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44-547: In 25 BC, the kings of Mauretania became Roman vassals until about 44 AD, when the area was annexed to Rome and divided into two provinces: Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis . Christianity spread there from the 3rd century onwards. After the Muslim Arabs subdued the region in the 7th century, Islam became the dominant religion. Mauretania existed as a tribal kingdom of the Berber Mauri people . In

88-540: A Comes Tingitaniae with a field army composed of two legions , three vexillations , and two auxilia palatina . Flavius Memorius held this office (comes) at some point during the middle of the fourth century. However, it is implicit in the source material that there was a single military command for both of the Mauretanian provinces, with a Dux Mauretaniae (a lower rank) controlling seven cohorts and one ala . The Germanic Vandals established themselves in

132-720: A praetorian prefect and the military authority of a magister militum , and enjoyed considerable autonomy from Constantinople . Two exarchates were established, one in Italy, with seat at Ravenna (hence known as the Exarchate of Ravenna ), and one in Africa, based at Carthage and including all imperial possessions in the Western Mediterranean. The first African exarch was the patricius Gennadius . Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Sitifensis were merged to form

176-542: A procurator Augusti , or a legatus Augusti pro praetore ). In the 1st century AD, Emperor Claudius divided the Roman province of Mauretania into Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana along the line of the Mulucha ( Muluya ) River, about 60 km west of modern Oran : Mauretania gave the empire one emperor, the equestrian Macrinus . He seized power after the assassination of Caracalla in 217 but

220-675: A degree of Roman culture, including the local cities, and usually nominally acknowledged the suzerainty of the Roman Emperors. The Western kingdom more distant from the Vandal kingdom was the one of Altava, a city located at the borders of Mauretania Tingitana and Caesariensis....It is clear that the Mauro-Roman kingdom of Altava was fully inside the Western Latin world, not only because of location but mainly because it adopted

264-620: A fleet to enable the passage of the Vandals to Tingis and Septem (Ceuta) . Bonifacius intended to confine the Vandals to Mauretania, but, once they had crossed the straits, they rejected any control and marched on Carthage . In 533 AD, the Byzantine general Belisarius reconquered the former Diocese of Africa from the Vandals on behalf of the Emperor Justinian I . All the territory west of Caesarea had already been lost by

308-405: A flossy down, from which, by the aid of art, a fine cloth might easily be manufactured, similar to the textures made from the produce of the silk-worm. He informs us that the summit of this mountain is covered with snow even in summer, and says that having arrived there after a march of ten days, he proceeded some distance beyond it as far as a river which bears the name of Ger (a northern affluent of

352-579: Is no evidence of a defensive wall like the one that protected the turbulent frontier in Britain at the other extremity of the Roman Empire. Rather, it was a network of forts and ditches that seems to have functioned as a filter. The limes – the word from which the English word “limit” is derived – protected the areas that were under direct Roman control by funnelling contacts with the interior through

396-468: Is the southernmost Roman settlement discovered until now). Some historians, like Leo Africanus , believe the Roman frontier reached the area of Casablanca , founded by the Romans as a port named "Anfa". Indeed, the modern city of Azemmour in central Morocco lies on the ancient Azama , a trading port of Phoenician and later Roman origins. Still today can be seen the remains of a Roman deposit for grain in

440-635: The Diocese of Hispaniae , 'the Spains', and, by extension, part of the Praetorian prefecture of Gaul , thus it was across the sea from the European territory of Diocese and Prefecture it belonged to. Mauretania Caesariensis was in the Diocese of Africa . Lucilius Constantius is recorded as governor (praeses) in the late fourth century. The Notitia Dignitatum shows also, in its military organisation,

484-519: The Vandal invasion in 429 AD, Altava became the capital of an independent Berber state. This Mauro-Roman kingdom was situated near Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Tingitana, at some distance from the Vandal nucleus. Although a Berber polity, it borrowed the sociocultural, military and religious structure of the Roman Empire. Between 550 and 578 AD, Altava served as the capital of the independent Christian Berber kingdom of Garmul . The last time

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528-607: The traditional Berber religion and Christianity . The two Mauretania provinces were consolidated as the territory of al-Maghrib (Arabic for 'the West', and still the official name of the Sharifian Kingdom of Morocco ). This larger province also included over half of modern Algeria. Stone ruins dating from the Roman era exist at various archaeological sites, including the Capitoline Temple at Volubilis ,

