Description of the attraction
The Roman city of Tamugadi (as Timgad was previously called) is located on a high plateau north of Ores in northeastern Algeria. It is one of the best preserved and carefully excavated and studied ancient cities in North Africa. Founded as a colony by Marcian Ulpius Trajan Tamugadi around 100 AD, the town was a paramilitary town of strategic importance for the defense of Numidia. Located at the intersection of six roads, Timgad was one of the outposts of the Roman Empire in Africa, and had the status of a Roman city.
The population of Tamugadi was about 10,000-15,000 and was mainly composed of former Roman soldiers who received land after long years of service. It housed a theater with 3,500 seats, 4 baths, a public library, and a forum. The development was a typical Roman street layout in squares. The prosperity of the city was ensured by the rich fertile soil of this area, which contributed to the rapid population growth and its increase to 50 thousand, in connection with which the buildings went beyond the city limits and were chaotic quarters.
Climate change, drying up of rivers became one of the reasons for the decline of the city. At the end of the 4th century, it became the seat of the Bishop Optatus, an ardent supporter of the heretical Christian movement known as Donatism. In 535, Timgad came under the rule of the Byzantines, but was destroyed by the Berbers in the early 7th century.
The sands of the desert and remoteness from busy roads and cities have preserved the architecture of Timgad well. The Triumphal Arch dedicated to Trajan, baths with basements of furnaces and aqueducts, the main street of the city of Decumanus, paved with stone slabs, the remains of the walls of houses, the columns of the temple of the three gods, the basilica near the forum and the library - all this gives a complete picture of how the city looked in the days its heyday. Of particular interest is the market with preserved stalls richly decorated with carvings and stucco moldings. The Timgada amphitheater has undergone the least destruction and is still used for its intended purpose.
The architectural ensemble in 1982 was included in the list of objects protected by UNESCO.
