Proconsularis
In 27 BC Augustus had combined Africa Nova (west; 46 BC) and Africa Vetus (east; 146 BC) to form the new province of Africa Proconsularis (≈NE Algeria+Tunisia+NW Libya). For the first two centuries AD the Romans defended the province by sending flying columns into the desert to disperse tribesmen massing for possible raids into the settled lands.
The campaigns by the governors of Proconsularis, 15Sempronius Atratinus (22-21 BC) and 53Cornelius Balbus (20-19 BC) failed to pacify the frontier and after their departure the native tribes resumed their raids into Roman territory.
In 86/7 the Nasamones (south and west of Cyrene, north coast Cyrenaica) massacred the Roman tax-collectors. Suellius Flaccus, legate of III Augusta, immediately marched against them. Surprisingly, he was defeated in a pitched battle but the Nasamones failed to follow up their success, preferring instead to loot the Roman camp. Flaccus returned with his regrouped army and massacred the drunken tribesmen.
In northwest Libya along the coast (=Syrtica) of Syrtis Minor (=Gulf of Gabes) the three ancient cities of Sabratha (west), Oea (buried beneath modern Tripoli) and Leptis Magna (east) were captured by the Romans in 146 BC. In the third century AD the area became known as Regio Tripolitania (‘Region of Three Cities’).
During the disruption in 69 when five claimants in succession became emperors, Oea and Leptis started a private war over their business rivalry. Oea asked the help of the Garamantes to the south who then ravaged the countryside while the Leptisians took refuge behind hastily built defences. Leptis was finally relieved by a Roman force under Valerius Festus (fl.69-84/5). In 70 he mounted a successful campaign against the Garamantes and for more than a century afterwards they lived in peace and cooperation with the Romans.
In 193 Septimius Severus separated Numidia (≈northeast Algeria+western Tunisia) from Africa Proconsularis (≈eastern Tunisia+NW Libya) and made it into its own province. In 197, to protect the Roman colonia Oea, Sabratha and Leptis Magna, the legate of III Augustus, Anicius Faustus (fl.197-219), extended Roman control southwards into the desert to a new line of defence (=limes Tripolitanus) with forts at Cydamus (=Ghadames) in the west, at Gheriat el-Garbia in the central sector, and at Gholaia (=Bu Njem) in the east.
Mauretania and Numidia
During the first century AD the Romans founded settlements at Tipasa (=Tipaza), Cuicul (=Djemila) and Sitifis (=Setif) on the north coast of Mauretania Caesariensis (≈NW Algeria). The Roman’s having taken agricultural lands and autonomy from the Berber tribes, uprisings by them were frequent.
Under Trajan a line of forts was constructed in the plain to the south of the Aures Mountains (an eastern prolongation of the Atlas Mountains), from Vescera (=Biskra) in the west to Ad Maiores (=Henchir Besseriani) in the east.
Hadrian visited the African provinces and strengthened the frontiers as needed at the time. In Numidia he moved III Augusta from its base at Ammaedara (west Tunisia) to a new fortress at Lambaesis, and built watchtowers on the frontiers of Mauretania Tingitana (≈Morocco) and Caesariensis.
In 197 01Octavius Pudens, governor of Mauretania Caesariensis, built the advanced posts of Tatilti (near Souk el Khemis, Bouira Province), Ain Grimidi (both about ninety miles southeast of Algiers), and the road to Boghar.
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