572-639: The 530s. In the 7th century there were eight Romano-Moorish kingdoms: Altava , Ouarsenis , Hodna , Aures , Nemenchas , Capsa , Dorsale (ar) and Cabaon . The last resistance against the Arab invasion was sustained in the second half of the 7th century mainly by the Roman-Moorish kingdoms -with the last Byzantine troops in the region- under the leadership of the Christian king of Altava Caecilius , but later ended in complete defeat in 703 AD (when

616-512: The Atlantic coast: Iulia Constantia Zilil , Iulia Valentia Banasa and Iulia Campestris Babba . This western part of Mauretania was to become the province called Mauretania Tingitana shortly afterwards. The region remained a part of the Roman Empire until 429, when the Vandals overran the area and Roman administrative presence came to an end. The most important city of Mauretania Tingitana

660-689: The Niger river?); the road being through deserts covered with a black sand, from which rocks that bore the appearance of having been exposed to the action of fire, projected every here and there; localities rendered quite uninhabitable by the intensity of the heat, as he himself experienced, although it was in the winter season that he visited them. During the reign of the Numidian King Juba II , Emperor Augustus had already founded three colonias (with Roman citizens) in Mauretania close to

704-593: The Roman Empire in 298 AD and later withdrew from the area of Volubilis , the Rif Mountains in northern Morocco and the western Algerian Atlas Mountains after the Crisis of the 3rd Century . Berber rulers created a small independent kingdom there, centered on the capital Altava and the fully Romanised city of Volubilis . From the 7th century Byzantine historians usually called it the Kingdom of Altava . After

748-652: The Roman road from strategic Theveste to Numerus Syrorum (current Maghnia ). Altava was a city populated mainly by Berbers under Septimius Severus , with a small Roman garrison. The garrison—according to historian M. Ruiu—was the Cohors II Sardorum and protected the new lines of the Roman empire moved south from the Mediterranean shores to a military road called Nova Praetentura . This road went from Rapidum in Numidia to Altava and Numerus Syrorum at

792-463: The Romans as soldiers, especially as light cavalry. Clementius Valerius Marcellinus is recorded as the governor ( praeses ) between 24 October 277 and 13 April 280. According to tradition, the martyrdom of St Marcellus took place on 28 July 298 at Tingis (Tangier). During the Tetrarchy (Emperor Diocletian 's reform of Roman governmental structures in 297), Mauretania Tingitana became part of

836-644: The Vandals in 442, confirming their control of Proconsular Africa. For the next 90 years, Africa was firmly under the Vandal control. The Vandals were ousted from Africa in the Vandalic War of 533–534, from which time Mauretania at least nominally became a Roman province once again. The old provinces of the Roman Diocese of Africa were mostly preserved by the Vandals, but large parts, including almost all of Mauretania Tingitana , much of Mauretania Caesariensis and Mauretania Sitifensis and large parts of

880-589: The Vandals to the Berber " Mauri ", but a re-established Dux Mauretaniae kept a military unit at Septem (modern Ceuta ). This was the last Byzantine outpost in Mauretania Tingitana; the rest of what had been the Roman province was united with the Byzantine part of Andalusia under the name of the Praetorian prefecture of Africa , with Septem as administrative capital. Most of the Maghreb littoral

924-646: The Visigoths in 624 AD, reducing "Mauretania Seconda" opposite Gibraltar to only the fort of Septem. Christianity is known to have existed in Mauretania as early as the 3rd century. It spread rapidly in these areas despite its relatively late appearance in the region. Although it was adopted in the urban areas of Mauretania Caesariensis, the hinterlands retained the Romano-Berber religion. Mauretania Tingitana other political entities Mauretania Tingitana ( Latin for " Tangerine Mauretania ")

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968-674: The authority of the Vicarius of the diocese of Hispaniae : During the crisis of the 3rd century , parts of Mauretania were reconquered by Berber tribes. Direct Roman rule became confined to a few coastal cities (such as Septem in Mauretania Tingitana and Cherchell in Mauretania Caesariensis ) by the late 3rd century. Historical sources about inland areas are sparse, but these were apparently controlled by local Berber rulers who, however, maintained

