores and/or the Numids who conveyed these products, exploiting the Mediterranean market circuit.

Two Punic inscriptions from Smirat: attempts at decipherment and analysis

Yamen Sghaier, Sonia Hafiane Nouri — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 22:20:14 +0100

Previous investigations are the origin of the exceptional discovery of two Punic handmade bowls in the hypogeum of Smirat. The particularity of these two vases is the presence of a Neopunic inscription incised on the external surface. These texts were considered enigmatic in previous publications. Our work is an attempt to discern and analyze them. The proposals of reading aim mostly to demonstrate the complexity of these documents and to initiate a debate around some epigraphic reflections. The main objective of this work, in addition to understand those epigraphic documents, is to highlight the importance of these inscriptions marginalized due to the importance accorded to classical Punic texts.

A new approach to the history of Lepcis Magna during the Julio-Claudian period.

Mourad Chetoui — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 22:31:36 +0100

Located in the future province of Tripolitania, the city of Lepcis Magna delivered at the first sight, a more or less important epigraphic corpus dating from the reign of the Julio-Claudian emperors, which characterizes it compared to the other cities of Roman Africa. On the basis of this epigraphic documentation, it appears that this city experienced a flourishing period during the first century, especially on the municipal and urban level. What I wish to highlight here is that this research will aim to demonstrate that the Julio-Claudian period is in particular for Lepcis Magna of decisive importance for the evaluation of the progress of Romanization, which reached its peak during the reign of the Severs in the 3rd century.

The gentile Volasenna in Roman Africa in the light of a discovered epitaph

Mohamed Abid — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 17:46:25 +0100

The rediscovery and rereading of an inscription deposited in the epigraphic reserves of the archaeological site of Mustis (today El Krib, in North-West Tunisia) and which initially comes from Aptucca (Hr Ouedka or Hr Semmach), offers us the opportunity to examine the file of the Volasenna gentilice in Roman Africa

Book review: Niccolò Mugnai (éd.), Tripolitania in the Roman Empire and Beyond, Londres, British Institute for Libyan and Northern African Studies, 2024, p. 226, ISBN: 9781915808103 (40 £).

Mohamed-Arbi Nsiri — Sat, 15 Nov 2025 22:07:10 +0100

Book review: Niccolò Mugnai (éd.), Tripolitania in the Roman Empire and Beyond, Londres, British Institute for Libyan and Northern African Studies, 2024, p. 226, ISBN: 9781915808103 (40 £).