Djémila - (World Heritage Site in Algeria)

Brief Report

The location 900 m above the sea level, Djemila or Cuicul, with its forum, temples, basilicas, triumphant arches and houses, is an interesting example of Roman city planning adapted to a location in the mountains.

Wonderful Universal Importance

Brief synthesis

The site of Djemila is located 50 km northeast of the city Setif. Well known for its antique name Cuicul, Djemila is an establishment of a Roman colony founded during the reign of Nerva (96 - 98 A.D. ).  The Roman city occupied a singular defensive position. Cuicul is one of the flowers of the Roman architecture in North Africa. Remarkably adapted to the limitations of the mountainous terrain, on a rocky spur which spreads at a height of 900 m, between the wadi Guergour and the wadi Betame, two mountain torrents, the city has a private Senate and Forum. Around the beginning of the 3rd century, it expanded outside the ramparts with the creation of the Septimius Severus Temple, the Arc of Caracalla, the market and the civil basilica.  The website has also been marked by christianity in the form of various cult buildings: a cathedral, a church and the baptistry is regarded as one of the largest of the period can be reached by public transport. The site of Djemila includes an impressive collection of mosaic stone, illustrates mythological stories and scenes of everyday life.

Wide Report

Djemila bears eloquent exceptional testimony of the Roman civilisation, and is an excellent example, with its forum, temples, basilicas and triumphant arches, houses of an architectural ensemble representative of the Roman culture. It is also an interesting example of Roman city planning adapted to a location in the mountains. The Roman colony Cuicul was probably founded on the current location of Djemila, during the short reign of Nerva (AD 96-98). The early city, whose name is of Berber origin, is housed in a remarkable defensive position on a rocky spur which spreads at a height of 900 m, between two mountain streams, and Wadi Wadi Guergour Betame.

The classic formula of Roman urban design was adapted to the physical limitations of the site: at both ends of the cardo maximus, the backbone of the city, two gates. In the center is the forum, a closed square surrounded by buildings necessary for the good functioning of civil life: the capitolium in the north, the curia to the east, a civil basilica (Basilica Julia) in the west.  Aristocratic houses set with rich mosaics from which their modern names (the House of Amphitrite, the House of Europe, etc. ) Multiplied in the course of the 2nd century in this central area, where the Temple of Venus Genetrix and the macellum (covered market) are also located. This unimaginative defensive situation, enclosed by walls, could the development of the city.

In the middle 2nd century the city therefore extended to the south, where a new district, rich in both public buildings and private homes, was established. Here the Arc of Caracalla, the temple of the family of Severus, a new forum, a theater (already carried out under Antonine Wall Is Within Pius), and further on, baths built in the reign of Commodus.  Under the buildings of the classical period the Basilica Vestiaria (cloth) and a fountain that is a small replica of the Meta Sudans in Rome are remarkable. Christianity was implanted in the southern district of at an early stage. The remains of a group episcopal buildings are established: two basilicas, a baptistery, a chapel and a few houses, the residence of the bishop and the priest.  The Vandals were of Djemila only for a short time; the city was taken by the Byzantines in 553. Excavations began on the abandoned grounds, which is one of the world's most beautiful Roman ruins, until 1909.