1012-504: The border of Mauretania Tingitana . Altava, according to historian Lawless, was a vicus that achieved independent status from the castrum-fort of the garrison and had a huge Forum and an important pagan temple, later converted into a Christian church (showing the growing presence of Christianity in Roman Africa ). The Roman settlement had an area of nearly 13 hectares and was surrounded by farms. Emperor Diocletian reorganized

1056-454: The continent. In the far west, the southern limit of imperial rule was Volubilis, which was ringed with military camps such as Tocolosida slightly to the south east and Ain Chkour to the north-west, and a fossatum or defensive ditch. On the Atlantic coast Sala Colonia was protected by another ditch and a rampart and a line of watchtowers. This was not a continuous line of fortifications: there

1100-532: The death in 40 AD of Ptolemy of Mauretania , the last Ptolemaic ruler of the Kingdom of Mauretania , in about 44 AD Roman Emperor Claudius annexed the kingdom to the Roman Empire and partitioned it into two Roman provinces : Mauretania Tingitana and Mauretania Caesariensis . The Mulucha ( Moulouya River ), located around 60 km west of modern Oran , Algeria , became the border separating them. The Roman occupation did not extend very far into

1144-617: The early 1st century Strabo recorded Maûroi (Μαῦροι in Greek ) as the native name of a people opposite the Iberian Peninsula . This appellation was adopted into Latin, whereas the Greek name for the tribe was Mauroúsii (Μαυρούσιοι). The Mediterranean coast of Mauretania had commercial harbours for trade with Carthage from before the 4th century BC, but the interior was controlled by Berber tribes, who had established themselves in

1188-435: The extraordinary height of this mountain, and at the same time he has stated that all the lower parts about the foot of it are covered with dense and lofty forests composed of trees of species hitherto unknown. The height of these trees, he says, is remarkable; the trunks are without knots, and of a smooth and glossy surface; the foliage is like that of the cypress, and besides sending forth a powerful odour, they are covered with

1232-486: The interior of Numidia and Byzacena , had been lost to the inroads of Berber tribes, now collectively called the Mauri (later Moors ) as a generic term for "the Berber tribes in the province of Mauretania". In 533, the Roman army under Belisarius defeated the Vandals. In April 534, Justinian published a law concerning the administrative organization of the newly acquired territories. Nevertheless, Justinian restored

1276-616: The kingdom of Altava was cited historically was in connection with a campaign of Gennadius , a magister militum sent by the Eastern Roman Empire . He defeated the Berbers and the ruler of Altava in 578 AD and his small kingdom was probably incorporated to the Byzantine Empire. There are no historical records about Altava in the seventh century, but it is also conceivable that the kingdom of Altava (or at least

1320-420: The major settlements, regulating the links between the nomads and transhumants with the towns and farms of the occupied areas. The same people lived on both sides of these limes, although the population was quite small. Volubilis had perhaps twenty thousand inhabitants at most in the second century. On the evidence of inscriptions, only around ten to twenty per cent of them were of European origin, mainly Spanish;

1364-552: The military-religious-sociocultural-administrative organization of the Roman Empire... In an inscription from Altava in western Algeria, one of these rulers, Masuna , described himself as rex gentium Maurorum et Romanorum (king of the Roman and Moorish peoples). Altava was later the capital of another ruler, Garmul or Garmules, who resisted Byzantine rule in Africa but was finally defeated in 578. The Byzantine historian Procopius also mentions another independent ruler, Mastigas , who controlled most of Mauretania Caesariensis in

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1408-617: The new province of Mauretania Prima , while Mauretania Tingitana, effectively reduced to the city of Septem , was combined with the citadels of the Spanish coast ( Spania ) and the Balearic Islands to form Mauretania Secunda . The African exarch was in possession of Mauretania Secunda , which was little more than a tiny outpost in southern Spain, beleaguered by the Visigoths . The last Spanish strongholds were conquered by

1452-514: The old administrative division, but raised the overall governor at Carthage to the supreme administrative rank of praetorian prefect , thereby ending the Diocese of Africa's traditional subordination to the Prefecture of Italy (then still under Ostrogoth rule). The emperor Maurice sometime between 585 and 590 AD created the office of "Exarch", which combined the supreme civil authority of

1496-474: The palace of Gordius , Sala Colonia , Tingis and Iulia Constantia Zilil . Altava Altava was an ancient Romano - Berber city in present-day Algeria . It served as the capital of the ancient Berber Kingdom of Altava . During the French presence, the town was called Lamoriciere . It was situated in the modern Ouled Mimoun near Tlemcen . Altava was located in western Mauretania Caesariensis on

1540-588: The province of Baetica in 422 AD under their king, Gunderic , and, from there, they carried out raids on Mauretania Tingitana. In 427 AD, the Comes Africae , Bonifacius, rejected an order of recall from the Emperor Valentinian III , and he defeated an army sent against him. He was less fortunate when a second force was sent in 428 AD. In that year, Gunderic was succeeded by Gaiseric, and Bonifacius invited Gaiseric into Africa, providing

1584-405: The queen Kahina died in battle). The Vandals conquered the Roman province beginning in the 420s. The city of Hippo Regius fell to the Vandals in 431 after a prolonged siege, and Carthage also fell in 439. Theodosius II dispatched an expedition to deal with the Vandals in 441, which failed to progress farther than Sicily . The Western Empire under Valentinian III secured peace with

1628-618: The region by the Iron Age . King Atlas was a legendary king of Mauretania credited with inventing the celestial globe . The first known historical king of the Mauri, Baga , ruled during the Second Punic War of 218–201 BC. The Mauri were in close contact with Numidia . Bocchus I ([fl.] 110 BC) was father-in-law to the redoubted Numidian king Jugurtha . After the death of king Bocchus II in 33 BC Rome directly administered

1672-505: The region from 33 BC to 25 BC. Mauretania eventually became a client kingdom of the Roman Empire in 25 BC when the Romans installed Juba II of Numidia as their client-king. On his death in AD 23, his Roman-educated son Ptolemy of Mauretania succeeded him. The Emperor Caligula had Ptolemy executed in AD 40. The Roman Emperor Claudius annexed Mauretania directly as a Roman province in AD 44, placing it under an imperial governor (either

1716-498: The rest were local. Roman historians (like Ptolemy ) considered all of Morocco north of the Atlas Mountains part of the Roman Empire, because in the times of Augustus , Mauretania was a vassal state and its rulers (like Juba II ) controlled all the areas south of Volubilis. The effective control of Roman legionaries, however, was up to the area of Sala Colonia (the castra "Exploratio Ad Mercurios", south of Sala Colonia ,

1760-553: The so-called "Portuguese cisterns". Pliny the Elder described in some detail the area south of the Atlas Mountains, when Gaius Suetonius Paulinus undertook a military expedition in 41: Suetonius Paulinus, whom we have seen Consul in our own time, was the first Roman general who advanced a distance of some miles beyond Mount Atlas. He has given us the same information as we have received from other sources with reference to

1804-607: Was Volubilis . This city was the administrative and economic center of the province in western Roman Africa. The fertile lands of the province produced many commodities such as grain and olive oil, which were exported to Rome, contributing to the province's wealth and prosperity. Archaeology has documented the presence of a Jewish community in the Roman period. The principal exports from Mauretania Tingitana were purple dyes and valuable timber . Tingitana also supplied Rome with agricultural goods and animals, such as lions and leopards. The native Mauri were highly regarded and recruited by

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1848-461: Was a Roman province , coinciding roughly with the northern part of present-day Morocco . The territory stretched from the northern peninsula opposite Gibraltar , to Sala Colonia (or Chellah ) and Volubilis to the south, and as far east as the Mulucha (or Malva) river. Its capital city was Tingis , which is the modern Tangier . Other major cities of the province were Iulia Valentia Banasa , Septem , Rusadir , Lixus and Tamuda . After

1892-465: Was himself defeated and executed by Elagabalus the next year. Emperor Diocletian's Tetrarchy reform (293) further divided the area into three provinces, as the small, easternmost region of Sitifensis was split off from Mauretania Caesariensis. The Notitia Dignitatum (c. 400) mentions them as still existing, two being under the authority of the Vicarius of the diocese of Africa: And, under

1936-579: Was later organised as the Exarchate of Africa , a special status in view of the outpost defense needs. There was also an indigenous principality in Tingitana which existed in the 6th and 7th centuries, attested for by inscriptions at Volubilis and the Mausoleum at Souk El Gour . When the Umayyad Caliphate conquered all of Northern Africa , it brought Islam to the local adherents of

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